2026 Olympics: Women's Free Skate

[gmyers]

Doesn't matter if you can't land it in practice. It's about what you deliver in competition. She didn't even fully rotate the quad.

Also she hardly got "sunk" by PCS. She couldn't hide her disappointment at missing the quad and it showed in the rest of her program. She's fortunate to have gotten 65.71 PCS and 5th in the FS when she should have been 10th behind Samodelkina.

Again, they're lucky an exception was made to even allow AIN entries here. Even with a clean quad she would have lost to Liu.

She - like Gummenik - ended up 6th, with respectable skates.

Hah and there were plenty of Russian-borns there: Samodelkina, Gubanova, Seniuuk, Kurakova, Safonova, Petrosian...

It’s so weird to count people with zero connection to Russia as Russian skaters

Petrosian PCs in free skate was 12th

 

[SmileHappy34]

Congratulations to all.

 

[bigsisjiejie]

I think Shimada being in Juniors way past when she should have been is partly why she hasn't progressed enough. When you are winning everything and not being challenged you stagnate. She will be pushed next season to be much better and know what she has to work on when she finally goes against the Senior Ladies.

Yet this is the risk a federation takes when they decide to put 13- and 14-year olds into international junior competition. They run the risk they will be stalled at that level because of age restrictions, for 3-4 years, even if they are highly skilled. Mao Shimada is a perfect case in point.

 

[SmileHappy34]

Alyssa can add another 1st

Thr 1st U.s. ladies Double Gold Medalist.

 

[SmileHappy34]

Will watch replay on NBC prime time, NBC and venue feed to see exactly how skated

Missed to appointment

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

It looks like she's really comfortable with her technique and the layout in this program.
It's a "less is more" approach, which on paper should be less rewarding opposite women
who are stacking in more difficulty everywhere, but if it lets her perform,
the judges are going for it and the audience loves it, why change it?

Plus, you know, she's an alien

Yes, the confidence was there. It almost felt like an exhibition but with hard jumps thrown in there. She did have difficulty - not super stacked but she didn't let the difficulty or risk tell the story, or affect the presentation of the program.

One of the most interesting elements was the double axel at the end - she just casually landed it, not with the pressure of it being the final jumping pass. Some say she kept her focus but you couldn't even get a sense of her trying to focus because she did such a great job performing. Look at the number of skaters who are stone-faced in their first half and then once they get the jumps out of the way they suddenly start to perform. THAT is why Alysa won today and why she is individual OGM worthy.

 

[Mariott]

(We will see now when Trusova intends to come back, I will be surprised if she can restore her quads).

She did. She has started training and already has successful 4Lz attempts (at age 21 and 6 months after a c-section). I realize you don't really like to watch everything that happens in Russia, but it's probably worth paying attention to.
By the way, Kamila Valieva lands a 4 tulup quite successfully. She is 19 years old and has only been training for a few months.
The girls about whom you write that they “disappeared” simply won everything they could win and had no more motivation to continue their career in the sport. But there are always those who have something to prove.

 

[Sjs5572]

If I recall correctly, Petr's PCs were lowballed even more than Adelia's were. IOC sending a message, perhaps?

I agree that Petr was lowballed; however Adeliia is robotic. It's as if AI choreographed her program.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

The judges didn’t want Adelia anywhere near near the podium. She was 11th in pcs in the short program and also had horrible pcs in the free. She needed the tech

Seems Adelia didn't want to avoid "horrible" PCS either. She looked miserable for most of that performance just because she went down on the quad. She was slow, and didn't deliver the level of performance that the ones ahead of her did.

Her short program was also slow and lacking panache from earlier events. There's a difference between Skate to Milano where you have no competition basically, and Russian Nationals where you can perform freely knowing they'll just hand you the marks to win even if you mess up... compared to the Olympics where they'll actually mark you with scrutiny. Her SP has been performed way better in previous events this season, however, she was focused on getting all her content done to make the final flight... so that diminished the usual personality and spark she's shown in the MJ program.

Also she was likely pretty miserable because her team probably ingrained in her that if she didn't hit the quad/win, it was a fail and the rest of the program can't save it.... so she just went through the motions and couldn't lean into the joy of simply being able to compete at the Olympics.

