2021-2022 US Women's Figure Skating

[elliana]

Someone was saying, Bradie's jump technique is so pristine I wonder why more athletes aren't going to Denise Myers. I wonder if that's a choice for Amber.

 

[dancelion21]

I think this is Amber's plan B. The most likely thing to go wrong is the 3F+3T, so they plan for another 3F in the first half for her to have another shot at the triple toe. I think the issue is that the 3T can go wrong in many different ways. Maybe, Amber falls on the 3F so she never gets a chance to try a triple toe, thus that won't affect the jump math for later in the program if she were to try a 3F+3T on her second 3T in the first half. Maybe Amber lands poorly on her first 3F, and she still doesn't attempt a toe, thus it won't affect the jump math. Maybe she attempts a toe, but she pops it into a single. Again, that's still fine, probably won't hurt the jump math. The issue comes when she pops the 3T into a double on both her plan A and plan B. I get the impression that they didn't really figure that out.

Amber's best course of action at Golden Spin after her first two 3F+2T was this:

3F+2T
2A
3F+2T
3Lz
3Lo+Eu+2S
3Lo
2A

However, I get the impression that Amber hasn't really been training her salchows. She hasn't jumped a salchow all season. So maybe this salchow option just didn't cross her mind. I'll be honest, it's strange that she doesn't have a salchow in her free program, since she can use it to replace a 2A and get some additional base value. Amber's jump layout in general is just strange, since she has a three jump combo, but she doesn't put it in the second half. Instead, she jumps it right before the second half bonus starts. Would she really be incapable of performing it a little bit later to get the bonus? Also, it's strange that she keeps attempting triple axels in the short, where a bad triple axel can bury her and take her totally out of contention, but falling on a triple axel in a free skate is much more forgiving.

 

[StitchMonkey]

It is strange that Amber seems to struggle with the 3S as it is generally considered one of the "easier" jumps.

One possibility is she is training a 4S quietly and it is throwing off the timing/consistency of the 3S.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

It is strange that Amber seems to struggle with the 3S as it is generally considered one of the "easier" jumps.

One possibility is she is training a 4S quietly and it is throwing off the timing/consistency of the 3S.

Amber really needs a 3S if she doesn't do the 3A in her LP. A six triple LP could be comeptitive in the US if she were nailing those jumps and combos cleanly, given the number of mistakes the other women make. If she is training a 4S and that is causing problems on the triple, that seems like a questionable choice when she isn't getting the most out of her current layouts.

 

[elliana]

Bradie did an interview with NBC, posted today saying she's hoping for a fairytale ending at the 2022 Olympics. So, this raises some questions. No one had seen her training in Colorado? I guess we'll see her at Nationals. Let the games (of campaigning for your own Olympic spot) begin.

 

[jenaj]

Someone was saying, Bradie's jump technique is so pristine I wonder why more athletes aren't going to Denise Myers. I wonder if that's a choice for Amber.

Bradie had under-rotation problems, like so many others. I think Bradie wanted to train triple axel and that was part of her motivation for leaving Denise.

 

[jenaj]

I agree that most US ladies aren't very good at making changes on the fly. In Mariah's terrible free skate at Nationals last year, she did a really good triple lutz on her last jump of the program. If she was a better competitor, she would've added a double toe to that in an attempt to get more points.

Even Alysa, I feel, usually goes for her jumps even if she feels like it's not quite right. I'm thinking about her free skate at Nationals last year, when she did a 2F+eu+3S<<. She could probably feel that it wasn't quite right after the 2F, and she could've made the split second decision to abort the eu+3S and tack it on to her last triple flip instead, but she still went for it anyway. A lot of her combos this season too, most notably the 3Lz+eu+3F combos. None of them have looked particularly good, most of them have been quite muscled, but I get the impression that Alysa will always go for the jumps she has planned, even if she isn't feeling particularly confident on the jump in the moment.

I don't think it's a good idea for skaters to make changes "on the fly." If there is a problem jump, change it in training, not in competition.

 

[dancelion21]

I don't think it's a good idea for skaters to make changes "on the fly." If there is a problem jump, change it in training, not in competition.

Skaters have to make changes on the fly when they mess up a jump in competition. Competition is just a different beast. Maybe in training, a skater never messes up their opening triple lutz-triple toe. However, if they instead fall on the triple lutz and don't get a triple toe in, good competitors would be able to work around that to still maximize their base value by putting an extra combination somewhere else. This becomes an issue for men a lot when they try quad toes early in their program, but pop it into a triple toe. Then, that can seriously affect their combos later in the program, since they can only do so many triple toes in a program. Good competitors are able to do the jump math on the fly to still maximize their base value. No matter how much training they do, competition mistakes can be really unexpected and good competitors can work around them.

 

[Lzbee]

It's a bit depressing that we're discussing zayaking on double jumps in the US women's thread...

 

[Amei]

I don't think it's a good idea for skaters to make changes "on the fly." If there is a problem jump, change it in training, not in competition.

