Adam and that danged tripe axel

[sk8er1964]

Could be, but isn't it more the problem that he always wants to be the "master student" of "his" coach, and got too emotional when he was not? Not sure if I remember it right, but didn't the problems with Morozov occur when Morozov accepted Oda, and didn't the problems with Orser occur when Orser accepted Fernandez? I see the problems of that kind of situation - direct rivals as training partners, the time the respective coach concentrates on him and so on. But he definitely needs those jumps, so maybe he just should look out for a coach who is able to give them to him, and swallow whatever emotional problems might occur.

He's training with Abbott now - a very very direct competitor.

[sk9tingfan]

He's training with Abbott now - a very very direct competitor.

And, I haven't seen him be this happy since his win at Nationals in 2008.

[kwanette]

Could be, but isn't it more the problem that he always wants to be the "master student" of "his" coach, and got too emotional when he was not? Not sure if I remember it right, but didn't the problems with Morozov occur when Morozov accepted Oda, and didn't the problems with Orser occur when Orser accepted Fernandez? I see the problems of that kind of situation - direct rivals as training partners, the time the respective coach concentrates on him and so on. But he definitely needs those jumps, so maybe he just should look out for a coach who is able to give them to him, and swallow whatever emotional problems might occur.
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Do you just throw this out without fact checking? Adam had left Brian by the beginning of April.I spoke with him at FSIH on April 4th and he and Brian had already parted company. Javier went to Brian in June....

[doubleflutz]

Under the COP the lack of a 3A is not a deal breaker. In the 6.0 if you can't land a 3A (men), you can't win a championship, and may not even be able to stand on the podium.

This is true, if you can compensate the loss of TES points relative to your competitors in some other way. If we acknowledge Patrick Chan as the current competitive standard for TES base value in a men's program for someone who has world-podium competitive jumps but isn't a jump specialist with much lower PCS, I think Adam's going to have a hard time compensating for a 3A. Maybe Patrick is still including his hit-or-miss 3A in both programs because he personally wants to challenge himself as an athlete, and he could afford to take the hit in Base Value, but Adam's clearly not in the same position. Even if he gets the 4LZ consistent and fully credited, he needs to start landing it or some other quad in combination to get back on par with Patrick and the other guys at the top of the TES. Getting the 3A consistent seems much more likely to me.

[nylynnr]

Re: the 3A at Skate Canada, Adam didn't use this as an excuse but equipment problems had forced him to go back to an old pair of boots prior to the competition. Don't know if this played into his Axel problems there or not. It could also have been a case of working the quad into the program. It's possible attempting a 4Lutz uses a lot of energy, and it may take time to grow accustomed to trying it in competition. Otherwise, I agree with Sylvia's post early in the thread: Adam has hit clean 3A's in the past and there's no reason to think he won't again.

[mjames]

Could be, but isn't it more the problem that he always wants to be the "master student" of "his" coach, and got too emotional when he was not? Not sure if I remember it right, but didn't the problems with Morozov occur when Morozov accepted Oda, and didn't the problems with Orser occur when Orser accepted Fernandez? I see the problems of that kind of situation - direct rivals as training partners, the time the respective coach concentrates on him and so on. But he definitely needs those jumps, so maybe he just should look out for a coach who is able to give them to him, and swallow whatever emotional problems might occur.

I also think that his music (and costume!) choice wasn't very wise in the last two years, (like his LP music this year though, didn't he skate an SP to it some years ago?), and I think except the jumps he has everything (feeling for music, charisma) a great skater needs. I was a fan since I saw him for the first time, so I wish he would overcome his problems...

"Could be, but isn't it more the problem that..." Say what? I think it is very dangerous to say things like, "he always wants to be" because "always" is an absolute term and you have ABSOLUTELY no idea what he wanted or feels or what his personal problems are.
Therefore, I can't agree on the "must be the master student idea". I saw how well he played with others first hand. Many new skaters came on board when Oda did. I really do think it was a time management thing. Miki was Morozov's #1 not Oda. Nobu was there infrequently. He was not #1 in Canada, Yuna was and according to that article he was trying out at other places long before Javi moved to Toronto. Diva Theory BUSTED! ;)
I do agree that that his programs moved in an awkward direction last year. I do like his programs this year.

[seabm7]

In the COP, Lambiel and Buttle have won world championships without the 3A. Lambiel did have the quad (two in the LP, actually, though he never landed both cleanly , IIRC). Buttle was a very inconsistent jumper and still was able to win a world title.

Buttle had two clean 3A's when he won the world title in 2008. His problem was lack of quads. Though the success rate was not very high, technically his 3A was acceptable and not a headache case like Adam's.

[orbitz]

Otherwise, I agree with Sylvia's post early in the thread: Adam has hit clean 3A's in the past and there's no reason to think he won't again.

The question isn't if Adam will hit the 3A again. The law of average says that he will if he attempts enough of them. The question is how reliable will the 3A be for him in future competitions, especially in the SP.

[Sparks]

Buttle HAD problems with the 3 Axel. He went to Rafael for help with it.

[seabm7]

Buttle HAD problems with the 3 Axel. He went to Rafael for help with it.

You are right! I forgot about that. :)

[Seerek]

Buttle HAD problems with the 3 Axel. He went to Rafael for help with it.

Though not perfect, Jeff at least got to about a 70% success rate with Rafael's help in the 2007-8 season (vs. around 50% or worse in previous seasons).

The 2008 World championships was Jeff's only ever competition where he landed all 3 scheduled 3 axels (combined SP + LP) with positive GOEs.

[ProgramerUSFS]

Re: the 3A at Skate Canada, Adam didn't use this as an excuse but equipment problems had forced him to go back to an old pair of boots prior to the competition. Don't know if this played into his Axel problems there or not. It could also have been a case of working the quad into the program. It's possible attempting a 4Lutz uses a lot of energy, and it may take time to grow accustomed to trying it in competition. Otherwise, I agree with Sylvia's post early in the thread: Adam has hit clean 3A's in the past and there's no reason to think he won't again.

Catching up on reading all the posts, and this caught my eye. You have a very good point here. i sat just 5 rows back were is did his 4Lz. He attempted it like 4 or 5 times before his skate. The misses, along with having to place this jump into the program, i am sure took something away from him. And I am sure falling on every attempt of that 4Lz did not help his confidence for the skate. I never thought of this until your comment. Good point.