2021-2022 US Women's Figure Skating

[kirauza343]

I second the opinion that Isabeau is reminiscent of some of the Russian ladies. She reminds me a lot of Anna. The interpretation, the classical style, the ability to make even a rough landing look graceful…and the questionable jump technique and generous judging.

I am excited to see how she grows! There’s some bright spots in the future of US Women’s skating

 

[readernick]

Congrats to Isabeau on her win, she's a lovely skater with great performance ability. I too was reminded of some Russian skaters, but only because of how low she pikes her back on some of the toe jumps, combos, and landings. Hopefully as she gets older she'll get stronger and learn to jump more from her legs.

Yes, I love Isabeau but she does get really low before jumps to achieve height. She needs to use speed into her jumps and her legs to achieve height if she wants to avoid UR problems in the future. She will grow eventually. On a positive note, her jumps are much better than they were last year and it is possible to improve this issue. We have seen skaters like Alysa and Trusova get better at jumping with their legs as they grow. Her edges on toe jumps are quite questionable. That is hard to fix. But, as mentioned above, other skaters get away with it so Isabeau might, too.

Other than that, I don't think her style resembles the modern Russian skating style as embodied by Eteri skaters. ( Other schools have a different approach) Although, it may resemble a more traditional Russian aesthetic. First, she actually points her toes which last year's top Russian doesn't do. Second, her choreography allows her to hold positions.... which isn't possible for the Eteri's girls... Daniil's choreo is very fast paced and I think he is trying to achieve something less traditional through his choreo.

 

[spicymacaron]

I've seen the comparison of Isabeau to Anna a few times, but I would say Isabeau has better skating skills and better carriage. Particularly, Anna's camel spins leave something to be desired. Isabeau also pays more attention to details in her choreo.

 

[noskates]

I think Isabeau is a Sasha Cohen mini-me.

 

[Greengemmonster]

Count me in as a fan of Isabeau! Love both programs! What a wonderful performer she is!!! Omg I think Juniors is just as crazy exciting as Seniors!!! We're in for a treat this season if Covid doesn't mess us up!!!

I just absolutely love how she backloaded a bunch of jumps with so much cheer!!! Made me smile.

ETA Isabeau's programs hit a sweet spot for me. She's not rushing around like a maniac, neither is she ambling around and around pointlessly (if forced to choose I'd rather frantic programs than the ones where they meander around forever).

 

[Paulipau]

I know that you guys love Alysa and Lindsay as there is always a lot of hype about them here but this Isabeau lady is the first one I can see really challenging the Russians. Jumps are still a little weird, but she is young and has time to figure it out.

I hope that she really gives Zinina Titova etc a run for their money, it is quite boring to watch Russians winning all the time.

I dont see her challenging Akatieva yet, but who knows.

 

[PavelSky]

What's the next stage jGP for Levito? She is gorgeous!

I think one of the finalists is already known))

 

[katymay]

I think one of the finalists is already known))

202 she is certainly in the mix. The Russian Jrs. this year are a bit inconsistent, so we'll see what happens. If Lindsay wants to be in the mix she is going to have to go for the 3A and the lutz loop in the second half of her program. 180 isn't going to be enough.

 

[readernick]

202 she is certainly in the mix. The Russian Jrs. this year are a bit inconsistent, so we'll see what happens. If Lindsay wants to be in the mix she is going to have to go for the 3A and the lutz loop in the second half of her program. 180 isn't going to be enough.

Yes, but I think Lindsay has potential to improve her score. Since judging is very inconsistent, Lindsay might be able to get a higher score with her current layout. However, I think her 3A has potential to be cleanly landed at some point this year and it would be good for her to try it now in international competition. I'm not sure going for a 3Lz3Lo is worth it.... They are hard to rotate under the current UR rules..

 

[Sjs5572]

Yes, but I think Lindsay has potential to improve her score. Since judging is very inconsistent, Lindsay might be able to get a higher score with her current layout. However, I think her 3A has potential to be cleanly landed at some point this year and it would be good for her to try it now in international competition. I'm not sure going for a 3Lz3Lo is worth it.... They are hard to rotate under the correct UR rules..

Yes, the Lutz/loop is the Lucy van Pelt football hold of figure skating: so tempting, but in the end, so exasperating!

 

[Charlotte 71]

she does get really low before jumps to achieve height. She needs to use speed into her jumps and her legs to achieve height if she wants to avoid UR problems in the future. She will grow eventually. On a positive note, her jumps are much better than they were last year and it is possible to improve this issue.

It's the rate of improvement that seems so impressive to me. The slow entrances and winding up into the jumps were so much more pronounced just two years ago when she was an Intermediate and becoming widely known. When I first saw her as an Intermediate I was an instant fan but kind of worried about the jump issues and would she be one of those cute little kids who peaked as an Intermediate? And then she skipped Novice and now her jumps have come so far in just two years. Her overall speed is better and the labored and telegraphed jump entries are SO much better now. She seems to be working very hard.

 

[MCsAngel2]

It's the rate of improvement that seems so impressive to me. The slow entrances and winding up into the jumps were so much more pronounced just two years ago when she was an Intermediate and becoming widely known. When I first saw her as an Intermediate I was an instant fan but kind of worried about the jump issues and would she be one of those cute little kids who peaked as an Intermediate? And then she skipped Novice and now her jumps have come so far in just two years. Her overall speed is better and the labored and telegraphed jump entries are SO much better now. She seems to be working very hard.

