Shawn Sawyer for sure and Ryan Bradley probably? I am not sure about Swedish men - I am worried Adrian Schultheiss might.
Ladies Retirement
- Thread starter Krislite
- Start date
Shawn Sawyer for sure and Ryan Bradley probably? I am not sure about Swedish men - I am worried Adrian Schultheiss might.
My thoughts:
Joannie will stay professional, she achieved her goals be difficult for her to comeback and compete.
Miki I think she will retire now, she has had her injuries and not sure if motivation is there. I am pleased she won her 2nd world title and should take the medal and run!!!
YuNa I think she will be even more determined and will commit to a full season next year!!, she will be back and I don,t know guys but I think she can get the GOLD at Sochi if she stays fit and motivated enough.
Mao, Well she is with Mr Sato now, and there will be improvement and I think the camp will do well with her, like most on here she will stay until Sochi. A big IF, if she does not improve I think she will be out of favour and be hard for her to make the Japanese team.
Carolina, Glad she is back with M Huth. I think although technically Carolina is not what she was, artistically she is getting better and her overall skating is so good that her PCS marks will always be great, so I can see her having another shot at Sochi, and the fact her previous 2 Olympics have been poor. I am sure she would want a top 6 finish.
Alissa, Well she will take each season as it comes. I thought this year was A BIG TRANSFORMATION FOR ALISSA AND SHE LOOKED LIKE A WORLD MEDALIST OUT THERE, SO SO CLOSE FOR BRONZE THIS YEAR - great that she is with Yuka and Jason. She should keep her G Winston LP for next year. I think Alissa also at this moment is the best Lady for the US at this time!!! so I am sure the Federation will try and keep her on.
Rachael - Not sure, Stanford is more important, we lost E Hughes because of Stanford. I think we have seen the last of Rachael.
Cynthia - Well what can I say for Cynthis, she is so artistic out there, one of the best and she is World class, but I question her mentally? and I don't think that Lutz is consistent enough to have in the program, maybe she should scale down like Caro did, and have the loop, toe and salchow in her repertoire, but not sure if she has what it takes, she has had her chances, I fear for her next year with that one spot and to me M Samson seems to be getting better.
K Korpi - said she would stay until Sochi and like Alissa HAS IMPROVED SO MUCH THIS YEAR, but again I question her mentally, she seems to have lost her lutz and flip jumps?? but I hope she will improve again next year, maybe she needs to focus on her jumps. I would like to see Kiira get that GOLD at Euro's.
Lepisto - Laura I hope your back next year, we missed you.
Suzuki - Missed her also at Worlds, I hope she stays around!!
Joannie will stay professional, she achieved her goals be difficult for her to comeback and compete.
Miki I think she will retire now, she has had her injuries and not sure if motivation is there. I am pleased she won her 2nd world title and should take the medal and run!!!
YuNa I think she will be even more determined and will commit to a full season next year!!, she will be back and I don,t know guys but I think she can get the GOLD at Sochi if she stays fit and motivated enough.
Mao, Well she is with Mr Sato now, and there will be improvement and I think the camp will do well with her, like most on here she will stay until Sochi. A big IF, if she does not improve I think she will be out of favour and be hard for her to make the Japanese team.
Carolina, Glad she is back with M Huth. I think although technically Carolina is not what she was, artistically she is getting better and her overall skating is so good that her PCS marks will always be great, so I can see her having another shot at Sochi, and the fact her previous 2 Olympics have been poor. I am sure she would want a top 6 finish.
Alissa, Well she will take each season as it comes. I thought this year was A BIG TRANSFORMATION FOR ALISSA AND SHE LOOKED LIKE A WORLD MEDALIST OUT THERE, SO SO CLOSE FOR BRONZE THIS YEAR - great that she is with Yuka and Jason. She should keep her G Winston LP for next year. I think Alissa also at this moment is the best Lady for the US at this time!!! so I am sure the Federation will try and keep her on.
Rachael - Not sure, Stanford is more important, we lost E Hughes because of Stanford. I think we have seen the last of Rachael.
Cynthia - Well what can I say for Cynthis, she is so artistic out there, one of the best and she is World class, but I question her mentally? and I don't think that Lutz is consistent enough to have in the program, maybe she should scale down like Caro did, and have the loop, toe and salchow in her repertoire, but not sure if she has what it takes, she has had her chances, I fear for her next year with that one spot and to me M Samson seems to be getting better.
K Korpi - said she would stay until Sochi and like Alissa HAS IMPROVED SO MUCH THIS YEAR, but again I question her mentally, she seems to have lost her lutz and flip jumps?? but I hope she will improve again next year, maybe she needs to focus on her jumps. I would like to see Kiira get that GOLD at Euro's.
Lepisto - Laura I hope your back next year, we missed you.
Suzuki - Missed her also at Worlds, I hope she stays around!!
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2010
Sorry if I missed this but where did Miki confirm that she's competing next season? The last thing I read was that she would take a year off (but not retire).
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2003
If you go to FS universe, there is a thread "Vaitsehovskaya's interview with Ando". Miki was asked if she is going to take a year off and she said she is going to continue until Sochi. Even if she took a break, it wouldn't be a long break.. that's how I understood. Also in some japanese newspapers, Miki said she is gonna work on putting a 3-3 next season.. so she is probably planning on coming back next season.
