The Joshua and Jason Uber Thread!

[misskarne]

Yeah I saw that tweet and had the same reaction...I was like, wait, a figure skater who actually wants to GAIN weight?? I guess he is a little skinny, and a guy, but still, i'm surprised he actually mentioned that on a public site. Maybe he wants to get ripped to help with his quad and then he can rock a pleather unitard and become the 2nd coming of Joubert instead of Lysacek ...he already has (or had) similar hair to Brian...

Is he still in Dallas? I feel so bad for all the CS skaters what with the forest fire. Hope they are all okay and didn't miss out on too much training time!

It really surprised me, too...as you say, it's very unusual for a skater to openly say they want to gain weight! I don't think he looked especially skinny, but add a little muscle and he really could become a force.

Lol please not Joubert, although he can happily reuse the Rach LP for as long as he wishes and I most certainly will not complain Not that I would object to a pleather unitard, either...

I haven't heard anything to say that Josh has gone back to CS yet, I guess it would make sense if they waited for the fire to be more under control so that his asthma wouldn't be affected as badly. Hope he's not losing too much training time.

Wonder if Kori Ade's group has delayed their arrival by a few days? Might be a sensible idea, wait until everything has calmed down.

[pinky166]

When were Jason and Kori/the others planning on getting to Colorado again?

As for the weight gain, it is the off-season, so it wouldn't be surprising if this was the time when some male skaters "bulk up" to build up their muscle mass and strength and then before the season starts they cut to lose the extra weight. Plus maybe more muscle mass makes the quads and building up more speed easier..

[misskarne]

When were Jason and Kori/the others planning on getting to Colorado again?

As for the weight gain, it is the off-season, so it wouldn't be surprising if this was the time when some male skaters "bulk up" to build up their muscle mass and strength and then before the season starts they cut to lose the extra weight. Plus maybe more muscle mass makes the quads and building up more speed easier..

I don't know any exact dates, but when he mentioned it Rohene referred to the whole month of July, so I imagine it's very soon.

I can't imagine that Josh will ever be a huge guy, so I think whatever he's putting on now he'll try and keep. Maybe he will be even more handsome and gorgeous this year!

I don't know about the muscle mass=quads thing, the Russian guys like Plushenko and Gachinski have gorgeous huge quads and they're little skinny toothpicks.

As pervy as this sounds, I think the spot Josh needs more muscle on mostly is his backside. Leg strength will help give him more power. But that said he does need to build up everywhere.

[pinky166]

As pervy as this sounds, I think the spot Josh needs more muscle on mostly is his backside. Leg strength will help give him more power. But that said he does need to build up everywhere.

Well, he doesn't currently have the muscular thighs and glutes of Han Yan who is a very fast and powerful skater so who knows.

Also, is Plushenko really that thin? I always thought of him as being a pretty normal weight for a figure skater and quite muscular, but idk. Arthur yes, very thin and wiry, but he's still a teenager so that's somewhat typical and could change later on.

Speaking of which, Arthur and Josh really need to announce their music for next season! Offseason is torturous!

[misskarne]

Well, he doesn't currently have the muscular thighs and glutes of Han Yan who is a very fast and powerful skater so who knows.

Also, is Plushenko really that thin? I always thought of him as being a pretty normal weight for a figure skater and quite muscular, but idk. Arthur yes, very thin and wiry, but he's still a teenager so that's somewhat typical and could change later on.

Speaking of which, Arthur and Josh really need to announce their music for next season! Offseason is torturous!

In his prime, about 2002-2003-2004, Plushenko had a very muscular lower half, but a very slim upper body. Since his comeback, he's been mostly skinny all over (due to crash dieting before Vancouver and then trying to avoid overly pressuring his knee just after), although he's just now re-developing some of that muscle in his lower half. Artur has put on a bit more weight over the last year or two, I thought there was even a difference between his GPs and Euros. But both have quite slim upper bodies comparitively. Maybe their costume choices mean I notice more or something. Josh should wear something tight-fitting so I can check

Agreed! Artur is the only one of Mishin's group that hasn't announced at least one program yet! And I'm so impatient for Josh's SP! Hurry up boys!

[pinky166]

Josh's Transformers costume was a tightish shirt and he looks pretty slight in it http://web.icenetwork.com/gen/photog...f25638508.html . But that was almost a year ago now so it might not be a good estimate. Also just was looking at his bio to get the picture which I hadn't looked at in ages and he's only 5'8"?? That surprises me I thought he was much taller, I had assumed he was like 5'10" 5'11", he certainly has a long appearance on the ice. Maybe that info is outdated but it's still interesting.

[misskarne]

Josh's Transformers costume was a tightish shirt and he looks pretty slight in it http://web.icenetwork.com/gen/photog...f25638508.html . But that was almost a year ago now so it might not be a good estimate. Also just was looking at his bio to get the picture which I hadn't looked at in ages and he's only 5'8"?? That surprises me I thought he was much taller, I had assumed he was like 5'10" 5'11", he certainly has a long appearance on the ice. Maybe that info is outdated but it's still interesting.

