2024-25 U.S. Men's Figure Skating

[ramurphy2005]

Might as well move onto men:

Byes:

Malinin - reigning Champion
Brown - reigning Silver Medalist
Pulkinen - reigning Bronze medalist
Naumov - 4th place
Torgashev - 5th place

Sanchez - Junior Grand Prix Final, not sure if he's skating junior or senior, but he's got a bye either way

Ma - International bye, 3 Challengers
Martynov - International bye, 3 Challengers

No Bye:

Hiwatashi - 1 Challenger and 1 Grand Prix
Kapeikis - 2 Challengers
Paniot - 1 Challenger
Kovar - 1 Challenger
Endo - 1 Challenger
Klein - 1 Challenger

Unknown:

Broussard - 1 Challenger, 1 Grand Prix and Withdrew from a Challenger

Edit: Unsure of what happens to Lucas now since he withdrew from Warsaw.

 

[labgoat]

I am beginning to glimpse the US Men's Team for Worlds...

• Ilia is of course a lock as long as he is healthy enough to compete
• Andrew just posted the second best overall score at NHK moving a fraction ahead of Lucas B
• Lucas is also looking good as long as he recovers from whatever took him out of his recent events. A beautfiul skater who has already impressed the judges.
• Jason posted the next best score, but at Shanghai Trophy and had not yet matched it in Challengers or GP. His best at the recent events does not match Jimmy.
• Jimmy Ma posted his best score at Cranberry that beats Jason's recent score. He also has a Challenger coming up to see where he stands. Call me crazy, but my brain keeps whispering to keep an eye on Jimmy Ma in upcoming days to see where he stands. I think the SC of Boston guy has an outside shot at Worlds if he can show consistency.
• Camden & Maxim have been behind this season and need to get things in order to challenge the above right now.
• Yaro & Goku have had injury and consistency problems this season and are going to need better health and training to up their game.

 

[Jeanie19]

I am beginning to glimpse the US Men's Team for Worlds...

• Ilia is of course a lock as long as he is healthy enough to compete
• Andrew just posted the second best overall score at NHK moving a fraction ahead of Lucas B
• Lucas is also looking good as long as he recovers from whatever took him out of his recent events. A beautfiul skater who has already impressed the judges.
• Jason posted the next best score, but at Shanghai Trophy and had not yet matched it in Challengers or GP. His best at the recent events does not match Jimmy.
• Jimmy Ma posted his best score at Cranberry that beats Jason's recent score. He also has a Challenger coming up to see where he stands. Call me crazy, but my brain keeps whispering to keep an eye on Jimmy Ma in upcoming days to see where he stands. I think the SC of Boston guy has an outside shot at Worlds if he can show consistency.
• Camden & Maxim have been very behind this season and need to get things in order to challenge the above right now.
• Yaro & Goku have had injury and consistency problems this season and are going to need better health and training to up their game.

What about Jacob? Will he get senior or junior worlds? He's competing this week.

 

[labgoat]

What about Jacob? Will he get senior or junior worlds? He's competing this week.

I suspect Jacob will get Junior Worlds. Extremely talented, but scores at the Senior level can be tough. He is behind the top 5 and I don't see him overtaking Camden or Tomoki yet with a senior length program and requirements on his first senior event.

I'd rather see him explore seniors, see where he stands, go home, set some goals and prepare to make the jump when ready after celebrating what should be a very good junior year.

 

[labgoat]

The pressure on him would be enormous - skate great at your first senior event, win a lucky bronze at Nationals and have to deal with the pressure of getting three spots for the Olympics. Too much, too soon! I'd rather not turn him in a cactus.

 

[Seven Sisters]

I am beginning to glimpse the US Men's Team for Worlds...

• Ilia is of course a lock as long as he is healthy enough to compete
• Andrew just posted the second best overall score at NHK moving a fraction ahead of Lucas B
• Lucas is also looking good as long as he recovers from whatever took him out of his recent events. A beautfiul skater who has already impressed the judges.
• Jason posted the next best score, but at Shanghai Trophy and had not yet matched it in Challengers or GP. His best at the recent events does not match Jimmy.
• Jimmy Ma posted his best score at Cranberry that beats Jason's recent score. He also has a Challenger coming up to see where he stands. Call me crazy, but my brain keeps whispering to keep an eye on Jimmy Ma in upcoming days to see where he stands. I think the SC of Boston guy has an outside shot at Worlds if he can show consistency.
• Camden & Maxim have been very behind this season and need to get things in order to challenge the above right now.
• Yaro & Goku have had injury and consistency problems this season and are going to need better health and training to up their game.

I think it would be a crying shame if Torgashev were not selected to go to Worlds, but I could see that happening. Even if he were to finish higher than Jason at Nationals, I would expect USFS to select Jason over Andrew, due to the emphasis placed on body of work.

I also thought Hiwatashi skated brilliantly in the long at NHK—best he’s looked in years, well done, Tomoki!—and am now wondering if he may be on the rise.

