The US ladies did not cover themselves in glory after the short program in Skate America. Audrey and Starr were always outside hopes for olympic spots, but based on today's showing, they're far behind in the pecking order, certainly both behind Lindsay, who has consistent and difficult triple triples. Starr's tech content has never been up to par, and Audrey's clearly still struggling with her injury since we didn't see a more difficult combination jump. Maybe Audrey can fully recover in time for US Nationals and showcase more difficulty, but by then it will probably be too late with BOW. I don't see Starr suddenly getting a difficult triple-triple when she's been doing the 3T+3T for years.
Amber's more frustrating because of the 3A. I'm starting to feel like she will never land it in competition since she usually chooses to play it safe. Even if she does land it, I feel like it will be too late. She's a nervous competitor, and it's feeling more and more like her Nationals free program in 2020 was a fluke. I wonder if putting her 3A all over social media is a bad idea. She definitely needs to publicize it since the 3A is what puts her on the map, but by constantly posting it, Amber's setting expectations that she's going to do it in competition, and that just hasn't happened.
