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

[sabinfire]

I wonder why he won't say he's retiring then.

There's still time to make up his mind about Nationals, especially if he's still been training and has program(s) ready for events like the Japan Open.

As for why there is no 'retirement' announcement, hardly surprising. There are skaters that haven't competed at all in basically two seasons now, post-Sochi, and they still won't say they are retiring.

 

[centerpt1]

I wonder why he won't say he's retiring then.

Many skaters never say they are Retiring-they just do.

Maybe he got some shows during the fall/winter that he couldn't pass up? He said that he would quit competing if he found interest in choreographing for others , show work or pro competition.

Maybe he's leaving his options open for a try next year.

I wish him success and luck at whatever he tries. He's very talented.

 

[Ice Dance]

Next up: Glacier Falls featuring: Jason Brown, Timothy Dolensky, Richard Dornbush, Scott Dyer, Grant Hochstein, Daniel Kulenkamp, Jimmy Ma, Jordan Moeller, Sean Rabbit.

Isn't Nathan Chen scheduled to compete here as well? Or has this changed since the original competitor list was posted?

 

[Mrs. P]

Glacier Falls is over, so update time!!

Glacier Falls results (via unseenskaters.wordpress.com:

Nathan Chen 253.71 1 1
Grant Hochstein 239.49 3 2
Tim Dolensky 222.03 2 3
Sean Rabbitt 201.23 6 6
Brendan Kerry (AUS) 194.96 10 5
Jason Brown 191.90 11 4
Scott Dyer 191.34 7 7
Daniel Samohin (ISR) 183.15 5 9
Daniel Kulenkamp 180.19 9 8
Jordan Moeller 170.92 8 10
WD: Richard Dornbush 4


So here's the summer comp round-up so far:

Overall:
Nathan Chen 253.71 (Glacier Falls)*
Grant Hochstein 239.49 (Glacier Falls)*
Timothy Dolensky 222.03 (Glacier Falls)*
Nathan Chen, 220.21 (Broadmoor Open)*
Richard Dornbush 220.21 (Skate Milwaukee)*
---
Sean Rabbit 203.75 (LA Open)*
Alexander Johnson 202.25 (Skate Detroit)*
Ross Miner 202.22 (Lake Placid)
Jason Brown, 201.58 (Broadmoor Open)*
Sean Rabbitt 201.23 (Glacier Falls)*
Timothy Dolensky 201.12 (Skate Detroit)*
Timothy Dolensky, 200.91 (Broadmoor Open)*
Jason Brown 191.90 (Glacier Falls)*
Vincent Zhou 191.41 (Broadmoor Open)
Scott Dyer 191.34 (Glacier Falls)
Patrick Rupp 187.07 (Broadmoor Open)
Philip Warren 185.67 (Skate Detroit)
Jordan Moeller 181.66* (Broadmoor Open)
Daniel Kulenkamp 180.19 (Glacier Falls)
Jordan Moeller 170.92 (Glacier Falls)*
Sebastien Payannet 135.83 (Broadmoor Open)
Ryan Santee 122.83 (Skate Detroit)



Short Program:
Chen 84.45 (Glacier Falls)
Dolensky 82.89 (Glacier Falls)
Hochstein 73.98 (Glacier Falls)
Chen 71.84 (Broadmoor Open)
Warren 71.83 (Skate Detroit)
---
Johnson 71.54 (Skate Detroit)
Dolensky 70.06 (Skate Detroit)
Richard Dornbush 69.64 (Glacier Falls, did SP only)
Brown 66.68 (Broadmoor Open, SP only event)
Rabbit 66.31 (Glacier Falls)
Johsnon 65.01 (Broadmoor Open)
Brown 64.09 (Broadmoor Open combined event)
Shotaro Omori 63.49 (Skate Detroit, did SP only)*
Dolensky 61.92 (Broadmoor Open)
Dyer 61.89 (Glacier Falls)
Rupp 61.81 (Broadmoor Open)
Moeller 61.34 (Glacier Falls)
Kulenkamp 60.67 (Glacier Falls)
Zhou 57.70 (Broadmoor Open)
Brown 55.66 (Glacier Falls)
Moeller 52.87 (Broadmoor Open, SP only event)
Moeller 52.74 (Broadmoor Open)
Payannet 49.83 (Broadmoor Open)
Santee 39.05 (Skate Detroit)