 

[YuBluByMe]

I think it would be a crying shame if Torgashev were not selected to go to Worlds, but I could see that happening. Even if he were to finish higher than Jason at Nationals, I would expect USFS to select Jason over Andrew, due to the emphasis placed on body of work.

I actually don’t see Andrew being left off the Worlds team happening if he finishes above Brown at Nationals…because there’s three spots for Worlds, not two.

Too many of the U.S. men have poor international results (i.e., Ma, Naumov, Pulkinen) and then have the skates of their lives at Nationals. They’re the ones that are going to be left off the team even if they beat Brown. This is, of course, if they beat him by a small margin and Brown skates relatively well.

BREAK

I definitely agree about Sanchez being chosen for Junior Worlds; he shouldn’t even be considered for Worlds, to be honest. He’s competing to get his minimums as a safety net, but that’s as far as it should go. Junior scores don’t translate well into seniors. We saw this with Kim Hyungyeom.

 

[Kris135]

For Lucas Broussard the Warsaw Cup is make or break for the his season. if he can hit out of the park then I he will make the world team if nothing crazy happens at Nationals. He already has a good score coming by out of Cranberry Cup so we all know he can do it now he prove he can do on a constant basis. Skate America was tough for him. I think that al hoopla that took place may have too much pressure for his first GP. I do wonder he been sent to another it might have worked better. Now he has lower stakes event that he may do much better with and get his conference back some. If he performs like he did at Cranberry Cup then it should do a lot to repair the damage he may have done to his reputation.

 

[ramurphy2005]

For Lucas Broussard the Warsaw Cup is make or break for the his season. if he can hit out of the park then I he will make the world team if nothing crazy happens at Nationals. He already has a good score coming by out of Cranberry Cup so we all know he can do it now he prove he can do on a constant basis. Skate America was tough for him. I think that al hoopla that took place may have too much pressure for his first GP. I do wonder he been sent to another it might have worked better. Now he has lower stakes event that he may do much better with and get his conference back some. If he performs like he did at Cranberry Cup then it should do a lot to repair the damage he may have done to his reputation.

He's already withdrawn from Warsaw.

 

[Kris135]

He's already withdrawn from Warsaw.

I did not know that till now. I hope that whatever is going on can be corrected because I really have him as my sleeper pick for the 2026 Olympic team. I said that last year I still stand by that.

 

[ramurphy2005]

The offical list of byes is out:



When I was working things out the other day, with men I had everything pretty much on point.

Byes are Malinin, Brown, Pulkinen, Naumov, Torgashev, Ma, Martynov, Broussard, and Sanchez

 

[Kris135]

The offical list of byes is out:



When I was working things out the other day, with men I had everything pretty much on point.

Byes are Malinin, Brown, Pulkinen, Naumov, Torgashev, Ma, Martynov, Broussard, and Sanchez

I looks like Jacob going to take a swing at Senior now. It could be interesting to see if he is mix for the medals. Because it been usually Ilia, Jason, and who ever else gets on the he podium. If Jacob gets a silver or bronze it could make things very interesting to say the least. I do not think Jacob a stable quad yet but with extremely inconsistent US men if he skates clean he may have a shot at this. We may have to use the Challenge Cup again to get Jacob 's senior minimums so he can go to Senior Worlds, if he does not do that well he goes Junior Worlds so it win win no matter what and it will good preparation for will come next.

 

[labgoat]

Too many of the U.S. men have poor international results (i.e., Ma, Naumov, Pulkinen)

I must point out that the facts are that Jimmy Ma has done well this season so far with the next best score behind Jason Brown this year.

• Cranberry Cup 8/11/2024 SP 78.24/FS 158.53 / TOT 236.77
• Lombardia Trophy 15/9/2024 SP 73.01 / FS 156.40 / TOT 229.41

 

[ramurphy2005]

I looks like Jacob going to take a swing at Senior now. It could be interesting to see if he is mix for the medals. Because it been usually Ilia, Jason, and who ever else gets on the he podium. If Jacob gets a silver or bronze it could make things very interesting to say the least. I do not think Jacob a stable quad yet but with extremely inconsistent US men if he skates clean he may have a shot at this. We may have to use the Challenge Cup again to get Jacob 's senior minimums so he can go to Senior Worlds, if he does not do that well he goes Junior Worlds so it win win no matter what and it will good preparation for will come next.

Jacob is making his Senior debut in Tallinn this week.

 

[Kris135]

I am getting to the point where if the young kids like Lucas or Jacob hit out of the park at Nationals send them. Most likely Ilia and Jason are going to get two of the spots, so use the third spot for skater development because from the results I have seen we are not going to lose that much by sending them and it will give them some precious experience on international level thar they could both use for later. I want to send a team to Milian that at least knows how to compete because most of the US men have shown up in years. So send the kids if they get results at Nationals. I never want to have another Ilia like this experience again where a kid has a skate of their life and is left home because they need to send someone who had a better Body of Work, no Jason is not the one who should been left home it should been Zhou thar should been left off the Olympic team for Bejing because his frequent implosions that happened almost every other competition.

