IMO Amber deserved the national title for that beautiful triple axel. It put her in a technical aether that other US women haven't been able to reach. Stellar. True, she messed up a couple of jumps, but the women who finished programs with a complete set of jumps can't compare with Amber's mature and convincing skating.
The women's free was an awful watch for me, because of the awful choreography and lack of commitment by skaters to anything choreographic. I saw cross over, crossover, jump. Rinse repeat. The only embellishments were random arm wavings, too much random arm wavings. Totally uninspired. I did appreciate Lindsay Thorngren's huge improvement in this area; she's the only one of the last 12 skaters who seemed to get it that a presentation to music requires mood, feeling, and all-over body movements to elicit these. And at least she tried. Other top skaters looked just plain lazy in this regard, no care or attention (notably the women in Gambill's camp): I wish USFS would step in at champs camp and insist on complete and executed choreography.
The announcers seem completely clueless that the quad jumps from a banned country have been fueled by doping, which allows for more practice repetitions and quicker recovery. NBC should STOP insisting women from non-banned countries should "catch up" or are "lagging behind" women whose training practices are abusive and supported by dubious substances. This was obvious—and televised—at the last Olympics, and should not be encouraged by US sports media. IMO
how time flies.
) Congrats to Isabeau on her bronze medal! And congrats to all the lovely ladies who competed at U.S. Nats <333
