2022 Olympic Hopefuls (Team USA)

I just think it's way too early. So much can happen in 4 years...or even 5 months. Look at Alina! I don't think anyone in the world would have bet against Evgenia winning in Pyeongchang until Alina showed up. Skaters come in very quickly and go out very quickly, especially nowadays.

The 2022 Olympic champion could still be down in novice level for all we know...

kwanatic said:

The 2022 Olympic champion could still be down in novice level for all we know...

Click to expand...

I don't think anyone would have picked the 2018 women's team in 2017, much less in 2014. I would guess the ladies team would be one woman we know now plus one or two who are junior/novice at the moment. Bradie is the only current senior who seems to be able to maintain momentum, but three years is a long time.

Yes, four years is a long time. Who would have thought that the one woman from 2014 Senior Nationals to make the 2018 Olympic team would be Mirai? I'm a fan, but wow. Sometimes the athlete people are the quickest to dismiss is the one who perseveres because he/she/they has the most to prove.

Going by the OP, I'm not listing the current Olympians

Dance

Parsons/Parsons
McNamara/Carpenter
Carreira/Ponomarenko
Hawayek/Baker

Of the current Olympians, I think H/D will be on the team for sure. I don't think we'll see the same team as 2018 though - at least one of the ones I listed above will make it I think.

Men

Jason Brown
Alexei Krasnozhon
Tomoki Hiwatashi
Camden Pulkinen
Andrew Torgashev

I think that Nathan will be on the team and Vincent will be in the mix. Camden will need a solid quad or two by then though - it's four years away, so he has time, but I also don't think we've even seen him attempt one in comp, and it takes time to get it consistent once you put it in. Tomoki has a quad already, so although Camden has been outscoring him this season, long-term he's a little better prepared. Andrew would need to gain a whole lot of consistency with his jumps to be in the mix, but he has nice quality, so I went ahead and listed him.

Ladies

Mariah Bell
Starr Andrews
Megan Wessenberg
Ashley Lin
Ting Cui
Alysa Liu
Gracie Gold (?)

Ladies is harder to predict, I find. I kind of just threw a bunch of names out there who I could see being in the mix, but there were others I could add. I think Bradie has a decent chance of still being on the team by then, but who knows. Karen is a triple who knows. It's hard to know which of the seniors will still be around and healthy, and which of the juniors will keep their jumps or be somewhat consistent.

Pairs

Kayne/O'Shea
Cain/Leduc
Stellato/Bartholomay
Calalang/Johnson
Feng/Nyman
Lu/Mitrofanov

It mostly takes the pairs teams a little bit to gel and become competitive, so it's not that likely that someone will come out of nowhere. If the Knierims stick around until then, they should be in the mix with a couple others. I could have listed some others, and it's always possible that not all these teams are still together by then.

kwanatic said:

I just think it's way too early. So much can happen in 4 years...or even 5 months. Look at Alina! I don't think anyone in the world would have bet against Evgenia winning in Pyeongchang until Alina showed up. Skaters come in very quickly and go out very quickly, especially nowadays.

The 2022 Olympic champion could still be down in novice level for all we know...

Click to expand...

I agree. Most of the 2022 team probably isn't even on the scene yet. 4 years is a long time.

4 years is a long time ...

But I think everyone on the 2018 team was ‘known’ back in 2014 - except Bradie? The younger ones - Nathan, Vincent, Karen - had won national titles already.

My biggest hope is that both McNamara/Carpenter and Parsons/Parsons make it. Hopefully they'll keep improving each year and by the time 2022 comes around, they'll be at the top.

MarinHondas said:

I agree. Most of the 2022 team probably isn't even on the scene yet. 4 years is a long time.

Click to expand...

I definitely would call that exaggeration. Especially in ice dance and pairs, disciplines with generally long periods to develop, it’s more likely than not that everybody who’ll be on the 2022 team is already not only on the radar but currently in the senior ranks.