2021-2022 US Women's Figure Skating | Page 256 | Golden Skate

2021-2022 US Women's Figure Skating

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R.D. said:
Basically - for better or worse - I see this as a “thank you” lifetime achievement award from USFS to her for getting them 3 Ladies spots for 2 Olympics.

Is this fair? Well… I’ll leave that question open. What’s happened has happened.
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I hope USFS will split women team event for next Olympics. Ice dancing team should skate both programs next time. There should be 2 women skate at team event next time. It's obviously a bad idea for a woman to skate BOTH short and long programs at team event.

Kamila, Madeline, Karen, Zhu YI

What's common for the above ladies skate in BOTH sp and lp at team event? The all BOMB in individual competitions. It is good for Alysa not to skate at team event. Individual event is far more important. Being the highest ranked American skater in individual event tells the whole world with this message: "Alysa is the best American female skater.".

We all should learn from Alysa. Olympics is not just about "medal", it's also about JOY, sportsmanship, friendship and experience. General public has no idea who win team event medal anyway. I see lots of praise for Alysa about her joy after the competitions. Alysa is the only US female skater invited for gala which is another achievement for her. Karen is not invited for gala. Alysa will be more popular, gain more frame, and earn more endorsement than Karen after this Olympics. The team event medal won't help Karen that much because of her disappointing 16th finish in individual event. It's OK for Vincent and Karen to bring gold (or silver?) team event medal home. :-)

 
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skatingiscool said:
I hope USFS will split women team event for next Olympics. Ice dancing team should skate both programs next time. There should be 2 women skate at team event next time. It's obviously a bad idea for a woman to skate BOTH short and long programs at team event.
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It's too early to say what should be done for team event splitting in the next Olympics. I think that splitting men's and dance was absolutely the right call for this Olympics. I think we can argue about whether the right lady was chosen to be the sole entry for the team event, but it's a no-brainer that men's and dance should have been split given the circumstances.

Splitting men's was the correct call since it would not have been fair for USFS to ask Nathan to tire himself out before the individual event and possibly sacrifice an individual gold. Splitting was the best call for both USFS and Nathan, as Nathan can get an additional Olympic medal without too much additional exhaustion, and USFS can still field their strongest skater to represent the overall team.

Splitting dance was the correct call because it set both teams up very well for the individual event. In the team event, both Chock/Bates and Hubbell/Donohue beat Sinitsina/Katsalapov across both segments. C/B and H/D were both medal-contending teams and they both wanted the momentum that could come from competing in the team event. By letting both teams compete and beat S/K, USFS also raised the possibility of getting both teams on the podium. Of course, that didn't happen in the end, but it wasn't even a possibility until both teams pulled off the upset. It was the best choice to maximize the number of medals that USFS could have received.

The ladies were never in medal contention. Even if Karen only skated one segment of the team event, it sounds like she sprained her ankle, and that impacted her performance. If she had only skated one portion of the team event, she still would have had a sprained ankle and that still would have affected her individual placement.

And for this Olympics, if we just look at it from a sporting integrity point of view, it makes no sense for a US lady to be rewarded with a team medal over H/D or C/B. H/D and C/B have been top ice dance teams for many years. They are both top five teams in the world who have won countless Grand Prix medals. The US ladies are not anywhere close to that level in their discipline, as no US lady medaled on the Grand Prix circuit this year. There is no argument that could be made where Mariah or Alysa (whoever else would have skated the team event), are more deserving of an Olympic medal than H/D or C/B. And when selecting between H/D and C/B, they've been so neck and neck over the past four years that it only feels fair to give them both their Olympic moment.

Four years from now, who knows what situation we will be in. There might be one clear top US Ice Dance team who wants to skate both segments, or there may be another rivalry like the one we have now with H/D and C/B. There may be a US lady who can contend for the podium and would thus want to conserve her energy. It's all very hard to say.
 
skatingiscool said:
I hope USFS will split women team event for next Olympics. Ice dancing team should skate both programs next time. There should be 2 women skate at team event next time. It's obviously a bad idea for a woman to skate BOTH short and long programs at team event.

