2013 US Nationals Junior Men SP | Golden Skate

2013 US Nationals Junior Men SP

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
For anyone who wants to comment.

Watching Vincent Zhou now. It looks like he's grown a bit taller since last year! But lovely program. Love the 3F with the tano!
 
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Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
And someone gave Vincent a cute Sorcerer's Apprentice hat!!

ETA:

He did 2A, 3Z-3T and 3F (with tano).

And he's into second.

(I miss Omori's performance; it must've been great!)
 
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Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
Jordan Moeller was quite impressive! He trains with Jason Brown in Illinois. Love that he ended with a 2A! He's in fourth despite a botched combo.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
Aw, Chen had a freak fall after footwork. I think the injury is still affecting him. Still a lovely program.
 

Reginald

Match Penalty
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Jan 28, 2011
Unfortunately, Chan won't win.

However, I still think that he is the US men's best hope for Sochi.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
Unfortunately, Chan won't win.

However, I still think that he is the US men's best hope for Sochi.

I believe he's too young for Sochi. He was born in May 5, 1999. (You have to be 15 by July 1, 2013 to qualify, which means you have to have been born by June 30, 1998).

Which is just as well because if he has Osgood Schlatters, he's better off recovering for 2018.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
But how about Shotaro Omori! He started out the competition first and held the lead throughout the whole competition. What a nice comeback for him after not making it to Nationals last year (and just getting the last spot this year).

I'm sorry I didn't get to see his program; will have to catch it on-demand.

ETA: And he beat his personal best at Nationals by about 9 points! Yay!
 
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Johnet

Rinkside
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Feb 15, 2011
Congrats to Omori! What a performance!
But can I say that some comments about Nathan Chen I saw elsewhere just make me very uncomfortable - predicting that he will WD before LP, speculating whether he actually has flu, etc. - really, people?
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
Per Lynn Rutherford; Twitter.

Under-the-weather Nathan Chen did not come to the mix zone; he's been downing gatorade all day, fighting off flu symptoms. #Omaha2013

What a competitor! Though it was not his best; he clearly fought for everything.
 

silverlake22

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Nov 12, 2009
Congrats to Omori! What a performance!
But can I say that some comments about Nathan Chen I saw elsewhere just make me very uncomfortable - predicting that he will WD before LP, speculating whether he actually has flu, etc. - really, people?

Yeah this. Honestly, he won't withdraw unless he's sick or injured, and if he's sick or injured and does withdraw, I have no doubt that it will be for real legitimate reasons, such as being too ill with the flu or his osgood-schlatter symptoms acting up. Kid is 13, has an incredible work ethic, and is coached by Raphael Artunian - he's not going to withdraw for some bogus/fake reason just because he might not win here. And also, he's only 6 points behind Omori who has been inconsistent this season so it's not a done deal anyways and we know he's capable of 3a whereas Zhou won't try one. Plus he looked visibly pale, tired, and puffy in the Kiss N Cry and there are reports saying he's puking, so come on now, faking the flu to compensate for a 3rd place SP? Give me a break. He got the highest PCS anyway, and a level 4 on his step sequence. Anyone calling Nathan a sore loser or speculating he's making excuses for himself is deluded or jealous of his talent, seriously..
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
Wow that's pretty nasty comments. Why are they picking on a 13 year old anyway? Nathan did not look good at all in the SP, but I respect him for fighting through every element. Considering I barely can get out of bed when I have the flu, the fact he did a short program and a bunch of jumps is pretty awesome.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
Congrats to all the junior men medalists.

Zhou! Wow what a guy. I agree with the others on Twitter that I thought Casablanca might be a bit too grown up for him, but he actually performed it quite well -- it was age appropriate but yet quite classy and mature as well.

Chen - What can I say. He's a brave one. I so wanted to give him a hug at the K&C -- he was clearly not 100 percent, so to still get on the podium and pull off that great performance was pretty awesome! He has all my respect!

I hope Chen recovers from his injury because I think Zhou and Chen will make for an excellent rivalry if they continue to progress and survive the puberty monster. They both have a lot to offer to the sport!

Good for Omori for fighting on despite the mistakes. And that fantastic short too!

I like Jordan Moeller's style too.
 

silverlake22

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Nov 12, 2009
I worry about Chen. He's such a workhorse, and as they mentioned in the icenetwork article, when you train that hard, injuries happen. And he's just so little. I know he'll grow eventually, and I'm really proud he didn't withdraw and fought through everything, but he's just awfully young to be training that hard. At least this experience will help alleviate some of the pressure. He has so much to offer to the sport I just hope he can stay healthy through these tough teen years. Zhou too is a phenom, but again so young. He'll likely have a rough year down the road, seems like it happens to most skaters at some point or another. It will be interesting to see the little guys grow up. I hope Vincent doesn't push himself too hard where he's still got a year and a half to go before he's old enough for even JGP!