I kinda liked the costume for Transformers. I was watching it again the other day and I wouldn't mind seeing him go back to it in a year or two when he's got a bit more power and speed. He does look very slim there but as you say, almost a year ago, and a year at 16-17 makes a huge difference.

I think it's pretty well accepted that the bio is wrong, since Jason's says he's 5'7" (or 5'6" ~and a bit~ ) and we know that's pretty much true, and Josh is much taller than him than just an inch! I would put Josh probably around 5'10" for now, but it's hard to judge without seeing him standing next to people. He may have grown some more.

[pinky166]

I sort of liked the transformers program too, but the rach program suits him better, at least for now, so i think switching was a good call. and the all black also slenderizes, but i do like the costume, the silver stripes are kinda cool. yeah, he's probably grown since, but even last season when his bio was last updated he looked pretty tall, so I guess leg/torso ratios can really play a large role in determining how tall one "looks".

[misskarne]

I sort of liked the transformers program too, but the rach program suits him better, at least for now, so i think switching was a good call. and the all black also slenderizes, but i do like the costume, the silver stripes are kinda cool. yeah, he's probably grown since, but even last season when his bio was last updated he looked pretty tall, so I guess leg/torso ratios can really play a large role in determining how tall one "looks".

Oh yes, definitely not disputing the switch. He can keep Rach forever if he wants . It suits him perfectly. But in a year or two, with a little more power and strength...it could be interesting.

That's a good point, he has a short torso and long legs, so he might look taller than he is. I just had a look at a pic of Josh and Jason standing together and Josh looks to be at least two inches taller, though. So it may be partly illusion and partly actual height.

[pinky166]

Oh yes, definitely not disputing the switch. He can keep Rach forever if he wants . It suits him perfectly. But in a year or two, with a little more power and strength...it could be interesting.

That's a good point, he has a short torso and long legs, so he might look taller than he is. I just had a look at a pic of Josh and Jason standing together and Josh looks to be at least two inches taller, though. So it may be partly illusion and partly actual height.

Most pictures together he looks more like 3 or 4 inches taller, though I guess some of that could be his hair. But in the FB pictures, I was noticing, he looks very similar in height to the likes of Daniel Eaton, Jeremy Abbott, and Matt Blackmer who are all about 5'10"-5'11" and noticably taller than Jason and Timothy Dolensky who are like 5'6"-5'7", so if he was really 5'8", it would be the opposite way around, and some of these pictures were from the GPF which was way back in December. There's also a picture of him with Hanyu and he's about 2 inches taller and I think Hanyu is like 5'7" or 5'8". So maybe he was 5'8" last summer then grew a couple inches over the course of the season. I could be wrong but the shortest I can see him feasibly being is 5'9", and realistically more 5'10", maybe 5'11" even. Maybe Sarah and Drew can ask him ? It doesn't really matter, just surprises me. But it happens a lot in the ladies event too, some girls who are 5'4" or 5'5" appear hugely tall on the ice when really they are not at all!

Anyways, Christina Gao is the only person I can think of who brought back an old program after a few years. She skated to Yellow River Concerto as a FS as a novice at Nationals when she was like 13, then had another Yellow River FS (the cuts were different, but it was mostly the same music) in the 10-11 season when she competed as a senior at nationals and junior internationally. I really liked that FS for her the second time around so it can be a good idea. Idk though, Transformers just seems like a difficult music to skate to, for anyone to skate to no matter his/her style or talent, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's why they ditched it in the first place...

[pinky166]

Josh is not on the list for Glacier Falls...is he okay? Why is he not competing at all this summer? AFAIK he's not competing in Liberty or Skate Detroit either...maybe he'll be at Golden West? Could his not competing this summer hurt his chances to get assigned to JGPs? I know he wanted to compete on the senior GP in which case assignments are made in advance and not competing over the summer would make sense since the season starts in October, but he now knows he's not competing on the GP and JGPs start in August and take summer results into account so this seems odd. You'd think he'd want to get his new SP out before the international season starts...I wonder if he's injured. I can't really think of any other reason why he's not signed up for any summer comps as of yet.

[misskarne]

Most pictures together he looks more like 3 or 4 inches taller, though I guess some of that could be his hair. But in the FB pictures, I was noticing, he looks very similar in height to the likes of Daniel Eaton, Jeremy Abbott, and Matt Blackmer who are all about 5'10"-5'11" and noticably taller than Jason and Timothy Dolensky who are like 5'6"-5'7", so if he was really 5'8", it would be the opposite way around, and some of these pictures were from the GPF which was way back in December. There's also a picture of him with Hanyu and he's about 2 inches taller and I think Hanyu is like 5'7" or 5'8". So maybe he was 5'8" last summer then grew a couple inches over the course of the season. I could be wrong but the shortest I can see him feasibly being is 5'9", and realistically more 5'10", maybe 5'11" even. Maybe Sarah and Drew can ask him ? It doesn't really matter, just surprises me. But it happens a lot in the ladies event too, some girls who are 5'4" or 5'5" appear hugely tall on the ice when really they are not at all!

