2021-2022 US Women's Figure Skating | Page 123 | Golden Skate

2021-2022 US Women's Figure Skating

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I think Karen should go to the Olympics if she’s one of the three strongest age-eligible women. But she should not be sent to the Olympics simply because some find her to be the most marketable.
It's not about marketability - it's about her skating quality being amazing. That IS a criteria - her spins, her skating skills, her musicality are better than every other US woman's. I'll also say the 3Lz and 2A and won't be responding to any quotes on this part of my comment.
 
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Earlier I had put this link in the "eating disorders" thread because I was so impressed by Ashley's work on body positivity.(y)

And I am very glad she found a happy place after skating.

“I genuinely am happy,” she said. “A lot of people who have known me throughout my career have never experienced me happy.
It’s not skating’s fault that I was never really happy. But it’s nice to be at this point where I have as much access to skating as I choose. Now I get to skate because I want to, not because I have to. I’m working towards a future that probably has nothing to do with skating, and that is exciting for me.”
 
I think it would be extremely crummy of USFS to leave Karen behind. There would have been no chance to even earn a 3rd spot without Karen.
It's not crummy to "leave her behind" if there are 3 US women who do better (Nats + BOW) though. Karen's placement at Worlds is included in the Body of Work criteria, so her strong performance there helps her case. But that doesn't make her a lock for the team, and it shouldn't.
I disagree. None of the US girls aside from maybe Alysa are remotely podium contenders. If they have good days, they'll make top 10, if they have bad days they won't. The Olympics is not just a competition, but the biggest stage in the world. Potentially thousands of people who don't follow skating will be tuning in and filling the arena. Karen is a beautiful skater beloved by fans and judges, who performs and sells and emotes. She represents nearly the best of the artistic side of skating, which is 50% of the sport. Even with a few URs, she had the FS performance of the night at Worlds. If she stays on her feet at the Olympics, her performance will delight the audience and might be one that people go back and watch over and over again. In comparison to Lindsay, who might jumps clean 3-3s. She might also succumb to the pressure and fall. Before we even see her at JGPF, we have no idea how she handles real pressure. She had a notably weaker FS at her second GP, with the presence of Russian skaters and actual competition. Lindsay has a lot of great qualities and elements, and is a promising skater for the future. But she has very little reputation, speed, power, emotion, interpretation, or confidence. She also doesn't have any wow jumps that will excite the audience unless she starts nailing a 3A, 3-3s are mostly old news. If Lindsay has the cleanest skate of her life, the audience will appreciate her, but idk that most of them will genuinely enjoy her. Karen's best, even without the hardest technical content, is an iconic and Olympic-stage worthy performance. Lindsay's best at this point in her career - she has the potential and many years to improve on this - is a clean protocol sheet.
That's kind of a biased description of what happened. I don't think calling that "notably weaker" is particularly fair. And especially implying that the cause was increased competition, when the major difference between the two FS was that she attempted increased technical content in the 2nd one.

At her first event, Lindsay got a 118.82 in the FS, with 65.23 in TES and 54.59 in PCS. At her 2nd event, Lindsay got 123.53 in the FS, with 63.98 in TES and 59.55 in PCS. So 1.25 lower in TES and nearly 4 points higher in PCS. The main difference technically is that she went for a more difficult program the second time, adding in the 3A and swapping a 3Lz-eu-3S in for the 3Lz-2T-2Lo combo, and it didn't go quite as cleanly. But her base value even with the mistakes was only a little bit lower, and she got almost exactly the same total GOE (5.7 at event 1, 5.72 at event 2).
 
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Interesting - so to me, that explains a lot about her words and actions in later years. Particularly during that 2018 Olympic season. Still, relatively speaking, I think many would say she overachieved (exceeded expectations based on talent), and she could have walked away at least twice earlier in her career, so clearly something drove her to push through, even if it wasn’t love of skating. In the end, I hope she realizes how fortunate she is to have had the career she had. She and Czisny were not the norm…
 
That's kind of a biased description of what happened. I don't think calling that "notably weaker" is particularly fair. And especially implying that the cause was increased competition, when the major difference between the two FS was that she attempted increased technical content in the 2nd one.

