2023 Skate America: Women's Thoughts

[gsk8]

Belgium's Hendrickx clear winner at Skate America

2023 Skate America: Women Belgium’s Loena Hendrickx was the clear winner of the Women’s event at 2023 Skate America on Sunday evening. USA’s Isabeau Levito moved up one spot to second […]

www.goldenskate.com

That was painful for Glenn. She was off to such a good start. I hope she's able to brush this off before Finland

It was nice seeing Levito perform well under a bit of pressure! Let's see if she can keep that train going!

Great job Petrokina and the new Skate America champ Hendrickx!!

What are your thoughts? What short or long programs did you like the most? Who surprised you and why?

 

[ptvvibezz]

Amber

 

[4everchan]

Amber's 3axel was so good. It's too bad it got to her, but I think she needs to keep doing it and get used to landing it ! Her athletic abilities are superior. I really liked her SP as well.

Loena is a complete skater with perhaps, some bad taste in program selection. Her jumps are high and really well done. She is hard to beat when she skates like this. I liked her SP but the LP was not that interesting for me.

Levito is not my type of skater at all. I appreciate her ability to deal with pressure. I admire also her attention to detail. Unfortunately for me, the balletic style is not something I ever appreciated. My loss obviously.

Niina was a surprise for me. Very nice skate.

I liked Kurakova as well.

Hana had a redemption skate. I am looking forward to seeing her as she evolves on the senior circuit.

Many many falls and tough skates but it's early in the season.

 

[SmileHappy34]

Good skate dron all skaters. They all have something to be positive about and work on .


Loena great job . A q on triple triple. Seasons best love that smile about score



Isabeau a >on ur triple Euler triple. Personally I didn't think she would pull it off she did . Seasons Best score. Love your happy with score
Nina 3rd seasons best. Great

Hana great 3A q keep workin.
Love program.
Amber props in 3A positive Goes . Not so happy last half cost a medal. Stay focus.
Overall great skate.

To all job well done

 

[FlossieH]

I really hope that Niina gets an apology from the ISU for the Japanese flag being shown in the medal ceremony instead an Estonian one. I know that anyone can make a mistake, and I realise it would just have been a mistake, but a GP medal is a huge thing to achieve and not having the right flag a big error for them to make in that context. She might not have another opportunity to have her country's flag above her in a GP medal ceremony.

 

[RatedPG]

Amber needs to keep going for the 3A. It might be her most stable triple, as it is the only triple jump she hasn’t popped or fallen on.

Had she gone for the 3A and landed it in the SP, she would have finished in third place, even with this skate. I also think she needs to do combos early on, and suggest a seq with two 2A.

 

[Bluediamonds09]

Amber glenn is better than that overused Exogenesis Part 3 music that everyone and their mom uses. I really dislike the choice but she's no stranger to warhorses. But, landing the 3A was a giant step in the right direction.

 

[gsk8]

https://www.goldenskate.com/belgiums-hendrickx-clear-winner-at-skate-america/

"It felt incredible landing that triple Axel in competition in front of my home crowd," said Glenn. "For me, it felt normal at first, like in everyday in practice, but the crowd was so energized. But my own energy of the excitement killed me. I lost my focus. I never had the adrenalin experience of landing it in competition. It is one thing to visualize it and another to experience it."

 

[icewhite]

It was a messy event.
My favourite was Hana Yoshida, I like both her programs this season a lot and her skating looks fresh and energetic.

I also think Amber was exciting. Too bad it didn't work out for her after she was able to land a fabulous 3A, and too bad she continues to do the sad girl ballad stuff because I love to see her skating to other music, but it would still have been wonderful if she would have been able to keep it going.

Niina was better than I thought she would be. I'm always a bit torn on her. I love her power and modern approach, but still wish she had either some more delicacy like Kiibus or went with something even a bit braver in terms of packaging. Despite her skating so strong, her programs can feel a bit bland to me.

