2017-18 State of U.S. Ladies Skating

[Shayuki]

In my opinion, Bradie certainly skates like a junior skater. Many of her motions seem rushed and her footwork is quite simple overall. Few elements have actually difficult steps in between. She stalks her jumps. And she isn't very fast. Her skating isn't effortless etc.

Seems like the only difficult step or turn she does in connecting footwork is a counter and they're laboured and the majority of them seem cheated. Actually, I think I noticed a cheated bracket as well. It'll be interesting to perform a full analysis at some point. For the SS mark I don't think I'd go much higher than a 6.

 

[pearly]

Kostner could probably keep going to the Olympics until she's 40 since she has no competition in Italy.

But at 32 she is still very much in the top of ladies skating.

 

[macy]

2. That being said, I think the judges really gave her lenient calls on her tech (especially in the FS in comparison to others) and she really lost out because of the Salchow. If she had that jump I honestly feel that she would have been on the team instead of Karen

Can you imagine how she feels knowing if she would have rotated one salchow, the easiest of the triple jumps, she would have most likely been on the team? I can’t imagine the regret she feels over that. That salchow really could have changed her life again and maybe even the way the rest of her career pans out. Three revolutions...

 

[labgoat]

Yeah, this was just heartbreaking--not because she didn't skate the FS--she'd struggled with it all season, but because the foot's still acting up. It was so clear from the SP that Polina still loves skating and performing--she hadn't lost interest in skating; she'd been unable to skate. I hope the injury doesn't force into retirement, but it sounds from her interview in the Merc that that's part of what's being discussed. Hope nothing's too serious and that she'll be on her way to safely flipping and lutzing by next season. She's only 19 and has really moved forward in terms of artistry.

Don't give up, Polina!

Polina speaks on NBC about the injury https://www.nbcbayarea.com/on-air/a...-Skating-Championship_Bay-Area-468190433.html

 

[Ophelia]

But at 32 she is still very much in the top of ladies skating.

Isn't she doing only 5 triples?

 

[R.D.]

Can you imagine how she feels knowing if she would have rotated one salchow, the easiest of the triple jumps, she would have most likely been on the team? I can’t imagine the regret she feels over that. That salchow really could have changed her life again and maybe even the way the rest of her career pans out. Three revolutions...

Ach, but such is figure skating right?

 

[NAOTMAA]

Getting away from the current discussion of the Olympic team and Ashley can someone who attended practices this week describe Caroline Zhang and what she did?

She was still slower then molasses with very little improvement (that "footwork" sequence remains shocking) that even the camera couldn't hide the fact. Also Johnny said she was hammering the 3 loop-3 loop combination more then anything in the practices. I don't think he wasn't the first person to say that either because I'm positive its been said multiple times over the years by others as well.

So what did she do Do you think she used her ice time well and that it's simply a case of too little too late or was she lacking?

 

[skatefan17]

In my opinion, Bradie certainly skates like a junior skater. Many of her motions seem rushed and her footwork is quite simple overall. Few elements have actually difficult steps in between. She stalks her jumps. And she isn't very fast. Her skating isn't effortless etc.

Seems like the only difficult step or turn she does in connecting footwork is a counter and they're laboured and the majority of them seem cheated. Actually, I think I noticed a cheated bracket as well. It'll be interesting to perform a full analysis at some point. For the SS mark I don't think I'd go much higher than a 6.

She is fast in person. Also her transitions into some of the jumps are quite difficult. She has room to grow though.

 

[Shayuki]

She is fast in person. Also her transitions into some of the jumps are quite difficult. She has room to grow though.

I guess that's fair. Some of her transitions out of jumps are also difficult. Everything looks so slow and laboured though, and even though she gets up to decent speed sometimes she doesn't do a whole lot at high speed. But I guess she does compare favorably to most of the other Americans, huh? It's not like there are any skating skill phenoms. She probably is legitimately better than Wagner at SS and at least transitions.

But she's still skating like a junior to me, hrm.

 

[klutzy]

I guess that's fair. Some of her transitions out of jumps are also difficult. Everything looks so slow and laboured though, and even though she gets up to decent speed sometimes she doesn't do a whole lot at high speed. But I guess she does compare favorably to most of the other Americans, huh? It's not like there are any skating skill phenoms. She probably is legitimately better than Wagner at SS and at least transitions.

But she's still skating like a junior to me, hrm.

She's not slow. She was the fastest skater of the final six. I think taller skaters often look slower on television than they actually are.

 

[klutzy]

Polina speaks on NBC about the injury https://www.nbcbayarea.com/on-air/a...-Skating-Championship_Bay-Area-468190433.html

Yeah, she's not saying what she's doing in the future there, either. How frustrating to have one kind of jump be doable and not the other. In the SJ Merc article it said that she could do the flip and lutz, but she had to land them absolutely perfectly to not be in pain.

And all of this from not having a properly broken-in boot. Seems like something some shoe genius could work on.

 

[eriecold]

Can you imagine how she feels knowing if she would have rotated one salchow, the easiest of the triple jumps, she would have most likely been on the team? I can’t imagine the regret she feels over that. That salchow really could have changed her life again and maybe even the way the rest of her career pans out. Three revolutions...

