Andrew Torgashev | Page 45 | Golden Skate

Andrew Torgashev

Thanks for all of the videos and updates! It was so nice to see Andrew's Olympics programs without all of the talking, also with different camera angles and replays. He should be so proud of how well he did, and it was obviously a big career boost.

Great news about Stars on Ice! I thought he might just get a few guest slots. I hope that he goes to Worlds and doesn't retire. Even if he can't crack top 5 without more quads, he has more to offer artistically and proving that any strong performances aren't a fluke.
 
Great to hear about Andrew maybe sticking around and the crowd reaction yesterday! I was impressed with how calm and focused he looked, especially after reading how shaky he felt and the rough few weeks he has had (and with no Brandon present).

Also, another PB and 7th place even with some level 3s. Maybe it's just as well he isn't in the final group, but skating last right before could be tough. I won't make predictions for tomorrow, but I hope that he ends up with a much better Worlds experience this time.
 
He came in 10th place! That means, with Ilia's 1st place finish, there's 11 points between the two of them and that's less than 13, so he secured those THREE spots for the U.S. men for 2027 Worlds!

No offense to Jason, but everyone was convinced he was needed to secure those three spots. Well, Andrew was up for the task, after all, even as worn out from the Olympics as he is. Yay! I'm so happy for him!!!
 
I never doubted that Andrew could finish in the top ten, heck I was convinced that even Jacob could finish top 12, although I would never have said it out loud. I am superstitious, and what I know can be done ... well, best not tempt the skating gods.
Of course, setting Jason against Andrew is not anything I would ever be inclined to do. :)

I am most impressed by the fact that although somewhat nervy, he fought through the nerves and did not succumb. And the step sequence was of course glorious.

I am already thinking of next season and hoping for music just a little less drah-ma-tique, but of course I will watch whatever he skates ;)
 
Busy week for me last week, so I finally watched both of Andrew's Worlds programs today for the first time. Neither were his best outing of the season (for that I'd say Olympics SP and Nationals LP) but both were good. I'm sad about the quad combo not happening and he was trying to add a combo onto the Flip and that didn't work. I could tell he was tired, but unlike last year he didn't fall apart in the FS. TOP 10, BABY!!! I don't care that it was a post-Olympic Worlds and I don't care about which skaters weren't there. ANDREW SKATED WELL ENOUGH IN 2026 TO BE TOP TEN IN THE WORLD!!! Higher than my dream scenario for last year, and he did it after such a long and tiring season. Andrew's training has really paid off. I hope next season he can get the second free skate quad more consistent.

Andrew told GS he'd like to add more tech content and we know he can land 4S. Could the 4S become more consistent than the 4T? I don't know, but the 2nd 4T often doesn't go well and maybe the 4S would go better? Or not. Andrew's 3S seems quite stable. (Side comment: I was pleased to hear Tonia mention how good his Euler is in 3Lz-Eu-3S). I'm still surprised he's never competed a 4S since 2023 Lombardia.

I love the honesty in Andrew's media comments. I never quite know what he's going to say and I always want to know. He is positive while keeping it very real, so we can't forget how challenging it is to be a competitive figure skater. He has SOI coming up, but I look forward to him going back on Polina's podcast at some point hopefully to debrief on Nationals, Olympics, Worlds, and who knows what else.

WHAT A SEASON FOR ANDREW!!!!! If you had told me after any of the fall competitions that Andrew would be 12th at the Olympics and 10th at Worlds, I would have had a hard time believing you. And yet, here we are. And to all the people who said the US "needed" Jason to keep spots, AHEM, turns out both Andrew and Jacob did enough. 1+10=11 and 1+12=13. Andrew was not very far from 9th, actually. And yes, he had his happiness of celebratory pizza in Prague. :biggrin:

I have lots of skating to catch up on, so I will post his programs when I can. Oh, and by the way, he was 7th after the SP and only dropped three spots after the FS. Quite an accomplishment, especially given how last year's FS went.
 
skatingfan4ever said:
@Kiki5375, how was it watching Andrew in person at the Olympics and Worlds? Try to describe it for us. And it's great that you talked to him also at Worlds.
Click to expand...
Olympics was unbelievable. Not only for the skating but beeing at the Olympics was WOW. So special because you know it means the most for the athletes and watching dreams come true was just great. I felt so sorry for Ilia but... wow what an Olympic miracle for Mikhail Shaidorov. I always love when the underdog wins although I cried with Ilia, too. So many emotions you only get at Olympics. I am a fanolympian now :-)
You know I am a big fan of Max Naumov, too and we were so lucky to sit next to his "family" (the Petrenko Clan) during short program. It was so cool to see them in tears when he nailed that program onto the ice. We also saw a lot of athletes in the city centre doing sightseeing or shopping. I just loved every minute of it.