Free Skate:
Chen 169.26 (Glacier Falls)
Hochstein 165.51 (Glacier Falls)
Chen 148.37 (Broadmoor Open)
Dornbush 144.35 (Skate Milwaukee)
Miner 144.14 (Lake Placid)
---
Dolensky 139.14 (Glacier Falls)
Dolensky 138.99 (Broadmoor Open)
Rabbit 137.86 (LA Open)
Brown 137.49 (Broadmoor Open)
Brown 136.24 (Glacier Falls)
Rabbitt 134.92 (Glacier Falls)
Zhou 133.71 (Broadmoor Open)
Dolensky 131.06 (Skate Detroit)
Johnson 130.75 (Skate Detroit)
Dyer 129.45 (Glacier Falls)
Rupp 125.28 (Broadmoor Open)
Johnson 114.42 (Broadmoor Open)
Kulenkamp 119.52 (Glacier Falls)
Warren 113.84 (Skate Detroit)
Payannet 86.00 (Broadmoor Open)
Moeller 109.58 (Glacier Falls)

*Eligible for international competition selection

Top 10 men who have yet compete: Adam Rippon, Max Aaron, Jeremy Abbott (though he isn't on ISP anymore)

Quick comments:

1.) Battle for Skate America TBD: There are several candidates for this TBD. Among them, Ross Miner and Grant Hochstein have one GP already. With Chen planning to go to the JGP again, I believe Hochstein and Dolensky (who has no GPs at the moment have made strong cases for the spot. Dolensky, in particular, has been in summer competition mode, having already done four club competitions, by my estimate. His improving scores including an 80+ in Glacier Falls provides a good case. Hochstein made his case in the FS with a strong successful case. Miner competed at Lake Placid, with OK scores. So I will say the choice will between Miner, Dolensky and Hochstein.

2.) The National Champion is WHERE?! : The super low scores look pretty bad for Jason Brown. Jason hasn't scored that low in some time. However, Jason tends to peak later in the season and he's trying the quad in competition, which has been two-footed at best. Will this have political ramifications for our reigning champ? IMO, not really. I'm expecting to see more polish and better tech for whatever Senior B he ends up at. Still it likely is tough for him to see such low scores, I'd imagine.

3.) Why isn't Nathan Chen senior yet? : Nathan is all over the top of these score trackers making wonder why he's going back to JGP. Let's remember that Nathan is recovering or had to recover from injuries. Nathan is old enough for Worlds, so even if he does the JGP, he can still get a spot on the World team if he places in the top 3 at Nationals. Still, a great start for Nathan!

 

[apgold]

Thanks, Mrs. P for the roundup and analysis. Let's hope Jason can get his scores back up - I have no doubt that he can get himself where he needs to be but the Q word still remains the wildcard here.

Would love to see Nathan in Boston at Worlds if he's able to keep this up. I am happy that Tim Dolensky seems to be doing well, he's such a talent.

And of course we haven't seen anything yet from Josh, the notoriously fragile procrastinator.

 

[Jammers]

Thanks, Mrs. P for the roundup and analysis. Let's hope Jason can get his scores back up - I have no doubt that he can get himself where he needs to be but the Q word still remains the wildcard here.

Would love to see Nathan in Boston at Worlds if he's able to keep this up. I am happy that Tim Dolensky seems to be doing well, he's such a talent.

And of course we haven't seen anything yet from Josh, the notoriously fragile procrastinator.

I would love to see Nathan make the World team too. Having a quad is essential to being a contender now and so few top US Men besides Max have a stable one. Ricky is hit and miss Josh still struggles and Adam will probably never get his quad lutz ratified. So it's good to see a younger skater like Nathan already nailing them at such a young age. Now he just needs to improve on other things and get his 3axel stable too then his tech will be almost unbeatable among US Men.

 

[ice coverage]

... So here's the summer comp round-up so far: ...

Top 10 men who have yet compete: Adam Rippon, Max Aaron, Jeremy Abbott (though he isn't on ISP anymore) ...

Thank you, Mrs. P .

FYIs:

- Max is expected to compete this coming week at US Collegiates, per the host club. http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?41129-Max-Aaron&p=1198377&viewfull=1#post1198377

It will be Max's first year at Collegiates. Dornbush will be defending his title. ​

- IIRC, Sho Omori competed at Skate Detroit, not Glacier Falls.

