2021-2022 US Women's Figure Skating | Page 251 | Golden Skate

2021-2022 US Women's Figure Skating

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I just finished watching Alysa’s practice and I’m shocked. She looks completely different from nationals/nationals practice. She had 5 triple axel attempts (all of which looked cleaner than throughout the season, q at most) and didn’t fall a single time on an attempt. Her regular triples also look a lot bigger and her triple-triples look completely clean. She seems to be in top shape and is set to peak at the right time.

I’m completely baffled by the USFS decision to not put her in the TE after watching her practice. I’m sure they were monitoring all 3 girls practices and run-throughs leading up to the TE so I have no idea what they were thinking choosing Karen over Alysa. We also know COVID is not a factor considering they put K/F in.

Alysa was the most consistent/top US lady this entire season. It’s so unfair that an Olympic silver medal was taken from her.
 
Ichk said:
I just finished watching Alysa’s practice and I’m shocked. She looks completely different from nationals/nationals practice. She had 5 triple axel attempts (all of which looked cleaner than throughout the season, q at most) and didn’t fall a single time on an attempt. Her regular triples also look a lot bigger and her triple-triples look completely clean. She seems to be in top shape and is set to peak at the right time.

I’m completely baffled by the USFS decision to not put her in the TE after watching her practice. I’m sure they were monitoring all 3 girls practices and run-throughs leading up to the TE so I have no idea what they were thinking choosing Karen over Alysa. We also know COVID is not a factor considering they put K/F in.

Alysa was the most consistent/top US lady this entire season. It’s so unfair that an Olympic silver medal was taken from her.
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Everything about the whole situation is very confusing also because of how late Alysa went to Beijing. Even the skaters who were certain to not be participating in the team event (Hawayek/Baker, Jason Brown, etc.), flew in almost a full week before she did to participate in the opening ceremonies. And Alysa's arrival date was planned well ahead of time, according to the interview with their coach. It is strange that their arrival date would be so late, and that she would miss the Opening ceremonies for her first (and possibly only) Olympic Games, since pretty much all Olympic athletes say that walking in the Opening Ceremony is one of the absolute highlights of an Olympic experience.

The reason why some athletes leave later for the Olympics is to get additional training time. Since once they arrive there, they can only train at the rink during their designated training times. We did receive information that even while Alysa was in Los Angeles for team processing, she had found a local rink there to train. So it could be that they wanted to get as much training time as possible for the individual event.

I can only hope that Alysa declined the team opportunity, because so much of this makes no sense.
 
dancelion21 said:
Everything about the whole situation is very confusing also because of how late Alysa went to Beijing. Even the skaters who were certain to not be participating in the team event (Hawayek/Baker, Jason Brown, etc.), flew in almost a full week before she did to participate in the opening ceremonies. And Alysa's arrival date was planned well ahead of time, according to the interview with their coach. It is strange that their arrival date would be so late, and that she would miss the Opening ceremonies for her first (and possibly only) Olympic Games, since pretty much all Olympic athletes say that walking in the Opening Ceremony is one of the absolute highlights of an Olympic experience.

The reason why some athletes leave later for the Olympics is to get additional training time. Since once they arrive there, they can only train at the rink during their designated training times. We did receive information that even while Alysa was in Los Angeles for team processing, she had found a local rink there to train. So it could be that they wanted to get as much training time as possible for the individual event.

I can only hope that Alysa declined the team opportunity, because so much of this makes no sense.
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Declining to skate in the TE makes no sense either. Might be her only chance at a medal.
 
Ichk said:
I just finished watching Alysa’s practice and I’m shocked. She looks completely different from nationals/nationals practice. She had 5 triple axel attempts (all of which looked cleaner than throughout the season, q at most) and didn’t fall a single time on an attempt. Her regular triples also look a lot bigger and her triple-triples look completely clean. She seems to be in top shape and is set to peak at the right time.

I’m completely baffled by the USFS decision to not put her in the TE after watching her practice. I’m sure they were monitoring all 3 girls practices and run-throughs leading up to the TE so I have no idea what they were thinking choosing Karen over Alysa. We also know COVID is not a factor considering they put K/F in.

Alysa was the most consistent/top US lady this entire season. It’s so unfair that an Olympic silver medal was taken from her.
Click to expand...
Karen was told a month ago she would be skating the TE.
 
I know the team event is over and I love Karen's skating but she can't rotate triples consistently and her last strong competition was 2021 worlds. Purely from a results and numbers standpoint I do not understand her selection to the team event. I see her as USA #3. The team selection politics isn't her fault, but there is something off with the decision to pick her and I really would have liked some sort of explanation.

I know some people thought it was because of Mariah and Alysa getting COVID but it seems like that has proven to not be accurate.
 
skatespin said:
I know the team event is over and I love Karen's skating but she can't rotate triples consistently and her last strong competition was 2021 worlds. Purely from a results and numbers standpoint I do not understand her selection to the team event. I see her as USA #3. The team selection politics isn't her fault, but there is something off with the decision to pick her and I really would have liked some sort of explanation.

I know some people thought it was because of Mariah and Alysa getting COVID but it seems like that has proven to not be accurate.
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What surprised me the most is that, after pushing her as the next great American woman for years, the USFSA didn't go with Alysa for the team event. Karen skated four international events and Alysa five this season, and all five of Alysa's scores topped Karen's highest. It would be nice for the USFSA to explain it because the selection doesn't seem at all merit-based, but of course they won't.
 
Alysa had to skip the team event because it came up so soon. Having had CoVid during Nationals, she had to delay her trip to China to ensure the virus was completely out of her system. And then there was all that missed practice time while she was recovering.
 
AlysaLiuStan said:
I just watched Alysa's FS Practice from yesterday: 3A, 3Lo, 3F, 2A, 3Lz+3Tx, 3Lz+1Eu+3S, 3F+2Tx, everything including the axel looked completely clean, no doubt about it. She's aiming for that podium.
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From what I have seen so far, the Russians, Sakamoto and Liu look sharp and ready to go. Higuchi, despite her excellent team performance, appears to be struggling with her combos and 3A, which isn't good this close to competition,but we will see. Haven't seen the Koreans or Loena yet.
 
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Joekaz said:
From what I have seen so far, the Russians, Sakamoto and Lui look sharp and ready to go. Higuchi, despite her excellent team performance, appears to be struggling with her combos and 3A, which isn't good this close to competition,but we will see. Haven't seen the Koreans or Loena yet.
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Wakaba's been a bundle of nerves the entire time apparently :(
 
Nathan botched a bunch of jumps in practice the day before the FS, even fell on the 4s. But when the time came, he delivered. So the same could happen with Higuchi. Better to make mistakes in practice than on competition ice.
 
As @chuckm said, I’ve learned not to give much weight to what the skaters do in practice. Especially as a Gracie fan. :(

Nerves bring out under rotations, falls, and tight skating. Thankfully Nathan has had a lot of practice at the top international level, so he was able to avoid any serious issues (although that 4S was one of the most underrotated jumps I’ve seen from him recently, beyond Shoma level).
 
chuckm said:
Nathan botched a bunch of jumps in practice the day before the FS, even fell on the 4s. But when the time came, he delivered. So the same could happen with Higuchi. Better to make mistakes in practice than on competition ice.
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And shoma too, tho he didn’t skate 100% clean last night but he definitely fall less than he did on practices 😅
 
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