Oh Good for Miki, that World crown has given her a boostBack next season
Ps she needs a themed program like her Cleopatre, the classical pieces do not suit her style of skating. I do feel she needs something dramatic.
Mmm. I don't know that Miki needs but I definitely did not like Cleopatra. It was so contrived and overdone. OTH, her programs this year were a bit on the forgetable side. Maybe she does need something dramatic. I like that idea. Just not overdone. Also PLEASE no overdone costumes like Cleo. She is so naturally beautiful. Simple is better. She looked great this year.
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2010
She already announced her intention to skip the GP series. But there's a possibility of competing at 4CC this time.
She did? When/where was that? Well, I can't blame her but I'm a bit bummed as a fan.
How do you know that? I saw Joannie at SOI, and all she landed were 2As and a 2S. If she continues to do show skating for another year, she will lose muscle memory for the harder triples and it will be tough for her to regain them. She would have to return the year before the Olympics and do a full season of competition just to get her stamina back. And the competition will be a lot different by then, not what it was this season. The young Russians with their 3/3s could be formidable.
Joannie will be 27 at 2013 Worlds, and 28 for the Olympics. Yes, she'd be a shoo-in in Canada, but it's premature to say she'd easily be top 5 if she returns.
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2006
For the men, I think that Ryan will retire again. It seemed that he only wanted to come back to do Nationals and then Worlds. He won his national title and I don't think he will ever medal at Worlds so I think he's done about all he can do, unless he wants to medal at 4CC (which could be possible since he was 5th one year). Shawn Sawyer is definitely retiring. I think that Adrian Schultheiss might too because he lost his joy of skating this season, and doing horribly at worlds might be the last straw. I'm pretty sure Joubert will stay in, and Verner too. I'm not sure about VDP, but probably for one more year at least. I actually think he might stay still Sochi if he doesn't get passed by Hendrickx.
I really hope we see some new blood for the ladies at Sochi. I don't want to see Ando or Costner or even Kim in Sochi. They have had their time let the new girls have theirs. For the most part every 4 years the top medal contenders at the Winter Olympics are not holdovers from the previous one and i like it that way.
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2010
Nothing wrong with owning the podium if you deserve it. Michelle Kwan stood atop the Worlds podium more often than any lady skater since Sonja Heine. If the new girls want to stand there they have to earn it and beat the best.
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2008
ITA. We are not even sure how the promisng junior will turn out. Most cases, less than half of the juniors faded by the time they reach senior levels. Only, Miki, Mao, Yuna and Mirai to some degree ....are exception. Will they turn out like the formers or just be another Caroline, Ashley, Yukina??
It's exciting to see skaters dominating their era rather than being a flash in the pan. I'd LOVE to see Yuna stick it out - if that's what she wants.
For better or worse, I think it's a lot harder to do these days given the technical difficulty the sport has and also the fiddly judging system.
Totally agree. Since Michelle, there hasn't been a ladies skater who has become a legend by sticking around for awhile. Yuna's well on her way and it would be so great to see her continue skating.
- Joined
- May 15, 2009
Carol Heiss won 5 WC's in a row (1956-60) and an OGM '60 and OSM '56.
Kati won 4 WC's and back to back OGM's in the 80's.
I wonder if any skater will approach that in this era. :think:
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- Joined
- Sep 22, 2010
Ah, yes, I forgot about Kati and Carol.
: Consecutive Worlds and Olympic gold in this era? I highly doubt it. But I think Mao might be able to attain 4 non-consecutive WC's if she can keep it together. Yuna could (very unlikely) do 3-4 WC's and 2 OGM, but my biggest doubts about her are her motivation going forward. She has that OGM weighing down her competitive spirit and hanging on her shoulders like a heavy burden.
There are actually several girls who could possibly do it, including the promising Russians juniors. But because at the super-elite level most girls are technically the same, I think multiple World titles and Olympic golds have less to do with talent and more with mental/psychological attributes. Just look at the most recent case: Michelle Kwan. She certainly wasn't the most gifted jumper or spinner. You could say, CoP is more heavily skewed toward technicians, so triple-triples and triple axels will be a crucial factor unlike in Michelle's days. But not if all the girls at the top are doing it. And it appears to be heading in that direction given how the junior competition is turning out.
Good question but I think if anyone could do it it's Yuna. She's just a phenom and she owns COP. It's just not a problem for her. And she's young. The question is whether she wants the pressure and struggle of staying in top for four more years. I would completely understand if she decided she didn't have it in her after already winning the Olympic gold medal, world championship and having multiple WC medals. Already, she won't be a flash in the pan. She'll be star for a loooooong time and she'll have a great future in show skating, etc. She's not as young as Tara/Sarah were when they won the gold and she had been around longer than them, piling up the medals. No matter what, I think Yuna will be considered one of the greats. So I can see how she might decide to stop competing. I just hope she doesn't.
Back in their day, Michelle and Irina were amazing for how long they stuck around and how long they stayed at the top. I still miss them.
And this is about the women but if there is one skater who has already come close it's Plushenko with JUST missing his second gold medal. Although silver-gold-silver is pretty astonishing
