2017-18 State of U.S. Men's Figure Skating

[Chemistry66]

3 US men have now qualified for the JGPF!

Alexei Krasnozhon won in Australia and Croatia to qualify in the 2nd position.
Camden Pulkinen won in Austria and was 2nd in Poland to qualify in the 3rd position.
Andrew Torgashev was 2nd in Belarus and 4th in Italy to qualify in the 6th and final position.

I'm sad for Tomoki Hiwatashi, who with two 3rd places is just outside the reserves because all 3 reserves have a 2nd/4th which beats a 3rd/3rd.

But I'm excited for Andrew. He had the same placements last year (2nd in his first event, 4th in his second event) and just missed out on the JGPF.

 

[Mrs. P]

The junior world spots may be the interesting third narrative of US Nationals! All four men above will be at the senior level nationally, so they are going to fight it out there!

US men was on the podium at every jgp! Great job!

 

[mrrice]

I am no expert but she was skating to Don Quixote. I have to say her edges on the lutz look questionable and a lot of her jumps looked underrotated but what do I know - or at the very least they weren't huge jumps. Not great amplitude.

You're right, it was Don Quixote. I think Irina did Don Quixote that year as well.....:dumb: Sorry for the mistake

 

[el henry]

Sad for Tomoki and his beautiful Rohene programs

BUT so happy for Alex, Camden, and of course, by the skin of his teeth, Andrew T.:luv17:

What I love about the US junior men is that they are all “performers” in their own right. Even Alex K. conveys passion, even if most of what he does is land jumps.

Let’s go boys

 

[Skater Boy]

Does anyone know how Adam is progressing -his short program sadly is not competitive even when clean without a quad. And what about Jason is the quad coming. I don't think they will send both Adam and Jason only one and Jason is by far the fave. While some one like Timothy or Josh or even Grant could sneak on the time I think the big guns are Nathan, Vincent, Jason, Max and Adam. Nathan is basically a sure thing as he is the only skater who truly is a gold medal threat. If Vincent is consistent with his tech arsenal well poor Max is obsolete. That leaves Jason and Adam to fight it out as the veteran/artist unofficial spot.

 

[mrrice]

Does anyone know how Adam is progressing -his short program sadly is not competitive even when clean without a quad. And what about Jason is the quad coming. I don't think they will send both Adam and Jason only one and Jason is by far the fave. While some one like Timothy or Josh or even Grant could sneak on the time I think the big guns are Nathan, Vincent, Jason, Max and Adam. Nathan is basically a sure thing as he is the only skater who truly is a gold medal threat. If Vincent is consistent with his tech arsenal well poor Max is obsolete. That leaves Jason and Adam to fight it out as the veteran/artist unofficial spot.

Adam is keeping his Bird LP and it really is nice program. I think it will depend on the panel at Nationals. I think Nathan and Vincent are most likely going to make the team. Today, I'd pick Max ahead of the rest of the field but, it's still too early and haven't seen Jason yet.

 

[Ice Dance]

I was really rooting for Tomoki in Italy, but I still feel pretty good about where he is at this moment in time. Back to landing the axel (it was really nice in the warm-up). Went for the quad toe & stood it up. Gave up too many points when the lead was within his reach, but he had a very rough season last year. He's put himself back in the mix with his results this season, and it looks like he's healthy now and on track.

Congratulations to Andrew, Alexei, and Camden for making the Final. I'm really enjoying watching this battle among the top 4-5 U.S. junior men play out this season. I was looking forward to it last year, and it didn't quite come off. Nice to see the guys rising to the occasion.

 

[karne]

it's still too early and haven't seen Jason yet.

What? Yes we have. Nepela.

 

[mrrice]

What? Yes we have. Nepela.

I haven't seen his performances from Nepela..... How is he looking?

 

[Tavi...]

He competed at Lombardia.

 

[karne]

He competed at Lombardia.

sorry, my brain...of course Brendan was at both. That's my excuse anyway.

