2018-19 U.S. Men’s figure skating

[oatmella]

Congrats Tomoki on winning Junior Worlds!:luv17:

 

[truthbooth]

Congratulations to 2019 World Junior Champion, Tomoki Hiwatashi! This has been such a breakout season for him and what a way to top it off.

On another note, I'm worried about Camden's propensity to fall apart in free skates. He has so many redeeming qualities, I hope he and his team can figure it out for the future.

 

[el henry]

Yay, Tomoki.

TBH, I think his bronze at Worlds (a few years ago ) was certainly a breakout, but this shows it was no fluke.

and the most epic KnC reaction evah

 

[s_parks]

Frankly, Camden's not going to "figure it out" with his current team.
Congrats to Tomoki. Crazy to think his JW bronze was 3 years ago. Awesome that he really got it together from nationals and onwards after struggling this very same season.

 

[ice coverage]

Congratulations to Tomoki.

Thanks to his JW win/placement, the U.S. is entitled to two men's entries for 2020 Youth Olympic Games.

(ETA: Because of the correction below from SnowWhite , I am deleting my incorrect comment re U.S. pairs and YOG.)​

At the FS press conference, Tomoki named both Nathan and Vincent among skaters who have inspired him. (Also Yagudin, Hanyu, Shoma Uno, and Mao Asada.)

Sweet photos of Mitchell Johansson Method skaters and coaches gathered on ice to support Tomoki as they watch FS streaming:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Buwz_08n59B/ (Mar 8)​

(As an aside: Ross Miner is in the first photo. He recently was MJM junior lady Milly Murdock's coach at Bavarian Open, where she won silver.)

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Hugs to Camden.
(2016 YOG competitor, BTW.)

What was his time violation? Causing a deduction of -2.00.

 

[SnowWhite]

Congratulations to Tomoki.

Thanks to his JW win/placement, the U.S. is entitled to two men's entries for 2020 Youth Olympic Games.
(Similarly Feng/Nyman's placement has qualified the U.S. for two pair entries to YOG.)

At the FS press conference, Tomoki named both Nathan and Vincent among skaters who have inspired him. (Also Yagudin, Hanyu, Shoma Uno, and Mao Asada.)

Sweet photos of Mitchell Johansson Method skaters and coaches gathered on ice to support Tomoki as they watch FS streaming:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Buwz_08n59B/ (Mar 8)​

(As an aside: Ross Miner is in the first photo. He recently was MJM junior lady Milly Murdock's coach at Bavarian Open, where she won silver.)

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Hugs to Camden.
(2016 YOG competitor, BTW.)

What was his time violation? Causing a deduction of -2.00.

I think that only countries with a skater on the podium get 2 spots for the Youth Olympics. It's NOCs among the top three ranked skaters, not countries like for JGP spots.

NOCs represented among the top three (3) ranked couples in the Pairs’ event
at the WJC are entitled to two (2) quota places.

 

[Nathan13]

Frankly, I didn't think Camden was as bad today as many have eluded to. The problem is he has to skate 100% perfect and deliver all of his content because he has no points cushion from the quad to be even remotely competitive. He is one of my favorites so I hope he can regroup and comeback strong as a senior next year.

Edit to add: Camden was also the highest scored in PCS (and deservedly so), so that should definitely be encouraging.

 

[RemyRose]

Frankly, I didn't think Camden was as bad today as many have eluded to. The problem is he has to skate 100% perfect and deliver all of his content because he has no points cushion from the quad to be even remotely competitive. He is one of my favorites so I hope he can regroup and comeback strong as a senior next year.

Edit to add: Camden was also the highest scored in PCS (and deservedly so), so that should definitely be encouraging.

He wasn't as bad. It could have been much worse like at Nationals or GPF.

 

[ice coverage]

I think that only countries with a skater on the podium get 2 spots for the Youth Olympics. It's NOCs among the top three ranked skaters, not countries like for JGP spots.

Ooops, sorry that I misread :hopelessness: the YOG document. Thanks for the correction.
I will edit my post accordingly, regarding pairs.

