2021-2022 US Women's Figure Skating

[SimplyAFan]

Isabeau took silver and was only about 3 points from gold. Pretty solid JGP season for her!

 

[Lzbee]

I love Isabeau's mental toughness! What has USFSA been doing differently that has given their new generation the competition nerves that most of their veterans lack? (Lindsay and Alysa are also reliable)

Isabeau's landings looked much better this time, especially in the first half. I wonder if it's a stamina problem as she noticeably started to lean forward in the landings of the second half. She also looked a bit faster than before too, super impressed with the improvements!

 

[dorispulaski]

Isabeau has delivered four clean JGP skates in a row!

Impressive competition nerves for a JGP newbie.

And she is, of course, in the JGPF, and would be, by either total points or placings.

I love her musicality and extension, in her SP, especially- a beautiful and memorable program . I will be rewatching.

I would like to see her do a summer with Rafael Arutunian to improve her jump combos a bit, though.

 

[natsulian]

With the Junior Grand Prix season having come to a close, here is a compilation of information regarding the US junior women.

US Junior Women Scores
1. Isabeau Levito*, 208.31
2. Lindsay Thorngren*, 193.77
3. Ava Marie-Ziegler, 176.29
4. Clare Seo, 174.86
5. Kate Wang, 170.93
6. Mia Kalin, 156.23
7. Maryn Pierce, 150.67
8. Josephine Lee, 144.97

* = Junior Grand Prix Finalist

Miscellaneous Information
- Isabeau Levito records the highest total score for an American junior women, besting Alysa Liu's 208.10
- The last time two American women made it to the Junior Grand Prix Final was in 2013-2014 with Polina Edmunds and Angela Wang
- Mia Kalin became the second American women to land a ratified quad
- The US junior women brought home 2 gold medals, 1 silver medal, and 2 bronze medals

 

[Fluture]

Isabeau is a gem. Such charisma and the way she played to the crowd. I‘m still in awe. Honestly, live you get so blown away by everything else that the issues like speed and her combos are much less noticeable.

 

[skatesofgold]

I'm actually really encouraged by our juniors currently. I think the US women have a bright future.

 

[sheetz]

Mariah Bell and Hannah Harrell are on the start list for the Championship Series in Henderson

2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championship Series

Event Results for 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championship Series

ijs.usfigureskating.org

 

[Jammers]

I say we send Isabeau to Jeremy and Massimo look what they did with Alysa's skating in a matter of a few months Isabeau is going to need to make the same improvements in her skating and tweaking of her jump technique if she's going to survive a growth spurt. But i bet the other senior US ladies are glad Isabeau wasn't born about 9 months earlier.

 

[skylark]

I only watched the last group of women at Linz, and I want to say

I am so thrilled that our two American women, Isabeau Levito *and* Kate Wang, were the two who looked happy to skate onto the ice, happy to skate and happy to give something to their audiences near and far. This, along with their technique, distinguishes them. Kate and Isabeau both communicated that joy in skating. The woman who won the event, in contrast, looked terrified the whole time she was on the ice, and I felt sorry for her.

There's been a lot of chatter for several years about USFS not encouraging the right things in figure skating, especially in women's singles (i.e. not putting enough emphasis on jumps and keeping up with the Russians). But for me, these two young skaters, plus Alysa, are proof positive that young skaters can put together good technique, in the direction that's required to be competitive nowadays, with caring about artistry, connection with their music (Isabeau is particularly stunning at this), and emotion. Transferring their emotions, interpreting them to the audience, who come away uplifted. Someone, and in this case several very different sets of coaches and choreographers, are helping them to develop into complete skaters in the divine sport of figure skating.

 

[Fluture]

The woman who won the event, in contrast, looked terrified the whole time she was on the ice, and I felt sorry for her.

Well, not to take anything away from Isabeau (who was indeed the star of the FS when it comes to performance and charisma) but this is a bit of an unfair comparison. Muravieva ("the woman who won") had a spot in the final on the line and she had to win to make it - of course she was nervous! Isabeau, on the other hand, knew she was qualified no matter what. Those are two completely different situations in terms of pressure!

Nevertheless, I think Isabeau has a bright future indeed and if she fixes the issues on her jumps, she can be even more successful than she‘s now. I hope she‘ll do well at Nationals and maybe even make the podium? Let‘s see.