 

[Skating47]

I think that Ilia will, of course make the World Team this year. In addition, Jason will be good by Nationals and probably place in silver medal position. The programs are getting better and I will always stand behind Jason. Jason always seems to do well at Nationals. If he had boot issues, they will be fine by Nationals and I think that Jason was nervous on the Grand Prix circuit after being away for three years. He will get his triple jumps and his skating groove back soon. I head that Jaon might do another Senior B in December. As far as the third spot on the World Team this year, I am thinking Andrew Torgeshev because he is skating great. However, I am interested to see how Jacob Sanchez does this week.

 

[Skating47]

I am getting to the point where if the young kids like Lucas or Jacob hit out of the park at Nationals send them. Most likely Ilia and Jason are going to get two of the spots, so use the third spot for skater development because from the results I have seen we are going to lose that much by sending them and it will give them some precious experience on international level thar they could both use for later. I want to send a team to Milian that at least knows how to compete because most of the US men have shown up in years. So send the kids if they get results at Nationals. I never want to have another Ilia like this experience again where a kid has a skate of their life and is left home because they need to send someone who had a better Body of Work, no Jason is not the one who should been left home it should been Zhou thar should been left off the Olympic team for Bejing because his frequent implosions that happened almost every other competition.

I agree about Zhou. Vincent had an inconsistent skating career. Everyone knew that Jason should have placed third, not fouth at the 2022 Nationals. Then, the committee that picks the Olympic Team never considered that Zhou didn't qualify for the Free Skate at th 2021 Worlds. In addition, Jason should have been put on the team event in Bejing, not Zhou. Zhou skated horribly in the team event. Some people even said we missed Shindler's List for this.

 

[Kris135]

I agree about Zhou. Vincent had an inconsistent skating career. Everyone knew that Jason should have placed third, not fouth at the 2022 Nationals. Then, the committee that picks the Olympic Team never considered that Zhou didn't qualify for the Free Skate at th 2021 Worlds. In addition, Jason should have been put on the team event in Bejing, not Zhou. Zhou skated horribly in the team event. Some people even said we missed Shindler's List for this.

I would have put Ilia and Jason in the team event in Bejing Jason for the short because he was nearly getting 100 points even without a quad, and Ilia for the long because if he missed a quad he could recover and still score pretty high. When they USFS and NBC did not send Ilia he lost the chance to compete and learn from the likes of Nathan Chen and other great Olympic skaters during an actual Olympics and he will never get that back because I think would helped so much with what he going though in next 15 months because the pressure and spotlight is only going to get worse then add Olympic pressure from not knowing what going to happen and the expectations of a nation that will not be happy with any other medal but gold.. I hope that Ilia can hold up under that level pressure because Nathan in his first Olympics didn't hold up. The only advantage Ilia has is going be a bit older but still this is a lot to ask for really young man that will barely old enough to drink. I think he can do it because he seems to skate his best when the pressure is on him but I hope Ilia can deal with it all.

 

[Weathergal]

I would have put Ilia and Jason in the team event in Bejing Jason for the short because he was nearly getting 100 points even without a quad, and Ilia for the long because if he missed a quad he could recover and still score pretty high. When they USFS and NBC did not send Ilia he lost the chance to compete and learn from the likes of Nathan Chen and other great Olympic skaters during an actual Olympics and he will never get that back because I think would helped so much with what he going though in next 15 months because the pressure and spotlight is only going to get worse then add Olympic pressure from not knowing what going to happen and the expectations of a nation that will not be happy with any other medal but gold.. I hope that Ilia can hold up under that level pressure because Nathan in his first Olympics didn't hold up. The only advantage Ilia has is going be a bit older but still this is a lot to ask for really young man that will barely old enough to drink. I think he can do it because he seems to skate his best when the pressure is on him but I hope Ilia can deal with it all.

NBC is not part of the skater selection process for competitions.

 

[cailuj365]

Lol, even if Ilia did somehow make the 2022 Olympic team, there's no way he would have been selected for the team event. US would have wanted Nathan to get a 2nd medal and help them to team gold, and the other skater would have been someone who actually had senior international experience, which Ilia had not had at that point. Ilia would have been there for the individual events just for the experience, not to potentially screw up the team event.

What I'm more worried about for 2026 is that there isn't going to be a 2nd man that USFSA can trust to skate well enough in the team event and they make Ilia skate both the SP and LP in both team and individual. Team event is Day 1 and Day 2, and then individual men's SP is Day 4 and individual LP is on Day 7. That's a lot to do in a small amount of time (maybe that's why he's practicing with back-to-back SA and SC). I'm sure he will be trying his max layouts by Olympics, and he could really wear himself out by the time of the individual LP if they make him do even just the team LP.

Seriously hoping a decent, reliable US men's skater comes through by Feb 2026.