Kamila, Madeline, Karen, Zhu YI

What's common for the above ladies skate in BOTH sp and lp at team event? The all BOMB in individual competitions. It is good for Alysa not to skate at team event. Individual event is far more important. Being the highest ranked American skater in individual event tells the whole world with this message: "Alysa is the best American female skater.".
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Honestly, I think Alysa or Mariah would be fine bombing the individual event if they walked away with a team medal.
 
drivingmissdaisy said:
Honestly, I think Alysa or Mariah would be fine bombing the individual event if they walked away with a team medal.
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Apparently Alysa is one of the happiest skater in Beijing. Alysa seems much happier than Karen to me. Team medal or not, Alysa has fulfilled her Olympic dream. It's happy ending for her. Alysa's goal is to skate two clean programs, not medal (she mentioned it many times in interviews). If she competes in team event, she may not has enough energy to skate in individual competition. We saw what happened to her at NHK trophy. Alysa showed fatigue at NHK trophy. There was not enough recovery time for Alysa after Skate Canada GP.
 
moonvine said:
I'm SO PROUD of Mariah and her walker getting out there at her ancient age and creating an Olympic moment. Regardless of placements to me that was the skate of the day. That's what a woman skating looks like and that's what I want to see. Alysa skated beautifully as well but a skate like Mariah's takes life experience. Just stunning. Congrats to all the US ladies.
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The skate of the day for me was Kaori. I've been a fan of Kaori for the last four years. Her speed and her skating skills are amazing. :love: I did not like her music, but for some reason it really didn't matter. I've never been able to get into Mariah's skating. I just don't like the sappy music, especially Hallelujah, with the big cheesy grins. It doesn't seem genuine to me. I really think she could skate to something dark with that big smile on her face. Plus she needed to at least have a triple triple. I like Karen's skating. She didn't do her best here, but she is a lovely skater. Alysa is also one of my favorites. I didn't care for her long program music as I didn't think it fit her. It would have been great for Jeremy, but I found it boring for Alysa. However Alysa has an effervescent personality; and she is pushing herself technically which is what our girls need to do to be competitive. I do hope that Alysa continues to compete as I feel like she is just getting started. I'm also excited to see Isabeau and Lindsey next season. I thought Isabeau should have won Nationals, but of course the USFSA would not have put a junior in first place in an Olympic year. Even though, in my opinion, she was much better than Mariah or Karen. I wish Bradie could come back next season completely healed, but I don't have a lot of hope. :(
 
I’m really interested to find out what will happen with US Ladies figure skating in the next quad.
With Worlds Champs as the remaining event left, I have a feeling the USA is going to drop to 2 spots. But, I’m really interested in finding out who will retire and who will remain. I see the state as follows:

Senior Grand Prix Locks
1) Alysa Liu - Leading American lady. I hope she nails the 3A in this upcoming quad
2) Mariah Bell - Amercian National Champion. I wonder if she will remain for one more year. I have a feeling she will retire
3) Karen Chen - Defending 4th place finisher at Worlds and American silver medalist. People have mentioned she will retire after this season and it makes sense after her long career
4) Isabeau Levito - Best Junior and current bronze medalist. I’m looking forward to her progress. Can she learn a loop combo and 4T?

Senior Grand Prix (maybe)
5) Bradie Tennell - Will she comeback or just call it quits. She is my favourite. I’m hoping she comes back
6) Audrey Shin - She stunned me with her 4CC performance. Wow! I expect to see her in the Grand Prix
7) Amber Glenn - Will she give it one more go. Her 3A is stunning when she sticks the landing
8) Gabby Izzo - The surprise 4th place finisher at Nationals. Can she grab a spot?
9) Lindsay Thorngren - Current National’s 5th place finisher. Love her willingness to go for the big jumps. Is there room for her? She will need people to retire
10) Clare Seo - National Junior Champion - I have a feeling she will be stuck in Juniors for another year. I like her artistry
 
Grand prix spots (except for host picks) have nothing to do with Nationals results. They are based on Worlds results, World standings, and season best score (at an international event that the ISU considers "important enough to count"). At the moment Alyssa, Karen, Mariah and Bradie are high enough in WS to get a GP spot, but others could pass them before the end of the season.
 