 

[beepboop]

I've never been so happy to be proven wrong, re: Isabeau v. Anastasia Zinina. So excited to watch her skating career unfold. I was rewatching her SP and it struck me that she kind of reminds me of a young Anna Pavlova, my favorite swan. I hope her team really focuses on her jump technique and SS because she could be a star.

I thought Karen's showing at Finlandia today showed a marked improvement from ACI; I hope she keeps it up tomorrow and finishes in the top 6. And fingers crossed things work out better for Amber tomorrow.

 

[skylark]

Muravieva ("the woman who won") had a spot in the final on the line and she had to win to make it - of course she was nervous! Isabeau, on the other hand, knew she was qualified no matter what. Those are two completely different situations in terms of pressure!

Yes, but when a skater can handle the pressure without sacrificing the performance, that's something special. I didn't intend to slight Muravieva, and I wouldn't have mentioned her at all, except that the contrast was striking. For me, it was something of an indication that at least these 3 skaters, Levito, Wang, and Liu, are being helped to bring everything together. And also not to forget that winning, qualifying for the JGPF, placement in competition, and so forth are not the be-all and end-all in figure skating. I'm happy to see that.

I'm tired of seeing our older female single skaters slighted also. They came up in a time when expectations were different. I'm just very happy to see younger American skaters staying with the values of performance and audience connection.

 

[mrrice]

I really do love Amber but, she did not do herself any favors by placing 10th in the SP today. I know she is recovering from injury and hopefully she can pull up a bit in the Free. I haven't seen the performance, does Amber look like she's still dealing with her injury?

 

[skylark]

I really do love Amber but, she did not do herself any favors by placing 10th in SP today. I know she is recovering from injury and hopefully she can pull up a bit in the Free. I haven't seen the performance, does Amber look like she's still dealing with her injury?

I don't know. But as she mentioned in her tweet above, she did a great 3A during the 6-minute warm-up. Then she fell on it in the program and it was downgraded, I think. So that sounds like a matter of doing in competition what you can do in practice.

Her last spin, though, was invalidated. So maybe it could have to do with lingering effects of her injury, which I believe was a leg or ankle injury. But someone more knowledgeable will have to answer this.

 

[moonvine]

I like Amber's sense of humour though....

I love her.

 

[GretchenG]

^^
IIRC our top two Junior ladies (Kanon Smith and Isabeau Levito) at nationals this year are both now placing ultra-c elements in their programs. Kanon did a 3A that was under and Isabeau did a 4(?).

I'll say one thing for Isabeau, a lot of times her jump combinations are kind of slow and so there's not much space between the jumps, but that girl rotates fast. Even in cramped quarters. It wouldn't surprise me if she could do a quad. I'm a fan.

 

[GretchenG]

Isabeau took silver and was only about 3 points from gold. Pretty solid JGP season for her!

Very solid!

 

[GretchenG]

Isabeau has delivered four clean JGP skates in a row!

Impressive competition nerves for a JGP newbie.

And she is, of course, in the JGPF, and would be, by either total points or placings.

I love her musicality and extension, in her SP, especially- a beautiful and memorable program . I will be rewatching.

I would like to see her do a summer with Rafael Arutunian to improve her jump combos a bit, though.

I agree, she was really impressive. I don't normally watch the Juniors, so I hadn't seen her before, but I will be watching closely now. It seems to me that what she needs for her combination jumps is just speed, so that there is space between the jumps. She rotates them, though. I heard she's working on a quad, and it wouldn't surprise me if she can land it. I've already been re-watching her GP performances.

 

[mrrice]

Isabeau has delivered four clean JGP skates in a row!

Impressive competition nerves for a JGP newbie.

And she is, of course, in the JGPF, and would be, by either total points or placings.

I love her musicality and extension, in her SP, especially- a beautiful and memorable program . I will be rewatching.

I would like to see her do a summer with Rafael Arutunian to improve her jump combos a bit, though.

She sure did. She has so many lovely qualities and when the commentator spoke about her posture and strong back, I was thinking the exact same thing. She'll need more distance between her jumps on the Combo's as she gets older but, she was brilliant today.

 

[Dawn825]

Her last spin, though, was invalidated. So maybe it could have to do with lingering effects of her injury, which I believe was a leg or ankle injury.

I doubt it. She goes into it from a crazy hard entry - a looong knee slide. It was just one of those fluke spin mistakes that come out of nowhere, even for the best skaters. Johnny Weir had one at the Olympics.