Adam Rippon will be going to Dungjen and Detroit

[Krislite]

For me Adam just doesn't have big enough jumps to really make a mark at least internationally.

I agree. A male skater with neither a quad nor triple axel won't get far in this new post-Lyzacek era. It's funny if you think about it: the long-term impact of Lyzacek's win is to make quads the end-all be-all of men's skating perhaps even more so than in the 6.0 era.

Adam needs to get that quad lutz consistent and get a handle on the 3axel ASAP, if he wants a chance at a World medal.

 

[Tinymavy15]

Adam really needs to step up his game major this upcoming season. If not, he will have become just another Caroline Zhang or Kimmie Meissner, early promise, but never capitalizing on his talent.

 

[Spun Silver]

Not sure it makes sense to put Caroline and Kimmie in the same bracket. Kimmie couldn't stay at the top but she made it there for a brief moment.

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

Seriously. Right now Meissner has three top ten finishes at Worlds, including a title and a fourth place finish.

 

[Spun Silver]

Not to mention her US nationals title and her very impressive 6th place finish at the Olympics, aged 16. She has a lot to be proud of.

 

[Krislite]

Caroline Zhang and Kimmie Meissner both followed a similar pattern of peaking and reaching the top for a very brief moment then falling quickly into oblivion. But Zhang did it in her junior years while Meissner did it in her senior years, so the big difference is in the accomplishments and medals.

Adam Rippon's career trajectory is starting to resemble Caroline Zhang's, and that's very disturbing. Like Zhang, he's had a phenomenal undefeated year as a World Junior champ, but his transition to the senior ranks has been rocky. He's shown better potential, though. At least he made it to Worlds and also won a Four Continents title.

 

[Tinymavy15]

Maybe Bebe Liang would be a better comparison. Lovely skater, but just never lived up to the promise she showed as a teen.

 

[silverlake22]

Adam really needs to step up his game major this upcoming season. If not, he will have become just another Caroline Zhang or Kimmie Meissner, early promise, but never capitalizing on his talent.

Well, to be fair, I think puberty was the main reason behind the downfalls of Kimmie and Caroline, and I don't think it has anything to do with why Rippon has been struggling as of late. He hasn't had major body changes recently and sure, he might not have the right build to be a power jumper, but he has other strengths so that if he can just land the big jumps he has a shot to be competitive on the World stage. To me, Rippon's issues seem to be mainly due to: 1.) nerves 2.) not particularly great jump technique/small jumps. In this sense, he's more like Alissa, which makes me more hopeful. Sure, Alissa didn't dominate this season and her smallish jumps and limited tech content continue to hold her back, but this season she showed that when she can just land the jumps and perform to the best of her ability, she's in the top echelon of ladies skaters in the world. This season was probably her best shot to medal at Worlds and she didn't manage that, but she still triumphed. I'd like to see Adam have a similar type of turnaround, even if he never manages to medal at Worlds as it looks like Alissa never will.

 

[Binthere]

Seems to me to be a combination of his head and the jumps. If one is tended to (head) then I'm optimistic the other (jumps) can follow. Yuka and Jason seem to be the new go-to "Whisperers"

 

[fanniewaters]

Adam has been through ups and downs in his career before. Am glad he is doing what he thinks will put him on a stronger path. It seemed like he got a lot of energy and inspiration from training alongside Yuna (who wouldn't?!). Hopefully there will be a similarly positive environment for him at his new training home.

 

[bekalc]

Caroline Zhang and Kimmie Meissner both followed a similar pattern of peaking and reaching the top for a very brief moment then falling quickly into oblivion. But Zhang did it in her junior years while Meissner did it in her senior years, so the big difference is in the accomplishments and medals.

Adam Rippon's career trajectory is starting to resemble Caroline Zhang's, and that's very disturbing. Like Zhang, he's had a phenomenal undefeated year as a World Junior champ, but his transition to the senior ranks has been rocky. He's shown better potential, though. At least he made it to Worlds and also won a Four Continents title.

Adam won his first Junior world title without a triple axel. There were always questions about how he'd transition to the Senior level. Lovely to watch yes, but there were always questions if he'd be able to compete technically with the big boys. A lot depends on the competition you face too. I mean Meissner had to compete against Ando, Kim, and Asada in Juniors. Zhang never had THAT kind of competition there.

Meissner had a couple of successful years at the Senior level. Yes she had "puberty?" issues latter on, but she's still a World Champion, has another top 4 finish too, Four Continents, US title.

To compare Meissner with Rippon or Zhang is unfair to Meissner. In fairness Meissner did have some iffy jumping technique that kind of hurt when she grew up. But I think she was a different skater than Rippon/Zhang. Zhang's issues was not just the iffy jumping technique but the fact that her basics weren't very good at all. She had some lovely qualities layback, nice lines so people ignored the shoddy basics.

Rippon is a way better skater than Zhang, but his stroking/power isn't like the rest of the top guys and doesn't have the big gun jumps down.

Meissner at her hey day is the exact opposite of those two in that Meissner wasn't the most artistic skater around, but she had at her best the ability to do some 3/3s, and also had pretty good basic skating skills.