2017-18 State of U.S. Ladies Skating

[frida80]

Stunning!!! Thank you posting that clip for us. Ashley truly seems to be getting better with age. I'm really excited to see this program when it's complete.

By the way....Do we have any updates on Mirai? I feel like I haven't seen much of her lately.

Any updates on anyone?!??? Tyler pierce: injury over? Polina: underrotations under control? Gracie: music choice? (Remember last year she chose to announce her music in a different "cool" way, with pictures and the backing of john Wilson blades) Paige: how's it going with new coach?

We're all starving for information this summer!!!

Here's what I know. Mirai had a mini vacation earlier and is back hard at work for the new season. She took part of the Aerial competition a few weeks ago. Last week she was in Canada getting her choreography done. She will debut in Skate detroit

Polina is practicing her jumps. I saw her attempt her 3Lz on the harness online about a month ago. Her 3Lo and 2A+3T look fine. She debuts at Glacier Falls.

Nothing about programs from Gracie. She was at the a singles camp earlier as a mentor.

 

[skylark]

Quote Originally Posted by Sam-Skwantch View Post
Polina Shelepen posted on Instagram today......

" Can't stop Admiring @AshleyWagner2010"

I've seen her posting tributes to Ashley before but I just wanted to draw attention that Ashley inspires skaters and coaches from around the world

I really appreciate your post and link. I don't keep up much with insta, etc. I enjoyed seeing it.

Yes, it is very much so. I have noticed also that Tatiana Tarasova highly regards Ashley as well as. The attitude towards Ashley is quiet different in US though.

I've noticed that Tatiana Tarasova sounds very positive about Ashley. I can only figure out a couple of words, "emotional!" and "musical!" I'd love to read a translation sometime.

Also, we can't forget that when Medvedeva was asked recently what skaters from the past inspire her, she chose one of her competitors from present day: Ashley. Saying she admires how Ashley can portray so many different kinds of music. (something like that, I paraphrased.)

 

[andromache]

Polina has never excited me too much before, but I am so excited we will be seeing her back in competition! It'd be nice if she could come out guns blazing.

 

[mrrice]

Polina has never excited me too much before, but I am so excited we will be seeing her back in competition! It'd be nice if she could come out guns blazing.

What Polina brings to the table is a consistency that several of the US ladies have been lacking. Unless she's injured in some way, she rarely gives points away by falling. Like Mirai, and the old Ashley, Polina is prone to under rotating her jumps. She was great in 2016 and I think she should keep that SP and get herself a better Long Program. She could also use better costuming but, I'm very happy to see her return this season.

 

[R.D.]

What Polina brings to the table is a consistency that several of the US ladies have been lacking. Unless she's injured in some way, she rarely gives points away by falling. Like Mirai, and the old Ashley, Polina is prone to under rotating her jumps. She was great in 2016 and I think she should keep that SP and get herself a better Long Program. She could also use better costuming but, I'm very happy to see her return this season.

Alas, if she only had a higher score ceiling.

Also, I think she's been gone long enough that it may not be guaranteed that she still has said consistency now.

 

[mrrice]

Alas, if she only had a higher score ceiling.

Also, I think she's been gone long enough that it may not be guaranteed that she still has said consistency now.

Time will tell.....Polina's ceiling is definitely related to her PCS, not her technical ability. I really think that having Polina in the field will light a new fire under all the US Ladies. Skaters like Mariah Bell and Karen Chen have never defeated her. Her Silver Medal in 2016 could have been a spring board for her. If not for her unfortunate boot problems and the bone bruise, she might have done quite well at Worlds.

 

[sabinfire]

Polina as the #1 US lady? It almost happened in 2016, and it could be more likely still this coming season with Gracie in a slump and Ashley not skating to full potential.

We haven't seen Polina compete in nearly 2 years. She's 19 now, I think she could pull it all together and surprise a lot of folks.

 

[frida80]

Time will tell.....Polina's ceiling is definitely related to her PCS, not her technical ability. I really think that having Polina in the field will light a new fire under all the US Ladies. Skaters like Mariah Bell and Karen Chen have never defeated her. Her Silver Medal in 2016 could have been a spring board for her. If not for her unfortunate boot problems and the bone bruise, she might have done quite well at Worlds.

Karen defeated her at 2015 nationals.

 

[mrrice]

Karen defeated her at 2015 nationals.

Did she really??? Was Karen too young to go to Worlds and 4CC? Didn't Polina do really well at 4CC when she wore that light pink dress?

 

[Gullygirl84]

Time will tell.....Polina's ceiling is definitely related to her PCS, not her technical ability. I really think that having Polina in the field will light a new fire under all the US Ladies. Skaters like Mariah Bell and Karen Chen have never defeated her. Her Silver Medal in 2016 could have been a spring board for her. If not for her unfortunate boot problems and the bone bruise, she might have done quite well at Worlds.

If you actually look at the protocols (for her international competitions, she has been consistent at nationals, but they tend to score more easily on the unders and edge calls that she tends to get), I'm not sure that you can say that Polina's TES isn't what holds her back. I can see her holding it together at nationals however and making it to the olympics, though Mariah, Mirai, and Karen all have better international PBs than hers (from 2014 worlds) now, inflation non-withstanding, so I think that the US judges also have more options than maybe they have had in the past when it comes to selecting a team. This season will be interesting!

