2021-2022 US Women's Figure Skating

[Jomira]

Hi. New member here who just found this wonderful site. Just recently one of my siblings met Sarah Hughes. When I heard, it got me thinking about her Salt Lake performance so I decided to rewatch her LP. I forgot she did two 3x3 combinations (though none with a lutz). I’ve now begun to wonder if the US women have progressed much over the last 20 years with regard to technical difficulty. There are plenty of US men who can compete at the top. It seems like we are clearly behind some other nations on the women's side-certainly well behind the Russian young women. I’ve been following skating for 50 years though I was not a figure skater myself so I may be off base here. Just curious what’s happening. Thanks!

 

[McBibus]

We have our Olympic Team: Mariah, Karen, and Alysa.

https://twitter.com/USFigureSkating/status/1479935276302667776

US best team imo

 

[Jeanie19]

Hi. New member here who just found this wonderful site. Just recently one of my siblings met Sarah Hughes. When I heard, it got me thinking about her Salt Lake performance so I decided to rewatch her LP. I forgot she did two 3x3 combinations (though none with a lutz). I’ve now begun to wonder if the US women have progressed much over the last 20 years with regard to technical difficulty. There are plenty of US men who can compete at the top. It seems like we are clearly behind some other nations on the women's side-certainly well behind the Russian young women. I’ve been following skating for 50 years though I was not a figure skater myself so I may be off base here. Just curious what’s happening. Thanks!

Welcome to Golden Skate. Post often.

 

[lurkerghost1]

Hi. New member here who just found this wonderful site. Just recently one of my siblings met Sarah Hughes. When I heard, it got me thinking about her Salt Lake performance so I decided to rewatch her LP. I forgot she did two 3x3 combinations (though none with a lutz). I’ve now begun to wonder if the US women have progressed much over the last 20 years with regard to technical difficulty. There are plenty of US men who can compete at the top. It seems like we are clearly behind some other nations on the women's side-certainly well behind the Russian young women. I’ve been following skating for 50 years though I was not a figure skater myself so I may be off base here. Just curious what’s happening. Thanks!

in 2019-20 Japan and Korea were really struggling and Bradie and Mariah and Alysa were all excelling so we were briefly actually the #2 women's country with numerous athletes with stable 3-3s. Since then Japan and Korea improved while the US regressed.

Long term since Sarah Hughes the US has had no improvement on average, either at the national team level or at the domestic level. Many people have their theories for why this happened but basically in my opinion, figure skating is an extremely expensive sport in the US and athletically gifted girls have a lot more opportunities elsewhere for cheaper. For boys, figure skating is one of the few sports where athletic but short people can excel, as height matters a ton for boys' sports especially starting in high school (not that it doesn't for girls). This really limits the US talent pool compared to Russia.

 

[moonvine]

Hi. New member here who just found this wonderful site. Just recently one of my siblings met Sarah Hughes. When I heard, it got me thinking about her Salt Lake performance so I decided to rewatch her LP. I forgot she did two 3x3 combinations (though none with a lutz). I’ve now begun to wonder if the US women have progressed much over the last 20 years with regard to technical difficulty. There are plenty of US men who can compete at the top. It seems like we are clearly behind some other nations on the women's side-certainly well behind the Russian young women. I’ve been following skating for 50 years though I was not a figure skater myself so I may be off base here. Just curious what’s happening. Thanks!

Welcome!

I’m not sure we have to go back 20 years. At 2016 Worlds, Gracie was first after the short and 4th after the long. Ashley won the silver medal. That’s 6 years. We have some very promising young women also.

 

[moonvine]

Bavarian Open still has USA spot as TBD. Wonder if they would send Gracie just to get her back on the world stage? I don't think she's going to any of the major events - and I'm not advocating that they send her - but it would be good to see how she stacks up. Just curious. I am a huge fan - and very appreciative of her representing for Mental Health - but I'm also a little realistic about where she is in her comeback. Seems like Bavarian Open is a good level for her to do well.

That is an amazing idea. I am for this. Of course Gracie could come out and skate crossovers to 5 minutes of “Chopsticks” or “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and I would think it was the best thing I’d ever seen in my life. So I’m a wee bit biased on this issue

 

[TontoK]

Hi. New member here who just found this wonderful site. Just recently one of my siblings met Sarah Hughes. When I heard, it got me thinking about her Salt Lake performance so I decided to rewatch her LP. I forgot she did two 3x3 combinations (though none with a lutz). I’ve now begun to wonder if the US women have progressed much over the last 20 years with regard to technical difficulty. There are plenty of US men who can compete at the top. It seems like we are clearly behind some other nations on the women's side-certainly well behind the Russian young women. I’ve been following skating for 50 years though I was not a figure skater myself so I may be off base here. Just curious what’s happening. Thanks!

Welcome aboard from another longtime figure skating fan.

There are a few of us seasoned viewers hanging around, so don't feel shy about chiming in on any topic.

 

[skatefan17]

Welcome!

I’m not sure we have to go back 20 years. At 2016 Worlds, Gracie was first after the short and 4th after the long. Ashley won the silver medal. That’s 6 years. We have some very promising young women also.

But hadn’t no US woman won a medal in 10 years when Ashley won the silver? So in the past 15 years, the US has women’s program has won 1 medal. We have talent for sure but for some reason we cannot attain the top levels.

