2018-19 U.S. Ladies' figure skating

[SnowWhite]

Puberty at 16 is not that rare in Europe and elsewhere. Plus, Eteri's skaters are kept artificially (and scarily) thin, when a certain percentage of body fat is necessary for menstruation. Worlds-level female gymnasts are also kept artificially thin and, like Eteri's skaters, go through a growth spurt after they seem to have peaked athletically (e.g. Radionova or the gymnasts moving on to NCAA). That degree of thinness delays puberty.

Sofia is not one of Eteri's students.

 

[tinybluemoon]

Puberty at 16 is not that rare in Europe and elsewhere. Plus, Eteri's skaters are kept artificially (and scarily) thin, when a certain percentage of body fat is necessary for menstruation. Worlds-level female gymnasts are also kept artificially thin and, like Eteri's skaters, go through a growth spurt after they seem to have peaked athletically (e.g. Radionova or the gymnasts moving on to NCAA). That degree of thinness delays puberty.

I don't think it's right to say that Eteri's skaters are all kept artificially, scary thin. I mean I would dare say Starr is actually thinner than Kostornaia, who if you look at pictures of from 2-3 years ago I don't think anybody could deny has gone through, or at least is in the last few stages of, puberty.

I think it's important to remember that puberty looks very different on different people. It would be a very boring world if we all grew up to look the same.

 

[frida80]

Mariah did well at SC. 4th place. Good effort in a deep field!!


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Starr improved from SkAm but still struggled. Dropped from 4th to 7th ah well.

More like Starr improved 24 points in just six days. It was a great rebound from such a disappointing result. Seventh is nothing to sniff at in such a deep field. I just hope all the layout changes are over and they can focus on improving this one.

Mariah has made such strides since last year! She’s clearly more confident and ready to make a impact. Hopefully her programs will settle and we can see another GP medal from her!

 

[concorde]

Mariah did well at SC. 4th place. Good effort in a deep field!!


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Starr improved from SkAm but still struggled. Dropped from 4th to 7th ah well.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer.

Starr got 9th in the long which made her finish 7th overall. She had 4 under-rotated triples and a warning call on one of her few fully rotated triples.

Mariah did not do any 3-3 in her long. I thought she had some so I was surprised.

 

[MarinHondas]

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer.

Starr got 9th in the long which made her finish 7th overall. She had 4 under-rotated triples and a warning call on one of her few fully rotated triples.

Mariah did not do any 3-3 in her long. I thought she had some so I was surprised.

Mariah is focusing on going clean(er) instead of doing 3-3’s and it’s paying off. She’s scoring higher than she did last year on the GP, when she was attempting a 3-3 in the long. She will probably add a 3-3 in her long later this season. She has a 2a-3t and a 3lutz-2t-2lo which are both worth a good amount of points. She does one in her short to stay competitive.

 

[concorde]

So she is hoping the higher GOEs will off set the lower base value.

I think that is a good strategy for a rising skater but for one of top ladies, not so. I think this just highlights the issues facing the US ladies.i gues that my hope was that to be a top US lady, a skater had to have at least one somewhat reliable 3-3.

 

[TontoK]

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer.

Starr got 9th in the long which made her finish 7th overall. She had 4 under-rotated triples and a warning call on one of her few fully rotated triples.

Mariah did not do any 3-3 in her long. I thought she had some so I was surprised.

I still have some hope for Mariah. She stayed in her former coaching situation too long, and thus missed an important window for technical growth. Someone else did, too, but wrong thread.

I think it's time to consider that Starr is a one-hit (kinda) wonder who has an interesting backstory. But is not a real contender.

 

[chuckm]

Alena Budko won Golden Bear! Highest PCS of the day as well.

Kate Wang won the bronze medal in the same (Advanced Novice) event.

