2024 U.S.Nationals Practice Reports

[figureskatingandrainbows]

The first group of women is on the ice! The Peacock stream has commentary from Jackie Wong and Polina Edmunds. Lindsay Thorngren skipped practice both yesterday and today, although there is a practice session later this evening for her to attend. And, as Polina pointed out, she does train relatively close in NJ.

Starr Andrews started out strong, but had a fall on her second 3Lo and a stepout on her second 3F during her free runthrough.

Sonja Hilmer struggled a bit with the jumps but her free program is wonderful. It's to music from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which at face value may seem to be a "Generic Asian Program" but has a lot of choreography from the show. As a fan of the show, the care and detail she puts into the choreo is really special. I'm going to obsess more over it in the competition thread.

Soho Lee is skating to Papa, Can You Hear Me?. As Jackie pointed out, yes, Papa, we do hear you. She skated a clean SP run through, although her 3Lz+3T looked <. At 14, her skating is a bit junior compared to others in the field but she is very mature for her age. I think she's been dealing with some growth issues, so the jumps don't look as secure as they did last year.

Elyce Lin-Gracey also nailed a 3Lz+3T, which again I would question the rotation on. Her FS runthrough started strongly, but she fell on a 3Lo and had a huge stepout of the 3F in the second half of her program. She, too, is a junior skater but has good musicality. Jackie warns of her delay in rotation, which means she will need lots of height and spring in her jumps or else a generous tech panel. Lots of comparisons to Karen Chen, which are definitely warranted. An incredible choreo sequence shows off her flexibility and speed, and while her run through wasn't clean today, she did skate clean yesterday.

 

[TontoK]

Thanks @labgoat and @figureskatingandrainbows for taking the time to share your insights.

I'm simultaneously jealous and grateful!

 

[ramurphy2005]

Thanks @labgoat and @figureskatingandrainbows for taking the time to share your insights.

I'm simultaneously jealous and grateful!

Some of the practices where Jackie has been doing live commentary will get posted on Youtube after they're done airing on Peacock.

 

[auser]

Lovely spirals and spins from Amber.

 

[labgoat]

He and Polina are great to listen to describe the practice.

 

[labgoat]

Anyone watching pairs practice?

 

[auser]

Anyone watching pairs practice?

I am while doing other tasks.

 

[midori green]

And, as Polina pointed out, she does train relatively close in NJ.

This made me chuckle. New Jersey is definitely not close enough to Ohio to be convenient. Is Polina from California? (I once had people in Utah tell me I was from the East Coast because I was from around Chicago. It takes a long time to get to the actual East Coast area from Chicago.) She did say "relatively", but still...

 

[auser]

Nice skate from Ellie and Danny.

 

[moonvine]

Someone send Jackie some questions. Apparently he doesn't like mine.

 

[Janice4th]

So is practice at the Ice Haus more random or unofficial and not covered by Practice Cam?

I saw a camera this evening for the pairs practice.

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

Catching up with the last two groups of women:

Michelle Lee is a bit of a dark horse. She might be a new face for many in the lineup, but she is one of the more consistent skaters here. Her FS runthrough was largely clean, even as the first skater. Her 3Lz is very solid. Her jumps aren't big, and she lacks the speed and spin quality of the top skaters, but in a messy field she could definitely be a strong top 10 contender. She put out a 109 free skate earlier in the season.

Audrey Shin started out strongly with a 3F+3Tq. Her skating skills and performance quality are evident throughout, but she took a fall on her 3Lo during her SP runthrough. Jackie explains that this jump that has been haunting her a bit this season, and a generous tech panel will really help her.

Alex Evans' jumps are more of a struggle, but she is a great performer. Although her FS starts with a warhorse in Wicked Game, she really comes alive in the second half. No matter what happens in the free skate, this will be a fun program to watch.

Brooke Gewalt was the late replacement for Ava Ziegler, but is a very strong skater. She has solid skating skills and a great rotation position. She doesn't have the BV of some of the other skaters, but she is certainly holding her own here even with just a few days to prepare for this event. The only jump she struggled at all with was the 2A, but she was otherwise almost clean.

Mia Kalin has been landing several quads outside of runthrough. Polina explains that she came out of the same rink as Alysa Liu, and you can see some similarities. I do worry about injury with her since she has been doing quads since such a young age and doesn't have a ton of speed into a lot of her jumps, and of course the coaching team doesn't have a great track record necessarily. She marks her opening 4T, and lands a 4S< or <<. She is skating to Carmen,which could be an exciting moment but may be a struggle for such a young skater. She has good flexibility and lines, and seems more confident with the jumps than in previous seasons, but the performance and skating skills still need some time to develop. She, too, needs a kind tech panel. She gets most of the other jumps done, but a lot of the back half of her combos would be scrutinized by a panel.

Josephine Lee, a surprise 5th place finisher last year, struggled a lot this season. However, she opens with a gorgeous 3Lo and 3Lz. Her extension is beautiful on the landings. Much like a lot of the junior skaters, her performance and skating skills need work. She turns out of her 3S, but tacks a combo on the end, exactly like she would in competition. The compliments to her strategy continue as Jackie explains that her back loading two 3Fs, one with a 2A+2A+SEQ and a 3Lz, makes up for her lack of 3+3 in the program. Of course, her stamina will need to hold in the competition, but she skated nearly clean tonight.

