It looks like with some of the underwhelming performances of U.S. ladies during the fall, U.S. fed is saying whoever can bring it is going to get the marks. Sad for Mariah, Courtney, Amber and others who had glitches. Mariah performed well, except for the fall on second half of combo jump. I think Mariah should have placed ahead of Gracie.
The twist is that Tessa Hong despite maturity beyond her years, is 14 and would not be able to go to Worlds. It's really interesting to see Karen Chen skate so well after myriad problems she's had recently. Looks like the trend to white dresses was inspired by Ash's white dress in her last season's free skate.
Anything can happen in the free skates. I really hope Mirai skates well and completes the 3-axel. The only thing about Mirai is the expressions on her face that are sometimes off-putting. The other issue for Karen and Mirai is the tendency for them to get underrotation calls, so that can sometimes end up with them getting reviewed and called for URs that maybe aren't URs.
But worse than the expressions on Mirai's face is the fearful nervous look Gracie tends to have at the boards and out on the ice before her performance. Unfortunately, I do not think that what Frank says at the boards is at all helpful to Gracie.
Maybe Gracie should think about cutting her hair, dying it, and going back to her former coach, Alex.
It's sad for Gracie. It seemed like she'd turned a corner during her teleconference. But she is still shaky with no confidence. If I were her, I'd have to examine whether I truly wanted to skate, and if so decide to break with Frank and go back to Alex, which is not a failure. She definitely needs to figure out how to manage her nerves and gain some new inspiration, and realize that she doesn't need to please anyone except herself!
. On the other hand, everyone in the top 7 is still in contention, especially if Gold/Wagner goes clean. Ice is slippery.
hwell
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