Everyone that was griping that Nathan's programs last season were all about jumps don't understand that was always the plan because he knew being a first year Senior that the only way he could rise in the standings and be taken as a contender quickly was quads and so that's what he focused on. Notice now how he's not so focused on the quads but working on the artistic side of things and the strides that he is making. Nathan is not a skater who won't work on his weaknesses his spins are even looking better. If only more top US skaters were this focused and competitive.
2017-18 State of U.S. Men's Figure Skating
- Thread starter Mrs. P
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- Jan 25, 2013
100%. He was getting his jumps out there to get himself in top contention. Now that he's had a freshman season out of the way, he can work on the refinements needed to make himself an OGM contender. He should be hitting over 90 PCS in no time, if all goes to plan.
I do like how at the Classic, he did a pared down version of his program so that people don't just see him as a jumping machine.
I'm also really impressed with Max's progress so far this season. He's really gunning for that extra Olympic spot and finally realizes to close the gap against Brown he has to add more difficulty.
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- Jul 9, 2014
I think this might be the strongest group of US Men we've had in a decade, maybe more. I realize it's a new era but, we've never had this many big jumpers who are also striving to be great performers. Nathan, Vincent, Max, Ross, Grant, Jason along with strong Juniors Aleksei, Camden, have all made such huge strides in last 2 seasons that it gives me hope that we'll have a man back on the World Podium in the not too distant future.
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Oh, I realize *exactly* what Nathan's plan was and how well he was executing it. I don't think *anyone* here, whether or not they agreed with the plan, didn't recognize it. Holy cow, that much was obvious
And every single US men's skater, and I dare say skater in this world, is indeed as focused and competitive as Nathan. They all have an excellent idea of what their strengths and weaknesses are. And what they need to work on to get the results they want. For example, Jason has a laser focus, is a competitive athlete who wants to win, and works extraordinarily hard to do so.
They may not have the "results" of Nathan, but it has zip, bupkes, nada and zilch to do with their focus and competitive spirit. In which they *all* excel.
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- Jan 1, 2013
Nothing on Joshua Farris yet. His standard MO is to be pretty quiet, so it's possible we won't hear anything until closer to NHK.
It being a plan doesn't make it immune to griping. Lord knows you gripe enough about Jason's plans.
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- Jan 9, 2017
Other than that he is healthy and training well. No.
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- Jul 9, 2014
oh geez! What a statement!
I agree.....People, like it or not, Adam is loved by international judges. When he skates well, he is very difficult to beat. The only thing that can truly hold him back will be his health. Even quadless, I think his bird program was a masterpiece and if he skate's it cleanly with a Combo 4L and solo 4L his PCS number will be huge and then the chips will fall where the may. I still don't see anyone beating a clean Nathan Chen, or Vincent when they are both capable of landing 4 quads in a program. IMO, Max Arron is the wildcard and if he's clean, I'd go with him because he's rock mentally and I think he's as hungry as he's ever been. Of all the Men I've listed, I still don't have Jason Brown who is the only Olympian returning from Sochi, Joshua Farris, or Grant on my list. I've seen all of them land a quad and that makes this one of the deepest men's fields the US has ever had.
Guys, it's September.
Let me put it this way: In Sept. 2013, would you have predicted that the Olympic team would be Jeremy Abbott and Jason Brown? Of course you didn't.
The 2010 team was far easier to predict, but let's consider that:
1.) The national champs during that the previous three years (2007/2008/2009): Lysacek and Abbott (and both were on the podium 1-4 the other years). Weir was a medalist for 2 of those 3 years. There were only three others who podiumed: Ryan Bradley, Stephen Carriere and Brandon Mroz.
2.) We had two world medalists in Lysacek and Weir.
3.) Those three had all won GPF medals including gold for Abbott and Lysacek.
In the last three years this time around we had:
1.) Three different U.S. champs (Brown, Rippon, Chen)
2.) Four additional medalists (1-4: Zhou, Aaron, Farris, Hochstein)
3.) Another previous U.S. medalist (Miner)
4.) Only one GPF medalist (Chen)
So yeah, I'm not going to predict anything right at this moment. Talk to me in maybe December.
ETA: For perspective. This day last year, Jason had only done Nebelhorn Trophy and had one GP event...
Let me put it this way: In Sept. 2013, would you have predicted that the Olympic team would be Jeremy Abbott and Jason Brown? Of course you didn't.