Alysa Liu is currently going viral for their performance of "Loco" at the Olympics Gala presentation. "Loco" is a song by Korean-pop girl band ITZY and the song's theme centers around being "crazily obsessed" about something. In this case, Alysa's performance can be interpreted as her "crazy" obsession with figure skating.

Stats:
- Nearly 300,000 views on Twitter in the last three hours with nearly 13,000 likes and 7,000 retweets
- The girl band reposted Alysa's performance on their Instagram (they have 15 million followers)
- Alysa's post on Instagram garnered over 13,000 likes in 2 hours
- Alysa's performance was reposted South Korea's Olympic account on Instagram, the only skater whose Gala performance was reposted
- Alysa's performance was also (re)posted by ITZY, the Olympic channel, and various other outlets on Twitter

At this point, an adjective brilliant and jubilant enough to describe Alysa Liu does not exist. Not only do they embody the Olympic spirit, Alysa Liu is the embodiment of what triumph over one’s struggles and pressures looks like. Alysa Liu’s Olympic experience, whether they continue with the sport or not, will forever remain in the books as one of—if not the most—effusive showmanship of infectious joy.

What a talent. What a beauty. What a gem.

To me, amidst the chaos and despair of the Olympics, Alysa was deserving of gold for their spirit and boundless joy.
 
natsulian said:
Alysa Liu is currently going viral for their performance of "Loco" at the Olympics Gala presentation. "Loco" is a song by Korean-pop girl band ITZY and the song's theme centers around being "crazily obsessed" about something. In this case, Alysa's performance can be interpreted as her "crazy" obsession with figure skating.

Stats:
- Nearly 300,000 views on Twitter in the last three hours with nearly 13,000 likes and 7,000 retweets
- The girl band reposted Alysa's performance on their Instagram (they have 15 million followers)
- Alysa's post on Instagram garnered over 13,000 likes in 2 hours
- Alysa's performance was reposted South Korea's Olympic account on Instagram, the only skater whose Gala performance was reposted
- Alysa's performance was also (re)posted by ITZY, the Olympic channel, and various other outlets on Twitter

At this point, an adjective brilliant and jubilant enough to describe Alysa Liu does not exist. Not only do they embody the Olympic spirit, Alysa Liu is the embodiment of what triumph over one’s struggles and pressures looks like. Alysa Liu’s Olympic experience, whether they continue with the sport or not, will forever remain in the books as one of—if not the most—effusive showmanship of infectious joy.

What a talent. What a beauty. What a gem.

To me, amidst the chaos and despair of the Olympics, Alysa was deserving of gold for their spirit and boundless joy.
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It's official. Alysa is the most popular American female skater in Asia. It's a very smart Strategy for Alysa - skipping team event and focusing on individual competition. I strongly disagree with other skater fans about team event medal/bombing individual competition argument., Top placement 7th in individual competition is far more valuable than team event medal, period.

Being the highest ranked (7th finish) American women in individual competition, Alysa will get higher priority for future World and Olympics competitions. On the other hand, Karen got team event medal but her 16th finish hurt her a lot. I'm pretty sure that both Karen and Mana Kawabe won't get another Olympics chance. Alysa got invited to Gala and ends up, this is even more important than the team event for her. She becomes famous overnight and gains a huge fanbase in Japan and South Korea now.
 
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Ichk said:
Alysa’s pure joy during these entire Olympics was a bright light to what was to me, the most traumatizing and horrific sporting event I’ve ever seen. I loved her entire mindset throughout the entirety of these games. I’m so glad she was able to have the best time along with her friends like Young and Yelim.

I’m so happy Alysa had a fairytale of an Olympic experience and accomplished her biggest dream. I can’t express how happy I am to see her love of skating back. I hope this experience motivates her to continue skating and to strive to come back in another 4 years. However, even if she does choose to end her carrier after this season and go to college, I’m just glad she’s leaving on the best note possible ❤️
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I was very happy they had a good experience as well. Maybe this is just what they needed to decide to continue competitive skating longer. Guess we will see.
 
skatingiscool said:
I hope USFS will split women team event for next Olympics. Ice dancing team should skate both programs next time. There should be 2 women skate at team event next time. It's obviously a bad idea for a woman to skate BOTH short and long programs at team event.

