Grand Prix 2009 Entries are up!

[Hikaru]

I'm seeing Shen and Zhao!!!! arty:

OMG!!!! SHEN AND ZHAO!!!!! This is such an amazing surprise, OMG I hope they get to their competitions in excellent health.

I do not see Pang and Tong... what happened??

EDITED: Ok I just saw them... man, seeing Shen and Zhao really got to me, I couldn't see P&T names hehehe... I didn't expect to see their return, but it is awesome!!

 

[Mathman]

Well, Caroline won't make it to GPF, so all this is moot....

Apparently USFS was so worried about not having Caroline and Rachael skate against each other at Skate Amercia that they decided to throw Caroline under the bus instead.

 

[Andalusia]

I don't think it's impossible that Caroline can get a bronze at TEB. Nakano is always a question mark because of her technique, and Kostner is wildly inconsistent (this is even more likely to be so at the start of the season). The only problem is that Caroline never looks good at the start of the season (2008 SC & TEB), and always looks fantastic and in top shape at the end (2009 4CC, JW and WTT). She might have to speed up her training even further if she wants to be ready for the 1st (TEB) and last (SC) individual GP events of the season. A silver for her at SC is definitely within reach.

That's quite a huge gap she's got between TEB and SC...the only advantage for us is that we get to see Caroline's new programs so early in the season.

 

[jennylovskt]

That is a fact. I was blessed to have seen them working on their programs. It was so hard to keep it to myself as they asked to keep it secret at that time. I'm so happy now it's official!!! They are not just back, they are better! Believe it or not, they're even technically stronger! They can do both 2A-2A and 3T-3T sequences now and any of these would have a higher base jump base value than 2007 when they left with Gold for every single competition they entered, literally a sweep of Gold for 2007. On top of that, they worked on every single aspect of skating with specialists and worked meticulously with their choreographer to the nuance of each note. I'm just over the moon now. This season is going to be really exciting!

Go Shen/Zhao!!!

Wow!!!!! Thank you sooooo much! Pairs skating will be attractive again. If any one could make a miracle, it'll be Shen&Zhao.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

.Btw, is the undecided SA spot reserved for MK or possibly Angela or Kristi

I doubt MK will skate comps anymore, and if she did she would never travel to Lake Placid.

 

[PolymerBob]

^^^^^^^^^^^ This all makes sense, but I still think Caroline has a chance for 5 reasons.

1) She has lots of problems; slow speed, wobbly edges, mule-kick, poor height on jumps. But she admits her faults and is willing to work to improve them. She has lots of room to improve because she has lots of faults.

2) The judges seem to be warming up to her. She is starting to get more rotation credit and edge credit than she did before.

3) It is possible her growth spurt is over.

4) She has a new weapon in her arsenal. That forward charlotte is a move not many skaters can do, and it's a big point getter.

5) The European ladies seem to be faltering right now.

I think the 88-year-old traditions of the USFSA, and in particular the mind-set left over from the days of ordinal judging, will carry more weight than adding up tenths and hundredths of a point. I think the two scenarios will be treated the same. Somebody won, somebody lost. Sasha absolutely goes no matter what.

That means that the National winner is guaranteed a spot on the Olympic team. I did not see that in the bulletin the USFSA put out last year. In fact, they seemed to say the opposite.

 

[shallwedansu]

I would love to know what they were thinking as they kept adding more and more ladies onto the list for TEB. First Carolina, OK. Oh, Mao, too? That will make a good competition. Yukari Nakano? Well, there's your podium. Yu-Na Kim?? Wait, wait, wait... That rivalry isn't supposed to happen until the finals. Sasha Cohen?? Whaaaat??? That comeback isn't supposed to happen until Skate America. Aaaaand Caroline Zhang. Who's she? Oh yeah... I think I remember her. She was just starting to get good, but I didn't see her at Worlds...

My impulsive prediction for GPF: Joannie, Yu-Na, Mao, and Miki are pretty much locks. The two remaining slots will go to any combination of Yukari, Rachael, Laura, Caroline, and Carolina.

 

[Mathman]

This all makes sense, but I still think Caroline has a chance for 5 reasons...

I would add one more reason. Yuna Kim was great...in 2008-09.

Mao Asada was great...in 2007-08.

What will happen in 2009-10?