And worlds... that was a lot more stress. They had up to 3 events in one day. For example we were at the practice at 6 am on saturday. Men and dance practice. After that we were kicked out in a hurry because they calculated not enough time for people to leave and getting the next set of people in. Everyone had to leave although we had tickets for the next session. So we had to go out and get in again but the lines were already so long and it went so slow. We were back inside just 2 min before the first skater was on the ice. Many people didn't get inside in time. And after the men's freeskate when Ilia, Yuma and Shun were still on the ice for photos they kicked us out again because the dance competition was about to start and they had to get new people inside. I was there from Thurday until Saturday and I had no chance to buy any merchandise because they closed the shops so people would leave faster. So unless you want to miss 30 min of the competition (lines were long at the shops) you couldn't buy anything same for food and drinks. But apart from that it was great. We had frontrow tickets for men's SP + FS and Women's FS so close to the ice that you could hear the skates scratching the ice. We also saw a lot of skaters outside. There was a big shoppingmall and they all went there. I saw Andrew...he bought a starbucks citymug :-) . On Friday I was there for women's practice then I had a few hours off and in the evening was Women's freeskate. During the time off we walked around the arena and watched how the fans were waiting at the skaters entrance. The hotel was just next to the arena and they all walked the small distance. Most of them really enjoyed talking to the fans. Especially Kevin Aymoz, Nika Egadze, Stephen Gogolev, Daniel Grassel and Deniss Vasilievs oh and Benoit Richaud is such a nice guy although he always looks a little scary. Andrew was the only one I talked to. As I mentioned before I asked about Nebelhorntrophy and I was very happy to hear that he plans to be there again. Andrew seems to be a little shy but he was very very nice.

Olympics and Worlds was a great experience and I am happy I got to see this live. If you want to see all the top skaters at once this is your chance but to be honest Oberstdorf was so much less stress. They have simple daytickets, you can bring whatever you want, no bagchecks, you don't have to wait in line and everyone working there is relaxed and friendly. I am looking forward to go there again to watch a little practice during my hiking holiday in summer and for the Nebelhorntrophy in September.

I don't know if I mentioned it here, too. But I made an instagram just for Olympics and Worlds (so my non-skating friends don't get crazy on my main instagram) here is the link

www.instagram.com

Instagram

Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
 
Very interesting to hear first-hand accounts of going to both Olympics and Worlds! This has been quite a season, but it ended well. We weren't even sure if Andrew would make the Olympic team and he had strong showings both there and at Worlds (hopefully erasing the previous bad experiences). Top 10-12 is very impressive!

I'm glad that he seems to want to keep going. He could be right up there depending on retirements and other factors. He might need to up his tech. One idea is to move the quad combo to the very beginning of the program since he loses a lot of points when he misses it and can't make it up. It wouldn't hurt to see if the 4S is better than the 4T.

I am going to SOI next month (in St. Paul) and looking forward to seeing Andrew in that setting. He won't have enough time to debut a new program that soon. For the fall, I would also be fine with less angst and maybe some more melodic and less screechy music choices. ☺️
 
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I'm glad Andrew isn't planning on retiring, yet, but it's wild to me to think that it's even an issue already. Wasn't he just 21, like, yesterday??? I can't believe how fast young people age. It's like being caught in time dilation, or something.

You don't realize it's fast when you are that young, but being way older and watching someone else young age and change like... every year, or every other year... It's so crazy. Kids grow up SO fast. He really will be gone before we know it!
 
I don't think he is old enough to retire but with the Olympics he reached everything he ever worked for. Maybe it's hard to find new goals if you already reached so much. But as long as the junior skaters are adjusting to senior level and as long as Jacob isn't landing a quad (while it seems like Andrew is already working on a 2nd quad) i think Andrew is 2nd best American so why not go for it as long as it lasts.
 
