2018 US Championships Sr. Ladies FS

[WeakAnkles]

Everybody on this thread be like....

It isn't easy being green.

 

[Putina]

Is Karen Chen related to Nathan Chen?

 

[NAOTMAA]

Ashley... junior girls... oh my. Your disdain for her is quite apparent. Now you’re just being silly.

"junior girls"

Bradie should be pleased with that! After all junior girls is a step up from sonograms

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

NBC doesn’t choose the athletes who make the Olympic team, no, but they can most certainly place Figure skating in not so prime airtime, if they wish.

Are you suggesting they are gonna hold Figure Skating hostage if Ashley doesn’t go? :shocked:

Couldn’t they just show commercials that don’t feature Ashley? They probably have a few.

 

[shiroKJ]

Bradie should be pleased with that, after all junior girls is a step up from sonograms

 

[ks777]

One question for the forum:

Was anybody on the edge of their seat, terrified that Bradie would implode or UR a bunch of jumps?

No? And THAT is why USFSA is so excited about Bradie.

no but she did underrotated a few jumps and I was surprised.

 

[readernick]

This is an interesting idea. But honestly, Ashley used up all her goodwill in 2014. Even though both have been underwhelming, Karen's competitive record in the last year is superior to Ashley's. She's last year's national champ, she got 4th at Worlds (thereby solidifying 3 Olympic spots for the US ladies), and now she's beaten Ashley for the 3rd time at a championship competition. It's close because of Ashley's competitive record pre-2017. And while I agree that La La Land could be exquisite in Pyeongchang, the proof was in the pudding. Karen beat Ashley here, so Karen earned the 3rd spot fair and square.

Sad for Ashley, though.

I can't agree. Did you see the number of under-rotations Karen had? She gets called for them constantly in international competition and her Grand Prix record was even worse than Ashley's. It isn't about goodwill for Ashley it is about motivation. Russia does this. They send everyone to Europeans and if someone screws up they are off the team. This is a good strategy. Even if they are eventually going to send Karen they need to give her motivation to improve. She gets low PCS in international competitions. Her powerful but rather messy skating is not a particular favorite among international judges so she needs to improve her TES if she wants to be a real threat in the future.

 

[rlopen]

I know I might have been involved in some of this but darn some people in this thread are taking it from 0 to 100 very quick

 

[da96103]

Is Karen Chen related to Nathan Chen?

No, but their ancestors could have been neighbours in a Chinese village in mainland China.

 

[schizoanalyst]

I'm fine with the placement and I still I applaud Wagner for calling out judges for anomalous scoring. Actual athletes trash refs all the time. I mean, many competitive snowboarders and ski jumpers has complained publicly about judging and those sports are judged *magnitudes* more fairly and consistently. I'm tired of this conspiracy to keep the judging unquestionable by commentators, skaters, coaches, choreographers all for ad revenue which is vanishing anyway precisely because the ISU and national federations have designed a trash scoring system and maintains a judge selection mechanism that actual empirical research has shown promotes bias and vote-trading.

 

[frida80]

Ashley wuzrobbed.

I'm emotional about it. I'll admit it. But who scores their only world medalist LESS at Nationals than they received that season internationally. (Also, I hate La La Land the movie and music, but that program felt fresh, and Ashley is the only lady who can perform as well as the best in the world.)

I'm over everyone on the internet treating Mirai like a victim.

At least I understand Bradie's overscoring, because I don't blame USFS for wanting to do like Russia and Japan and put their most consistent girls on top, even if they are lackluster in certain areas. Consistency wins in the ladies' events internationally.

I do think Bradie should try backloading next season. If any US lady can do it, it's her. So much solidity and confidence. It's admirable, and it's what's been missing from the US ladies for a long time. Plus, skating last definitely put her in the pressure cooker. Heck, I think she should do both team programs.

Ashley got 15 points higher than she did at SC, her only international competition she completed. Further more, the PCS was higher as well.

 

[Yatagarasu]

NBC doesn’t choose the athletes who make the Olympic team, no, but they can most certainly place Figure skating in not so prime airtime, if they wish.

They are not going to do that over Ashley Wagner.

 

[fleeting]

I know I might have been involved in some of this but darn some people in this thread are taking it from 0 to 100 very quick

Taking everything over the top is one of the defining characteristics of figure skating fans!

 

[WeakAnkles]

You need to practice what you spout. Claiming someone is racist because they said a white girl is attempting to throw shade is an ad hominem attack. Nothing is racist about that except in your strange mind.

You want to say she's throwing shade, fine. But you are the one who brought HER race into it. What would it matter if she were plaid? Shade is still shade no matter what color of the person it comes from. But by highlighting her color, you are playing a race card. And it's unnecessary.

 

[sabinfire]

NBC doesn’t choose the athletes who make the Olympic team, no, but they can most certainly place Figure skating in not so prime airtime, if they wish.

Oh shoot, no more coveted timeslots at noon on Sundays!

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I think Ashley was definitely underscored in components and that they had a clear motive to send Karen over her from the start. But honestly, I agree with this initiative. Karen has been at her best more recently than Ashley (we cannot argue that Ashley is the same skater she was in Boston 2016). Ashley hasn't seemed to have her head in the game as much as she did in seasons past: she needed a lights out performance tonight and she didn't give it. Despite all her underrotations tonight, Karen has been showing a fight and drive that Ashley hasn't really had this season.
Though I will say that La La Land was very light and she really seemed to enjoy herself, even if the program felt somewhat empty.

The problem is, Karen will get absolutely flayed alive on TES (and has this season). On her home GP as the top ranked skater, with home inflation, she was absolutely hammered. On the international stage she will get no favours.

Not that the season after the Olympics matters much, but the US will be pressed to get 3 spots for next year's Worlds... at least at her worst Ashley is a reliable top 7. Although I also think it's fair for Bradie and Mirai to get their shot.

 

[PyeongChang2018]

I never post here but have been reading regularly this season. I also don't know much about skating.

What I will say is I am an actor and Ashley's performance tonight was very flat. She was tentative, visibly nervous, and played it very safe. She was very focused on the technique and going through the motions. She also wasn't alone in this, though. I don't really think a single lady really "went for it" so to speak--by this I mean just skating and relying on muscle memory, focusing on the performance. She had a very static smile plastered on her face the whole time. There was little variation. The breath energy wasn't guiding her.

I'd rather see Chen at the Olympics. She offers more potential and she'll have less nerves on her this time as she's coming into major international competition as the bronze medalist non-headliner. I'm also glad, for this reason, that Mirai was second instead of first. I'm not sure her winning would be a good thing for her going into PyeongChang.

Bradie was good. There shouldn't be any question that she's the best right now. And honestly I think the highest PCS of the night was deserved. She has intricate skating patterns, a very gentle natural attitude while skating, decent edge use, and more choreography in her routine than the other skaters. If I'm being totally honest, while all I wanted was for Mirai to make the team, her program feels entirely void of choreography. It's a jump fest and she's telegraphing lots. So I think Bradie should have the highest PCS.

 

[Ambivalent]

Lol, what a gross sense of entitlement there from Ashley Wagner. You did two subpar programs and didn't rotate your jumps. Mirai, Bradie and Karen for the Olympics!

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Does the Olympic team = the World team? Or can they pull a Japan nationals and allocate different assignments to different skaters?

 

[aa456]

Honestly give Michelle the third spot and call it a day..