Perhaps changes on the fly is not the best way to put it, but having situational awareness and knowing to adapt; in the FS last year at Nationals Mariah missed her opening combo and did not add the second jump to another solo jump to have the maximum allowed combinations. Consider Shcherbakova last year at Worlds, had a rough landing on her first triple lutz and couldn't get off the second jump, so her final jump which is usually the solo triple lutz, she added a second jump so that she could get credit for the combination - if she doesn't do that then she's probably not world champion.

Its something someone that's been competing for years at the top level of the sport should have the ability to do - miss a combination at the beginning so add it somewhere else. It's why the ladies that backload the combination in the SP are risking so much (sometimes too much according to some fans) as there is no room for an adjustment if they miss the planned combination at the end of the program.

 

[ice coverage]

Bradie did an interview with NBC, posted today saying she's hoping for a fairytale ending at the 2022 Olympics. So, this raises some questions. No one had seen her training in Colorado? I guess we'll see her at Nationals. Let the games (of campaigning for your own Olympic spot) begin.

Caveats re the video published today (approx. 2 minutes long):

The version that I saw is nothing more than one of NBC pre-Olympics fluff videos focused on athletes from all 2022 Olympic sports.
This fluff video consists only of "evergreen" comments from Bradie -- who says *nothing whatsoever* about 2022 Olympics.
Not surprisingly, this fluff video does not shed any light on Bradie's physical or mental outlook at present.

It is NBC that gave the video the title of, "Figure Skater Bradie Tennell is Hoping for Fairy Tale Ending at 2022 Winter Olympics" -- although she says literally nothing about 2022 Olympics.

In the video, Bradie speaks about topics such as: Bradie's mother being her "superhero"; Bradie's extremely long hair when she was younger; Bradie's lifelong love for Cinderella, including her old Cinderella program and costume.

Unclear when Bradie's comments were recorded. Maybe as far back as Champs Camp in August?​

I wish Bradie well, of course. Hope that she can compete at Nationals.

 

[yelyoh]

Caveats re the video published today (approx. 2 minutes long):

The version that I saw is nothing more than one of NBC pre-Olympics fluff videos focused on athletes from all 2022 Olympic sports.​

This fluff video consists only of "evergreen" comments from Bradie -- who says *nothing whatsoever* about 2022 Olympics.​

Not surprisingly, this fluff video does not shed any light on Bradie's physical or mental outlook at present.​

​

It is NBC that gave the video the title of, "Figure Skater Bradie Tennell is Hoping for Fairy Tale Ending at 2022 Winter Olympics" -- although she says literally nothing about 2022 Olympics.​

​

In the video, Bradie speaks about topics such as: Bradie's mother being her "superhero"; Bradie's extremely long hair when she was younger; Bradie's lifelong love for Cinderella, including her old Cinderella program and costume.​

​

Unclear when Bradie's comments were recorded. Maybe as far back as Champs Camp in August?​

I wish Bradie well, of course. Hope that she can compete at Nationals.

Yeah there is nothing here that updates on her condition and with Nats 3.5 weeks away.... She does look really good though.

 

[b-man]

Yeah there is nothing here that updates on her condition and with Nats 3.5 weeks away.... She does look really good though.

That video is from 2018!

 

[yelyoh]

That video is from 2018!

Oi then they should not be using an interview that is that old. They must be desperate.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

I don't think it's a good idea for skaters to make changes "on the fly." If there is a problem jump, change it in training, not in competition.

I think dancelion is referring to instances like we saw Alina do at the 2018 Olympics, where she didn't have a good landing on her first 3Lz in the LP, and instead of doing a bad 3Lo or a 2Lo, she held on to the solo jump and executed the combo later in the program. The US skaters don't seem prepared for situations like that, and it can be costly as it was for Amber this past weekend.

 

[Dawn825]

One possibility is she is training a 4S quietly and it is throwing off the timing/consistency of the 3S.

There is no way. She can barely execute the content she has.

 

[Amei]

There is no way. She can barely execute the content she has.

Well she did start the triple axel without cleanly executing her other content in competition. If she is secretly training a quad, perhaps its because the triple axel isn't working in competition with no cleanly landed attempts, but I don't think a surprise landed quad at Nationals would put her on the team unless she goes clean on everything else.

 

[mrrice]

Someone was saying, Bradie's jump technique is so pristine I wonder why more athletes aren't going to Denise Myers. I wonder if that's a choice for Amber.

This is a really good question. When Bradie is healthy, she is one of the most dependable skaters we've ever had. If she misses the Olympics ( Which I sadly think will happen ) I hope she'll continue skating. Missing a huge event like the Olympics must be very hard on her mentally.

As for Amber, I think she would do well with Denise Myers. She already has the jumps but, she needs more security and confidence in her skating. Bradie has always been a confident performer and that's something that Amber could work on.

 

[readernick]

There is no way. She can barely execute the content she has.

Executing in competition and training aren't the same thing, and this is especially true for Amber ....if you have ever seen how wonderful her practices can be and how terrible the program will go just hours later it wouldn't seem that farfetched.

 

[elliana]

Oi then they should not be using an interview that is that old. They must be desperate.

The interview is not from 2018, but the background videos and pictures are. At most that interview could be a few months old. Not sure why it was published today which is why it's so confusing!