The 2010 team was far easier to predict, but let's consider that:
1.) The national champs during that the previous three years (2007/2008/2009): Lysacek and Abbott (and both were on the podium 1-4 the other years). Weir was a medalist for 2 of those 3 years. There were only three others who podiumed: Ryan Bradley, Stephen Carriere and Brandon Mroz.
2.) We had two world medalists in Lysacek and Weir.
3.) Those three had all won GPF medals including gold for Abbott and Lysacek.
In the last three years this time around we had:
1.) Three different U.S. champs (Brown, Rippon, Chen)
2.) Four additional medalists (1-4: Zhou, Aaron, Farris, Hochstein)
3.) Another previous U.S. medalist (Miner)
4.) Only one GPF medalist (Chen)
So yeah, I'm not going to predict anything right at this moment. Talk to me in maybe December.
ETA: For perspective. This day last year, Jason had only done Nebelhorn Trophy and had one GP event...
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- Feb 24, 2012
Did something happen to Adam? Or do you not consider him a great performer.
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- Jan 22, 2015
Honestly Nathan's new programs seem so fresh and interesting! Watching shoma at lombardia directly after watching Nathan at us classic and shomas programs seems like a snooze fest compared to his tbh. Nathan is definitely the man to beat at home and is looking very very strong for the international field as well. I'm on that Nathan hype train!
Just for the sake of discussion here are the ages of the last four Olympic teams:
2011: 28 (Abbott), 19 (Brown)
2010: 25 (Weir), 24 (Lysacek) 24 (Abbott)
2006: 25 (Savoie), 21 (Weir), 20 (Lysacek)
2002: 30 (Eldridge), 26 (Weiss), 22 (Goebel)
Jason was the second youngest Olympian behind Dick Button, IIRC. Obviously that's going to be broken this year as Nathan will be 18 at the Olympics and Vincent will be 17.
Also, from 1980 Olympics until now, there has been only one Olympics (2006 - Weiss and Eldridge retired; Goebel placed 7th) where none of the the members of the team was a previous Olympian. And if you go back further to 1968 (exactly 50 years ago), it only happened one other time, in 1972.
Given the dramatic change in the sport, 2018 could be the third time we have all new Olympic members. Out of the entire field, Jason is the only one who has been in the Olympics...so the odds are higher for a completely new team.
2011: 28 (Abbott), 19 (Brown)
2010: 25 (Weir), 24 (Lysacek) 24 (Abbott)
2006: 25 (Savoie), 21 (Weir), 20 (Lysacek)
2002: 30 (Eldridge), 26 (Weiss), 22 (Goebel)
Jason was the second youngest Olympian behind Dick Button, IIRC. Obviously that's going to be broken this year as Nathan will be 18 at the Olympics and Vincent will be 17.
Also, from 1980 Olympics until now, there has been only one Olympics (2006 - Weiss and Eldridge retired; Goebel placed 7th) where none of the the members of the team was a previous Olympian. And if you go back further to 1968 (exactly 50 years ago), it only happened one other time, in 1972.
Given the dramatic change in the sport, 2018 could be the third time we have all new Olympic members. Out of the entire field, Jason is the only one who has been in the Olympics...so the odds are higher for a completely new team.
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- Feb 27, 2012
For diehards re next week's USOC media summit:
Re-posting here some of my notes (from the U.S. Ladies thread) on media summit stuff for Nathan, Vincent, Jason, Adam:
:agree: Thank you, Mrs. P. Cannot be repeated often enough, IMO.
Congratulations to Ross Miner for being added to Skate America:
"USOC Service Providers" (at least two of whom work with skaters) will take part in a press conference being streamed on Wed Sep 27.
Strength and conditioning coach Brandon Siakel is one of the names that I recognize. Per his mini-bio: "a large emphasis of his coaching dedicated towards figure skating."
Sports psychologist Alex Cohen has worked with Max Aaron. (And perhaps other skaters, for all I know??)
Disclaimer: I have no idea to what extent skating (and/or skaters) in particular will come up at the presser in the context of what these providers do for athletes.
Alex Cohen, psychology
Susie Parker-Simmons, nutrition
Scott Riewald, sports technology
Brandon Siakel, strength and conditioning
Randy Wilber, sports physiology
http://www.teamusa.org/Media/Games/PyeongChang-2018/Media-Summit/Video
Susie Parker-Simmons, nutrition
Scott Riewald, sports technology
Brandon Siakel, strength and conditioning
Randy Wilber, sports physiology
http://www.teamusa.org/Media/Games/PyeongChang-2018/Media-Summit/Video
Strength and conditioning coach Brandon Siakel is one of the names that I recognize. Per his mini-bio: "a large emphasis of his coaching dedicated towards figure skating."