Tell that to Mariah Bell's 2A

 

[eriecold]

Mirai is going to her second Olympics after an 8 year break at 24. Kostner is going to her what, 3rd, 4th? At the tender age of 32. Yes, she is the exception to a rule, but 24 at Olympics is not unheard of.

Arakawa won gold at 24 in Torino

 

[ucrgirl]

Meanwhile, in my dreams, Bradie surprises everyone with a bronze at the 2018 Olympics. Just because.

Does team event Bronze count? (I'm excited Bradie is on the team because she is the only US lady I trust not to blow it in the team event.)

 

[klutzy]

Does team event Bronze count? (I'm excited Bradie is on the team because she is the only US lady I trust not to blow it in the team event.)

Well, that won't be a surprise, but, hey, why not? Go for the team bronze, Bradie!

 

[topaz emerald]

I totally agree, and after seeing the program a few times now, I would even say that the theme is much deeper than I initially thought it was. Of all the potential material within the Cinderella tale, Bradie brought forward the idea of time, which is such an interesting choice. The ticking clock and striking bells strongly interrupt the "dream" of the first section, and I think this juxtaposition creates something larger than both sections -- an awareness that the moment needed to realize a dream is fleeting, and that if you don't seize it while you are still within it, that moment may pass forever. It's pitch perfect for an Olympic program.

Of course, I'm an English major and love to read too much into everything... at the very least, I think it's fair to say that Bradie put a lot of thought into her program, it means something to her, and she has a much more mature take on the story than some junior who just wants to be a Disney princess.

It's a pretty deep theme. Just because its from a Disney movie, people automatically say it's juniorish. I also see no juniorish skating from her. She is a fully grown woman. Her choreography is on point with the theme of the story. Whoever choreographed it did a wonderful job. Maybe she could have showed a little more fire towards the end of her program after she nailed her last jump and the music softened up leading to her arabesque spiral, like the fire Mirai exhibited in her step sequence, but overall she performed it well. Even if she doesn't at Olympics, if she skated her best or was perfectly clean, she can go home happy and know that she represented the US well. How many people get to go to the Olympics afterall

 

[geige]

Lol I rewatched Karen and Mirai to help me forget my grief about the men

 

[synteis]

Lol I rewatched Karen and Mirai to help me forget my grief about the men

The ladies: Last night's grief.

The men: ...Hold my beer.

 

[Koralai]

Can you imagine how she feels knowing if she would have rotated one salchow, the easiest of the triple jumps, she would have most likely been on the team? I can’t imagine the regret she feels over that. That salchow really could have changed her life again and maybe even the way the rest of her career pans out. Three revolutions...

I share your feeling of ... The thing is, unless my memory is playing tricks on me, Ashley has popped a jump - just one, crucial jump - at each of her last three nationals free skates(!!). It's not a random fluke from this year; it feels almost like a bad habit she's let herself get into, thinking that she can afford to miss one jump and still make the podium. In the press interview she gave afterwards with the now-infamous "furious" quote, she even acknowledged that she "left a jump on the table" -- but she didn't seem to think that should have held her back.

 

[skylark]

I totally agree, and after seeing the program a few times now, I would even say that the theme is much deeper than I initially thought it was. Of all the potential material within the Cinderella tale, Bradie brought forward the idea of time, which is such an interesting choice. The ticking clock and striking bells strongly interrupt the "dream" of the first section, and I think this juxtaposition creates something larger than both sections -- an awareness that the moment needed to realize a dream is fleeting, and that if you don't seize it while you are still within it, that moment may pass forever. It's pitch perfect for an Olympic program.

Of course, I'm an English major and love to read too much into everything... at the very least, I think it's fair to say that Bradie put a lot of thought into her program, it means something to her, and she has a much more mature take on the story than some junior who just wants to be a Disney princess.

Koralai, I adore your take on this and could not agree more, although I intend to take it a step further.

People who scornfully dismiss this particular Cinderella music and movie as "oh, Disney princess, how juvenile" have probably not seen the movie and have no idea how mature the themes are. hmmm. Kenneth Branagh directed. Chris Weitz wrote the script; he also wrote this year's The Mountain Between Us.

About time and the ticking clock: One of the most interesting things in the movie is how much time Cinderella has to escape, once the midnight chimes start to gong. It's one of those huge clocks for the village, and the striking chimes are very slow. She runs, but in a circuitous route. A small but key moment in the movie is that when she has the opportunity, she does a double-take, right in the middle of her flight, to go back and tell the King how much his son loves him. It fits right in with the motto of the movie, "have courage and be kind."

So I think there's a double meaning to your words: an awareness that the moment needed to realize a dream is fleeting, and that if you don't seize it while you are still within it, that moment may pass forever. Here's my take: The moment is now, and yet there's still plenty of time within that moment to complete whatever calls out to be completed, and still be kind. The theme is foreshadowed earlier, when the tiny (withered-like-a-smiling-apple) crone to whom Cinderella gives a bowl of milk says that such a small act of kindness can mean everything ... then whirls herself into a fairy godmother, complete with a shower of stars.

Thanks so much for writing your thoughts here about Bradie's program and how much deeper it goes.