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Frankly, I didn't think Camden was as bad today as many have eluded to. The problem is he has to skate 100% perfect and deliver all of his content because he has no points cushion from the quad to be even remotely competitive. He is one of my favorites so I hope he can regroup and comeback strong as a senior next year.

Edit to add: Camden was also the highest scored in PCS (and deservedly so), so that should definitely be encouraging.

:agree:

I would add that Camden -- one of my favorites too -- did not have any URs, even though he was having other issues.

Still wondering what the time violation was?
(I have no idea whether already discussed in the competition thread.)

 

[Interspectator]

Yay, Tomoki.

TBH, I think his bronze at Worlds (a few years ago ) was certainly a breakout, but this shows it was no fluke.

and the most epic KnC reaction evah

I watched it on repeat! Highlight of the event.

 

[sheetz]

Just watched the boys. I honestly didn't see much improvement with Camden, except that I think this time he elected to pop a couple of jumps (flip and salchow) that in the past he might have otherwise attempted to rotate (and fall on). Maybe that's what TomZ meant when he said Camden skated two "clean" programs at juniors camp--pops but no falls. Otherwise he still has the tilted lutzes, and that 3A save was amazing. Not many skaters could have stayed on their feet with that jump, but that may be part of Camden's problem because I sometimes feel he relies too much on his natural athleticism instead of good technique to land his jumps.

Tomoki was solid, although not perfect. This win must surely be a tremendous boost to his confidence. He looks ready for seniors.

Not the best performance for Alex who seemed to struggle with his fitness and was looking pretty winded by the end. Although he fell on his 4T attempt and made uncharacteristic errors on his favorite 3As, I could see him being fine once his conditioning returns.

 

[century2009]

Tomoki did a great job to set himself up for Senior next year.

Over the summer, he should add more quads and if he is consistent he can compete with the #2 and #3 spots of US men (obviously Nathan is there).

I hope Camden moves to a different tech coach. It is just not working. His jumps are inconsistent and does not have the confidence technically.

If Camden can add quads for his 1st Senior year, he can challenge for those #2 and #3 but not too hopeful.

Camden is artistically wonderful but he falls apart and his jumps are not there.

Hopefully Alex gets better next year and can add quads because he has a big challenge both in PCs and Tech. So he needs to work hard to both his programs and adding quads.

Tomoki has a bigger chance of challenging for #2 and #3 but needs another quad at minimum.

 

[skatenewbie]

Tomoki has a bigger chance of challenging for #2 and #3 but needs another quad at minimum.

with 2 4T in the free and 4T in the short he should be competitive with #3 at least. Unless Jason went clean especially in FS, if Tomoki land the quads it should close the PCS gap. It'd be better if Tomoki can have 4S or any other quads though

 

[RemyRose]

Still wondering what the time violation was?
(I have no idea whether already discussed in the competition thread.)

You're only allowed to move at max, 3:40 seconds for a Junior FP. For up to every 5 seconds over, it's a 1 point deduction. He moved for about 9 seconds too long thus a 2 point deduction. Don't know how that happened. Program was 3:49 seconds long.

 

[noskates]

I watched Camden in warmups at Nationals (in juniors) 2 years ago and I could swear he was doing quads. I think there's a lot of skating in that young man and it just needs to be guided. I've never thought much of Tom Z. as a coach (couldn't tell you why though.......) but Camden is a raw talent and needs someone who can develop his confidence and work on his jumping technique. As far as performance, he has it all over Zhou and many of the senior men. I hope this competition gives him and his family some pause for thought about what needs to be done. I hope he comes back really strong next year.

 

[century2009]

with 2 4T in the free and 4T in the short he should be competitive with #3 at least. Unless Jason went clean especially in FS, if Tomoki land the quads it should close the PCS gap. It'd be better if Tomoki can have 4S or any other quads though

The 4S is a safety net for him but also to challenge his international competitors.

I think for him to have a dent internationally as a 1st year Senior he will need 2 different quads to balance the PCs lower given it is his 1st year.

 

[Heleng]

Congratulations to Tomoki, very happy for his win What a terrific season he's had, improving so much over the last couple of seasons including going from 12th to 4th at U.S. Nationals and landing a quad fairly consistently! If he keeps it up, he could make the World team next season. I think both Camden and Alex have alot of potential, hopefully they'll each have breakout seasons sooner than later.

