2025 U.S. Nationals Junior Men's Free Skate
- Thread starter dorispulaski
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2007
Patrick Blackwell dressed in shny black with suitcoat and tails gives us an intense skate to "Smoke and Mirrors" by Gabriel Saban; choreo by Adam Blake. A miss on the quad and split on the two 3A. Several missed jumps afterwards. It is like he is lost in the air very similar to the end of his Grand Prix season. Fabulously talented and wonderfully fast. Could not get his feet under him today except for the backflip.
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2007
Yes it was
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2007
I'm going to stay right here for medals!
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2007
And takes the pewter.....ewwww Peacock is not showing medal ceremonies...boo!
Elano is the discovery of this competition for me, and Fegan is just going to be a force in 4 years once he has grown technically and physically. Great stuff. Hard skate for Patrick...unfortunately, I wasn't too surprised seeing that Sectionals went pretty similar for him.
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2024
Elano got assigned to Challenge Cup which is like 1 week before Worlds so I don't think he'll be selected for Worlds team. Blackwell has had a significantly better international season and should still be number two pick after Sanchez
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2014
That assignment hasn't been published on the international assignments page, so that could change.
Patrick has had two really rough free skates in a row. Right now, I don't see him for that second spot.
ITA. Patrick has terrific potential but a good SP does not a competition make.
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2024
It does when you need a good SP to qualify you for the free skate at Junior Worlds
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2024
You do know that Blackwell skated injured? Personally, Elano wouldn't even be an option for Junior Worlds since he only has one international competition to date and he got 58 there for his short which was very similar to the short at Nationals (USFS why do y'all inflate everyone's scores in such a blatant manner?). And at last year's Junior Worlds, the cutoff to qualify for the free skate was 63 I believe. So I'd send Blackwell or one of the other junior age eligible skaters who will compete in seniors who has a triple axel, or at least very consistent triples (including triple flip which is a required jump in the short)
But if you can't skate a FS without making multiple mistakes how is that going to help your country gain or retain the spots it needs? It's the final placement that counts.
Was he also injured at sectionals?
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2021
Found a video of ELano's freeskate .. short has been uploaded by USFS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9CJLSbolN8
Blackwell's international best is 30+ points higher than the other podium medalists, and he has some name recognition after his stellar performance at JGP Ostrava. If Sectionals and today were just bad skates, then I can understand sending him to Junior Worlds and just hope he finds his feet again by then. If he really is injured though and this is a reflection of his current state/training, then I would be more concerned about his preparation for Junior Worlds in 1 month.
My favorite thing that I learned from this competition is that Kirk Haugeto has a flock of 60 chickens at home. Wow!
My favorite thing that I learned from this competition is that Kirk Haugeto has a flock of 60 chickens at home. Wow!
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2024
Idk, I don't have the time to follow such small competitions. Most skaters who compete internationally use those competitions for experimentation because they don't mean anything beyond qualifying for Nationals
He can skate the way he did in Ostrava, that will definitely get spots. Also Sanchez will be doing the heavy lifting probably, so Blackwell can afford a mistake or two given how much wiggle room he has thanks to his TES