At her first event, Lindsay got a 118.82 in the FS, with 65.23 in TES and 54.59 in PCS. At her 2nd event, Lindsay got 123.53 in the FS, with 63.98 in TES and 59.55 in PCS. So 1.25 lower in TES and nearly 4 points higher in PCS. The main difference technically is that she went for a more difficult program the second time, adding in the 3A and swapping a 3Lz-eu-3S in for the 3Lz-2T-2Lo combo, and it didn't go quite as cleanly. But her base value even with the mistakes was only a little bit lower, and she got almost exactly the same total GOE (5.7 at event 1, 5.72 at event 2).
Youre right that the word 'notably' was too harsh. But I'm not biased against Lindsay at all. I was thrilled Lindsay made the JGPF and I said so on this thread. I posted elsewhere that her score was only higher in the second event because she was clearly underscored at her first event by more than 10 points. Lindsay is a very promising skater for the next quad. But I still think it's possible that the presence of the Russian girls at her second event affected her, so I maintain that we wont know how she handles real pressure until at least after the final.
 
I like Ashley's skating but no one TOOK her spot - she lost it! She skated as if she was there for a coronation not a competition and when they scored what she skated and not "reputation points" she lost IMHO
Oh, I agree with you! I saw Ashley skate live at nationals and that was NOT enough to take her when others were much better. Karen barely squeaked out enough to beat Ashley. It was just funny how Ashley indirectly mentioned Bradie taking her spot when she was simply skating with way less enthusiasm than years prior. I think the 2016 silver worlds medal was a blessing and curse for her.
 
Youre right that the word 'notably' was too harsh. But I'm not biased against Lindsay at all. I was thrilled Lindsay made the JGPF and I said so on this thread. I posted elsewhere that her score was only higher in the second event because she was clearly underscored at her first event by more than 10 points. Lindsay is a very promising skater for the next quad. But I still think it's possible that the presence of the Russian girls at her second event affected her, so I maintain that we wont know how she handles real pressure until at least after the final.
I actually thought Lindsay handled the pressure quite well. She attempted a triple axel that I don’t think is quite really ready yet. It was downgraded and she got negative GOE on it. She would’ve received more points for a well executed double axel but she still was willing to take the risk. She had some mistakes but she did not melt down. She kept it close enough to get a bronze when Minchae Kim forgot an entire element. (I feel for Minchae but she is the one that let the pressure get to her and hopefully she will do better in the future.) Yes Lindsay will face a lot more pressure at the final so we will have to see how she does there but I thought she handled herself just fine in Ljubljana.
 
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I think Karen should go to the Olympics if she’s one of the three strongest age-eligible women. But she should not be sent to the Olympics simply because some find her to be the most marketable.
I think she should go because there would be no 3rd spot without her.
 
I think she should go because there would be no 3rd spot without her.
I disagree with that line of thinking. If Karen under performs at her GPs and Nationals she should not go if three others are consistently performing better than her. She earned the spot for the team, not for herself. The same goes for Alysa. Alysa confirmed the third spot, but if she under performs from here on out, she shouldn't go either.

I think as long as Karen builds on Finlandia she has a great chance of going. But if she puts out multiple Autumn Classic like performances from here on out, she should not go, no matter her results at Worlds.
 
I think she should go because there would be no 3rd spot without her.
It will really depend on how things go at Nationals. Karen is great but, other than Worlds last year, Bradie has defeated her at almost every event in the last 3 years. Alysa is going for sure and when you add Bradie and Lindsay, I have Karen as the Pewter Medalist at Nationals. I will say, that if she's on the Podium, she should go. If Bradie had skated better at Worlds, I think she'd have a BOW case but, Worlds really put a dent in her resume'
 
It will really depend on how things go at Nationals. Karen is great but, other than Worlds last year, Bradie has defeated her at almost every event in the last 3 years. Alysa is going for sure and when you add Bradie and Lindsay, I have Karen as the Pewter Medalist at Nationals. I will say, that if she's on the Podium, she should go. If Bradie had skated better at Worlds, I think she'd have a BOW case but, Worlds really put a dent in her resume'

Bradie has been so consistent for years and apparently Worlds was a boot issue. I think we will know better after Skate America. We don’t know the extent of her injuries. It seems the 3A isn’t happening.
 
Bradie has been so consistent for years and apparently Worlds was a boot issue. I think we will know better after Skate America. We don’t know the extent of her injuries. It seems the 3A isn’t happening.
IMO, she doesn't need a 3A. She has beautiful 3/3's when she's on her game and I just hope she's healthy and ready to go for Nationals.
 
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