2021-2022 US Women's Figure Skating

[Victura]

True, this is really Mariah's first complete outing with her new programs, but
1) that's really based on Mariah's choices that she's in late November doing her first complete competition of the season with her programs
2) Was this outside the norm of what we get from Mariah?

I think it’s a combination of different things. She was assigned to Asian Open as a Challenger event until the American skaters could no longer go due to travel issues. I don’t think she’s high enough in the world rankings to be able to pick her GPs, so it’s probably more luck of the draw that she got the two last ones. She’s entered in Golden Spin in December, so that’s another Challenger opportunity. Perhaps it was good for her to have more time to train since she changed both her programs early in the season. Two Grand Prix, Cranberry and Golden Spin, SP at the qualifying comp - seems like a fairly normal number of fall competitions to me.

 

[skatingiscool]

Why does everyone think these coaches are miracle workers, it's the skater who can change things if they put in the hard work. Marin went to RAF and look at her now. Evgenia went to Orser and she got no quads and her jumps are still so so. Jason is with Orser and he can't even rotate his jumps.

100% Agree. It's also depending on skater's talent. Young You was coached by Tammy and Tom Z before. Why Young You can land 3A but not Audrey and Karen? Young You won a couple of GP medals. If skater has no talent, the best coach on earth won't be able to fix that. I don't think Starr Andrews and most other US skaters can be Alexandra/Anna even if they coach under Eteri camp. If the rumor is true, I just hope her new coach is Mie Hamada.

I don't think Raf will take any more new students, he told reporters that he wants to retire soon. I think Raf, Vicent, and Nathan will all retire after this season.

 

[Dawn825]

I really hope Alysa is staying with Jeremy and Massimo, but I did notice that Alysa was featured in a lot of social media Young You at NHK. The two of them really seemed to hit it off and get along well. Maybe the hope is that training with You in Colorado will give Alysa a direct competitor to bounce off in training and possibly help to stabilize her 3a.

That's kind of a cute idea, the thought of them getting to train together. For all the other reasons though, this move would not make any sense.

 

[Seven Sisters]

No one here is talking about the Alysa Liu coaching change rumor, which is all over FSU? Allegedly Abbott & Scali have been fired, and she’s moving to Colorado?

I've come here looking for more details!

 

[Amei]

No one here is talking about the Alysa Liu coaching change rumor, which is all over FSU?

Check the previous 2 pages, its being discussed.

 

[moonvine]

100% Agree. It's also depending on skater's talent. Young You was coached by Tammy and Tom Z before. Why Young You can land 3A but not Audrey and Karen? Young You won a couple of GP medals. If skater has no talent, the best coach on earth won't be able to fix that. I don't think Starr Andrews and most other US skaters can be Alexandra/Anna even if they coach under Eteri camp. If the rumor is true, I just hope her new coach is Mie Hamada.

I don't think Raf will take any more new students, he told reporters that he wants to retire soon. I think Raf, Vicent, and Nathan will all retire after this season.

Wow. I had no clue Raf was close to retiring. Vincent has walked back his retirement talk.

Also, I don’t see how anyone could say Alysa has no talent. She may not be my favorite skater but she’s clearly talented.

 

[mrrice]

No one here is talking about the Alysa Liu coaching change rumor, which is all over FSU?

We have been, it's a couple of pages back. I'm trying to think of any "Good" Coach that doesn't already have a roster of skaters. I suggested Christy Krall and Damon Allen. They used to coach Joshua Farris.

 

[moonvine]

Also want to add that Vincent is also coached by Mie Hamada. Could be why he's doing so well.

They could send Alysa to Mie Hamada. She partially coaches Young You (I think), had a lot of promising Japanese youngsters and I think for the most part did a great job with my baby Rika Kihira.

Yeah I know she's mean etc etc but she's a good coach for results it seems.

I don’t know what you mean specifically by “mean” but “mean” coaches can do tremendous damage to skaters.

If they can’t get results without being mean they must not be very good at coaching. Maybe they can get other jobs where they don’t interact with vulnerable young people.

