State of U.S. Ladies' skating 2016-17

[chuckm]

Caroline Zhang won silver in the SENIOR LADIES event at Challenge Cup. Canada's Larkyn Austman won bronze. Both earned Worlds TES minimums in both SP and FS.

In JUNIOR LADIES, Emmy MA won the gold medal, Canadian Olivia GRAN won silver. Both met the minimum TES for Junior Worlds in both SP and FS. Canada's Megan YIM slipped to 4th after a messy FS.

In NOVICE LADIES, Kaitlyn NGUYEN and Hannah HARRELL won gold and silver, respectively.

 

[topaz emerald]

Another note from the Challenge Cup: Nguyen and Harrell came in 1st and 2nd respectively in novice ladies with 130 and 111 points; Emmy Ma won junior ladies with 148.73 points. Congratulations; what excellent debuts for all of them!

I haven't watched this. I hope it's on icenetwork!

awe sucks...I don't see the Challenge Cup on icenetwork.....

 

[Princessroja]

I haven't watched this. I hope it's on icenetwork!

awe sucks...I don't see the Challenge Cup on icenetwork.....

Oh, it wouldn't be on icenetwork. It was a minor competition abroad. I'd try youtube, or the challenge cup page here on GS... it's possible there may be some videos, since there was a livestream.

 

[mrrice]

I was just about to ask if anyone had seen Caroline's Free Program? Does anyone know what her future plans might be? Is she planning to stay eligible through the Olympic Season? This seems to have been kind of a comeback year for her. I know she's been around for a long time but she started so young which means she's not too old. She certainly seems to be happy and motivated.

 

[andromache]

I was just about to ask if anyone had seen Caroline's Free Program? Does anyone know what her future plans might be? Is she planning to stay eligible through the Olympic Season? This seems to have been kind of a comeback year for her. I know she's been around for a long time but she started so young which means she's not tooo old. She certainly seems to be happy and motivated.

She could make it to 4CCs next year. I would assume that the Olympic/Worlds team will skip it (and while I'm impressed with her I don't think she'll be on the Olympic/Worlds team). Grant and Caroline for 4CCs 2018!

 

[StitchMonkey]

I was just about to ask if anyone had seen Caroline's Free Program? Does anyone know what her future plans might be? Is she planning to stay eligible through the Olympic Season? This seems to have been kind of a comeback year for her. I know she's been around for a long time but she started so young which means she's not tooo old. She certainly seems to be happy and motivated.

She could make it to 4CCs next year. I would assume that the Olympic/Worlds team will skip it (and while I'm impressed with her I don't think she'll be on the Olympic/Worlds team). Grant and Caroline for 4CCs 2018!

If nothing else she has a bye to nationals next year, regardless of assignments.

I think she will get assignments in the fall, and I think for now she is happy just to be having success.

I would not count her out of the Olympics. She is not that far out from surgery, she could still improve substantially in the next year. If nothing else, I don't think we should assume she has plateaued yet.

 

[desertskates]

I think Caroline's just in it because she loves to skate. I have to think when you've reached such a high level, leaving the sport because of injury problems would be a really tough thing to swallow. I'd think you'd want to decide when you're done on your own terms. Her success this year has been a very nice surprise--I've always loved her skating! I also think her and Grant might be excellent motivators for each other, they seem like such a great couple. I'd love to see them at 4CC in 2018!

 

[hippomoomin]

Caroline surprised me at Nationals. I thought her techniques cannot be corrected at this stage but I was wrong. She showed a completely different approach to her jumps (in a positive way). So there are always exception and she might be the one. Kostner is almost 30 and is skating well, so you never know.

 

[ice coverage]

Random bits:

- Brynne McIsaac apparently has become a new house-mate of the Knierims in Colorado Springs.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQ9LWx7FzJ9/ (Feb 25)​

The sweet doggies in the photo are Cami and Diesel, who belong to Alexa and Chris (who were tagged by Brynne).​

- Starr Andrews will be a guest skater for a weekend of shows in Colorado in late April.  Max Aaron and Ryan Bradley are the other two guest skaters for 2017 Showtime on Ice.

I think this recognition is very nice for Starr.
Last year's guest skaters (for example) were Mirai, Max, and sad4 Maddie/Max.​

---

- Highly recommend this week's Ice Talk interview with Mariah -- almost half an hour long.  Ep. 21, starting at approx. the 29-minute mark.

Lots of good stuff on a range of topics.  For example: She sounds very motivated for Worlds ... and for the Olympics, after competing at the test event in the venue.  She said that Ashley has become a very good friend.   Etc., etc.​

---

Caroline Zhang won silver in the SENIOR LADIES event at Challenge Cup.  Canada's Larkyn Austman won bronze.  Both earned Worlds TES minimums in both SP and FS. ...

Congratulations to Caroline for getting both TES minimums as well as the silver medal.
And congrats to Larkyn too.

 

[jenaj]

Mirai left the choreography out, as Johnny Weir said. If you look at Mirai's earlier performances of this program, the choreography was more complex. While I don't necessarily keep track of the names of specific steps, moves, etc., I feel their absence. And in this case, Mirai's FS felt emotionally blank. Mirai/ her team made the decision to abandon choreography and emotion in order to focus on landing the jumps. It got her the 4cc bronze medal, but it isn't enough. The top ladies need to do better.

