2021-2022 US Women's Figure Skating | Page 55 | Golden Skate

2021-2022 US Women's Figure Skating

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Alysa won this thing by over 20 points, against someone who should be a formidable opponent later in the year. Great way to start the season!
I know it's early but, I've seen this coming for a while. The US needs to make sure Alysa is fully backed and ready for the Olympics. Without seeing Bradie, she is the clear favorite for top US Lady.
 
It's really hard to give personal impressions about this event because the streaming was so poor.

But I could hear it just fine.

And as much as I like Audrey Shin, that spoken word version of Moonlight Sonata is every bit as awful as I was afraid it would be.

And whoever advised Mariah Bell to go with that SP needs to be fired immediately.
 
Here is a better version of Alysa's FS without the freezes like the streams. Love the program, but I like her blue dress better than this one. Very solid skate for being so early into the season. I wonder what the success rate of her triple axles if she is not doing this difficult entry into the jump. Once she gets the triple axle and quad lutz, I see Olympic podium for sure.

 
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Here is a better version of Alysa's FS without the freezes like the streams. Love the program, but I like her blue dress better than this one. Very solid skate for being so early into the season. I wonder what the success rate of her triple axles if she is not doing this difficult entry into the jump. Once she gets the triple axle and quad lutz, I see Olympic podium for sure.


I actually really liked her FS dress! I think it’s early to call her a podium contender. She’s pretty unproven internationally and she could get nailed with UR calls. I wish she had a season under her belt before China. She’s definitely looking like the US’ strongest lady but really tough to know how international judges will score her.
 
I actually really liked her FS dress! I think it’s early to call her a podium contender. She’s pretty unproven internationally and she could get nailed with UR calls. I wish she had a season under her belt before China. She’s definitely looking like the US’ strongest lady but really tough to know how international judges will score her.
Duh this is an international event with international judges :):)
 
I love both of Alysa's programs and cannot wait to see them in better quality without freezing streams. Her short is so much fun, I love the Gypsy Dance from DQ. Tschaikovsky is also always a great choice. She has until the end of October to polish everything for Skate America. Also her current form is enough to make it into the Top 6 at Nebelhorn and I hope they will send her. Mariah and Amber look rough currently. Mariah's SP is a complete mess, the music cut, the costume, the music choices. Mariah had so much success with her Celine SP and Hallelujah FS why go the "boss girl" pop direction? Her FS is also very boring and has no build up. Her jumps continue to be an issue, the same problems as last season. Is Adam now her fulltime coach? Raf does not look like he is very involved in her training anymore.

All in all, Alysa is so reliable I cannot see an Olympic team without her. She always delivers when it counts. Mariah and Amber are unpredictable currently. Bradie is beloved by the Fed and is usually reliable. I think Karen has also huge potential to be No. 3 on the team.
 
Yes. Alysa is definitely our best hope.

in terms of Mariah, I do think Adam has a heavy influence on her programs. I think they are trying to package her a certain way to try and work the performance side. Like Ashley and Adam did when their technical content wasn’t able to keep up. It’s a bit of smoke and mirrors and a bit of leaning into what should her strengths. But this vehicle is just not working for her. She’d be better served to go back to Celine. That program was magic for her.
 
Gracie Gold was better than what I was expecting from her.

Great triple lutz, double axel and triple loop !

I was surprise by the try of the triple flip. Good for her !

They were less double jump. For real I was expecting her to do the same as the sp program and doing a lot of double jump instead of triple. But she did more triple jump than I was expecting.

I think this performance will help her to gain some confidence. And, I love her new gold dress, the dress, hair and make up was well package except the black glove, but maybe she put black glove because she was nervous about this performance and the jump.

As a skater, putting glove make me feel more in confidence because if I was falling on the ice, I know that it will not hurt my hand.

I think that's why Gracie put black glove, but she should put white or golden glove next time for fitting with the dress.

Overall, it will not be enought to go to skate america, but I hope Gracie continue to compete and improve over the season.
 
Is Adam now her fulltime coach? Raf does not look like he is very involved in her training anymore.
I can't imagine Raf giving Mariah much attention when he has to manage Nathan during Olympic season. Was he even at Cranberry or was it just Adam?

BTW, when are entries to the Challenger Series generally announced? Lombardia is coming up pretty soon (Sept. 10).
 
I can't imagine Raf giving Mariah much attention when he has to manage Nathan during Olympic season. Was he even at Cranberry or was it just Adam?