Sorry this wasn't Russian Nationals where she could fall or pop jumps and get 70 PCS.

 

[gmyers]

If Russia is allowed back to European and worlds in 2027 and senior eligible at Russian nationals is Trusova petrosian Valieva I wonder who would go!

 

[moonvine]

Alysa well deserved the win today. Her father must be incredibly proud of her, but he needs to wash her mouth out with soap for letting loose with the f word as she was coming off the ice and talking to the skating camera guy. This was on the live venue feed, so maybe that'll get edited out on all the various feeds.

I thought it was hysterical. She’s an adult and her father has no say anymore.

 

[gmyers]

Seems Adelia didn't want to avoid "horrible" PCS either. She looked miserable for most of that performance just because she went down on the quad. She was slow, and didn't deliver the level of performance that the ones ahead of her did.

Her short program was also slow and lacking panache from earlier events. There's a difference between Skate to Milano where you have no competition basically, and Russian Nationals where you can perform freely knowing they'll just hand you the marks to win even if you mess up... at the Olympics they'll actually mark you with scrutiny. Her SP has been performed way better in previous events this season, however, she was focused on getting all her content done to make the final flight... so that diminished the usual personality and spark she's shown in the MJ program.

Also she was likely pretty miserable because her team probably ingrained in her that if she didn't hit the quad/win, it was a fail and the rest of the program can't save it.... so she just went through the motions and couldn't lean into the joy of simply being able to compete at the Olympics.

Sorry this wasn't Russian Nationals where she could fall or pop jumps and get 70 PCS.

Ahead in pcs or final rank? Because there is no way levito for one deserved higher pcs

 

[moonvine]

Yes, I agree.

But I think we have to remember that the quad craze in women's skating was with Trusova/Shcherbakova, two exceptionally talented skaters that we might not ever see again. Just look at this years Russian Nationals. Dvoeglazova lands a 4Lz(q) (and she is technically still a junior), Petrosian fell on her 4T, Zakharova was the only one who landed two clean 4Ts. And that's it.

Samodelkina, who competed here, used to do all kinds of quads in her junior Russian days, none of that now.

I'm beginning to think that with this 17 yo senior age limit, quads is something we will see mainly in juniors.

And that’s fine. Maybe we will see longer careers and fewer injuries. I would love that.

 

[moonvine]

Will watch replay on NBC prime time, NBC and venue feed to see exactly how skated

Missed to appointment

I’m watching again!

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

If I recall correctly, Petr's PCs were lowballed even more than Adelia's were. IOC sending a message, perhaps?

Petr isn't a great skater. He is a reliable jumper (arguably one of the top jumpers of the mens event), but his program construction and projection need way more improvement. He should be proud of what he put out there though.

Also please don't refer to Russian Nationals scoring when you try to suggest/assess these two as being "lowballed". Petr's home judges are giving him 9.25s and 9.50s, LMAO.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

It’s so weird to count people with zero connection to Russia as Russian skaters

Petrosian PCs in free skate was 12th

Except the fact that the ones I mentioned were all born there.

Of the 11 people who were higher PCS than her, who exactly should Petrosian have out-PCSed, in your opinion? All of them?

And I think you're forgetting that this was a very well skated freeskate. 14 skaters scored over 130 and there were several personal bests.

Petrosian was the only skater in the top 12 who fell.

 

[Sjs5572]

It looks like she's really comfortable with her technique and the layout in this program.
It's a "less is more" approach, which on paper should be less rewarding opposite women
who are stacking in more difficulty everywhere, but if it lets her perform,
the judges are going for it and the audience loves it, why change it?

Plus, you know, she's an alien

Other than Ami, Amber and Adeliia, Alysa has max tech. She could backload her 3lz/3t, but that's really it. She has a triple/triple and does seven triples overall, plus two double axel and two double toes.

 

[gmyers]

And that’s fine. Maybe we will see longer careers and fewer injuries. I would love that.

jumps of all kinds cut short careers! Actually it’s mainly triple lutz injuries and triple loop injuries that end careers

 

[gmyers]

Except the fact that they were all born there.

But connection to Russia now is zero. Indisputable

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

But connection to Russia now is zero. Indisputable

If you were born in a certain country, then your connection to them will forever NOT be zero.