2015-16 State of U.S. Men's Figure Skating | Page 26 | Golden Skate

2015-16 State of U.S. Men's Figure Skating

That's really disappointing but in a way not that surprising. Whatever his injuries were over the summer, they seemed to prevent him from preparing for the season. He's been so MIA during the off-season, withdrawing from the Sun Valley thing, not being around the World Arena when TSL visited, not being at Champs Camp, etc...
 
Poor Josh. I hope whatever the injury is that he's able to recover from it and we'll still get to see him skate at some point during the season.

For now we'll have to console ourselves with repeat viewings of his 4CC and Nationals performances!
 
"Poor thing...he's getting so injury prone it's worrying." :cry: :hopelessness:

You're right and, he really needs to be careful or his career will be over before he reaches his full potential. He's still young and if he needs to, He should take the entire year off. I know that sounds harsh but, Ankle and Knee Injuries happen in every sport and they are career ending if you rush the process. Take your time Joshua. Pick up your guitar and do a little singing. It'll help you relax.
 
Last edited:
karne said:
Taking Mrs P's hint from the power rankings thread, here are my men's ones.

I make no apology for any hint of personal bias. It's inescapable for all of us.

1. Jason Brown
Reigning National Champion and 4th at Worlds, and with a new FS to die for. The addition of the quad this season is the X-factor, but I have no doubt that he'll still perform well regardless. Consistent, confident, and the best male spinner in the world, he'll be out to prove that his National title was not a fluke.

2. Max Aaron
Might seem an odd choice given his demotion to pewter medallist at last year's Nationals, but this is shaping up to be a season of almost redemption for him. The work with Phillip Mills was evident as early as his outing at WTT in April, and with his powerful, secure jumps, he'll be in the mix and hungry to reclaim his National title and reclaim his place on the Worlds team.

3. Richard Dornbush
I'm all about the odd choices today, it seems, especially in light of his disastrous performance at the US Classic. But Dornbush is well-equipped this year to rise up the rankings, and it seems that a lot of people like to forget he was the US' equal-second ranked man after the GP last year. His programs are polished and suit him well, his jumps are improving, and I would not object to seeing more of it.

4. Joshua Farris
On the face of it, Joshua's 2015 highlights look wonderful. National Bronze medallist, 4CC's silver medallist, skating divinely until a bad fall at Worlds knocked the wind out of his sails. Since then he's followed his modus operandi of staying quiet and invisible as he recovers from a concussion, and though we can all drool imagining his new FS to Pines of Rome, we haven't seen it yet and likely won't see him until Skate Canada. But when January comes, he will be one of my picks for Champion.

5. Nathan Chen
So far, he's had a good start to the 2015-2016 season. His required early readiness saw him at a much more advanced stage than his Senior counterparts at the two summer competitions, and his win at JGP Colorado Springs was quite convincing. His jumps look fairly secure at this point. But like Farris, Chen can be injury prone, and he, his team and skating fans everywhere will have their fingers crossed he stays healthy. (*crosses fingers*)

6. Adam Rippon
It might seem curious that the National silver medallist is all the way down here, but said silver medal seems to have completely glossed over his less-than-stellar 2014-2015 season. Rippon was unconvincing on the GP, nowhere at 4CCs and very scratchy at Worlds, and the common denominator is his obsession with a quad Lutz that he's not even close to rotating. If this continues, as he has indicated it will, I doubt we will see him on the Worlds team again.

7. Timothy Dolensky
He almost seems to have shocked a lot of fans with his sudden upswing in form this year, but it comes as no surprise really: he has taken the year off school to focus exclusively on his skating, and it seems to be paying off big time. After his trip to Junior Worlds in 2012 he seemed to fly under the radar for a while, but now he's back, with bigger, better jumps and an exquisite musicality that will have fans begging for more.

8. Ross Miner
It seems a very long time ago now that Ross jumped up to hug Max as it became clear he was the silver medallist to Max's National title. Ever since, Ross has been beset by inconsistency and poor results, and is very much under the radar compared to his younger teammates. But with a divine short program, and music he is passionate about for the free skate this year, he'll be looking to turn things around and make the Worlds team for his home city.