- Vincent Zhou was scheduled to compete this past weekend at the Colorado Championships. (Last year, results were not published online until at least two or three weeks after the fact.)
- Vincent recently landed his first quad salchow in training, per Instagram video from Tom Z:

https://instagram.com/p/5dZEjUjY8Z/ (Jul 22) -- the jump + Vincent's joyful reaction, which is very cute​

 

[Mrs. P]

Thanks for the edits golden411. Mind you I did it about midnight after a long day of baby care.

I also put my post in the original post for handy reference.

 

[ice coverage]

Thanks for the edits golden411. Mind you I did it about midnight after a long day of baby care.

I also put my post in the original post for handy reference.

Oh, I hope I did not sound like an ungrateful wretch :hopelessness:, Mrs. P.

Even long before Baby Therese, your thorough listings and analyses went above and beyond the call of "duty" .

Now that you are Mommy P :yay:, appreciate your many, many contributions all the more.

Many thx for putting your post in the OP where we can find it easily as the season keeps moving forward.

---

ETA, I just checked Vincent Zhou's Instagrams, and he posted a little peek at his PCS from Saturday:

https://instagram.com/p/53K0yGuuPv/ (Aug 1)​

 

[Tavi...]

I'm curious as to which Senior B(s) Jason might try for. There are 5 in the Challenger Series from mid-September to mid-October, but I'm guessing the last of those (Mordovian Ornament) is too close in time to SA. I also would be surprised if he went back to Nebelhorn this year because of the pressure of defending his title. That leaves SLC, Ondrej Nepela, and Finlandia. If he is hoping to medal at SA he might want to do 2 of the 3 (SLC & Finlandia?) to practice competing as much as possible. OTOH, maybe he'd be better off doing a few lower profile US club competitions.

 

[aromaticchicken]

Glacier Falls is over, so update time!!

Glacier Falls results (via unseenskaters.wordpress.com:

Nathan Chen 253.71 1 1
Grant Hochstein 239.49 3 2
Tim Dolensky 222.03 2 3
Sean Rabbitt 201.23 6 6
Brendan Kerry (AUS) 194.96 10 5
Jason Brown 191.90 11 4
Scott Dyer 191.34 7 7
Daniel Samohin (ISR) 183.15 5 9
Daniel Kulenkamp 180.19 9 8
Jordan Moeller 170.92 8 10
WD: Richard Dornbush 4


So here's the summer comp round-up so far:

Overall:
Nathan Chen 253.71 (Glacier Falls)*
Grant Hochstein 239.49 (Glacier Falls)*
Timothy Dolensky 222.03 (Glacier Falls)*
Nathan Chen, 220.21 (Broadmoor Open)*
Richard Dornbush 220.21 (Skate Milwaukee)*
---
Sean Rabbit 203.75 (LA Open)*
Alexander Johnson 202.25 (Skate Detroit)*
Ross Miner 202.22 (Lake Placid)
Jason Brown, 201.58 (Broadmoor Open)*
Sean Rabbitt 201.23 (Glacier Falls)*
Timothy Dolensky 201.12 (Skate Detroit)*
Timothy Dolensky, 200.91 (Broadmoor Open)*
Jason Brown 191.90 (Glacier Falls)*
Vincent Zhou 191.41 (Broadmoor Open)
Scott Dyer 191.34 (Glacier Falls)
Patrick Rupp 187.07 (Broadmoor Open)
Philip Warren 185.67 (Skate Detroit)
Jordan Moeller 181.66* (Broadmoor Open)
Daniel Kulenkamp 180.19 (Glacier Falls)
Jordan Moeller 170.92 (Glacier Falls)*
Sebastien Payannet 135.83 (Broadmoor Open)
Ryan Santee 122.83 (Skate Detroit)



