:sarcasm: Jason and Adam may not have made a good impression on Jaana, but it’s clear from the videos and the protocols that the audience and the judges appreciated many things they did. As to whether the competition was “lacking” without Hanyu or Javi, all I will say is that one of the things I greatly appreciate about Hanyu is that - in contrast to many skating fans - he shows great respect for all of his competitors, and frequently acknowledges the things they do well.
Adam’s performance, while not perfect, was a huge improvement over his showing at the GPF last year; just as important, he maintained relative consistency even though he only had two weeks between Skate America and the GPF. Jason has been less consistent than usual this season, and he had a really poor free skate at NHK. Here, despite the last minute notice, he showed significant improvement over NHK, scoring nearly 7 points higher, landing 2 of his 3As, and skating a nearly clean SP. He’s still not where he needs to be, but the demonstrated improvement is important.
My personal opinion is that whoever makes the Olympic team this year will depend on (1) how much USFS cares about medalling in the team event; and (2) whether Nathan wants to skate both segments.
Since Nathan is a strong contender for an individual medal and there are only a few days between the team and individual events, I’d be very surprised if he skates both segments; its most likely that he’ll do the SP because it determines whether you move on to the FS.
Assuming that’s true, given Adam’s consistency this season and demonstrated ability to score well in the FS, unless he bombs at Nats, I think there’s a strong chance he’ll be selected to skate the FS in the team event.
In this scenario, I think the third spot is important as a backup, in case Nathan or Adam is unable to skate in the team event for some reason.
Although Jason has been somewhat inconsistent lately, in the past year he has scored 89-94 in the SP and 170+ in the FS at four different international competitions. Both Max and Vincent have scored comparably in the FS, but neither one has scored nearly as well in the SP. So unless Jason bombs at Nats, I think he has a bit of an advantage.
Unless, of course, someone has a breakout “Riverdance” moment or USFS thinks differently than I do.
ETA, I think it’s kind of stupid to “what if” competitions. Things happen. There is no doubt Jason would have made the GPF last year if he hadn’t been skating with an undiagnosed stress fracture. He didn’t make it last year. Javi didn’t make it this year. The field is what it is.
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, who I hope is with him in Nagoya. When Camden was blowing kisses from center ice, I hoped that he was blowing them partly to her.)
, and trains in California, and this year was his first at Pacific Coast Sectionals.
