2020-21 US Women's Figure Skating

[rollerblade]

Such a talent wasted

What talent is wasted? Did I miss a announcement of retirement from Alysa?

 

[ice coverage]

Audrey Shin article from Nov 10:

Getting to know American figure skater Audrey Shin

Could Audrey Shin be one to watch in the lead-up to Beijing 2022? She sure hopes so. Find out more about the American 16-year-old.

www.olympicchannel.com

---

Karen Chen article from Nov 11:

Karen Chen has Big Goals for U.S. Championships - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

Some skaters are known to be short program skaters and others are known for their free skates. A select few consistently package together a pair of strong routines. For Karen Chen, she places a lot of emphasis on executing a solid short program to start off with a competitive edge on the...

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

Among other things, it says that Karen hopes to debut her triple axel at the upcoming Nats.

 

[NAOTMAA]

Now Karen is going for a 3A?

It's probably going to be an unpopular opinion but I think it's beyond ridiculous that some of these girls are going for the most difficult of jumps when they can barely do a program of the easiest cleanly. Karen needs to do a program of fully rotated triples and Amber needs to stay on her feet and stop popping before they think of a 3A. Doing a 3A will do nothing for them when they can't do the rest

 

[Skatesocs]

Doing a 3A will do nothing for them when they can't do the rest

Still, you cannot discount what the additional bit of motivation can do for a skater, nor the uplifting feeling that might carry you through the rest of the program when you can get that 3A out.

 

[macy]

Karen Chen article from Nov 11:

Karen Chen has Big Goals for U.S. Championships - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

Some skaters are known to be short program skaters and others are known for their free skates. A select few consistently package together a pair of strong routines. For Karen Chen, she places a lot of emphasis on executing a solid short program to start off with a competitive edge on the...

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

Among other things, it says that Karen hopes to debut her triple axel at the upcoming Nats.

this is interesting. if she thinks she can do it, more power to her, but she has such a big UR problem and doesn't have great snap in her jumps. it makes me wonder if this really is possible for her.

 

[bubblecherry]

this is interesting. if she thinks she can do it, more power to her, but she has such a big UR problem and doesn't have great snap in her jumps. it makes me wonder if this really is possible for her.

she had one of the most beautiful 2As as a junior. crazy transitions and incredible height & distance. had she worked on 3A then, i’m sure she’d be able to get it. it’ll be harder now that she’s older and has settled into her slow rotation technique, but she has so much spring and power in her legs, if she could get it, it would be beautiful i’m sure

 

[mrrice]

What talent is wasted? Did I miss a announcement of retirement from Alysa?

I truly don't count this season against any skater. Things haven't been "Normal" for so long that I don't put a ton of stock into things. I can certainly see the same 3 ladies at the top at Nationals although, I think the order could change if Alysa isn't healthy.

 

[mrrice]

What talent is wasted? Did I miss a announcement of retirement from Alysa?

This season has been so strange that I don't put too much stock in the results. Nationals is where we will "Hopefully" see the skaters trained and prepared for the event. Until then, I take results with a grain of salt.

 

[ice coverage]

And today brings a new Audrey Shin article by Phil Hersh.

Reality check: Audrey Shin is what’s happening in U.S. women’s skating - OlympicTalk | NBC Sports

The 16-year-old earned bronze in her senior debut at Skate America.

olympics.nbcsports.com

Hersh has good quotes from Gambill, as well as from Audrey.

ETA:

BTW, this NBC article by Hersh includes embedded video of Audrey's Skate America FS, with Weir/Lipinski commentary.​

It is the third article about Audrey in less than a week.

I look forward to seeing how she skated in the Las Vegas team event.

---

Belated mention that Isabeau Levito and Maryn Pierce won the Junior Ladies event of the Virtual Aerial Challenge.

I have not watched the video, but it was streamed as part of the Oct 30 viewing party.
Junior Ladies starts at approx. 1:13:49.

2020 EDEA from Skates US Virtual Aerial Figure Skating Challenge 10-30 Show #4

Off Ice and On Ice Jump Challenge-Viewing Party 10-30

youtu.be

Carol Heiss, Kimmie Meissner, Mirai Nagasu, Frank Carroll, and Gale Tanger were the judges.

 

[Amei]

Now Karen is going for a 3A?

It's probably going to be an unpopular opinion but I think it's beyond ridiculous that some of these girls are going for the most difficult of jumps when they can barely do a program of the easiest cleanly. Karen needs to do a program of fully rotated triples and Amber needs to stay on her feet and stop popping before they think of a 3A. Doing a 3A will do nothing for them when they can't do the rest

I get what you are saying, you can't do your current content cleanly why are you going to make it more difficult. I can make a couple of thoughts on that:

• If they are training harder jumps it could make the easier jumps more doable, especially if the issue they are having is a mental issue
• Outside of popping the harder content, messing up on those elements is not as hard on the TES as if you mess up on easier elements
• lastly and really the main point: If they have aspirations of getting on a podium at a major competition then they are going to need a quad or triple axel, unless they have issues with the axel it's best to get the triple axel since that can be done in the SP and FS. Given the lack of competitions and traveling for competitions happening this year, it might be the best time to start getting those jumps now, especially since all skaters need to work under the impression that the Olympics are going to happen as planned in 2022

 

[Skatefan15]

Now Karen is going for a 3A?