I liked Omori's fight. He'll most likely be going to Junior Worlds I presume, and I think he could do well there too. Lots to admire about his skating, very organic lines and understated elegance. He's a little awkward and gangly for now but I think he could be great once he adjusts to his long limbs and gains more control over his nerves. He kind of resembles Hanyu physically and in some of the movements. Hope he can build on this.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Joined
Dec 27, 2009
I worry about Chen. He's such a workhorse, and as they mentioned in the icenetwork article, when you train that hard, injuries happen. And he's just so little. I know he'll grow eventually, and I'm really proud he didn't withdraw and fought through everything, but he's just awfully young to be training that hard. At least this experience will help alleviate some of the pressure. He has so much to offer to the sport I just hope he can stay healthy through these tough teen years. Zhou too is a phenom, but again so young. He'll likely have a rough year down the road, seems like it happens to most skaters at some point or another. It will be interesting to see the little guys grow up. I hope Vincent doesn't push himself too hard where he's still got a year and a half to go before he's old enough for even JGP!

I liked Omori's fight. He'll most likely be going to Junior Worlds I presume, and I think he could do well there too. Lots to admire about his skating, very organic lines and understated elegance. He's a little awkward and gangly for now but I think he could be great once he adjusts to his long limbs and gains more control over his nerves. He kind of resembles Hanyu physically and in some of the movements. Hope he can build on this.

Well his team (Artunian, namely) is clearly aware of the issue, methinks and I think will work to make sure Nathan doesn't over go it. I think Vincent Zhou will be fine too, Tammy seems to be doing a good job pacing him and not forcing him to do things too soon.

Glad to see Omori succeed here after some so-so competitions. Though is he really a sure thing for Jr. Worlds? Harrison Choate is also competing internationally in the junior level and has bronze from JGP. So perhaps they might opt to pick all their junior world folks from the senior level.
 

mskater93

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Oct 22, 2005
I am guessing World Junior Team (men) will be Farris (unless he makes the Senior team by some happenstance), Brown, and either Choate, Omori or Chen (if he's healthy)
 

silverlake22

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Nov 12, 2009
Choate is age eligible but I think Omori is the smarter pick as Harrison has no 3a and usually struggles a bit with his 3f-3t combo in the SP (he doesn't even try a 3-3 in the FS), so totally clean he'll likely score around the same as Omori with mistakes. At sectionals he skated 2 almost perfect programs and his total score was 190, and Omori had 189 here with one less element and a few major errors in his FS. So I think unless Choate's placement is really good in the senior event, and his score is significantly above Omori's score from Nationals (likely 200+, which idk if that's even possible for Harrison unless he plans to try a 3a or something for the first time here). The JGP scores/placements between Omori and Choate were comparable anyways so I think the odds are pretty good that Omori goes. He has better odds to place better than Choate anyways, and probably a 3a-less Chen too.

I think even if Farris were to place 2nd he wouldn't be sent to Worlds anyways, though with a 2nd-4th place finish he (or Brown) might get offered 4CC in which case another spot might open up and Chen or Choate could go. But I guess it might be possible to go to 4CC and JW...ack, well, at this point, there's just too many possibilities. And after Josh placed 16th last year behind a bunch of skaters he's way better and has way more content then, who knows, maybe Choate beats him at Nationals and then the USFS doesn't send Omori because they'd be dumb not to send Farris after he almost won last year and did so well on the JGP this year and is a contender for the title, but if he places behind Choate at Nationals, then it looks bad to skip over someone and yada yada yada. I'm really hoping Josh's luck at Nationals turns around this year but with a field like this it's easy for weird things to happen.
 
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mskater93

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Oct 22, 2005
Everyone thought Dornbush was going to go to JW and Abbott to Worlds 2 years ago, but that didn't happen, so I would guess if Farris ends up in the top 2, he's going to Senior Worlds as a matter of following "standard and customary practice" and not get people's panties in a bunch.

Chen landed the 3A at his first JGP this fall and had recovered it after his injuries a couple weeks ago by all reports and probably healthy would have tried it here. He's got more "upside" since he's barely age eligible for international junior events (and USFS seems to think he and Zhao are definitely on the watch list for the future) and had a monster score at that first JGP event (222+, AFAIK and healthy AT HIS second event, probably would have made the final and given the podium a run for their money). We'll see what happens, but right now, if Chen is healthy, I've got my money on him making the JW team with Brown and Farris, but I suspect it will be contingent on his health and monitoring. If Farris goes to Senior Worlds, then I think Omori will go in his place.
 
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