Short Program:
Chen 84.45 (Glacier Falls)
Dolensky 82.89 (Glacier Falls)
Hochstein 73.98 (Glacier Falls)
Chen 71.84 (Broadmoor Open)
Warren 71.83 (Skate Detroit)
---
Johnson 71.54 (Skate Detroit)
Dolensky 70.06 (Skate Detroit)
Richard Dornbush 69.64 (Glacier Falls, did SP only)
Brown 66.68 (Broadmoor Open, SP only event)
Rabbit 66.31 (Glacier Falls)
Johsnon 65.01 (Broadmoor Open)
Brown 64.09 (Broadmoor Open combined event)
Shotaro Omori 63.49 (Skate Detroit, did SP only)*
Dolensky 61.92 (Broadmoor Open)
Dyer 61.89 (Glacier Falls)
Rupp 61.81 (Broadmoor Open)
Moeller 61.34 (Glacier Falls)
Kulenkamp 60.67 (Glacier Falls)
Zhou 57.70 (Broadmoor Open)
Brown 55.66 (Glacier Falls)
Moeller 52.87 (Broadmoor Open, SP only event)
Moeller 52.74 (Broadmoor Open)
Payannet 49.83 (Broadmoor Open)
Santee 39.05 (Skate Detroit)


Free Skate:
Chen 169.26 (Glacier Falls)
Hochstein 165.51 (Glacier Falls)
Chen 148.37 (Broadmoor Open)
Dornbush 144.35 (Skate Milwaukee)
Miner 144.14 (Lake Placid)
---
Dolensky 139.14 (Glacier Falls)
Dolensky 138.99 (Broadmoor Open)
Rabbit 137.86 (LA Open)
Brown 137.49 (Broadmoor Open)
Brown 136.24 (Glacier Falls)
Rabbitt 134.92 (Glacier Falls)
Zhou 133.71 (Broadmoor Open)
Dolensky 131.06 (Skate Detroit)
Johnson 130.75 (Skate Detroit)
Dyer 129.45 (Glacier Falls)
Rupp 125.28 (Broadmoor Open)
Johnson 114.42 (Broadmoor Open)
Kulenkamp 119.52 (Glacier Falls)
Warren 113.84 (Skate Detroit)
Payannet 86.00 (Broadmoor Open)
Moeller 109.58 (Glacier Falls)

*Eligible for international competition selection

Top 10 men who have yet compete: Adam Rippon, Max Aaron, Jeremy Abbott (though he isn't on ISP anymore)

Quick comments:

1.) Battle for Skate America TBD: There are several candidates for this TBD. Among them, Ross Miner and Grant Hochstein have one GP already. With Chen planning to go to the JGP again, I believe Hochstein and Dolensky (who has no GPs at the moment have made strong cases for the spot. Dolensky, in particular, has been in summer competition mode, having already done four club competitions, by my estimate. His improving scores including an 80+ in Glacier Falls provides a good case. Hochstein made his case in the FS with a strong successful case. Miner competed at Lake Placid, with OK scores. So I will say the choice will between Miner, Dolensky and Hochstein.

2.) The National Champion is WHERE?! : The super low scores look pretty bad for Jason Brown. Jason hasn't scored that low in some time. However, Jason tends to peak later in the season and he's trying the quad in competition, which has been two-footed at best. Will this have political ramifications for our reigning champ? IMO, not really. I'm expecting to see more polish and better tech for whatever Senior B he ends up at. Still it likely is tough for him to see such low scores, I'd imagine.

3.) Why isn't Nathan Chen senior yet? : Nathan is all over the top of these score trackers making wonder why he's going back to JGP. Let's remember that Nathan is recovering or had to recover from injuries. Nathan is old enough for Worlds, so even if he does the JGP, he can still get a spot on the World team if he places in the top 3 at Nationals. Still, a great start for Nathan!

Mrs. P, I think your analysis is spot on on every measure!! Thank you!!

So who do we think will get the SA TBA among those three?? I'm rooting for dolensky, provided he stabilizes his 3A (it seems to be going off axis despite its great height and sufficient rotation, which is why he keeps having to save it all the time so far this summer!!)

 

[StitchMonkey]

I'm curious as to which Senior B(s) Jason might try for. There are 5 in the Challenger Series from mid-September to mid-October, but I'm guessing the last of those (Mordovian Ornament) is too close in time to SA. I also would be surprised if he went back to Nebelhorn this year because of the pressure of defending his title. That leaves SLC, Ondrej Nepela, and Finlandia. If he is hoping to medal at SA he might want to do 2 of the 3 (SLC & Finlandia?) to practice competing as much as possible. OTOH, maybe he'd be better off doing a few lower profile US club competitions.

I think he may want to go back to Nebelhorn precisely to find out what it feels like to defend a title. I don't think he will go to SLC as Max has made that his baby, but I could see them trading possibly.