Isabeau's skating is not for me. Her flexibility, her extension, the way she listens to the music and finishes her movements are great. But I still don't like the way she's jumping at all. Maybe she improved a bit in that area, maybe the dresses hide her entrance positions a bit, I suspect they are supposed to do that, but it still takes away a lot for me. And I would love to give her different programs. People say her short this season is different, but it's not so very different and I dislike the whole snakography a lot.

Loena... well, I have already commented on that a lot. She's a wonderful skater, smooth, with flow, strength, energy, care, flexibility, control, stable jumps. I'm also fine with her skating in short dresses and to more upbeat pop music. I enjoyed her short last season. But this season I don't know what to do with her programs. So you want to do something more feminine or something more modern? Fine, but please make it a real program with real choreography, that's what you deserve as a skater. This looks too tiktoky, especially the free. The short is fine on it's own but actually a bit boring. Together with the free I feel it doesn't add much but is only more sexiness. Still, her win was absolutely deserved of course, she was on.

The Koreans and Japanese likely hoped for better.

 

[Moxiejan]

Amber has a post in her Instagram that her triple axel was the highest-scoring ever (of those scored under new system). Does anyone have the stats on that?

 

[Minz]

Amber has a post in her Instagram that her triple axel was the highest-scoring ever (of those scored under new system). Does anyone have the stats on that?

Perhaps by a US Women’s skater? I did a search on Skating Scores and the highest scoring triple axel is Valieva’s. She has a couple. After her - Rika, Aliona and some other skaters.

Here is the search if you want to see for yourself

Edit: I just checked and it is the highest scoring 3A by a US Women’s skater under the new system. Link

 

[macy]

I also think Amber was exciting. Too bad it didn't work out for her after she was able to land a fabulous 3A, and too bad she continues to do the sad girl ballad stuff because I love to see her skating to other music, but it would still have been wonderful if she would have been able to keep it going.

Isabeau's skating is not for me. Her flexibility, her extension, the way she listens to the music and finishes her movements are great. But I still don't like the way she's jumping at all. Maybe she improved a bit in that area, maybe the dresses hide her entrance positions a bit, I suspect they are supposed to do that, but it still takes away a lot for me. And I would love to give her different programs. People say her short this season is different, but it's not so very different and I dislike the whole snakography a lot.

as tough as it was for Amber yesterday (and for everyone else skating that program with her), this actually might be good for her in the future. she knows now what that adrenaline and emotion feels like and she has it out of the way. she will know how to handle it next time and also already have the first one ever done. it's a pressure she may not feel again. but yeah, what a moment this could have been for her career had she held it together.

I do like Isabeau, but there is something holding me back from completely hopping on the Levito train, and i think it's the jumps and speed. her attention to detail is sublime, she is so delicate and graceful. but man the jumps ruin it all for me, i hate to say it. the hunch and the loss of speed into them is so stark compared to the rest of her skating. its really too bad because her actual air position is nice- imagine how much better they would be if she kept her posture on takeoff. to be honest i don't see much of an improvement since last season.

 

[lariko]

I was really happy for Petrokina. My mom kept talking about Hendrixx's program, so I expected more, though the dress was great. Glenn started well, then collapsed completely, and Levito was about what I expected. Very gentle movement, but jumps not particularly jumpy. Just kinda there and yes, it's great she lands them, but not exciting like the jumps I like.

 

[DancingCactus]

Isabeau's jumps still look mostly frightening but I got a feeling they became a little bit less scratchy? Her programs this season aren't my thing and why do they always have to give her such heavy music and dreadful Russian frilly dresses?

Loena? She has power, panache and is brave enough to not skate to depressing or lyrical warehouses. But the LP choreo is just bad and the music sounds more like warmup music. It doesn't have any structure and neither has her choreo.

Loved Amber Glenn's SP.

