2020-21 US Women's Figure Skating

[RatedPG]

Gracie posted the 7th best free skate score amongst the four groups. But, she only came in fourth place in her group. Does that mean she qualified for Nationals? I’m confused how this works.
Congrats to Paige for scoring the highest Senior Ladies score and Levito for being the standout in Juniors, scoring higher than any of the Senior Ladies. Alysa Liu with her Las Vegas Free Skate of 110, would have beaten all but three of these Senior Ladies skaters.

 

[lutzlover]

Are the videos already up on Peacock? I’m having trouble finding any of them...

If you look up “jr” or “sr” they should pop up. Not sure why Peacock hasn’t made it easier to find them but it is annoying

 

[happycamper2554]

Gracie posted the 7th best free skate score amongst the four groups. But, she only came in fourth place in her group. Does that mean she qualified for Nationals? I’m confused how this works.
Congrats to Paige for scoring the highest Senior Ladies score and Levito for being the standout in Juniors, scoring higher than any of the Senior Ladies. Alysa Liu with her Las Vegas Free Skate of 110, would have beaten all but three of these Senior Ladies skaters.

Yes she qualified. They took the top 9.

 

[RatedPG]

Yes she qualified. They took the top 9.

Thanks! This means Gabriella Izzo just qualified with her score at 104. Sierra Venetta and Emily Zhang just missed qualifying with scores of 103 and 102.

 

[Skatefan15]

I’m excited Gracie qualified! And I’m happy to see she did the lutz toe (although this doesn’t really feel like a real competition, but hey, progress is progress)! Her lutz toe was one of the best in the business! And the one she landed in practice at nationals was easily the best one of the week (both in practice and competition lol)!

 

[Victura]

Sorry if this is a silly question, but are there only free skates for this championship series? Why is that?

 

[alexocfp]

Here is a peacock workaround: go to the search and type in “ladies.” The 4 skates show up there.

“free skate” works as well.

 

[Jeanie19]

Here is a peacock workaround: go to the search and type in “ladies.” The 4 skates show up there.

“free skate” works as well.

Thank you.

 

[*~RussianBleux~*]

But what about short programs? Was this whole thing FS only?

 

[Gia_Sesshoumaru]

But what about short programs? Was this whole thing FS only?

Yes it was.

 

[moonvine]

Isn't that exactly what the current system is?

There are a number of criteria, with placement at U.S. Nationals given top priority, but also taking into account (but (weighted less heavily) placement at the previous year's Worlds, Four Continents, Grand Prix Finals, Junior Worlds. etc.

(The only problem is with Four Continents because that happens after U.S. Nationals, so they go back to the previous year.)

This year and next, of course, are in limbo because of all the cancelled and truncated events.

I really hope next year we have a complete or close to it season. The US is supposedly going to be vaccinating non high priority people in late summer/early fall. I don’t know about other countries - does anyone else?

 

[moonvine]

Karen Chen has been getting back into it and delivering quite well though? I think she deserved 4th at the past Four Continents and 2nd at Skate America. She does still need to show some more consistency, but there's reputation judging holding her back at the moment too. She only had a small underrotation on the 3Lutz+3Toe at Skate America (at Four Continents it was clean) and then one popped jump in the LP, which isn't worse than the mistakes Bradie/Mariah made, and her overall quality is better than them.

Mariah in particular is very overrated at the moment - her jumps are low and the 3Toe combo is always scratchy, she's slower across the ice, the transitions and skating skills are nothing special, and her body form and musicality and performance quality lack star quality. With that huge mistake she had on her last 3Lutz at Skate America, she could have been down in 4th overall, if the judging wanted to go that way. She's a bit nicer to watch than Bradie still, but Bradie has an edge on the transitions and jump difficulty. In terms of maximum scoring potential looking towards the Olympic season, Mariah is really only the 5th best USA lady right now (assuming Alysa Liu can get some semblance of her 3Axel back).

Karen Chen + Audrey Shin for the 2021 Worlds team, let's go!

Audrey Shin doesn’t have enough international cred to get high enough scores to get our 3 spots back IMHO.

 

[RatedPG]

So, Bell, Tennell, Glenn, Liu and Chen qualified automatically based on top 5 performance last year (byes). Coincidently, those five were top 5 in that virtual competition. Therefore, USA took next four placements from that competition. I remember the next placements were Shin, Andrews and Pooja.... I forgot the fourth qualifier. This memory eclipse of mine is bothering me right now . So, it is these 9 plus the top 9 scores from this competition making it a total of 18.

 

[natsulian]

So, Bell, Tennell, Glenn, Liu and Chen qualified automatically based on top 5 performance last year (byes). Coincidently, those five were top 5 in that virtual competition. Therefore, USA took next four placements from that competition. I remember the next placements were Shin, Andrews and Pooja.... I forgot the fourth qualifier. This memory eclipse of mine is bothering me right now . So, it is these 9 plus the top 9 scores from this competition making it a total of 18.

Lindsay Thorngren, our reigning Junior Champion. She is 14-years-old (I believe) and her highest score domestically is north of 190.

 

[natsulian]

In terms of Nationals, it is anyone’s game. If Alysa skates cleanly and her skating has truly “transformed,” both Bell and Tennell will have to put up formidable skates to challenge for the gold. The competition between Bradie and Bell is where things get interesting. Internationally, Bradie has consistently been scoring much higher than Bell. However, it seems domestic judges are heavily favoring Bell. Should both put forth clean programs, would Bell’s edge in PCS be enough to make up for her technical deficiencies?