9. Jordan Moeller
For a long time Jordan has simply been Jason's shadow, part of the background noise that surrounded Jason, but this is his seasonn to move beyond that. He attracted attention with his avant-garde FS at Nationals last year, and his jumps so far have shown plenty of indication that he may actually be better than his more famous training-mate in that department. With no Grand Prix assignments, Jordan will be looking to Senior Bs to try and make his mark.

10. Grant Hochstein
Two fourth places at his opening Senior Bs last season seemed to indicate that things were finally looking up for Hochstein, and though his 9th place at Nationals did not meet that expectation, this season he has been assigned to Cup of China, his first assignment in four years. There is little doubt he will be looking to make an impression, and if Worlds might be a little out of his reach, Four Continents is every bit possible.
Click to expand...

I think the future looks bright for the US. It does seems some skater are "generally" more likeable at least on these threads and Jason is one of them. I do find him entertaining and I think his technical prowess is improving. He has programs that people love and that is important. He has a real shot at making the world podium though I still think he is overmarked as to his skating skills - he is no where near Hanyu or Chan or even Ten or Fernandez. It is sad about the injury to Farris but I believe Miner, Chen, Rippon, Dornbush and Aaron are all looking to go to worlds or make their mark. I actually think Rippon has all the goods and skills to be great but he has to land the quad and get it consistent. The only skater guaranteed going to world's imho is Brown and it is a free for all for the rest. But it does look really good for the men. IN respect to 4CC competition wow - 3 great Japanese men or with huge potential and 3 strong Americans and it looks like the comeback kid Chan and the up and coming kid Ngyuen to make things interesting for Dennis Ten.
 
I'm so sorry to hear about Josh. But I agree with MrRice that he maybe should take the year off. It seems like he comes back too soon from his injuries and then they compound themselves. He's such a beautiful skater with so much talent it would be a shame if he has to retire because of physical reasons. This would be the best year to take off, too.
I sort of agree with Karne's list with a few exceptions. The biggest problem with the US Men other than Jason is their lack of consistency. I have always been a fan of Ricky Dornbush's skating and yet he never quite manages to get it all together. He has the jumps, he has the spins, he has the class on the ice, etc. And obviously the same can be said for Adam Rippon. He always has beautifully choreographed programs that suit him and his presentation is generally spot-on.....but other than last year's Nats he just under performs. Not going to say anything about Max. I think Nathan Chen still needs some maturing to compete successfully on the World level. Ross Miner's skating is very boring to me....very vanilla. But that's just my opinion. In any case, can hardly wait for the GP series to start and wish someone would post a TV schedule. I've checked daily on Universal and it isn't up yet. If I remember correctly they were very late in posting it last year, too.
 
noskates said:
I'm so sorry to hear about Josh. But I agree with MrRice that he maybe should take the year off. It seems like he comes back too soon from his injuries and then they compound themselves. He's such a beautiful skater with so much talent it would be a shame if he has to retire because of physical reasons. This would be the best year to take off, too.
Click to expand...

Didn't Timothy Goebel say in an interview that one of his biggest regrets was not taking the 2003-2004 season off to recover from what his body was going through from all those quads? I'm not sure that Goebel was going to make the Torino team anyway and I hope that Joshua isn't in that bad of shape. But I think it probably would have made watching Tim skate at 2006 Nationals less painful.
 
Congrats to Max for smashing his PB at Nebelhorn with an awesome clean skate - 83 points! :rock:

If he had slightly cleaner spins/footwork (his camel was a level B, and his final spin a level 2, and StSq2), he would have cracked 86-87!
 
Last edited:
Yeah HUGE congrats to Max!! Here's to hoping we see something similar from him in the long. This now puts him at 3rd highest SP score of the U.S. men currently competing.

And NOOOOOOOOOO JOSH!! Yeah I feel like he SHOULD take the whole season off at this point. He's really not the kind of skater I feel confident will be able to deliver with a debut at Nationals and who the heck knows what this injury is, but Boston Worlds isn't really worth causing potentially bigger issues before 2018 arrives.
 