 

[moonvine]

I think it’s a combination of different things. She was assigned to Asian Open as a Challenger event until the American skaters could no longer go due to travel issues. I don’t think she’s high enough in the world rankings to be able to pick her GPs, so it’s probably more luck of the draw that she got the two last ones. She’s entered in Golden Spin in December, so that’s another Challenger opportunity. Perhaps it was good for her to have more time to train since she changed both her programs early in the season. Two Grand Prix, Cranberry and Golden Spin, SP at the qualifying comp - seems like a fairly normal number of fall competitions to me.

Alysa has skated Cranberry, 2 Challenger, 2 GP throughout the season starting in August and ending this weekend. That gave her time in between to work on things. Mariah didn’t choose for the US to withdraw from Asian open or to have her GPS one right after the other.

 

[skatingiscool]

Wow. I had no clue Raf was close to retiring. Vincent has walked back his retirement talk.

Also, I don’t see how anyone could say Alysa has no talent. She may not be my favorite skater but she’s clearly talented.

I don't mean Alysa has no talent. Actually, I'm referring to Audrey and Karen. Young You has more talent then Audrey and Karen. Even they all were taught by same coach (Tammy) at one point, only Young You can land 3A.

Obviously, I'm a big Alysa fans. I hope the best for her. I don't want to draw any conclusion whether the coach change is a good move or not. I will wait and see her performance at Nats and Olympics. If Alysa is out of top 5 and couldn't make it to Olympics team, then the coach change is a bad idea and her dad needs to be blamed.

 

[moonvine]

Been preaching this 1 for awhile and should honestly make it my signature at this point: no one they send is medaling (potentially not even getting into the top 5) without some unfortunate things happening to non-US competitors, so don't create a controversy where there is no reason to have it - top 3 age-eligible finishers (no cherry picking on calling URs, edges, gifted PCS, etc) go to the Olympics. If that means 2 from the trio of Amber/Mariah/Karen goes to the Olympics then so be it. Once upon a time, Nationals was the only competition that mattered to go to the Olympics.

This is not once upon a time any more and USFS has been clearer than they’ve ever been about who is going and it’s not necessarily going to be the top 3 at Nationals.

 

[moonvine]

I don't mean Alysa has no talent. Actually, I'm referring to Audrey and Karen. Young You has more talent then Audrey and Karen. Even they all were taught by same coach (Tammy) at one point, only Young You can land 3A.

Obviously, I'm a big Alysa fans. I hope the best for her. I don't want to draw any conclusion whether the coach change is a good move or not. I will wait and see her performance at Nats and Olympics. If Alysa is out of top 5 and couldn't make it to Olympics team, then the coach change is a bad idea and her dad needs to be blamed.

I think a coaching change 6 weeks before Nationals is a terrible idea for anyone. But I am not an elite figure skater. Maybe she’ll come land multiple clean quads at Nationals and everyone will declare what an awesome idea it was.

 

[sheetz]

I don't think Raf will take any more new students, he told reporters that he wants to retire soon. I think Raf, Vicent, and Nathan will all retire after this season.

I think Raf said he wouldn't be a traveling coach anymore and plans to take on a more advisory role. Other coaches would travel with the skaters to competitions. For instance, he still very much coaches Stephen Gogolev, who's usually accompanied by one of his assistants or Lee Barkell to competitions.

 

[skatingiscool]

I think a coaching change 6 weeks before Nationals is a terrible idea for anyone. But I am not an elite figure skater. Maybe she’ll come land multiple clean quads at Nationals and everyone will declare what an awesome idea it was.

Yeah. I think the idea is a kind of odd. It's also sad to see Alysa is leaving all her teenage friends behind. I'm just wondering....perhaps the dad doesn't want Alysa to spend so much time hanging out with her friends. That's why he relocates her to other city so that she can focus on training. Raf is the only coach can teach quad in US. I don't think anyone in Colorado can teach quad. I just hope Alysa can fix her under rotations ASAP. Fully rotate 3-3 in later half is good enough to put Alysa in good position.

 

[lurkerghost1]

Lindsay has been consistent but clearly the judges aren't on board with her. 184 in the senior debut is not great at all really considering her junior score of 193 didn't have a choreo sequence. I think Lindsay needs to land the 3A cleanly at JGPF to have any chance of getting some help from the judges at nationals.