Kamila, Madeline, Karen, Zhu YI

What's common for the above ladies skate in BOTH sp and lp at team event? The all BOMB in individual competitions. It is good for Alysa not to skate at team event. Individual event is far more important. Being the highest ranked American skater in individual event tells the whole world with this message: "Alysa is the best American female skater.".

We all should learn from Alysa. Olympics is not just about "medal", it's also about JOY, sportsmanship, friendship and experience. General public has no idea who win team event medal anyway. I see lots of praise for Alysa about her joy after the competitions. Alysa is the only US female skater invited for gala which is another achievement for her. Karen is not invited for gala. Alysa will be more popular, gain more frame, and earn more endorsement than Karen after this Olympics. The team event medal won't help Karen that much because of her disappointing 16th finish in individual event. It's OK for Vincent and Karen to bring gold (or silver?) team event medal home. :-)

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USFS gives the highest ranked skaters the opportunity to split. I wish all disciplines could be split. It was fair to split men and ice dance. I don’t understand why USFS not only picked Karen but picked her one month ahead of time.

Let’s not pretend Kamila’s performance in the Individual event had anything to do with skating both parts of the TE. Also K/F skated wonderfully in their individual event even though they skated both parts of the TE.

Alysa did embody Olympic ideals along with many other US and non US skaters. I hope they want to keep skating for some time to come. Best of luck to them at Worlds also.
 
RatedPG said:
I liked this compassionate message. It is a shame that having empathy when a child who might be on the wrong side of the coin, is considered controversial. My respect for Mariah went up.
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I love Mariah. Have for a long time. She can be introduced at Cranberry Cup or introduced at the Olympics, she is always happy and excited and grateful to be there. She’s absolutely a joy to be around.
 
skatingiscool said:
Apparently Alysa is one of the happiest skater in Beijing. Alysa seems much happier than Karen to me. Team medal or not, Alysa has fulfilled her Olympic dream. It's happy ending for her. Alysa's goal is to skate two clean programs, not medal (she mentioned it many times in interviews). If she competes in team event, she may not has enough energy to skate in individual competition. We saw what happened to her at NHK trophy. Alysa showed fatigue at NHK trophy. There was not enough recovery time for Alysa after Skate Canada GP.
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I would hope no skater would be bothered by skating 2 additional programs. They skate these programs more than twice a week in training. The women’s skating was a long time after the TE. Having GPs close together might be more bothersome including the travel and wildly different time zones between Canada and NHK.
 
dancelion21 said:
It's too early to say what should be done for team event splitting in the next Olympics. I think that splitting men's and dance was absolutely the right call for this Olympics. I think we can argue about whether the right lady was chosen to be the sole entry for the team event, but it's a no-brainer that men's and dance should have been split given the circumstances.

Splitting men's was the correct call since it would not have been fair for USFS to ask Nathan to tire himself out before the individual event and possibly sacrifice an individual gold. Splitting was the best call for both USFS and Nathan, as Nathan can get an additional Olympic medal without too much additional exhaustion, and USFS can still field their strongest skater to represent the overall team.

Splitting dance was the correct call because it set both teams up very well for the individual event. In the team event, both Chock/Bates and Hubbell/Donohue beat Sinitsina/Katsalapov across both segments. C/B and H/D were both medal-contending teams and they both wanted the momentum that could come from competing in the team event. By letting both teams compete and beat S/K, USFS also raised the possibility of getting both teams on the podium. Of course, that didn't happen in the end, but it wasn't even a possibility until both teams pulled off the upset. It was the best choice to maximize the number of medals that USFS could have received.

The ladies were never in medal contention. Even if Karen only skated one segment of the team event, it sounds like she sprained her ankle, and that impacted her performance. If she had only skated one portion of the team event, she still would have had a sprained ankle and that still would have affected her individual placement.