BTW, when are entries to the Challenger Series generally announced? Lombardia is coming up pretty soon (Sept. 10).
Raf managed Adam and Nathan pretty well in 2017.
Raf is the head coach and technical advisor per the 2020 Mariah interview. He told Mariah specifically he is not the type of coach who would hold hands of her. She needs someone else to do that for her, for that, he advised her coukd get help from Adam.
Adam is the one making program and training plans for her

Mariah interviews in August 2020
”Rafael Arutunian is head coach and technical advisor of the entity, and 2018 Olympic Team Event bronze medalist Adam Rippon is a combination of coach, lead choreographer and chief planner”
“Last year at Champs Camp (the U.S. training camp each season prior to the Grand Prix), I was kind of struggling and I went to Rafael and said as much. And he's like, ‘I've explained to you what to do, but you haven't done it.’
(Laughing) I was like, ‘Yikes.’
It was this slap of reality. He was joking, I think… while still being honest and not sugarcoating things. He said, ‘If you need somebody to hold your hand, I'm not going to do it.’ It made sense… I shouldn't have been leaning on him for the same problem over and over. I needed to move forward. And that's exactly what he's trying to get across to me. I was like, ‘Oh, he's so mean.’ (Laughing.) Rafael says, ‘Call Adam.’ I got off the ice and thought, ‘I will call Adam.’ And I did. And, you know, it was everything that Rafael told me… I respect so much because he treats me like an adult and really forces me to take ownership of my training and my skating.

I call Adam and tell him that I felt stuck. And Adam's like, ‘I've been there. I've been there with Rafael. I know exactly what we need to do.’ And the best part about it is that Adam and Rafael are so close; they have so much respect for each other. It was so easy to bring Adam in and just kind of have him start with me. He wanted to even train himself some more because he missed the idea and challenge of training.
 
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For those of you who enjoy speculation, what do you see as Alysa’s chances against the Russians? She’s solid for sure and has made great improvement, but it still feels like there’s a ways to go before being on their level.

Well I think its important to note that its early in the season there's definitely still time for improvement, but out of curiosity, I pulled Shcherbakova's last 2 international competition scores (worlds and WTT) where she performed her weakest technical content vs. Young You and Alysa today

Just going off the raw outlook of the scores, there's still some work to be done to be more competitive for the top spot - I don't see Shcherbakova's PCS going down much (if at all) and at both Worlds and WTT she was still on less than full strength due to recovering from being sick at the end of 2020.

Cranberry Open SPCranberry Open FSCranberry Open total
Alysa71.42134.32205.74
Young You59.74123.14182.88

Shcherbakova
WorldsWTT
SP8181.07
FS152.17160.58
Total233.17
 
Well I think its important to note that its early in the season there's definitely still time for improvement, but out of curiosity, I pulled Shcherbakova's last 2 international competition scores (worlds and WTT) where she performed her weakest technical content vs. Young You and Alysa today

Just going off the raw outlook of the scores, there's still some work to be done to be more competitive for the top spot - I don't see Shcherbakova's PCS going down much (if at all) and at both Worlds and WTT she was still on less than full strength due to recovering from being sick at the end of 2020.
Another data point, Alina Zagitova’s scores rose about 21 points from her first competition of the Olympic season (218.46 at CS Lombardia) to her Olympic score of 239.57. Realizing Alysa played it safe here, I predict she’ll need an even larger increase to reach the Olympic podium.
 
For those of you who enjoy speculation, what do you see as Alysa’s chances against the Russians? She’s solid for sure and has made great improvement, but it still feels like there’s a ways to go before being on their level.
We should always be optimistic, but realistically I don't see her having any chance against the Russians at the Olympics. Kamila will have at least 2 3axels and 3 quads. Trusova 1 or 2 3axels and 5 quads. Anna: 3 quads. And that's not counting Kostornaia, Usacheva, and Khromykh who will probably have multiple ultra-C, and Alyona and Daria are MUCH better overall skaters than Alysa. A realistic goal is to make the final flight at the Olympics. Anything can happen, there's injuries, growth, ice is slippery, etc, but I am just enjoying her skating evolution and progress. She's so much better than she was even at USN this year, not even considering the jumps. She seems happy and confident and likes to perform and does it well. I'll just be happy if Alysa is healthy, happy, and does her best, regardless of placement. Like I wish for EVERY skater.
 
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Well I think its important to note that its early in the season there's definitely still time for improvement, but out of curiosity, I pulled Shcherbakova's last 2 international competition scores (worlds and WTT) where she performed her weakest technical content vs. Young You and Alysa today

Just going off the raw outlook of the scores, there's still some work to be done to be more competitive for the top spot - I don't see Shcherbakova's PCS going down much (if at all) and at both Worlds and WTT she was still on less than full strength due to recovering from being sick at the end of 2020.
Super interesting, thanks for doing this!

I will say, I felt that the judges at Cranberry were harsher than expected (perhaps with the exception of Mariah's PCS). There was no big boost for Alysa as the clear American frontrunner, and they were super stingy with the non-Americans like Young and Maddie Schizas, whereas Scherbakova got some healthy padding at Worlds and WTT. With fed backing, Alysa and Young could both get much more favorable calls and more generous PCS.
 
Since some of you were suggesting Mariah should get a new SP I'm curious in general how that works. Can you keep same or similar choreo while changing music as long as it kind of matches?
 
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