I'm going to ramble a bit. I am jealous of Jacob Sanchez being so young and yet above Andrew in the WS, plus by process of elimination he got to go to senior worlds at age 18. Jacob hasn't had any major injuries that I'm aware of (granted, I haven't dug into his history like I have Andrew's). If Jacob stays above Andrew, he'll probably get to do WTT the next time it happens. Jacob got to keep gaining and using his junior WS points to get into senior competitions, whereas Andrew couldn't/didn't earn as many and then lost all of them. I'm not sure I'm complaining as much as reflecting on how different each skater's journey can be. In fact, I enjoy Jacob's skating very much indeed. But it's so interesting that, results-wise, Jacob has already arrived where it took Andrew several more years to get to. Besides the injuries, Andrew's jumps when he was a junior were wildly inconsistent, and Jacob's are more stable. Then again, the uncertainty has made Andrew's successes that much more sweet in a way. So there's a trade off.

I have the impression that since Andrew's injuries often forced him away from skating, he explored what that's like and decided to keep fighting to skate, although he has said it was a daily struggle. So he didn't get burned out as a youngster because there was always something to come back from and fight for. Kind of the opposite of Alysa Liu, who never had done anything else and desperately wanted to so she left skating for a while. Andrew wanted to skate and couldn't, so when he finally could again, he went at it with gusto.

I don't know how much longer Andrew will compete, but I do know it's been quite a journey for him and his fans. As much as I "don't care" about results of competitions, looking back now I am not sure whether I would have become his diehard fan had he not finished 3rd at Senior Nationals in 2023. If he'd finished 4th or 5th and not been chosen for 2023 Worlds, would my interest have been captured by his Nationals performance alone? It's a complicated thing, where the good skating helps get good results, but the good results also help you get more experience and allow more people to see your skating. I enjoy watching several skaters, but it's different when I only get to watch them skate once or twice a year.

I would like Andrew to do another program without lyrics, but I don't know whether he would want to do that. I recently came across his "Moonlight Sonata" SP at 2017 JGP Minsk. Just beautiful. :love2:
 
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Is the WTT good for standings or points, or is it just a prestigious and fun event? I was also wondering how Andrew happened to lose all of his junior points. It's confusing to me how the transition works between juniors and seniors and how you can compete in both at the same time.

I haven't heard of major injuries with Jacob and he has competed a lot. He is in a decent position for a new senior and is gaining momentum. To be honest, I can see why he would get support from USPS due to his age whereas Andrew is almost 25 and may only have a couple more competitive seasons. Also, Jacob seems to be good at self-promotion and media presence.

Having said that, I hope that Andrew sticks around and can assert himself as the 2nd best US man next season. After so many ups and downs in his career, a smooth run would be great! He may or may not feel much motivation after achieving his goals of top 10 and making the Olympics. At least he can take a break from competition and enjoy touring with SOI in the interim.
 
I could be wrong, but from my understanding, World Team Trophy invites the top 2 men in the World Standings from each country and it's sort of a required competition. It might be possible for a lower man to be sent, but I'm not sure of the rules. WTT is every two years, so the next one is in 2027.

Andrew did lose all of his junior-competition World Standings points. The World Standings takes into account the current season and the previous two. Andrew couldn't earn any points in 2020/2021 or 2021/2022 as he didn't compete. So by the time he came back in 2022/2023, the points from 2019/2020 (his final junior season) no longer counted. Junior competitions are worth less points than senior ones, but if juniors skate often and well, the points still add up. Both juniors and seniors are listed in the same World Standings, hence Jacob being able to be above Andrew via junior results.
 
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Of course I hope Andrew skates forever. I love skaters who skate forever (oh for the pro circuit days:drama:)

I read one quote that troubled me a little (and I apologize, I am not looking for it, so I hope I am not misquoting) to the effect of I'm going to train my 4S harder because I don't see the point in continuing without two quads.

WHAAAT? Andrew, my skating son, no one is watching you for your quads. At this point, your most devoted fans are not watching you to see you medal or podium internationally. (OK, maybe just one devoted fan ;) ) What you bring to the ice is far more important than an extra revolution on a jump. Yes, I know it's a sport, duh, yes I know about competitive natures and athletes, double duh, but channel that competitive nature to amazing footwork and choreo and spins and throw in a few good jumps.

Please:pray:
 
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