 

[snowflake]

Yes. Substitutes are drawn from the Seasons Best list. For Ladies (Italics means skater is probably going to skate in the JGP)


19 153.84 Kanako MURAKAMI JPN
20 149.28 Yukiko FUJISAWA JPN
21 147.46 Angela MAXWELL USA
22 147.41 Ivana REITMAYEROVA SVK
23 146.69 Becky BERESWILL USA 1 spot
25 145.00 Haruka IMAI JPN
26 144.49 Alexe GILLES USA 1 spot
27 143.02 Kristine MUSADEMBA USA
29 142.24 Oksana GOZEVA RUS 1 spot
30 142.12 Beatrisa LIANG USA 1 spot
31 140.67 Elena GLEBOVA EST 1 spot
34 139.50 Yan LIU CHN 1 spot
35 139.44 Amanda DOBBS USA skating PAIRS
36 139.37 Jenna MCCORKELL GBR 1 spot
38 137.78 Ksenia MAKAROVA RUS
39 137.05 Katarina GERBOLDT RUS 1 spot
40 136.98 Annette DYTRT GER 1 spot
41 136.41 Alexandra NAJARRO CAN
42 136.16 Mira LEUNG CAN 2 spots
45 135.25 Candice DIDIER FRA 1 spot
46 134.90 Stefania BERTON ITA skating PAIRS
48 133.54 Shoko ISHIKAWA JPN 2 spots
49 133.26 Binshu XU CHN 1 spot
50 131.50 Na-Young KIM KOR 2 spots
51 131.46 Diane SZMIETT CAN 1 spot
52 130.85 Tugba KARADEMIR TUR 1 spot
53 130.29 Anna JURKIEWICZ POL 2 spots
54 128.93 Nana TAKEDA JPN 2 spots
55 127.25 Melissa BULANHAGUI USA 2 spots
56 126.65 Isabel DRESCHER GER
57 125.61 Nina PETUSHKOVA RUS 2 spots
58 125.39 Anastasia GIMAZETDINOVA UZB 2 spots
59 124.95 Sonia LAFUENTE ESP 2 spots
60 124.50 Kana MURAMOTO JPN
61 124.18 Miriam ZIEGLER AUT
62 123.88 Cheltzie LEE AUS 2 spots
63 123.85 Mae Berenice MEITE FRA
64 123.52 Sandy HOFFMANN GER
65 123.12 Marissa SECUNDY USA
66 122.75 Jenni VÄHÄMAA FIN 2 spots
67 122.70 Francesca RIO ITA 2 spots
68 121.97 Rumi SUIZU JPN 2 spots
69 121.64 Hyeon-Jung KIM KOR 2 spots
70 120.61 Nella SIMAOVA CZE 2 spots
71 119.89 Rebecka EMANUELSSON SWE
72 118.71 Rylie MCCULLOCH-CASARSA CAN
73 118.39 Viktoria HELGESSON SWE 2 spots
74 118.09 Evgania TARASOVA RUS
75 117.98 Roberta RODEGHIERO ITA

OK, thanks. Not from the world standings lists then. I just saw the updated ISU statistics: http://www.isu.org/vsite/vcontent/p...60279-177495-33138-139933-custom-item,00.html

 

[Mathman]

That means that the National winner is guaranteed a spot on the Olympic team. I did not see that in the bulletin the USFSA put out last year. In fact, they seemed to say the opposite.

They did indeed seem to say the opposite.

But even so, I don't think they will do the opposite.

Just my opinion about how the powers-that-be in the USFSA will, in sober fact, go about selecting the team when the time comes.

 

[sillylionlove]

I sure hope Shen/Zhao do really well this season!! I would love to see them win the gold medal at the Olympics!!! (sorry to at the S/S fans out there but I am not a fan of them!!)

 

[gocaroline]

Well, Caroline won't make it to GPF, so all this is moot. I think at this point, it'd be easier for Caroline to aim for a win at National's than qualifying for GPF (though she definitely shouldn't blow off the GP season either; she should at least put up respectable scores if not placements), and I don't hold high hopes of that either given her past experiences at National's...

Feraina, you are right to the point. I am just so mad! It looks to me that it's obvious that USFS doesn't care about OO or even doesn't want to see her succeed (let's kill her any chance from the beginning!) This is really sad.

Caroline should take it in stride, just train as usual or even harder and kick some *** at next year's National. Or, is it too late to switch to another federation?

 

[cornell08]

I'm facebook friends with Caroline, and her status since Saturday is "Oh no..."

Coincidence? I think not.

from the source herself, there ya go. Yes, USFSA has no love for Caro.

 

[Mathman]

I doubt MK will skate comps anymore, and if she did she would never travel to Lake Placid.

This will be a test of Michelle's resolve. If she really, really wants it, she will go to the ends of the earth -- even unto Lake Placid. :yes:

 

[gocaroline]

I'm facebook friends with Caroline, and her status since Saturday is "Oh no..."

Coincidence? I think not.

from the source herself, there ya go. Yes, USFSA has no love for Caro.