 

[ice coverage]

Pre-Worlds media teleconferences started today, so stay tuned for articles with quotes.

So far I have seen that Hersh tweeted re Vincent's call and Lynn Rutherford tweeted re Bradie's.

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You're only allowed to move at max, 3:40 seconds for a Junior FP. For up to every 5 seconds over, it's a 1 point deduction. He moved for about 9 seconds too long thus a 2 point deduction. Don't know how that happened. Program was 3:49 seconds long.

Thanks for the reply.

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ETA:

Re Tomoki, I forgot to say: Congratulations for the gold at Junior Worlds.

And … for the super-entertaining gala program.

Tomoki will be a guest skater at Showtime on Ice in Colorado on the weekend of April 26-28.

After Nats, Hanna Harrell and he were announced as guest skaters. Ryan Bradley will emcee.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtudnOCn_sX/ (Feb 10)​

 

[Ice Dance]

Camden has never had a quad, and he's built like Jason at the hips so it's obviously a real challenge. I do not get the Tom & Tammy hate. It's obvious that Tom challenges his athletes to do as much difficulty as they can. Max trying two quads when most of the U.S. guys couldn't do one. Mirai developing her axel, despite a lot of us thinking how was she going to deal with that when she already struggled so much with rotations? Young You is trying to develop her axel. Vincent going for the quad lutz his last junior season. Yelim Kim is getting her rotations this season, which she really struggled with last season. And Tom & Tammy took in Ting Cui after she was coachless this summer and struggling just to compete with the other U.S. ladies during the club competitions. Tammy, in particular, and Tom too seem to be open to taking in athletes that really struggle or have a lot of ups & downs.

Camden is quite unique among the athletes that came from Tom's side of the partnership in that Camden developed his style & presentation while skating under Tom. I assume this came from work with Camden's choreographer, but that style has been supported by his coach, which is so nice to see. Camden has never had fans expect anything of him before. For the past two years, he was behind Kraznozhon internationally. I do think some of this struggling in the LP is probably dealing with this new form of competition nerves. If his basics and style weren't so good and if the SP allowed a quadruple jump, he wouldn't keep leading after the short and then having that extra pressure heading into the free. But it's good experience. It's something so many athletes deal with on the way up. Might as well deal with it now on the junior scene. Mirai, Sasha, and Gracie all led the SP at Worlds and then struggled in the free under the watchful eye of a much larger & more demanding audience.

Anyway, it's all experience. I do not know if Camden will get a quadruple jump. I do know he skated a beautiful LP at the JGPF last season. He can do that, and I was so proud of him for getting his combination in the SP throughout this season. He really struggled with it all last year. This season he nailed his combo so many times, and often when going up right after a great performance by someone else. There is a competitor in there. He just never seemed to develop the confidence with all of the elements in his LP this season. (It was the same during practices at the JGPF so not just competition pressure). I haven't analyzed his protocols. Are there particular jumps in his LP that he has struggled with all season & are not in his SP? Or is it more random? Obviously, in two of his performances he's missed a lot of jumps, including the ones he usually gets. I'm just wondering which ones he usually doesn't get.

 

[ice coverage]

Torgashev is assigned to Egna Spring Trophy in late March, per USFS assignments page.
Good luck to Andrew. :yay:

(Senior ladies: Andrews, Izzo. Junior ladies: Choi, Shin.
See the USFS page for advanced novice and novice assignments.)

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I rather like the illustration of Vincent in this local Bay Area article (scroll down):

https://nobhillgazette.com/movers-and-shakers-on-the-peninsula-2/ (Mar 11)​

(Nothing new in the short blurb about Vincent, although it's always nice to see him listed as a mover and shaker.)

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... I do not get the Tom & Tammy hate. ...

I don't either. Thanks for your post.

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ETA:

Stumbled upon photos of Tomoki "cracking" his neck at a Junior Worlds practice session.

https://twitter.com/tubaki5296/status/1102955097078882306 (Mar 5)​

Not saying that it's a big deal. I guess I had seen before only that he does it immediately before competing.​