Do you have any news about Nathan? Is he going to senior next season?
I'm sure he will become a star soon... he is a talent.
i think he will turn senior, it would be wise considering olympics is 2 years away and he needs to make a name for himself :agree:
he posted a picture on instagram saying he was back on ice, probably (hopefully!) taking things easy though and i think he already is a star
i think he will turn senior, it would be wise considering olympics is 2 years away and he needs to make a name for himself :agree:
Sorry, again and again... Do yo know if he has any plan about local competitions, ice shows, etc ?
no need to sorry!! i dont know any info about shows but there is no news about it at his website, the latest news entry is about his surgery :agree: i see you are excited about him for next season already, me too!!!
I have an unpopular opinion. I think it probably wasn't a bad thing that he skipped the senior world due to injury. The American guys all performed very well in Boston. If Nathan did compete at senior worlds, he probably would've done very well and medalled (with the help of a bit of home ice inflation). If Nathan skates well in Boston, he would be the bronze medalists instead of Boyang. Then the American fans and media would start hyping him like crazy because he medals at his debut WC at home after many years of medal drought. (He already got a lot of hype since he was young. He got more hype after national. The hype kinda died a bit after his injury.) He is very young. I think it's better for him to not endure this kind of hype and expectation at such a young age. (If he medals in other countries when he is a bit older, the hype he gets would be less.)
It is extremely unfortunate that Nathan got his ankles broken just right before the two biggest stages. I'm wondering if he is willing to challenge JW again for the next year although he already has a JW medal back then. Anyway, any dream has to depend on skaters' health, so I just hope him recover his health quickly as possible.
I love both Boyang and Nathan, and expected Nathan to crown the JW title. However, that speculation goes just too far. Nathan didn't compete internationally in seniors unlike Boyang who got a lot of media hype on his 4ltz-3toe landing along with his 6 quads altogether, so I don't think Nathan's PCS would be suddenly matched to the top guys' level even in his home ice. Everybody expected Patrick to nail his FS to get on the podium so Boyang who underperformed at Worlds compared to his PB setting performances should've waited for the final result. Boyang's quads were consistent throughout the season, but he got very nervous at the GPF and Worlds, two of the biggest events in the sport. In this regard, I can't be sure of how Nathan would do his first senior debut at Worlds under the massive pressure that he and the other compatriots were in position to retain the World spot for USA. The personal score difference between Boyang and Nathan is more than 60 points. Boyang's TES was so massive, so that's why he could come near the podium in the first place even with the low PCS score. Besides, Uno was expected to be in line of the podium if the top guys faltered a big time. I just don't see Nathan with a World medal at his first international debut as a senior.
It is extremely unfortunate that Nathan got his ankles broken just right before the two biggest stages. I'm wondering if he is willing to challenge JW again for the next year although he already has a JW medal back then. Anyway, any dream has to depend on skaters' health, so I just hope him recover his health quickly as possible.
You are comparing Nathan's junior scores with Boyang's senior scores. Nathan's junior layout doesn't have any quads in the SP and has only 2 quads in the LP. So his BV is much lower. But he was planning to do 2 quad in the SP and 4 quad in the LP at WC like he did at national. His BV of 2 quad SP and 4 quad LP is not significantly lower than Boyang's. He did deliver at National and got massive TES too and similar overall score as Boyang at WC. The scores at national are very inflated, but the scores at WC are equally as inflated, if not more inflated.
All the American skaters (men, ladies and ice dancers) did well in Boston. Grant was competing at the WC for the first time and did very well. So it maybe some thing in the arena or the atmosphere in the arena that really helped American skaters to deliver at home.
It's not like Boyang was perfect at WC or received high GOE or PCS either. Boyang made mistakes in both SP and LP. Nathan does have better quality in certain skills (especially skating skill) than Boyang and should get higher GOE and PCS than Boyang. I don't think it's a stretch to see Nathan outscores Boyang at WC if Nathan skates like he did at National or better (without losing levels in spins). Even if he doesn't outscore Boyang, it's very likely Nathan would be the highest scoring American skater in Boston because his BV is significantly higher than the other two skaters'.
People often under-estimate the impact of pre-mature hype on young skaters. Too much expectation on young skaters at an early age can derail a skater's development. He is young and he can always recover from any physical injury. But it's much harder for a young kid to deal with the enormous expectation and hype from the public.
Can you name any skater in men's discipline who never competed as senior except Nationals earned a World medal with their first trip to Worlds? Even tracing back to as early as 1960s, no single case is found in my search. Not even Plushenko, Yagudin, Lysacek nor Hanyu who won their first World medal at their first Worlds did such achievements.
Artur Gachinski medaled at his world at home in his first senior season even though he got no medals in any of his previous international competitions. Given the judging trend today, the top juniors actually don't need to have many previous senior competition experience to build their reputation like many juniors needed to do in the past. Top juniors like Shoma and Evgenia got upper second tier skaters' goe and pcs in their first senior international event. Judging on home ice can get very out of line with judging in previous competitions. Nathan is the top junior this season and is a very strong competitor. With home town support, I don't think doing reasonably well at his first world at home is a small probability. (Gachinski won his first world medal at home, but he had since received too much expectation and hype after his world medal and could not deliver again.) We can agree to disagree.