Thanks for the information. I will try find her facebook. Poor Caro. But you know what, difficult situations can help develop a person's strong will. If Caro can survive this and make decent performance, she will have more advantage in competition experiences. Looking at the bright side, the coming National will be a piece of cake compare to TEB

 

[fairly4]

for you people trying to figure out nationals --don't it is too early besides
Caroline Zhang has to compete against Mao, Yu-na in France and Joannie Laura in Canada,
Rachel just has to compete against Yu-Na in both of her events, outside of Sasha she is the next big one, So she got one of the easiest assignments
Caroline as usually 3year in a row got the hardest. of the Us. She has a shot at 2nd in Canada, but only 3rd in France unless Mao/yu-na screws up.
since Sasha GOT What she Wanted. they will PROBABLY HOLD her up Despite mistakes. So caroline will be lucky to get 3rd

i see Sasha the Silver medalist not world title got 2nd events , Evgengy reigning Olympic Champion and world titliest got 1. Go figure.
If that doesn't stated cheating and politicaling behind the scenes I don't know what does and the fact Caroline Got hard events.

Alissa, Ashley, Sasha Rachel even MIrai got easier events.

Caroline Zhang got robbed again. That is all i am going to say. You guys wanted sasha back, deal with the brouhaha, cheating and politiciking all the way through the olympics,
People think bad news is good no it isn't if you are trying to improve the image and correct the cheating image of the sport like figure skating has.
Because the figure skating community doesn't want it change.
They still think bad news is good, it isn't not anymore . It hurts.

 

[gocaroline]

Caroline Zhang has to compete against Mao, Yu-na in France and Joannie Laura in Canada,
Alissa, Ashley, Sasha Rachel even MIrai got easier events.
Caroline Zhang got robbed again. That is all i am going to say. You guys wanted sasha back, deal with the brouhaha, cheating and politiciking all the way through the olympics, People think bad news is good no it isn't if you are trying to improve the image and correct the cheating image of the sport like figure skating has. Because the figure skating community doesn't want it change.
They still think bad news is good, it isn't not anymore . It hurts.

But what can be done to improve now? All I can do is not going SA this year And I will try to start using facebook to cheer up Caroline (just found out from a poster here that she has one) She needs all the encouragement and support now. Fairly4, cheer up a little! I believe what goes around comes around eventually.

 

[feraina]

But you know what, difficult situations can help develop a person's strong will. If Caro can survive this and make decent performance, she will have more advantage in competition experiences. Looking at the bright side, the coming National will be a piece of cake compare to TEB

You mean if she doesn't make it to GPF, doesn't win National's, and doesn't get to go the Olympics or World's (even if she has the 5th or 6th best season's scores, as she has done the last two seasons), then it will make her more likely to stick around the next Olympic cycle? Like it was with Michelle Kwan when she didn't get her OGM? Well, yup, that will probably be the case. I just hope that she doesn't end up like Michelle, doing a little worse and falling a little farther away from her dream every Olympic cycle.

(As for National's being easy after the GP circuit, well she didn't get any break after having a stellar first senior GP season, and was left off the World's team largely due to placing 5th at her first GP last season, so why should she get any better treatment if she places 4th or 5th at TEB this season?)

By the way, I don't think USFSA purposely gave her the hardest GP's on purpose, but it is the case that they didn't make her life easier by picking her for SA, and left her out to fend for herself. And she was very unlucky to be picked by TEB.

Sorry to be so gloomy, but this GP layout is a disaster for her, and as a devoted Caroline fan, I'm preparing myself early not to be disappointed with whatever the outcome. With Caroline herself, I will be happy just as long as she skates her best.

As for whoever mentioned her skating for another federation, as a high-profile US skater with international medals, USFSA could easily refuse to release her for many years, to make sure that not only she can't skate this Olympics, but not pose a threat at the next Olympics. I don't remember the exact rules, but I remember cases of skaters not being released for many years, and they weren't as successful as OO. Ironically, I think USFSA might value her more in absence.

 

[gocaroline]

Feriana, what I mean and I hope is she will win the National and get the ticket to Olympic next year I am just thinking after TEB, she may feel so much less pressure when it comes to National and do great there. I will be sooooooooooooooo dissopointed if she couldn't go next Feburary.

 

[Mathman]

What threw a monkey wrench into the selection procedure was that Asada did not make the top three at Worlds. This means that somebody has to skate against both Asada AND one of the Worlds medalists.

The reason TEB is so tough for Caroline is that she has to face both Kim AND Asada. Likewise, the skaters who got assigned to the Russian event (for instance Alissa, Kimmie and Ashley) have to go up against BOTH Mao and Miki.

At the other four events, skaters only have to face ONE of the top three skaters, and then either Rachael or Laura Lepisto from the 4-6 group.

If the skater in question IS Rachael, then she only has to face one of the top three and no one from 4-6. That is why Rachael's assignment is easier than some of the others'. You could look at it as the reward that she earned by finishing in the top six at Worlds.