 

[labgoat]

Did anyone see how Ellie & Danny did? Katie & Balagz? Alisa & Misha?

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

Katie Shen is one to watch as well. She opens her SP runthrough to Pirates of the Caribbean with a solid 3T+3T despite being the first skater in this group. She finishes out her SP run through with a gorgeous 3Lo. She has good extension and running edge. Although she is skating to a warhorse, Jackie, Polina, and I are all enjoying her program immensely.

Lindsay Wang has solid, big jumps, although they are a bit squirrelly and wild sometimes. Her runthrough is quite solid as well, just stepping out of a few jumps. She has good speed throughout her step sequence to Voila.

Sarah Everhardt is another one to watch. She has great spring and height on her jumps, although they are a bit telegraphed. She is definitely a junior skater, but the technical is right up there with the top skaters. She nails her runthrough, and finishes with a strong spin.

Amber Glenn is nailing her practice sessions, but as Polina and Jackie say, she just struggles to translate that to competition ice. She lands a gorgeous 3A before her program and another gorgeous one in runthrough (albeit perhaps a q). She continues with a fantastic 3F+3T and and incredible 3-turns into her 3Lo. She is the class of the field so far, and looks ready to attack every element. She is skating like a champion, I do worry that she is rushing her elements a bit which could affect her in competition, but if she skated this program at Worlds like she did in practice today she could earn a medal.

Isabeau marks her opening choreo and jumps, continuing her trend of low-impact runthroughs before competition. She starts drilling walley jump-single loop-triple toe and euler-sal, which is an interesting practice strategy. Her 3T seems to be back to more of a back-cranking technique, even though it seemed to have improved earlier in the season. As Jackie says, she practices a double before trying a triple, which isn't a usual strategy. Polina explains that this is a muscle memory technique, and since she struggles with her technique, it could be to help her muscles execute these jumps.

Clare Seo struggles with inconsistency and rotation, but is a solid skater much like training-mate Audrey Shin. She struggles to hold on to her second jump, a 3S, during her FS runthrough. A lot of her jumps seem suspect on rotation, as she seems to have developed a bit of a hook habit even on non-UR jumps. She takes a fall on a 2A+3T but squeaks out her last two combos. Despite that, she has great speed and artistry throughout her program.

 

[moonvine]

Did anyone see how Ellie & Danny did? Katie & Balagz? Alisa & Misha?

Ellie and Danny still lots of falls on triple throws Katie & Balagz did fine, Jackie has them as the winner in his predictions. Alisha & Misha had a few minor problems, nothing huge. There's a replay on Peacock.
And someone should think of some better questions for Jackie, he doesn't like mine.

 

[skylark]

Did anyone see how Ellie & Danny did? Katie & Balagz? Alisa & Misha?

Ellie and Danny did a great run through of SP. They did everything full-out, as though they wanted to win the practice. Ellie did fall on the throw jump, I'm 90% certain, and I saw her fall on a throw 2 or possibly 3 times during the half hour. What ran through my mind was the remark from many skaters that they're careful not to leave their performance on practice ice.

Katie and Daniil are looking good to me, though they struggled once or twice on the SBS jumps. I'm amazed at the change in Katie. I think she's a much better skater with Daniil -- more precise, more go-get-'em, and more confident and sassier. Jackie said to Tim that this pair is one to watch for a dark horse podium finish. ETA: I did notice once that Daniil seems to me to have really great technique on the throw jumps; he looked like he knew exactly how to throw Katie gently (as the phrase goes: like she's a crystal vase) and also firmly and powerfully enough to give her the distance. IIRC, I also noticed that she gets lots of distance without as much height as many pairs try for.

Chelsea and Balazs didn't do a complete run-through of their SP, but it's looking gorgeous and so together. Also as usual, Chelsea fell on the SBS jump, but she landed the throw nicely. At least once during the rest of the half hour, she did land the SBS. Jackie seemed to be talking about L/N (though he didn't explicitly say so) when he explained that sometimes when a pair has great GOE and high scores on lifts and twists, they can rely on scores from those elements to compensate a bit for other things. Jackie did an interview with Chelsea and Balazs; one question was what are your goals for this comp; Balazs replied, to make the world team.

Alisa and Misha didn't seem to be on camera as much or I just missed them. I don't remember much about their run-through except that they also fell on a jump. My impression is that Alisa holds herself inward a little for the practices, but I'm just guessing.

 

[skylark]

this is OT for the practice thread (but I can't find the general talk thread), but this is the first year that I know of that the Pairs FS holds the honor spot of Saturday night. I've been to Nationals when women, men, and dance frees were on Saturday night, and an explanation thrown out was that it's often given to the category that is most popular, or like when Nathan Chen was skating. So it made me wonder, was that a decision made with locals in mind, or something else?

And related ... Jackie talked (with Tim Goebel and maybe Polina) about his belief that this year, with new teams and experienced pairs skaters newly teamed up or just in their second year together, that Pairs is possibly the most dynamic or exciting category. Since pairs are my favorite, I liked this comment.

 

[alyssamarie]

is anyone else's peacock not showing the ladies practice right now?

 

[el henry]

is anyone else's peacock not showing the ladies practice right now?

My Peacock *is* showing the ladies' practice (I checked and it came up), although I am not watching it. Sorry.

 

[Greta]

Audrey Shin is faster than I remember seeing her last- though maybe I’ve just forgotten.