I don't like to see a magnificent choreographer like David Wilson spoken of like these two posts do. No choreographer can control the skater's performance: It's up to the skater to execute what he created and, ideally, make it his or her own. Stephane Lambiel said in TSL interview the same thing happened to his choreography for Liza T (and Mishin). "Well," he said, "they kept the music."

Do you mean choreography/composition or transitions? The IJS makes a distinction. For the record, I do think what are called transitions are part of the choreography. It is another example of how the IJS potentially punishes(or rewards) skaters twice.

 

[chuckm]

That explains why Mirai is so blank-faced throughout her programs. The guys on TSL mentioned the emotionless Mirai during their 4CC discussion.

Mirai can focus on jumps-only at B events and 4CC, where there are a limited number of top tier competitors. But at Worlds, this strategy didn't work for her in 2016 (she was 10th). And cutting out interesting transitions limits her PCS scores to the mid-7s, when top rivals are getting PCS scores in the mid-8s and up.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

That explains why Mirai is so blank-faced throughout her programs.

I don't think "throughout her programs" is entirely accurate. At 4CC, she did come alive in the LP after her final 2A. Admittedly, this is a bit late to start selling your program to earn great marks but it isn't true that she's lifeless throughout, either.

 

[ice coverage]

One of my all-time favorite :luv17: photos of Mirai --  who is with three members of her family plus two members of the Knierim family:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRI3TEhjPaC/?taken-by=alexa_knierim (Mar 2)​

Brief interview with Angela Wang:

https://medium.com/@JacksonUltima/jacksonfamily-interviews-ft-angela-wang-76f4e2767c6f#.iwufeymkn (Mar 2)​

#TheThemeForTodayIsDogs

 

[andromache]

I don't think "throughout her programs" is entirely accurate. At 4CC, she did come alive in the LP after her final 2A. Admittedly, this is a bit late to start selling your program to earn great marks but it isn't true that she's lifeless throughout, either.

Mirai would be better served by selecting music that allows her to do the blank/blankly determined face. Gracie Gold got the hang of it last year.

 

[jenaj]

Mirai would be better served by selecting music that allows her to do the blank/blankly determined face. Gracie Gold got the hang of it last year.

She should keep her short program. A skater who smiled through that elegeaic piece would look ridiculous. I don't care that much about Mirai's facial expressions. I would rather see her rotate her jumps. It is kind of ironic that her highest scored program this year seems to get the most criticism.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Mirai would be better served by selecting music that allows her to do the blank/blankly determined face. Gracie Gold got the hang of it last year.

I also don't think blank-face is necessarily a problem if, like you said, she had the right programs. Maria Butyrskaya did not use her face to be expressive, but she very effectively used her body to interpret music and command your attention.

 

[frida80]

Mirai would be better served by selecting music that allows her to do the blank/blankly determined face. Gracie Gold got the hang of it last year.

She should keep her short program. A skater who smiled through that elegeaic piece would look ridiculous. I don't care that much about Mirai's facial expressions. I would rather see her rotate her jumps. It is kind of ironic that her highest scored program this year seems to get the most criticism.

I agree. She spent too much of last season trying to put in more choreography that it distracted her from rotating her jumps. She needs programs more like her short from this year that focus less on expressions and emotion and highlight her strengths. The focus should be the jumps and skating clean. When she gets more confident she'll start emoting naturally.

 

[Figure 8's]

I disagree completely. It is about doing the right thing. That is more important to the future of figure skating than getting three spots is. (Just my opinion, of course).

Agree! The integrity of the sport is more important then the 3 spots. Frankly this poor Mirai stuff is getting so old, I hope that Karen and Mariah skate the roof off at Worlds.

 

[chuckm]

I also don't think blank-face is necessarily a problem if, like you said, she had the right programs. Maria Butyrskaya did not use her face to be expressive, but she very effectively used her body to interpret music and command your attention.

The difference is Maria interpreted her music and did everything she could to sell her programs.

Mirai doesn't do much musical interpretation, and she makes little effort to sell her programs.

 

[mrrice]

The difference is Maria interpreted her music and did everything she could to sell her programs.

Mirai doesn't do much musical interpretation, and she makes little effort to sell her programs.

I agree. As much as I like and respect Tom, Mirai's blank face began with him. I saw Mirai live at Nationals in 2011 and she was animated, fast, and exciting. I love so many things about Tom however, I think he needs to listen to Mirai's choreographers and not water down her transitions and focus so much on her tech score that she can no longer relax enough to perform like the Mirai of old. Mirai's Witches Of Eastwick SP was animated, fast, and exciting. If she could blend her old performance quality with her improved technical skills, she'd have no problem scoring above Mariah and Karen.

I sometimes think the USFS should hire a team therapist to help these skaters deal with pressure. After all the years that Mirai and Gracie have been skating, it truly shocks me that they still have these meltdown performances. I've seen Ashley lose but, I don't think I've ever seen her have a disaster skate. She may have but, I've never seen her drop the way that Karen did at 4cc. I'll be holding my breath through all the ladies at Worlds.