State of U.S. Ladies' skating 2016-17 | Page 25 | Golden Skate

State of U.S. Ladies' skating 2016-17

I disagree. If you want to be the Champion of the World, you need the total package. You might win a GP event or even Medal at your Nationals, but you're not going to be on top of the Podium anywhere if you can't perform.

Look at Gracie Gold's INT scores at Worlds or Anna Pogorilaya. They are the epitomy of no expression. Judges unfortunately do not care that much as long as the jumps and spins are there. Good facial expression can help (Ashley eg) but won't hold you back if you do many other things well. The judges pretty much inflate the pcs scores if the technical scores are high. Evegenia Mevedeva gives about 15 seconds of facial expression at the beginning of her programs and then is mostly expressionless the rest of the time and no one seems to care.
 
Look at Gracie Gold's INT scores at Worlds or Anna Pogorilaya. They are the epitomy of no expression. Judges unfortunately do not care that much as long as the jumps and spins are there. Good facial expression can help (Ashley eg) but won't hold you back if you do many other things well. The judges pretty much inflate the pcs scores if the technical scores are high. Evegenia Mevedeva gives about 15 seconds of facial expression at the beginning of her programs and then is mostly expressionless the rest of the time and no one seems to care.

Yup. Improve your skating skills, then improve your consistency. You can blank face the entire program and still score massive score. What non-sense about Mirai not giving face. She doesn't need to give face. She needs to work on skating skills more and skate faster. Everything else is there.
 
Yup. Improve your skating skills, then improve your consistency. You can blank face the entire program and still score massive score. What non-sense about Mirai not giving face. She doesn't need to give face. She needs to work on skating skills more and skate faster. Everything else is there.

Mirai is interesting. I noticed when watching her recent LP that, after her fall, she seemed to be listening to and moving with the music. The spiral near the end accents the music nicely too. But before the fall, there is no relationship between any of the movements and the music whatsoever. It's early in the season so maybe that will improve with more competitions, but like you said the ability to do it is there.
 
I hope mirai keeps the choreography that David Wilson gave her instead of watering it down in order to do the jumps. I think her lp will be awesome if she can combine his choreography with all her planned jumps.
 
Mirai is growing and maturing. I remember seeing her Carmen and cringing because it truly was a Miss America smile but not realization of Carmen or even an interpretation of Carmen just trying to "look artistic" and get the tricks down with a big smile. But sadly in some ways the tricks are the big focus. When you think about what Peggy Fleming or even janet lynn did back then and as much as you can say it was beautiful - now it wouldn't even win novice. I guess one needs to consider that there are different ideas on pcs/interpretation. Remember Bestmianova and Bukin - now one can say there is someone who skated and communicated through her face lol. Oh the drama and trauma she showed.
 
So Youn Park is a very expressive skater----just the opposite of Mirai. So Youn really gets into her music and skates with her heart. Unfortunately, So Youn can be very inconsistent with her jumps, and she also URs quite a bit. I have noticed that So Youn's most recent skates have much easier technical content than her skates of 2-3 years ago. Her skating is heading in the wrong direction, which is not good for her with so many talented young Korean skaters on the scene. Still, I love to watch her skate because she is so expressive, so much more so than most of the other Korean ladies.
I am talking/thinking speed wise. Mirai is comparable to SoYoun. specifically, at one occasion I was seated quiet front. I didnot notice their speed is visibly slow. at another occasion I sit at middle , has a very good overall view of the whole rink, and I can tell their speed is visibly slow. and kinda comparable speedwise. that feeling you kinda wanna give them a bit push. Close up, I agree with you, soyoun has more nuance, details and feelings to the music for sure. also, their figure/body type/heigh etc. is quite comparable as well when watch live in the same event/warmup group.
However, I also watched Mirai in other occasions such as in shows, her performance could be very touching when she really feels it.
edit: as for soyoun's tech issue, she really does not has much of UR issue. she just has consistency issue. I has watched her progress from relatively good lutz 3S jumps, to weaker lutz 3S and stronger 3loop jump over the years. it seems related to her body adjustment. timing and axis etc.
 
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I'm calling it: Mariah Bell is getting in the top five at Nationals.

And yes, you can quote me on that. ;)
 
Mirai is growing and maturing. I remember seeing her Carmen and cringing because it truly was a Miss America smile but not realization of Carmen or even an interpretation of Carmen just trying to "look artistic" and get the tricks down with a big smile. But sadly in some ways the tricks are the big focus. When you think about what Peggy Fleming or even janet lynn did back then and as much as you can say it was beautiful - now it wouldn't even win novice. I guess one needs to consider that there are different ideas on pcs/interpretation. Remember Bestmianova and Bukin - now one can say there is someone who skated and communicated through her face lol. Oh the drama and trauma she showed.

You really can't compare eras. All the triple-triples in the world wouldn't have helped Janet Lynn beat Trixi Schuba. She came in first in the free state at Sapporo and only got a bronze. At Worlds in 1971, she was first in the free skate and off the podium.
 
