2022 U.S. Nationals: Senior Men's Free Skate

[Ella339]

Omg are they serious with Zhou’s protocol??
The first lutz was WAY under. Next two were a q.

Next one was under and they call a q.

The second quad Lutz was NOT around.

The 3S was <<<<<<<<<<< (not downgraded im just giving emphasis)

Dude would have gotten annihilated by the ISU

He wouldn't have, actually. Someone wrote a (very long, I only skimmed it) statistical analysis of Zhou's jumps. The conclusions were:
1) less than half of all his jumps in competition are rotated
2) he gets gifted underserved qs all over the place.
You can check it for yourselves here.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

Anyone want to give me odds on Jimmy for 4CCs?

Unrelated, but it costs way more to follow Collegiate gymnastics than it does to watch elite figure skating. I’ve already had to sign up for Big 10 network at 14.95 a month and am about to have to sign up for ESPN plus.

I´m sure Jimmy will get a spot at 4CC. He would most likely be selected as 2. or 3. alternate for Olympics and they are only going to have first alternate fly to Beijing so the rest can go to 4CC.

 

[moonvine]

Malinin didn’t get a chance to wow us in the Junior Grand Prix Finals. He went with “safer” layouts to win gold at both of his events and then his goal was go all out, in the finals. He didn’t get that chance due to the cancellation of that event. He was capable of surpassing Jason’s score at that event.

He can score 500 in a junior event and it will not count. USFS, rightly or wrongly, does not count Junior events in the selection proceedings. I know 500 is not possible but you get where I’m going.

 

[mrrice]

I keep thinking about Vincent: He missed the cut at Worlds, he won back the spot we lost at Nebelhorn, then won Skate America, finished lower at his next Grand Prix, no GPF, and now has this freeskate. This looks like a downward trend the closer we get to Olympics. Yes he has higher scoring potential, but do I trust him?

This is exactly how I feel. I just don't trust Vincent under pressure. Personally, I think the Fed owes it to Jason as we wouldn't have that 3rd spot without him.

 

[jenaj]

While there is a point to still send Jason (Ilia hasn't done much internationally in senior events, and Brown has GP medals this year and is a perennial fave), it is really hard to ignore that Malinin scored 22 points higher (deserved to be 25 with Brown getting a q instead of a < on his 4S) on TES, and in the SP Malinin executed 2 quads and 11 points higher TES than Jason. That 33 point discrepancy in TES score cannot be made up by Brown's artistic ability.

USFS is always looking for the next best thing. Brown lit it up in 2014 Nationals and got his newbie moment and earned a trip to the Olympics over Aaron/Farris even without quads - something he still doesn't reliably have and never has.

I think Malinin deserves his moment now.

It would be another mistake by the USFSA to do it because they think Ilia is the next best thing. It didn't work out for Polina Edmunds. Let him prove himself as the next best thing by going senior next year and convincing the international judges, who are the ones that count.

 

[purplecat]

Like most of you I feel like one really deserving skater will be left off the team and it is sad. I really don't know what I would decide. I have a feeling it will be Nathan, Vincent and Jason going to Olympics and maybe they send Ilia to Worlds instead of Jason (of course Ilia might be sent to Jr. Worlds too so then again maybe they keep him off the World team too). Ladies, Pairs and Dance all made it pretty easy on the committee - Ilia has thrown the wrench into the Men's selection. And I agree that I'm nervous having Vincent now do the freeskate for the team event but I was nervous having Adam and Mirai do it last Olympics and that turned out well so you just never know.

At any rate Nathan was great today - surprised at the 4 flip fall since I was more worried about the sal, lutz and axel. The end fall was just Nathan getting way too amped up lol Ilia was amazing - best he's been all season. I adore him. Jason was great after the fall - again, with all his travel woes I applaud him. Vincent - well it's maddening how one comp he can be so sure of himself and the next he has issues all over the place. Hope he figures it all out. Kudos to Camden - finally having a breakthrough at Nationals!!

 

[moonvine]

I´m sure Jimmy will get a spot at 4CC. He would most likely be selected as 2. or 3. alternate for Olympics and they are only going to have first alternate fly to Beijing so the rest can go to 4CC.