And for this Olympics, if we just look at it from a sporting integrity point of view, it makes no sense for a US lady to be rewarded with a team medal over H/D or C/B. H/D and C/B have been top ice dance teams for many years. They are both top five teams in the world who have won countless Grand Prix medals. The US ladies are not anywhere close to that level in their discipline, as no US lady medaled on the Grand Prix circuit this year. There is no argument that could be made where Mariah or Alysa (whoever else would have skated the team event), are more deserving of an Olympic medal than H/D or C/B. And when selecting between H/D and C/B, they've been so neck and neck over the past four years that it only feels fair to give them both their Olympic moment.

Four years from now, who knows what situation we will be in. There might be one clear top US Ice Dance team who wants to skate both segments, or there may be another rivalry like the one we have now with H/D and C/B. There may be a US lady who can contend for the podium and would thus want to conserve her energy. It's all very hard to say.
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Yes, for the love of all that’s holy let’s not start debating team event assignments 4 years in advance. At least 3 Olympic free years would be nice. Let’s please also not anoint the next great hope to beat the Russians, whether that be Alysa, Lindsay, Isabeau or someone else.
 
RatedPG said:
I’m really interested to find out what will happen with US Ladies figure skating in the next quad.
With Worlds Champs as the remaining event left, I have a feeling the USA is going to drop to 2 spots. But, I’m really interested in finding out who will retire and who will remain. I see the state as follows:

Senior Grand Prix Locks
1) Alysa Liu - Leading American lady. I hope she nails the 3A in this upcoming quad
2) Mariah Bell - Amercian National Champion. I wonder if she will remain for one more year. I have a feeling she will retire
3) Karen Chen - Defending 4th place finisher at Worlds and American silver medalist. People have mentioned she will retire after this season and it makes sense after her long career
4) Isabeau Levito - Best Junior and current bronze medalist. I’m looking forward to her progress. Can she learn a loop combo and 4T?

Senior Grand Prix (maybe)
5) Bradie Tennell - Will she comeback or just call it quits. She is my favourite. I’m hoping she comes back
6) Audrey Shin - She stunned me with her 4CC performance. Wow! I expect to see her in the Grand Prix
7) Amber Glenn - Will she give it one more go. Her 3A is stunning when she sticks the landing
8) Gabby Izzo - The surprise 4th place finisher at Nationals. Can she grab a spot?
9) Lindsay Thorngren - Current National’s 5th place finisher. Love her willingness to go for the big jumps. Is there room for her? She will need people to retire
10) Clare Seo - National Junior Champion - I have a feeling she will be stuck in Juniors for another year. I like her artistry
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I’m not interested in the next quad. I am interested in the next year.

Currently Alysa, Mariah, Karen and Bradie are ranked in the top 24 in the world which is the requirement for 2 GP assignments. Starr Andrews is on the bubble at 23. Amber Glenn is in 26. Audrey Shin 39. Lindsay Thorngren is 60th. Isabeau is 80th. Kate Wang 92. Hannah Harrell 94. Claire Seo is 98th.

These could change, but I’d be pretty surprised to see say, Isabeau in 80th pulling up to 24th.
 
moonvine said:
I’m not interested in the next quad. I am interested in the next year.

Currently Alysa, Mariah, Karen and Bradie are ranked in the top 24 in the world which is the requirement for 2 GP assignments. Starr Andrews is on the bubble at 23. Amber Glenn is in 26. Audrey Shin 39. Lindsay Thorngren is 60th. Isabeau is 80th. Kate Wang 92. Hannah Harrell 94. Claire Seo is 98th.

These could change, but I’d be pretty surprised to see say, Isabeau in 80th pulling up to 24th.
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Isabeau is 22nd on the Season best list (top 24 on SB also guarantees 1 spot, just like top 24 World Standing). She may fall out of the top 24 after Worlds and JW, but she's in a pretty good position to get two spots (as the 4th place at Nationals, I'm sure she'd get a host spot if necessary to give her two).
 
The age limit will almost certainly be going up, so Isabeau likely will not be aging up into seniors next season. The most recent proposals all have the age limit being raised two years to 17, so Isabeau would not be going senior until the 2024-25 season
 
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