As for the wildcards, we have Audrey, Karen, and Amber. Audrey consistently put forth clean programs not only at Skate America but the Las Vegas Invitational as well. If she can duplicate and improve upon her performances, she could nab a medal. However, if Karen goes clean then there is no way Audrey or Amber should score higher than her. The triple-Axel, which she said she might be attempting at Nationals, could be the big deciding factor. Likewise, Amber’s path to nabbing a medal relies heavily on her triple-Axel. The question, however, is whether or not Amber can land it cleanly. Most of her attempts have either been under or “q.”

Extreme wildcards are Starr and Lindsay. Starr needs the triple-Lutz to pose any threat and Lindsay will need to be squeaky clean because her PCS will not be as high as the other ladies. If Lindsay attempts her current layout which consists of two 3-3s, she could very well glide into the Top 5/6. Starr could score well but moving forward will need to address her technical plateau.

Ladies I’m looking forward to watching are Hanna, Gracie, and Emilia Murdock. Hanna is coming back from a big injury and although she doesn’t have her big elements back, she will surely be building from how she performs at Nationals. Gracie finally landed a 3Lz3T in competition and seems to be working her way back to at least a 5-6 triple program. If she can land everything and not pop, I think she has a great shot of shooting up the ranks. Emilia is an insanely hard worker and a great performer (reminds me of Ashley). I hope to see the fruits of her labor blossom.

All in all, given the circumstance of the world at this time, I am just joyous to be able to talk about figure skating again. <3

 

[RatedPG]

Lindsay Thorngren, our reigning Junior Champion. She is 14-years-old (I believe) and her highest score domestically is north of 190.

Thank you so much!! I can’t believe I forgot about last year’s Junior Champion

 

[Mathman]

The competition between Bradie and Bell is where things get interesting. Internationally, Bradie has consistently been scoring much higher than Bell. However, it seems domestic judges are heavily favoring Bell...

I don't know if the judging is really all that different. I think that for whatever reason Bradie has made fewer mistakes in international competitions than Mariah, while Mariah has been at her best in domestic events.

 

[Skatefan15]

In terms of Nationals, it is anyone’s game. If Alysa skates cleanly and her skating has truly “transformed,” both Bell and Tennell will have to put up formidable skates to challenge for the gold. The competition between Bradie and Bell is where things get interesting. Internationally, Bradie has consistently been scoring much higher than Bell. However, it seems domestic judges are heavily favoring Bell. Should both put forth clean programs, would Bell’s edge in PCS be enough to make up for her technical deficiencies?

As for the wildcards, we have Audrey, Karen, and Amber. Audrey consistently put forth clean programs not only at Skate America but the Las Vegas Invitational as well. If she can duplicate and improve upon her performances, she could nab a medal. However, if Karen goes clean then there is no way Audrey or Amber should score higher than her. The triple-Axel, which she said she might be attempting at Nationals, could be the big deciding factor. Likewise, Amber’s path to nabbing a medal relies heavily on her triple-Axel. The question, however, is whether or not Amber can land it cleanly. Most of her attempts have either been under or “q.”

Extreme wildcards are Starr and Lindsay. Starr needs the triple-Lutz to pose any threat and Lindsay will need to be squeaky clean because her PCS will not be as high as the other ladies. If Lindsay attempts her current layout which consists of two 3-3s, she could very well glide into the Top 5/6. Starr could score well but moving forward will need to address her technical plateau.

Ladies I’m looking forward to watching are Hanna, Gracie, and Emilia Murdock. Hanna is coming back from a big injury and although she doesn’t have her big elements back, she will surely be building from how she performs at Nationals. Gracie finally landed a 3Lz3T in competition and seems to be working her way back to at least a 5-6 triple program. If she can land everything and not pop, I think she has a great shot of shooting up the ranks. Emilia is an insanely hard worker and a great performer (reminds me of Ashley). I hope to see the fruits of her labor blossom.

All in all, given the circumstance of the world at this time, I am just joyous to be able to talk about figure skating again. <3

I agree with everything you said! It definitely will be interesting to see how the scoring goes at nationals in terms of overscoring and such I’m excited for the same three skaters as you (as well as Starr and Alysa haha) can’t wait to see how they all skate!

 

[Blades of Passion]

Audrey Shin doesn’t have enough international cred to get high enough scores to get our 3 spots back IMHO.

That's a yikes. Major talent bursts onto the scene all the time, so when are they supposed to be given a chance, exactly? Her performance at Skate America showed a potential star in the making and definitely someone who could secure 3 spots at Worlds, under the right circumstances.

Frankly, if all of the Russian and Japanese ladies + You Young skate their best, USA has no chance of getting 3 spots back this year, unless Karen Chen or (even more unlikely) Tennell has found a 3Axel, allowing them to make headway into the "higher technical bar" group. USA is currently depending on others making mistakes, while their 2 Ladies deliver to the best of their ability. Audrey Shin has been showing more ability to deliver than Mariah and Tennell so far. Those girls have been making mistakes and getting propped up because of reputation, when Audrey has now outskated them two events in a row. If she does it again at Nationals, she absolutely must be sent to Worlds.

 

[NanaPat]

I really hope next year we have a complete or close to it season. The US is supposedly going to be vaccinating non high priority people in late summer/early fall. I don’t know about other countries - does anyone else?

"Canada expects to have enough doses on hand next year to vaccinate every Canadian who wants a shot by the end of September, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadian-vaccines-september-2021-1.5844314