It's probably going to be an unpopular opinion but I think it's beyond ridiculous that some of these girls are going for the most difficult of jumps when they can barely do a program of the easiest cleanly. Karen needs to do a program of fully rotated triples and Amber needs to stay on her feet and stop popping before they think of a 3A. Doing a 3A will do nothing for them when they can't do the rest

Yeah, I agree. I would just like to see a completely clean FS from Karen and Amber with a 3-3 (or 2) before there’s talk about a 3A tbh. I get that having a goal is important but I think doing a clean fs is a goal that is more attainable (especially compared to a 3A).

 

[halulupu]

What talent is wasted? Did I miss a announcement of retirement from Alysa?

Her heydays are over for a few years at least, lets be realistic. She is now in this big grey group of medicior us figure skaters who are very talented,no question, but struggling to land solid triples and 3-3 (andrews,chen,ting,gold and many more). Internationally, on a good day they can be 7th-ish. Us Fed clearly needs to rethink their strategy and system. Keeps wasting talents. New innovative support systems, restrict parents driven coach hoping every half a year and so. It is time, if they ever want to get any medals again.

 

[katymay]

Now Karen is going for a 3A?

It's probably going to be an unpopular opinion but I think it's beyond ridiculous that some of these girls are going for the most difficult of jumps when they can barely do a program of the easiest cleanly. Karen needs to do a program of fully rotated triples and Amber needs to stay on her feet and stop popping before they think of a 3A. Doing a 3A will do nothing for them when they can't do the rest

I think both Amber and Karen are on the cusp of being able to skate clean programs, both looked better at SA. They need to displace Brady and/or Mariah, and the only sure way to do this is being able to do a 3A. Amber is ahead of the game here, but Karen is more consistent with her program and has better overall skating skills.

 

[katymay]

Her heydays are over for a few years at least, lets be realistic. She is now in this big grey group of medicior us figure skaters who are very talented,no question, but struggling to land solid triples and 3-3 (andrews,chen,ting,gold and many more). Internationally, on a good day they can be 7th-ish. Us Fed clearly needs to rethink their strategy and system. Keeps wasting talents. New innovative support systems, restrict parents driven coach hoping every half a year and so. It is time, if they ever want to get any medals again.

I think the only skater I've seen this year where I said-wow-she could really be great-is Haley Scott from Florida. (Huge jumps huge speed huge power). I do hope the USFSA pays attention to skaters like this that seem to have great raw talent. I should also add the girl from Dallas-Tamnhi?H.)

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Yeah, I agree. I would just like to see a completely clean FS from Karen and Amber with a 3-3 (or 2) before there’s talk about a 3A tbh. I get that having a goal is important but I think doing a clean fs is a goal that is more attainable (especially compared to a 3A).

Karen and Mirai had similar problems with underrotations, and it seemed like that season Mirai was training the 3A the rest of her jumps got better from a rotation perspective. If training the 3A helps Karen learn to rotate just a little faster, she might be able to apply that to her other jumps and get them around more consistently. Frankly, I think that might be a better approach than training the same way she has been in the past because that problem still hasn't been resolved.

 

[mrrice]

Karen and Mirai had similar problems with underrotations, and it seemed like that season Mirai was training the 3A the rest of her jumps got better from a rotation perspective. If training the 3A helps Karen learn to rotate just a little faster, she might be able to apply that to her other jumps and get them around more consistently. Frankly, I think that might be a better approach than training the same way she has been in the past because that problem still hasn't been resolved.

I completely agree with this comment. Mirai always jumped high but her rotation speed led to her UR problems. I have only seen Mirai in person once in 2011. The year that Alissa won. She was a delight.

 

[Steinbeck]

I think the only skater I've seen this year where I said-wow-she could really be great-is Haley Scott from Florida. (Huge jumps huge speed huge power). I do hope the USFSA pays attention to skaters like this that seem to have great raw talent. I should also add the girl from Dallas-Tamnhi?H.)

Haley Scott was named to the ISP (believe she's around age 14, maybe almost 15 now) despite not being able to consistently land triples in competition for the past couple seasons and not making it to Nationals, so it appears USFS is still monitoring and rooting for her.

 

[Skatefan15]

Karen and Mirai had similar problems with underrotations, and it seemed like that season Mirai was training the 3A the rest of her jumps got better from a rotation perspective. If training the 3A helps Karen learn to rotate just a little faster, she might be able to apply that to her other jumps and get them around more consistently. Frankly, I think that might be a better approach than training the same way she has been in the past because that problem still hasn't been resolved.

I get what you’re saying and I agree that training quads and 3A can help your jumps (depending on who you are). I just feel like there’s been talk of Karen working on a 3A for years now and almost all of her jumps still have rotational issues. From a training standpoint it makes sense, but I wouldn’t be saying I’m putting in competition, not yet anyway. But I get that maybe putting it out there can help her with her confidence as well.

 

[bubblecherry]

I get what you’re saying and I agree that training quads and 3A can help your jumps (depending on who you are). I just feel like there’s been talk of Karen working on a 3A for years now and almost all of her jumps still have rotational issues. From a training standpoint it makes sense, but I wouldn’t be saying I’m putting in competition, not yet anyway. But I get that maybe putting it out there can help her with her confidence as well.

Karen never said she was working on 3A until this year, though. Actually, last year she specifically said she wasn’t working on it, so it’s new.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Karen never said she was working on 3A until this year, though. Actually, last year she specifically said she wasn’t working on it, so it’s new.

This is true. It was us on here marveling at her 2A who discussed the possibility of the 3A.