USFSA has updated its assignments page and it has some nice news.

http://www.usfsa.org/Athletes.asp?id=216

Rabbitt has been added to Autumn Classic, so he gets to go play with the craziness for his first assignment. He seems happy and it was his announcement that prompted me to notice the changes. Alexander Johnson is also listed but not sure if that is new.

As of September 22 the following changes were made pertaining to the men.

Jason Brown has been moved from Ondrej to IceChallenge, which Jordan Moeller was also assigned to.

Grant Hochstein has been added to Tallinn Trophy

Alexander Joshson has been added to Golden Spin.
 
Max aaron did so well I wish U.s nationals judges weren't so obsessed with everyone being North American Proper
 
Yay for more assignments coming out! I wonder why they moved Jason's senior B? Now he doesn't have a pre SKAM tune up and he'll basically have to hop on a plane direct from Skate America to get to Graz!
 
I think Phillip Mills would be great for Nathan Chen in the future. Make him open up more if Max can improve Nathan who is more musical could thrive with Mills as his choreographer.
 
Last edited:
I'm so happy for Max. With Joshua Farris out for most of the season, I'd love to see Max fill his skates. BTW, Keegan Messing.......Please call Philip Mills!! The Man is a Genius!
 
Last edited:
(1) Sending big hugs to Josh Farris. Will miss him during the GP season. Hope that he can compete at Nats.

(2) Super-excited that Max skated clean and won the SP today :yay:. So glad that his work with Sensei Mills is paying off.

(3)
StitchMonkey said:
USFSA has updated its assignments page and it has some nice news.

http://www.usfsa.org/Athletes.asp?id=216

Rabbitt has been added to Autumn Classic, so he gets to go play with the craziness for his first assignment. He seems happy and it was his announcement that prompted me to notice the changes. Alexander Johnson is also listed but not sure if that is new.

As of September 22 the following changes were made pertaining to the men.

Jason Brown has been moved from Ondrej to IceChallenge, which Jordan Moeller was also assigned to.

Grant Hochstein has been added to Tallinn Trophy

Alexander Joshson has been added to Golden Spin.
Click to expand...

Stitch, thanks for alerting us to these new assignments and to those for other disciplines. (I have added some of them to other threads.)

Congratulations to Sean Rabbitt, Jordan, and the others :).
 
StitchMonkey said:
USFSA has updated its assignments page and it has some nice news.

http://www.usfsa.org/Athletes.asp?id=216

...

As of September 22 the following changes were made pertaining to the men.

Jason Brown has been moved from Ondrej to IceChallenge, which Jordan Moeller was also assigned to.

Grant Hochstein has been added to Tallinn Trophy ....
Click to expand...

(1) Just noticed that now Nathan Chen also is listed for Tallinn Trophy.

(Unless USFS intended to put "Chen" in the Ladies column for Karen Chen, but made a mistake??? USFS has put the names of Men and Ladies in the wrong columns for some of the other events. :confused2:)

(2) Anyway, thanks to you and Mrs. P for clearing up the confusion re Jason.
For those who have not read the updates in his fan thread, Jason now is listed both for Nepela (and he tweeted tonight about being excited to go there) and for Ice Challenge.

(3) Odd that even though USFS has been tweaking the assignments page today, it has not changed anything regarding the listings for Josh Farris for Skate Canada International and NHK.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

labgoat
2026-2027 US Men's Figure Skating
Replies
3
Views
480
labgoat
labgoat
gsk8
  • Locked
2026-27 US Figure Skating National Qualifying Series
Replies
0
Views
977
gsk8
gsk8
dorispulaski
2026 U.S. Nationals Junior Women Short Program
4 5 6
Replies
106
Views
5K
katymay
K
dorispulaski
2026 U.S. Nationals Junior Women Free Skate
2
Replies
37
Views
2K
DemTuppesSeine
DemTuppesSeine
dorispulaski
2025-26 U.S. Men's Figure Skating
2 3
Replies
52
Views
10K
Skating Bobr
Skating Bobr
Back
Top