 

[moonvine]

But hadn’t no US woman won a medal in 10 years when Ashley won the silver? So in the past 15 years, the US has women’s program has won 1 medal. We have talent for sure but for some reason we cannot attain the top levels.

I think it was exactly 10 years before, in 2006.

What I really found interesting was that one only has to go back 4 years to find no Russians on the podium.

Who knows why this is for sure? In the US since this is US ladies I’d blame the expense and the barriers to entry - most sports entry level don’t take much. Track, basketball, swimming etc. These sports have high school teams where one can get coaching. Also those sports the athletes can get college scholarships. Skating seems to be an enormous hole one pours money in and maybe if you are World or especially Olympic champion you might get some of that money back. It’s probably the most expensive niche sport there is, when you consider in Equestrian when you are up to elite level you’re riding other people’s horses. And a person can even get a college scholarship in Equestrian.

That wouldn’t explain the success of our Ice Dancers though. So I don’t know.

 

[CrazyKittenLady]

Russian men at junior nationals:

Are you doing the good work and trying to find a new audience for the Russian lads?

 

[flanker]

Are you doing the good work and trying to find a new audience for the Russian lads?

I'm terribly sorry
(This happens only once in ten years.)

 

[jenaj]

I think it was exactly 10 years before, in 2006.

What I really found interesting was that one only has to go back 4 years to find no Russians on the podium.

Who knows why this is for sure? In the US since this is US ladies I’d blame the expense and the barriers to entry - most sports entry level don’t take much. Track, basketball, swimming etc. These sports have high school teams where one can get coaching. Also those sports the athletes can get college scholarships. Skating seems to be an enormous hole one pours money in and maybe if you are World or especially Olympic champion you might get some of that money back. It’s probably the most expensive niche sport there is, when you consider in Equestrian when you are up to elite level you’re riding other people’s horses. And a person can even get a college scholarship in Equestrian.

That wouldn’t explain the success of our Ice Dancers though. So I don’t know.

The cost argument doesn't explain the success of US men's skating, either.

 

[moonvine]

The cost argument doesn't explain the success of US men's skating, either.

Someone had mentioned that it’s a sport that short men can excel in. Don’t know how much truth there is to that.

We are very fortunate to have some outstanding male skaters. If you look at the number of senior men competing you’ll find there aren’t that many compared to senior women though.

 

[jenaj]

Someone had mentioned that it’s a sport that short men can excel in. Don’t know how much truth there is to that.

We are very fortunate to have some outstanding male skaters. If you look at the number of senior men competing you’ll find there aren’t that many compared to senior women though.

Interesting thought about shorter men. Gymnastics is another option and many high schools have it, unlike figure skating. If there aren't as many men competing, that makes the US men more impressive, percentage-wise. Hopefully, if Nathan performs as expected at the Olympics, that will draw more US men into the sport. I think the lack of a ladies star has hurt US ladies skating the most.

 

[moonvine]

Interesting thought about shorter men. Gymnastics is another option and many high schools have it, unlike figure skating. If there aren't as many men competing, that makes the US men more impressive, percentage-wise. Hopefully, if Nathan performs as expected at the Olympics, that will draw more US men into the sport. I think the lack of a ladies star has hurt US ladies skating the most.

Yes, I'm able to follow the senior men VERY closely (including ones many have never heard of) because there are so few of them. I'm not as good trying to follow the senior ladies and utterly fail trying to follow the junior ladies. If you go look at the qualifying events on Peacock (if you have it) you will see the junior ladies compete in multiple groups - like Junior Ladies Group A at 11, Group B at 1, Group C at 3. It is crazy. We lose a lot of them between Junior and Senior for various reasons (I started a thread on the main board about reasons why this may be).
I love men's gymnastics but we are not competitive with other countries for the most part. We have a World Champion on pommel horse but that's the first time that's ever happened.

 

[AlysaLiuStan]

Alysa is back in CO training according to Phil Hersh. I would assume that means she’s tested negative and that there will be no issues with Beijing.

 

[ucrgirl]

Alysa is back in CO training according to Phil Hersh. I would assume that means she’s tested negative and that there will be no issues with Beijing.

Maybe. This news makes me assume she is asymptomatic and therefore training. (Honestly, I think athletes heading for the Olympics would be tempted to get back on the ice sooner than maybe they should after Covid because time is so short.)

Testing negative is sometimes hard after Omicron even if one has recovered. (My family is experiencing this now.) I'm not going to stop holding my breath until these athletes get into China.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

Alysa is back in CO training according to Phil Hersh. I would assume that means she’s tested negative and that there will be no issues with Beijing.

Maybe. This news makes me assume she is asymptomatic and therefore training. (Honestly, I think athletes heading for the Olympics would be tempted to get back on the ice sooner than maybe they should after Covid because time is so short.)

Testing negative is sometimes hard after Omicron even if one has recovered. (My family is experiencing this now.) I'm not going to stop holding my breath until these athletes get into China.

Let´s hope so.

But China will require a more sensitive test, I hope it doesn´t cause troubles.

 

[ucrgirl]

Let´s hope so.

But China will require a more sensitive test, I hope it doesn´t cause troubles.

Yeah, I read that article and figured this Olympics might be super anti-climatic due to Covid positives.

 

[AlysaLiuStan]

I’m certain Alysa would not have been permitted to enter her rink with all the other Olympic bound skaters, had she still been testing positive. That’s why I think there’s no more issues in that department.