 

[frida80]

Did she really??? Was Karen too young to go to Worlds and 4CC? Didn't Polina do really well at 4CC when she wore that light pink dress?

Domestic skaters rarely skate against each other international. But at 2015 nationals Karen beat Polina fair and square. I was there in person and the crowd just loved Karen. Polina sadly had to follow Ashley's outstanding skate. It just wasn't good enough to make the podium. What does it matter if Karen was too young to go to worlds? Does that mean Mirai isn't a national champion?

Underperforming national medalist tend to over perform at 4CC because they want to prove themselves. So it's not surprising that Polina won 4CC.

 

[mrrice]

Domestic skaters rarely skate against each other international. But at 2015 nationals Karen beat Polina fair and square. I was there in person and the crowd just loved Karen. Polina sadly had to follow Ashley's outstanding skate. It just wasn't good enough to make the podium. What does it matter if Karen was too young to go to worlds? Does that mean Mirai isn't a national champion?

Underperforming national medalist tend to over perform at 4CC because they want to prove themselves. So it's not surprising that Polina won 4CC.

It doesn't matter to me at this point. I thought Karen was great at Worlds and she has looked spectacular during the summer. I guess my real point was that the top ladies will have extra motivation to be great at Nationals due to the added depth that Polina brings to our Ladies. To me, it's a win win situation.

 

[skylark]

Did she really??? Was Karen too young to go to Worlds and 4CC? Didn't Polina do really well at 4CC when she wore that light pink dress?

Yes Karen was too young. She turned 15 the previous August, and I think the cut-off is in July or June.

That was indeed the year Polina (2015) won 4CC. So it was even more of an upset, since she came in 4th at Nationals.

 

[frida80]

It doesn't matter to me at this point. I thought Karen was great at Worlds and she has looked spectacular during the summer. I guess my real point was that the top ladies will have extra motivation to be great at Nationals due to the added depth that Polina brings to our Ladies. To me, it's a win win situation.

I think it will add some pressure, which is a good thing. We need our ladies at their best if we want solid chance at the team event. But I'm most concerned with over hyping Polina when she's been off the ice for a year. It will take some time for her to find her rhythm again, especially since the two jumps she couldn't perform were her flip and lutz. I'm very patient with skaters when they come back from injuries, but it feels like everyone gets so impatient, labels them hopeless, and ignores them until the do well again. I hope she come out strong, but I hope that everyone else won't criticize her if she doesn't come back as fast as they hoped.

 

[SarahSynchro]

The common complaint about Polina is that her programs are "boring" and/or "childish".

Her 2015-16 Moonlight Sonata SP was gorgeous, mature, and ooooh, those beautiful twizzles right on the change in the music were simply fantastic. Hopefully she will go in that direction for both her programs in the coming season. No more Tinkerbell or Gone With the Wind, please!

 

[jFarrisFAN]

Evgenia has released her music choices for the season (see Russian ladies thread) Evgenia and Mirai will have the same SP this year... Pretty disappointed in evgenias teams decision since Mirai announced quite some time ago that she will keep the SP for this season... it will be hard for her to skate to the same program as the 2 time world champion and record holder.

 

[andromache]

The common complaint about Polina is that her programs are "boring" and/or "childish".

Her 2015-16 Moonlight Sonata SP was gorgeous, mature, and ooooh, those beautiful twizzles right on the change in the music were simply fantastic. Hopefully she will go in that direction for both her programs in the coming season. No more Tinkerbell or Gone With the Wind, please!

This.

Also, her lack of speed has been a recurring issue. Here's hoping the time off from jumping has helped out everything else.

 

[frida80]

Evgenia has released her music choices for the season (see Russian ladies thread) Evgenia and Mirai will have the same SP this year... Pretty disappointed in evgenias teams decision since Mirai announced quite some time ago that she will keep the SP for this season... it will be hard for her to skate to the same program as the 2 time world champion and record holder.

I think Mirai is getting a new short. In her interview post Aerial competitions she said that she hadn't gotten the music for her programs yet. I was horrified when I saw that and hoped it was just a misunderstanding.

 

[SnowWhite]

Evgenia has released her music choices for the season (see Russian ladies thread) Evgenia and Mirai will have the same SP this year... Pretty disappointed in evgenias teams decision since Mirai announced quite some time ago that she will keep the SP for this season... it will be hard for her to skate to the same program as the 2 time world champion and record holder.

It will be somewhat unfortunate if Mirai is in fact keeping that program, and I would feel for Mirai, but:

1. Just because the music choice was just announced now doesn't mean they hadn't decided by the time Mirai said that. Lots of skaters (or their teams) have music for the Olympic season in mind a year + in advance.
2. It's not the same version at least. Evgenia's has violin as opposed to just piano, so it won't sound the exact same (ETA Mirai's has violin too, got that from another poster who has since corrected it)
3. I wouldn't expect Evgenia's team to carry very much what the 4th place lady from US Nationals skates to (I know that sounds kind of mean to Mirai, which I don't really mean, but it makes my point clear). I'd be surprised if they'd see Mirai using the same music as a reason not to pick what they thought was best.

 

[LiamForeman]

I know at least TSL has reported she's back with Frank. As Dave put it; the last two Olympics Frank was able to take his first time student all the way to 4th at the Olympics. Would be a feat to pull off something like that 3 Olympics in a row!

What does that even mean? What is a first time student?