 

[RobinA]

Hendrickx - like the skater, LOVE the LP costume, hate the LP.
Petrokina was refreshing, as was Kurakova.
Isabeau - I want to like her skating, I should like her skating, but I don't. I don't know why. The only thing I can figure is that she's still too juniorish for me. She is still quite young and they don't seem to be rushing her, so I may yet be a fan. She seems to have weathered the puberty monster. I super do not like the long skirts, but I do like that she's not tarted up trying to make her look older.
Glenn - yeah, yeah, yeah triple axel. But I'd rather see her complete a long program without a bunch of splats.

 

[Skating91]

It seems we live in an inflationary era, and I'm not talking about the world economy.

Glenn was quite impressive in the short program, but was completely out of gas in the free. It seemed to be a fitness and endurance problem. The 3A was quite impressive but it seems to have been worked on at the expense of the program.

Levito was quite lucky with the judges in the short many jumps weren't rotated but not called. Her jumps were much better in the free. I do like her programs, and the free skate costume has grown on me. It was jarring at first, but it's somewhat unique and memorable. She does look athletically stronger than last season, but the jumping is still a little laboured.

Big score for Loena for that a program with one 3+3. Huge components too for this kind of program. I don't know what to think of it some of the dance moves are not very good but other parts I enjoyed. It just feels a little messy at times and a little sloppy, but it's an interesting idea better than another Roxanne although too similar in ways to the short program. It will probably improve by the end of the season. Probably a better concept for someone really good with the hands, good at voguing.

Something at the end of her performance made me think of Jiminy Glick by the way.

Judges missed a big under rotation with Loena's 3Lz with the 3Lz+2T (and the flat edge). Got 3s and 2s. It didn't decide the result today, but might decide a result in the future. If the judges wanted to punish her they could have probably called the flip as well. I have an uncanny knack for being able to predict what skaters will be dinged for these kinds of things, and which ones they won't.

3Lz

3F

Am I being unreasonable?

 

[icewhite]

It seems we live in an inflationary era, and I'm not talking about the world economy.

Glenn was quite impressive in the short program, but was completely out of gas in the free. It seemed to be a fitness and endurance problem. The 3A was quite impressive but it seems to have been worked on at the expense of the program.

Levito was quite lucky with the judges in the short many jumps weren't rotated but not called. Her jumps were much better in the free. I do like her programs, and the free skate costume has grown on me. It was jarring at first, but it's somewhat unique and memorable. She does look athletically stronger than last season, but the jumping is still a little laboured.

Big score for Loena for that a program with one 3+3. Huge components too for this kind of program. I don't know what to think of it some of the dance moves are not very good but other parts I enjoyed. It just feels a little messy at times and a little sloppy, but it's an interesting idea better than another Roxanne although too similar in ways to the short program. It will probably improve by the end of the season. Probably a better concept for someone really good with the hands, good at voguing.

Something at the end of her performance made me think of Jiminy Glick by the way.

Judges missed a big under rotation with Loena's 3Lz with the 3Lz+2T (and the flat edge). Got 3s and 2s. It didn't decide the result today, but might decide a result in the future. If the judges wanted to punish her they could have probably called the flip as well. I have an uncanny knack for being able to predict what skaters will be dinged for these kinds of things, and which ones they won't.

3Lz

3F

Am I being unreasonable?

You are going to some length to talk about non-calls of some skaters while you cheer others on who have worse issues without mentioning things- I'm all for clean technique, but why do it like this?

 

[SmileHappy34]

I don know how accurate, but Amber Glenn's words stated she overly excited about landing the 3A that crowd added to excitement. She stated 50 and not 100( whatever that meanHeight Take off). Maybe amber needs to stay focus throughout the rest of program and not let one jump ruin it.

 

[SmileHappy34]

Amber Glenn stated she normally gets 50 and she got 100 . That and crowd excitement added to her overly excited skate.

 

[soccerjc77]

I enjoy a lot the SP of Xiangyi An : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZDUfy7T8zQ&t=1529s
I thought that she was underscored and it was a very cool final combination spin with both direction, very difficult we don't see it often.