Nathan and Mirai, for example, could be seen working with Brandon in a public area of the U.S. Classic venue last week.
Coach Tom has mentioned Vincent's work with Brandon.
Jason, Adam, and Ashley also are among those who have worked with Brandon.
This 2016 article has good detail about Brandon's work with skaters:
In May 2017, Brandon was part of the same PSA boots seminar as Jason.
Coach Tom has mentioned Vincent's work with Brandon.
Jason, Adam, and Ashley also are among those who have worked with Brandon.
This 2016 article has good detail about Brandon's work with skaters:
In May 2017, Brandon was part of the same PSA boots seminar as Jason.
Sports psychologist Alex Cohen has worked with Max Aaron. (And perhaps other skaters, for all I know??)
Disclaimer: I have no idea to what extent skating (and/or skaters) in particular will come up at the presser in the context of what these providers do for athletes.
Re-posting here some of my notes (from the U.S. Ladies thread) on media summit stuff for Nathan, Vincent, Jason, Adam:
- On Mon Sep 25, a press conference with some of the skaters will be live streamed 
.
- The media guide has some fun quirky stuff as well as more conventional bios and notes.
- Vincent Zhou + Evan Bates, Madison Chock, Zach Donohue, Madison Hubbell, Chris Knierim, Alexa Scimeca Knierim are scheduled for a figure skating roundtable on Tue Sep 26.
- My understanding is that each athlete gets a full day of activities at the media summit.
- The 2013 edition of the USOC media summit also had figure skating demos on Monday from Max Aaron, Gracie Gold, and the Shibs.
.The skaters are Mariah Bell, Jason Brown, Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Mirai Nagasu, Adam Rippon, Alex Shibutani, Maia Shibutani, and Ashley Wagner.
Scheduled for 3:45-5:15 pm local time (Mountain time zone).
Scheduled for 3:45-5:15 pm local time (Mountain time zone).
- The media guide has some fun quirky stuff as well as more conventional bios and notes.
(e.g., from Vincent Zhou: "I have a habit of saving my favorite things to eat for last ...")
- Vincent Zhou + Evan Bates, Madison Chock, Zach Donohue, Madison Hubbell, Chris Knierim, Alexa Scimeca Knierim are scheduled for a figure skating roundtable on Tue Sep 26.
(The roundtable is not on the streaming schedule.)
- My understanding is that each athlete gets a full day of activities at the media summit.
Mirai, Mariah, Karen, Ashley, Nathan, Adam, Jason, and the Shibs are assigned to Mon Sep 25.
Vincent, C/B, H/D, and the Knierims are assigned to Tue Sep 26.
Vincent, C/B, H/D, and the Knierims are assigned to Tue Sep 26.
- The 2013 edition of the USOC media summit also had figure skating demos on Monday from Max Aaron, Gracie Gold, and the Shibs.
Figure skating demos are scheduled for Monday this year as well.
My guess is that one man, one lady, and one dance couple once again will give demos?
My guess is that one man, one lady, and one dance couple once again will give demos?
:agree: Thank you, Mrs. P. Cannot be repeated often enough, IMO.
Congratulations to Ross Miner for being added to Skate America:
We might have a better idea of the horse race when Adam competes at Finlandia.
As I said, it's way too early to call anything. Back in the fall of 2013, Adam and Max looked like strong bets after their GP performances with Jason as a dark horse when he got his GP medal. Most likely didn't expect Jeremy to make a second team, let alone win U.S. Nationals again.
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I suspect if we knew the answer to that they would not both be assigned to NHK.
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- Dec 28, 2013
I thought skaters were invited, not assigned to GP events (except the host pick in your own country). So it's a coincidence. But a useful one for the US fed.
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- Nov 19, 2014
Some updates on Vincent from Chinese media. The video mentions him having knee pain in his previously injured one.
http://vincent-zhou.tumblr.com/post/165487213493/cup-of-china-中国杯花样滑冰大奖赛-2017coccompetitor
http://vincent-zhou.tumblr.com/post/165487213493/cup-of-china-中国杯花样滑冰大奖赛-2017coccompetitor
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