State of U.S. Ladies' skating 2016-17 | Page 106 | Golden Skate

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

But Mirai uderrotates differently, she generally avoids the chuncky sound by landing on her toepick and finishing the rotation before gliding her blade down. She does this sometimes and gets called, it is clearly happening here. I love Mirai but once you watch what she does closely you will see what is really going on.

Still that 3A from Instagram video looks clean and rotated enough to me. Deserving of full credit and +GOE if executed like that in competition.
 
The recent 3A videos that she or Tom have posted all look to be rotated enough for full credit. The question is whether she can jump with the same freedom in competition, and have enough energy and control over her excitement to land 6 more fully-rotated triples. It would be an impressive achievement if she pulls it off, because we haven't seen an American do a real one since Tonya Harding. (Sorry, Kimmie).
 
Anyone else watching the lower ranks? I'm watching intermediate results, and I was impressed by Stephanie Chiarochi. She won juvenile last year and won intermediate this year. She's worth watching. I'm no expert, but I enjoy watching the future skaters.
 
Novice free skate on right now. Lots of 3-3 attempts, but lots of URs with it, which I think will prove to be a good thing in the long run.
 
Novice free skate on right now. Lots of 3-3 attempts, but lots of URs with it, which I think will prove to be a good thing in the long run.

I agree. I think USFS encouraging skaters to go for triples and triple-triples earlier in the ranks will end up being a good thing. The fact they get a bonus for them and less punishment for falls encourages skaters to put them in their programs earlier- landing something in practice isn't the same as doing it in competition.
 
Novice free skate on right now. Lots of 3-3 attempts, but lots of URs with it, which I think will prove to be a good thing in the long run.

I'm kind of impressed that Angelina Huang, who ended up winning, did a 3Lz-1L-3S and somehow managed to get the loop downgraded but got full credit for both triples.

And Alysa Liu was very ambitious with a 3Lz-3T AND a 3F-1L-3S, and an attempted 7-triple FS even though 6 of the 7 got hit with URs. I'm interested to see if she can get a handle on those especially because it'll be a while before she's ISU Junior eligible. She was born August 2005, which means she won't be able to compete in JGPs until the 2019-2020 season
 
I'm kind of impressed that Angelina Huang, who ended up winning, did a 3Lz-1L-3S and somehow managed to get the loop downgraded but got full credit for both triples.

And Alysa Liu was very ambitious with a 3Lz-3T AND a 3F-1L-3S, and an attempted 7-triple FS even though 6 of the 7 got hit with URs. I'm interested to see if she can get a handle on those especially because it'll be a while before she's ISU Junior eligible. She was born August 2005, which means she won't be able to compete in JGPs until the 2019-2020 season

Both Polina and Karen struggled with under rotations when they were the lower level too. I'm sure she'll fix it. I'm glad most of these girls are just attempting them already. It's better to attempt them now and fix them early.
 
If the callers are strict at the Novice level, I'm hoping that means they'll be strict in the upper levels too.
 
thanks...do you know the placements?

Placements can be found here: http://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2017/24267/CAT009SEG031.html

For future reference, so you can look them up yourself, the icenetwork results page: http://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2017/24267/results.html

Also, you can just go to the US Nationals subforum and look at the individual event threads. Mrs. P has worked a lot to make sure a lot of relevant info and links are in the first post.
 
I'm kind of impressed that Angelina Huang, who ended up winning, did a 3Lz-1L-3S and somehow managed to get the loop downgraded but got full credit for both triples.

And Alysa Liu was very ambitious with a 3Lz-3T AND a 3F-1L-3S, and an attempted 7-triple FS even though 6 of the 7 got hit with URs. I'm interested to see if she can get a handle on those especially because it'll be a while before she's ISU Junior eligible. She was born August 2005, which means she won't be able to compete in JGPs until the 2019-2020 season

I am not sure what the balance is about doing jumps you can't rotate keeping in mind puberty has not set in either. Good technique seems more important. And sometimes the flat or straight body allows you to develop bad habits which you get away when young don't survive puberty. Perhaps in part why female skaters who don't have a lot of curves have an advantage in jumps even if their technique is not the best.

Not sure if this is the same for men. There is a 12 year old from Canada doing triple axels and quads and actually rotating and landing them.
 
The State of U.S. Ladies' Skating is ... Alive, Thriving, and Brilliant !! (my diagnosis:))

Some thrilling moments at the SP:

Tessa Hong. On this night, Tessa's program was the first time I lost myself in her performance, in her music, in the lovely composition. She's very lyrical. Wonderful debut. She's only 14, so lots of growing and maturing to do, we'll see how it all turns out.

Karen Chen. Brilliant skating, fabulous music and program concept, lovely interpretation. Karen created The Moment of the night; she's a Born Performer. She fulfilled all the promise she showed at 2015 nationals, and then some. I felt privileged to be able to witness this skate. She launched her 3L-3T right in front of me; the Lutz was huge, caused people all around to gasp. I had also watched her warming up that jump at least 3 times in the 6 minute warm-up, with increasing degrees of success, but never as great as during the performance.