I could also see him ending up at Skate Canada Autumn Classic. It is two weeks prior to Skate America, but it is in the same hemisphere. It would be a non-challenger senior B that is not that far away and would give him one last bit of a dress rehearsal for Skate America. I think we may see him do a non-challenger and a challenger one coming up.

 

[Tavi...]

I think he may want to go back to Nebelhorn precisely to find out what it feels like to defend a title. I don't think he will go to SLC as Max has made that his baby, but I could see them trading possibly.

I could also see him ending up at Skate Canada Autumn Classic. It is two weeks prior to Skate America, but it is in the same hemisphere. It would be a non-challenger senior B that is not that far away and would give him one last bit of a dress rehearsal for Skate America. I think we may see him do a non-challenger and a challenger one coming up.

Yeah good point & I guess if he's thinking about defending at Nats that makes sense, but he struggled so much with the quad & the basics of both programs at Glacier Falls. Ironically, I think he won at Glacier Falls last year and year before, but he didn't seem focused on defending his "title." As a club comp, it's probably different than Nebelhorn, though.

 

[Alba]

I'm listening Massimiliano Ambesi live on youtube, Eurosport ITA commentator and Neveitalia editor. He's speaking about junior girls. He says that the best male skater in USA is Nathan Chen. It's very interesting to hear. They'are speaking about young skaters, juniors in particular, for each country.

 

[StitchMonkey]

Yeah good point & I guess if he's thinking about defending at Nats that makes sense, but he struggled so much with the quad & the basics of both programs at Glacier Falls. Ironically, I think he won at Glacier Falls last year and year before, but he didn't seem focused on defending his "title." As a club comp, it's probably different than Nebelhorn, though.

He also won Broadmoor Open the last two years as well. But I am not sure he is ready to be thinking like that. He needs to get used to the programs a bit more clearly. I do think club comps are different and should be treated differently. Are there any in the Chicago area he could make an appearance at?

 

[karne]

He also won Broadmoor Open the last two years as well. But I am not sure he is ready to be thinking like that. He needs to get used to the programs a bit more clearly. I do think club comps are different and should be treated differently. Are there any in the Chicago area he could make an appearance at?

I would venture to say that the next time we'll see him will be internationally - probably Nebelhorn or Finlandia. It's now August, Champs Camp is coming up, and after Champs Camp there won't really be a lot of time to compete again ahead of the international season.

 

[Tavi...]

Technically he could do the DuPage Open which is from 8/13 to 8/16 and still make it to Champs Camp on 8/22, but it seems unlikely. Although I am pretty sure Jeremy has competed there in the past and this year it's being held at Chris Howarth's rink so I suppose it's possible .....

 

[Tavi...]

I'm listening Massimiliano Ambesi live on youtube, Eurosport ITA commentator and Neveitalia editor. He's speaking about junior girls. He says that the best male skater in USA is Nathan Chen. It's very interesting to hear. They'are speaking about young skaters, juniors in particular, for each country.

Well, six months ago everyone was convinced that Josh Farris was America's best male skater because of his showings at Nats and 4CCs. Now because we've heard nothing from Josh and Adam still hasn't landed the 4Z, I guess it's Nathan Chen's turn, presumably because he had a great competition at Glacier Falls.

 

[ice coverage]

Well, six months ago everyone was convinced that Josh Farris was America's best male skater because of his showings at Nats and 4CCs. Now because we've heard nothing from Josh and Adam still hasn't landed the 4Z, I guess it's Nathan Chen's turn, presumably because he had a great competition at Glacier Falls.

Nathan Chen won the Broadmoor Open decisively as well, and placed third in the Freezer Aerial Challenge. He's having a good summer .

But I don't want Josh to be forgotten!

 

[Alba]

Well, six months ago everyone was convinced that Josh Farris was America's best male skater because of his showings at Nats and 4CCs. Now because we've heard nothing from Josh and Adam still hasn't landed the 4Z, I guess it's Nathan Chen's turn, presumably because he had a great competition at Glacier Falls.

No, I don't think so. The guy follows the young skaters closely and is very knowledgeable. He mentioned a lot of other skaters from other countries that I don't even know. I'm not saying he's right just that he doesn't go with the flow. He said that Nathan's weakest point was that he was too injury prone. He was speaking in terms of overall goods, not making predictions about the future.