Yay, Jimmy for CCs. Yay Jimmy envelope money. The rest of the competition boo!

 

[Mista Ekko]

Let's agree that both Jason and Vincent got some gifts, It's nationals
Nathan wouldn't score 115 with that short either, I think the selection would focus on bigger things
than the protocols here

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I can´t get over the fact that Ilia scored over 300 points on his senior debut at Nationals

Riiight?! I mean, that's the tea!

 

[*~RussianBleux~*]

The callers were a bunch of cowards.

They didn’t want to take points so they just called everything a q and put it in the hands of the judges.

NOT fair to the guys who rotated their jumps today.

 

[Dpbthomas1]

Jason is extremely consistent and makes top 10 at worlds. Zhou can do a fantastic skate when he's 'on', but is regularly an inconsistent competitor. Never know what you'll get from him. I understand he's in the priority 2 group because of this finish ... but my big complaint is that his very flawed skate was placed above Jason's.

Something is wrong with scoring if attempting jumps and falling on them - several times - results in a 2nd place finish. Of course, I have a lot of issues with the scoring system, anyway.

 

[sworddance21]

It's been a long month this week.

You win the forum.

 

[invisiblespiral]

Selection criteria. Is the attained a score thing too lenient, though? (just wondering)

 

[Mista Ekko]

Like most of you I feel like one really deserving skater will be left off the team and it is sad. I really don't know what I would decide. I have a feeling it will be Nathan, Vincent and Jason going to Olympics and maybe they send Ilia to Worlds instead of Jason (of course Ilia might be sent to Jr. Worlds too so then again maybe they keep him off the World team too). Ladies, Pairs and Dance all made it pretty easy on the committee - Ilia has thrown the wrench into the Men's selection. And I agree that I'm nervous having Vincent now do the freeskate for the team event but I was nervous having Adam and Mirai do it last Olympics and that turned out well so you just never know.

At any rate Nathan was great today - surprised at the 4 flip fall since I was more worried about the sal, lutz and axel. The end fall was just Nathan getting way too amped up lol Ilia was amazing - best he's been all season. I adore him. Jason was great after the fall - again, with all his travel woes I applaud him. Vincent - well it's maddening how one comp he can be so sure of himself and the next he has issues all over the place. Hope he figures it all out. Kudos to Camden - finally having a breakthrough at Nationals!!

I think Ilia doesn't have the criteria to go to Worlds...?

 

[moonvine]

This is exactly how I feel. I just don't trust Vincent under pressure. I think the Fed owes it to Jason as we wouldn't have that 3rd spot without him.

Their choice is between Jason and Ilia, not Vincent.

 

[karne]

They actually picked Adam over Ross. There was no doubt that Vincent was going to be on the team that year.

Actually, going into 2018 Nationals Zhou was last of the 5 contenders. He had the worst GP results. There was a LOT of doubt of Zhou going. The only reason it became obvious was because Max, Adam and Jason all completely bombed Nationals - which was totally unexpected. All three were ranked higher than Zhou beforehand.

 

[kmw227]

I think Ilia doesn't have the criteria to go to Worlds...?

You're correct, he doesn't have the SP tech minimums.

 

[bekalc]

It would be another mistake by the USFSA to do it because they think Ilia is the next best thing. It didn't work out for Polina Edmunds. Let him prove himself as the next best thing by going senior next year and convincing the international judges, who are the ones that count.

Polina still end up beating all that people who folks thought should place ahead of her in the Olympics Over those two years. They weren’t wrong.

Ilia is more talented than Polina he is Frankly more talented than Alyssa.

He is by far the most talented US skater to arrive since Chen. They would be idiots not to send him.

 

[purplecat]

I think Ilia doesn't have the criteria to go to Worlds...?

Oh gee, forgot about that!

 

[mrrice]

It would be another mistake by the USFSA to do it because they think Ilia is the next best thing. It didn't work out for Polina Edmunds. Let him prove himself as the next best thing by going senior next year and convincing the international judges, who are the ones that count.

This......