Mirai Nagasu. Very powerful, aggressive, focused skating. Mirai's spins are second only to Karen's, in my opinion. Her layback is gorgeous. (Everyone on this site knows this, though.) I listened to Mirai's comments afterward, and I only have one wish, that she could show some of that charming personality on the ice. Her face during the skate reminded me of Mr.Rice's immortal words: she looked like she was taking a physics exam. Hopefully, once she's alleviated a little of the stress of making this comeback, she can relax and portray more of the emotion of the music.

Ashley Wagner. Gorgeous skating. Musically engaged and engaging; Born Performer. I anxiously awaited her 3F-3T, and it was beautiful. Her loop, inspiring. But what's truly inspiring is her devotion to bringing the audience in, her ice presence. She commanded the arena and brought it. It's particularly inspirational because this was mentally a very tough skate for her, as she said afterward, following her CoC troubles. I'm looking forward to seeing her more relaxed tomorrow, as this SP gave her a much needed boost of confidence.

Gracie Gold. It's great to see her showing joy in her skating and confidence again. She needed this skate to bring herself back, and although she's generously given credit to her team, her family, and Alex, it came down to her to perform. It was always up to her. I'm proud of her. She also did her 3L-3T right in front of me, and while it was great, I found that it didn't have the impact on me that Karen's had. YMMV. I found her skating a little too aggressive for the tango,(even an Assassin's Tango!), but she needed that in that moment.

Mariah Bell. Yet another born performer. Talk about charm! You can tell that her foremost desire is to enjoy the program herself, and share everything with us: the thrilling jumps, the great choreography, and Mariah's wonderful panache in performing that choreo. She said she rushed the combo a bit, and she felt the pressure of expectations. She coped great; the audience loved her skating.

Caroline Zhang's 3Lo-3Lo was lovely; Amber Glenn's performance overall was very musical and engaging, but for the fall. These are all I can think of right now.
 
I feel like we go through this every year. I still don't see anything convincing beyond Wagner and Gold, and even those two aren't much so these days.

Chen did a great job last night, yes, but that's only one program and we're talking about someone who has been shown to be quite meltdown-prone. Can she come even close to the same intensity of the FS? And even if she somehow DOES, and she's sent to Worlds, will she avoid disaster there? Or even make top 6-8 at her best?

Bell is in the mix but real talk - can't screw up on the SP and hope to set world on fire. You just can't...

Nagasu - same UR tendencies. Fine here, but would likely be torn apart by all but the most lenient of international callers.

Positives: mostly among some of the non-contenders who brought joy to their skates - Rydberg, Shilling, T. Hong, the like. Edmunds will definitely be missed; she provided at least some consistency and reliability even if she was never a true medal threat.
 
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I feel like we go through this every year. I still don't see anything convincing beyond Wagner and Gold, and even those two aren't much so these days.

Chen did a great job last night, yes, but that's only one program and we're talking about someone who has been shown to be quite meltdown-prone. Can she come even close to the same intensity of the FS? And even if she somehow DOES, and she's sent to Worlds, will she avoid disaster there? Or even make top 6-8 at her best?

Bell is in the mix but real talk - can't screw up on the SP and hope to set world on fire. You just can't...

Nagasu - same UR tendencies. Fine here, but would likely be torn apart by all but the most lenient of international callers.

Positives: mostly among some of the non-contenders who brought joy to their skates - Rydberg, Shilling, T. Hong, the like.

I cringe to think about how the current top 3 would do at worlds with those programs after seeing how Kaetlyn and Gabrielle skated their SPs today.
 
After what I just saw from Kaetlyn Osmond..... I think all of our ladies need to step it up. We'll see after the free program if Gracie can skate clean. She, at least on paper, is the only skater with the content to medal at Worlds right now.
 
I feel like we go through this every year. I still don't see anything convincing beyond Wagner and Gold, and even those two aren't much so these days.

Chen did a great job last night, yes, but that's only one program and we're talking about someone who has been shown to be quite meltdown-prone. Can she come even close to the same intensity of the FS? And even if she somehow DOES, and she's sent to Worlds, will she avoid disaster there? Or even make top 6-8 at her best?

Bell is in the mix but real talk - can't screw up on the SP and hope to set world on fire. You just can't...

Nagasu - same UR tendencies. Fine here, but would likely be torn apart by all but the most lenient of international callers.

Positives: mostly among some of the non-contenders who brought joy to their skates - Rydberg, Shilling, T. Hong, the like.

I would say our best chance at Olympic podium is Gracie Gold (and that's IF, IF, she can shape up, top form). karen did great last night, but that 3T uR problem always sneaks up on her....Mirai (for me, I haven't watched her enough to know where she stands technically, but I just don't think she will score well with the international judges), mariah (love her, but she lacks the international reputation), and Ashley is just getting old (not sure how much longer she can keep up technically).
 
I would say our best chance at Olympic podium is Gracie Gold (and that's IF, IF, she can shape up, top form). karen did great last night, but that 3T uR problem always sneaks up on her....Mirai (for me, I haven't watched her enough to know where she stands technically, but I just don't think she will score well with the international judges), mariah (love her, but she lacks the international reputation), and Ashley is just getting old (not sure how much longer she can keep up technically).

The LP is shaping up to be a complete disaster. Our two best skaters are off form, while Karen and Mirai will be under immense pressure to hold on to their spots.
 
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