Karen has been quite hit and miss this year (173 202 183 194) but unless Mariah pulls out all the stops and scores 205+ at Rostelecom I think they will keep giving Karen the top PCS at nationals.

I really hope other ladies step up and beat Karen at Nationals i'm bored with her to be honest. She's never really panned out and hasn't pushed herself technically and isn't really any better of a skater then 4 years ago and plus a US lady going to the Olympics in this day and age should be able to do 3-3 combo's.

she's better than she was 4 years ago. she never scored above 200 four years ago but he has three times internationally now. the international judges favor Karen right now more than the other US ladies and I'm sure the US federation is paying attention to that. lindsay and her 3-3s will score below Karen with 0 3-3s at the Olympics

 

[skatingiscool]

I think Raf said he wouldn't be a traveling coach anymore and plans to take on a more advisory role. Other coaches would travel with the skaters to competitions. For instance, he still very much coaches Stephen Gogolev, who's usually accompanied by one of his assistants or Lee Barkell to competitions.

Wow. I had no clue Raf was close to retiring. Vincent has walked back his retirement talk.

Also, I don’t see how anyone could say Alysa has no talent. She may not be my favorite skater but she’s clearly talented.

Raf situation sounds like an executive retiree serving on Corporate Board. Raf is just a head coach (advisor) for Mariah while Adam is the daily coach for Mariah. Raf is not an active coach as he used to be anymore. Right now , he focus on Nathan and travel with Nathan only. I just don't see Raf has any energy left to spend on another elite skater like Alysa.

 

[skatingiscool]

Lindsay has been consistent but clearly the judges aren't on board with her. 184 in the senior debut is not great at all really considering her junior score of 193 didn't have a choreo sequence. I think Lindsay needs to land the 3A cleanly at JGPF to have any chance of getting some help from the judges at nationals.

Karen has been quite hit and miss this year (173 202 183 194) but unless Mariah pulls out all the stops and scores 205+ at Rostelecom I think they will keep giving Karen the top PCS at nationals.

she's better than she was 4 years ago. she never scored above 200 four years ago but he has three times internationally now. the international judges favor Karen right now more than the other US ladies and I'm sure the US federation is paying attention to that. lindsay and her 3-3s will score below Karen with 0 3-3s at the Olympics

Mariah also has lots of hit and miss throughout her whole career. Mariah went to world 3 times and she placed at 12th twice. Karen has better international results and body of work (4th @World) than Mariah in the past few years. However, I still hope committee forget about body of work and send skaters whoever on podium at Nats. The only exception should be Alysa. If Alysa is out of top 3, she should still be selected for Olympics team.

 

[moonvine]

No one here is talking about the Alysa Liu coaching change rumor, which is all over FSU? Allegedly Abbott & Scali have been fired, and she’s moving to Colorado?

I've come here looking for more details!

I just went to that place to look. It reminds me why I stay here.

 

[moonvine]

Mariah also has lots of hit and miss throughout her whole career. Mariah went to world 3 times and she placed at 12th twice. Karen has better international results and body of work (4th @World) than Mariah in the past few years. However, I still hope committee forget about body of work and send skaters whoever on podium at Nats. The only exception should be Alysa. If Alysa is out of top 3, she should still be selected for Olympics team.

I mean you can hope. But USFS has been clear - well, clear for them - on how the team is going to be selected. BTW it would be horribly unfair to the athletes, after having announced they were choosing the team on X criteria, to 6 weeks from Nationals be like “oh never mind we were just kidding. It’s really Y criteria.”

 

[Skater Boy]

Alysa is very talented and has worked hard to improve. I am not sure I would switch less than 2 mos before Nationals and 3 before the olympics. Who knows she might even podium with the Russians injured, the Japanese ot really impressing with the ultra C elements. The underwhelming skates and programs from Lindsay, Audrey, Starr, Amber, Karen and Mariah. Did anyone see Gracie Gold compete this weekend. At first blush it was promising ut when you looked closer (not even that close) the speed was not their, the amplitude not there, the height and power of jumps gone and she probably was underrotating but she did stand up. A lot of her fans were excited but then the score of the fs 108 and change brought everything back into reality.