Look at Gracie Gold's INT scores at Worlds or Anna Pogorilaya. They are the epitomy of no expression. Judges unfortunately do not care that much as long as the jumps and spins are there. Good facial expression can help (Ashley eg) but won't hold you back if you do many other things well. The judges pretty much inflate the pcs scores if the technical scores are high. Evegenia Mevedeva gives about 15 seconds of facial expression at the beginning of her programs and then is mostly expressionless the rest of the time and no one seems to care.

There's so much more to interpretation than face! It's much more about movement, IMO.
 
I think there was a thread about this a while back... But I am interested to see where US Ladies skating sits after 2018, when Ashley and Gracie and Mirai will presumably retire. Watching the JGP events, and a US lady has not come close to contending with the Russians or Japanese...
 
I think there was a thread about this a while back... But I am interested to see where US Ladies skating sits after 2018, when Ashley and Gracie and Mirai will presumably retire. Watching the JGP events, and a US lady has not come close to contending with the Russians or Japanese...

Um... Polina is only 18. She nearly won nationals last year. There's a few other girls that I think will be able to contend as well. Maybe Vivian after she been with Rafael for some time. I'm not worried.
 
Um... Polina is only 18. She nearly won nationals last year.

That's only because both Wagner and Gold were subpar (in the SP). Even then, two clean programs weren't enough for her to hang on to the lead after Gold's comeback FS...which to me says a lot.

She's been a solid "third anchor" so to speak - top 10 in the world - but assuming the status quo holds, I wouldn't expect much more out of her than that.
 
Um... Polina is only 18. She nearly won nationals last year. There's a few other girls that I think will be able to contend as well. Maybe Vivian after she been with Rafael for some time. I'm not worried.

Polina just moved into the dorm yesterday. She has been off the ice most of the summer and is still not really jumping. Lots of Instagram photos of her cruising around in her BMW or hanging out with friends. Not really clear how much training is going on or if it is a priority.
 
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What is happening with Tessa Hong. She looked really great at Broadmoor earlier this year. I have heard nothing since. Why doesn't she have a JGP assignment? Her performance at Broadmoor was in my opinion far superior to those of the skaters we have sent.
 
Polina just moved into the dorm yesterday. She has been off the ice most of the summer and is still not really jumping. Lots of Instagram photos of her cruising around in her BMW or hanging out with friends. Not really clear how much training is going on or if it is a priority.

This is disappointing to hear. Though I've seen pics of her working on choreography with professional ballet dancers. I hope she knows what she's doing.
 
Polina was injured last winter, and it is possible that the injury has not completely healed. That may be why she was off the ice a lot and still isn't jumping. If so, it makes sense that she is working on choreo while she can't skate.
 
Polina just moved into the dorm yesterday. She has been off the ice most of the summer and is still not really jumping. ... Not really clear how much training is going on or if it is a priority.

This is disappointing to hear. Though I've seen pics of her working on choreography with professional ballet dancers. I hope she knows what she's doing.

I see the Polina glass as more than half-full -- as she recovers from injury.

Her comments last weekend at An Evening With Champions:
"I am slowly getting back into jumping, with my recovery process from my injury earlier this year," Edmonds said. "Though I'm not jumping here this weekend, it's great to perform my show program in front of an audience as the season is beginning, to feel a little adrenaline!"
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2016/09/12/200902400/the-inside-edge-chen-edmunds-headline-ewc (Sep 12)​

In her Facebook interview at Champs Camp, Polina sounded excited about the new season -- about her new programs and about her goals for the season.

I would say that competing sounds like very much of a priority for Polina.
She has said that Santa Clara is the perfect college choice for her not only because of its academic strength, but also because its proximity will allow her to continue training.

ETA:

... Edmunds spent much of July at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, working with United States Olympic Committee strength and conditioning trainer Brandon Siakel to keep in shape and learn how to work around her injury. She returned to San Jose at the end of July.
"I'm cleared to skate again, and I'm feeling really good," Edmunds said. "I have a plan on how to ease in. I'm so happy to be healthy and back."

.... This fall, she will take writing, history and political science classes, all scheduled in the early morning.
"I'll have the rest of the day to skate, do schoolwork and everything else," Polina said. "I think it's going to work out well for me, at least this season, and I think as a whole, it's a great school to accommodate my skating." ....



Plus ... USFS included Polina in all of the announcement hoopla over San Jose's selection for 2018 Nats. I'm sure she is very much motivated to compete in her hometown and to be chosen there for the 2018 Olympic team.​
 
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Has Ashley been anywhere yet this season? I feel like I haven't seen her in forever.
 
I'd heard Ashley was touring a lot this summer, mostly in Japan. She needs to make as much $$ as she can as she is independent of her parents and pays for housing, training and equipment by herself.

But going back even to her junior days, Ashley hasn't participated much in summer competitions anyway.
 
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