I didn't know she skipped from Intermediate to Junior - that's a huge jump in level of competition! When learning about the levels of competition, I was under the impression that Novice is the Great Eliminator - that the vast majority of skaters who compete drop out at the Novice level. What an achievement!

 

[florin]

I liked Levito, a very promising girl. Besides, she somehow reminds me of Russian girls. The USA is lucky that they have such a high-quality figure skater.

The only thing I didn't understand was why the technical team was so blind and supportive of her lutz. It is clearly problematic for her. She makes a typical movement of Zhenya Medvedeva, and changes to a slightly inner edge at the moment of the push. In such cases, they always call "!". What was my surprise when I did not see any "!" in the protocols. But why? She would have won anyway - the score would have decreased by no more than three or four points (if you call "!" on all three lutz). Why undermine the authority of refereeing out of the blue? I do not understand.

 

[Fluture]

Watched Isabeau just now because I've read great things about her and wasn't disappointed. She's musical, lets each movement breathe, has beautiful lines and extensions and gorgeous spins. Quite a performer, too, even better than many seniors! She reminds me of a young Zhenya (maybe that's why I like her so much) and seems to have a similar competitive grit. Big fan of her programs as well. This is how you include difficult transitions without cluttering the choreography! Not 1000 leg kicks but meaningful moves executed to the music. Just brilliant.

However, I'm hesitant to become a real "fan" of hers as her jumping technique, imo, is quite problematic and not sustainable at all. Her posture during take off is especially bad - she gets so low to achieve any kind of height and her lutz technique looks like she's setting up for a loop! (also reminiscent of Zhenya lol) Edge issues (uncalled ofc, as usual for top contenders from the US and Russia) on both flip and lutz which is… not good. She's also veeery slow, although she has nice edges during her step sequence. Idk. Many have said these issues used to be even worse and she improved a lot but I can't judge that since I haven‘t seen her before. As of now, I really like her as a skater and think she has a lot of qualities to become a star but her jumps worry me. And the overscoring doesn't really help, IMO.

 

[skylark]

I'm flying high on a skater called Isabeau Levito. And what I see is that she's the opposite of some of the Russian skaters, especially the Eteri girls. There's one glorious reason for this. Isabeau takes time.

Isabeau's more like some of the great American Women singles skaters, in my opinion. A few seconds lets viewers enjoy more. And it isn't easy to sustain those moments, either.

Expression, musicality, stretch, choreography, attention to detail, jumps, emotion, Isabeau's got everything.

 

[Hyena]

I kind of feel like everyone sees their own favorite skater in Isabeau - she's so good that people link her to whoever else they think is great. If you love Anna, she reminds you of Anna. If you loved/still love Sasha, she's a new Sasha. I see shades of Alena

I am worried about her jump technique and her lutz. She's not the only skater not getting calls with suspect edge technique there, but at some point it'll be called. I'd imagine she's working hard on it (and hopefully her coaches are considering program combinations that minimize lutzes too). Others have pointed out how much she continues to improve, which is really amazing.

 

[el henry]

I'm flying high on a skater called Isabeau Levito. And what I see is that she's the opposite of some of the Russian skaters, especially the Eteri girls. There's one glorious reason for this. Isabeau takes time.

Isabeau's more like some of the great American Women singles skaters, in my opinion. A few seconds lets viewers enjoy more. And it isn't easy to sustain those moments, either.

Expression, musicality, stretch, choreography, attention to detail, jumps, emotion, Isabeau's got everything.

This!

It is so incredibly rare that I care enough about a junior woman skater to watch again. And I did with Isabeau. Because she *holds* the Ina Bauer, she *holds* the spiral, she holds her arms and legs and even her back for maximum time and maximum effect. Isabeau is leaning heavily into the Russian ballerina esthetic this year, so I can definitely see that influence.

Jumping off, anyone who knows my skating fandom will know this is high praise: I think Isabeau could skate a Rohene program. After all, Jason in his junior years was called the "Transition King". Throwing your leg up for no discernible reason before a jump is not a transition. What Rohene crafts are transitions. Now, I don't watch enough of the junior ladies to know who holds their positions and who expresses the musicality with careful nuance like Isabeau, so I can't compare her with junior ladies. If someone else does that, as precisely and carefully and deliberately as Isabeau does, then yes, they are similar.

But I do know Sasha Cohen, and I'm not the only one who sees the resemblance.

 

[natsulian]

This is probably why Isabeau is so special… the way she holds her positions, points her toes, glides across the ice, and utilizes her hands in such intentional and controlled ways is what impresses me.

https://twitter.com/Natsu_Lian_/status/1431714573808066565?s=20

 

[chuckm]

Isabeau is a treasure---I can remember seeing her for the first time when she was an intermediate skater, and even then she blew me away. She just inhabits her music in a way that no one else ever has, not even Sasha Cohen.

 

[skylark]

Isabeau is a treasure---I can remember seeing her for the first time when she was an intermediate skater, and even then she blew me away. She just inhabits her music in a way that no one else ever has, not even Sasha Cohen.

Isabeau talks about this at 1:04 in this 2-minute winner's interview with Ted Barton.

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