 

[mrrice]

I haven't seen him. Do you think he'll be a threat to Nathan, Vincent, Max, or Adam?

 

[andromache]

Junior men generally have pretty bad skating skills, spins, and programs (especially in comparison to, say, junior ladies - the junior men just seem to develop differently/more slowly). None of the US men are total slouches in these areas - but Tomoki is on another level entirely. It'll be interesting to see another Kori/Rohene packaged man develop over next few years, technically and artistically. Tomoki seems more talented on the jumps than Jason, and he's a different type of performer. I'm not sure if I'd ever send a young skater to Kori's team to work on their jumps, but Kori/Rohene could potentially prove to be a formidable force at transforming "juniorish" men with already decent jumps into effective skaters and performers.

 

[karne]

I haven't seen him. Do you think he'll be a threat to Nathan, Vincent, Max, or Adam?

Short program
Free skate

He's Jason. You can never count him out.

 

[Arriba627]

Junior men generally have pretty bad skating skills, spins, and programs (especially in comparison to, say, junior ladies - the junior men just seem to develop differently/more slowly). None of the US men are total slouches in these areas - but Tomoki is on another level entirely. It'll be interesting to see another Kori/Rohene packaged man develop over next few years, technically and artistically. Tomoki seems more talented on the jumps than Jason, and he's a different type of performer. I'm not sure if I'd ever send a young skater to Kori's team to work on their jumps, but Kori/Rohene could potentially prove to be a formidable force at transforming "juniorish" men with already decent jumps into effective skaters and performers.

I think Tomoki got off to a really solid start on his jumps through his training with Alex Ouriashev. It will be interesting to see how he continues to develop with Team KoRo.

 

[mrrice]

Short program
Free skate

He's Jason. You can never count him out.

Well, he's still as cute as can be. You're right when you say that you can never count him...Thanks for posting that clip. Is there a score tracker website that keeps track of season best scores?

 

[el henry]

Junior men generally have pretty bad skating skills, spins, and programs (especially in comparison to, say, junior ladies - the junior men just seem to develop differently/more slowly). None of the US men are total slouches in these areas - but Tomoki is on another level entirely. It'll be interesting to see another Kori/Rohene packaged man develop over next few years, technically and artistically. Tomoki seems more talented on the jumps than Jason, and he's a different type of performer. I'm not sure if I'd ever send a young skater to Kori's team to work on their jumps, but Kori/Rohene could potentially prove to be a formidable force at transforming "juniorish" men with already decent jumps into effective skaters and performers.

I generally agree, although of course I would put Andrew T. on a par with Tomoki for performance skills:yes: I would say that Andrew has shown more fire and Tomoki more polish in this season. And as much as I love me some Rohene, Andrew's StSeq in his LP

I believe that Doug Ladret, who is now at 7k, works with skaters on jumps (Or at least I've seen photos with him and a harness) He also accompanied Tomoki to his first JGP. But I have no idea if Doug is commonly viewed as a "jump coach" or if that is a primary role.

 

[shmay]

Though Tomoki has great SS and programs, his facial expression needs to evolve beyond 'I hate figure skating and would rather be anywhere but here.' I don't really think his interpretation is worthy of his material at this point, which is most unfortunate.

 

[Icey]

Jason skates his fs well, but it strikes me as rather monotonous.

 

[Ice Dance]

Tomoki's facial expression is just blank. It is the missing piece of the puzzle; that is for sure.

I have to confess that I think I would like Torgashev much better if, every time I have seen him since novices, I hadn't heard people comment about how much better he "really" is than the rest of the competitors.

This isn't what I see. He is in the pack and consistently makes mistakes in competition. He did a beautiful quadruple jump in his first JGP this season, the first one I have seen him complete successfully. (I would say he is progressing). I have never seen him complete a successful axel. Great speed and very fast, fluid movement when you watch him live. But I always like someone else better, and that someone else generally finishes higher in the competition.