And Emilia Murdock won silver in the Junior Ladies event (the winner was JGPFinalist Alena Kanysheva)

 

[sheetz]

Mariah's layout is decently competitive given that she repeats both 3Lz and 3F, with two 3Lz's and one 3F in the bonus. She just needs to gain enough stamina to land the last 3Lz.

 

[evasorange]

Well I think Mariah was stunning out there on the ice! Her programs are both SO beautiful and her spins look great this year! She just needs to push a little
Bit harder...if she didn’t have the urs and fall she could have gotten bronze here...

 

[Anni234]

According to the USFS international assignments page, Karen Chen and Ting Cui have been assigned to compete at Tallinn Trophy in late November.

Whaaaat, Karen is coming to my town and I can't go, cause I'm abroad. :sad4:

 

[Amei]

Mariah is focusing on going clean(er) instead of doing 3-3’s and it’s paying off. She’s scoring higher than she did last year on the GP, when she was attempting a 3-3 in the long. She will probably add a 3-3 in her long later this season. She has a 2a-3t and a 3lutz-2t-2lo which are both worth a good amount of points. She does one in her short to stay competitive.

Well hopefully her team plans on adding a 3-3 to the FS at the end of the season towards nationals, 4ccs and worlds (should she make the team on the latter 2). Her current layout may keep her competitive in GP events where she can finish with a respectable place but Worlds where its all the top skaters will be, no 3-3 makes you noncompetitive for a top 5 without you going clean and a lot of other ladies having bad days.

 

[MarinHondas]

Emilia Murdock wins the silver behind Alena Kanysheva at Golden Bear in junior ladies!

 

[Tavi...]

I still have some hope for Mariah. She stayed in her former coaching situation too long, and thus missed an important window for technical growth. Someone else did, too, but wrong thread.

Mariah was only with Kori for two years, from about 18-20. I think the window for acquiring triples and triple-triples is generally thought to be younger than that. So whatever you think of Kori, I’m not sure it’s fair to blame Mariah’s issues on her. She’s been with Raf about the same amount of time she was with Kori.

 

[frida80]

Mariah has a triple triple. She just struggles with it and that leads to mistakes in the rest of her program. She nailed it in her CS competition. Hopefully using just the SP to focus on it leads to better consistency.

 

[Tavi...]

Mariah has a triple triple. She just struggles with it and that leads to mistakes in the rest of her program. She nailed it in her CS competition. Hopefully using just the SP to focus on it leads to better consistency.

My point was really that Kori shouldn’t be held responsible for all of Mariah’s technical deficiencies.

 

[frida80]

My point was really that Kori shouldn’t be held responsible for all of Mariah’s technical deficiencies.

I was referring to the general discussion that Mariah isn't attempting a 3-3 in the FS. But I agree, Kori is getting a raw deal.

 

[TontoK]

My point was really that Kori shouldn’t be held responsible for all of Mariah’s technical deficiencies.

Perhaps you're right. I'm probably letting my disregard of Kori on another matter seep into this discussion.

That said, has she coached any skater who appears to have advanced to the top rungs of the technical ladder? I mean someone who has consistently delivered the jump difficulty required to excel in today's skating world?

 

[chuckm]

Raf seemed very pleased with Mariah in the KnC at Skate Canada---that in itself is very encouraging.

 

[Tavi...]

Perhaps you're right. I'm probably letting my disregard of Kori on another matter seep into this discussion.

That said, has she coached any skater who appears to have advanced to the top rungs of the technical ladder? I mean someone who has consistently delivered the jump difficulty required to excel in today's skating world?

Off-topic for the thread, but it depends what you mean. She hasn’t developed any skaters you’ve never heard of, but at the 2014 Olympics, Jason was in a virtual 4-way tie for bronze after the SP, 0.98 points behind Javi. He had an outside chance to medal but skated last in the final group and succumbed to nerves and inexperience. Looking at his protocol, he could have done it with a squeaky clean program. But that’s not really what you’re looking for, I don’t think.