I'm pretty rubbish at guessing heights at the best of times, and of course it's harder to tell when they're still growing

I reckon 5'10" is probably about right as an estimate in height. I hope he doesn't grow too much more and gets the chance to put on the muscle he wants to . I'd love to see him rocking a quad or even a quad combination this year. Hopefully he can stay in once piece, too!

I wish we had more news on Jason, too. Yes, he did the 3A at Southport, but what about since then, is he landing it in practice? What is he working on now? Jason, get Twitter already!

Oh yes, and upthread we were wondering when Josh was going home...he helpfully provided an answer.

Going home today! Yay!!

https://twitter.com/#!/joshDfarris

[misskarne]

Josh is not on the list for Glacier Falls...is he okay? Why is he not competing at all this summer? AFAIK he's not competing in Liberty or Skate Detroit either...maybe he'll be at Golden West? Could his not competing this summer hurt his chances to get assigned to JGPs? I know he wanted to compete on the senior GP in which case assignments are made in advance and not competing over the summer would make sense since the season starts in October, but he now knows he's not competing on the GP and JGPs start in August and take summer results into account so this seems odd. You'd think he'd want to get his new SP out before the international season starts...I wonder if he's injured. I can't really think of any other reason why he's not signed up for any summer comps as of yet.

He's not on the list?! Oh goodness...now I'm really getting antsy. I mean, I can't imagine this affecting his JGP assignments, he's the reigning Junior World silver medallist for goodness' sake, but this is worrying, especially since he did do Glacier Falls at least last year.

I mean, it would be a very unusual tactic to wait to unveil a new program at the first JGP, especially if all his competitors are showing theirs (Jason at Southport and Glacier Falls, for example). That's if I've understood correctly how JGP/summer comps in the US work...I'm still a rookie at this .

Perhaps their idea is to "fly under the radar" so to speak. There's going to be a lot of attention on whether Jason will land the 3A, how Jason will manage the unusual SP, how Jason will pull off the classical LP. Jason just seems to pull attention, whether he means to or not. Nathan Chen is also going to draw a large amount of attention. So maybe Josh's team's idea is to let that happen, and then pop up at JGP and say "Hey! Here I am!" and remind everyone forcibly. Seems a risky tactic to me IMO.

Although, perhaps I find the summer comps idea so odd is because generally my Russians tend not to unveil their new programs in competition until GPs. We often see them in shows before then, but I don't recall Artur ever doing a competition before the Grand Prix (except Japan Open). Evgeni used to do it sometimes when they had Goodwill Games and stuff, but not usually.

Anyway, I really hope Josh isn't injured and this is some kind of unusual tactical move. Poor Josh has had enough bad luck to last a career. It would be nice to see him able to pull together several uninjured seasons in a row. When you think about it, last season was all the more impressive considering the late start he'd have gotten after recovering from the broken leg/torn muscle he suffered at Nats 2011.

Incidentally, I wonder if it was the same leg he suffered the bad injury on back in summer 2009? I hope neither injury comes back to haunt him later...

[pinky166]

Josh has had a lot of injuries over the past few years, the broken ankle at 2011 nats, the sliced calf muscle after 2009 nats, a joint condition a couple years before that. This history of being injured made me wonder about that. But, no news about an injury has been released, so I'm hoping that this no news/no competitions is good news. And yes, there will be a lot of attention on Chen who's been undefeated the past like 3 seasons, won the US junior title at age 12, is making his JGP debut, and may be putting in a 3axel to his programs (at age 13! ), and then also Jason as the reigning JGPF champion and JW bronze medalist with no 3a as he tries to add the 3a to his programs.

I guess Josh only has one new program though, and as a SP, there's just 3 jumps, we can assume his layout will be 3a, 3lz-3t, and 3f, all of which he's been landing for years, at least for the JGP, maybe at Nationals/other senior events he would put in a 4t, but I doubt he would risk it in the SP at the JGP where the 3f has to be a solo jump so he couldn't add a combo to it should the quad go wrong like he could in a senior event. I'm more just worried, most guys go through a lot of physical changes around age 17, and appearing to have grown in height in the past season and voicing desire to gain weight just makes me wonder about the status of his jumps. It could help the 3a and 4t, but it could also mess up the timing for those jumps, which is why I was hoping he'd compete in a summer competition or two. At least the start of the JGP is less than 2 months away, and we can assume Josh will be at the 1st or 2nd event (I reckon he, Jason, and Nathan will be the first in line for assignments, meaning 2 will be at the first event, and the other the 2nd).

[pinky166]

At least Jason and Nathan are competing at Glacier Falls. I'll be interested to see if Nathan goes for the 3a...if he does and is landing it, and Jason is still struggling with it, and something weird is in fact going on with Josh, it will be interesting to see how things pan out. If Nathan can successfully add the 3a, i'll be curious to see how he stacks up against the big boys ...I tend to think he'll be able to.

[misskarne]

Josh has had a lot of injuries over the past few years, the broken ankle at 2011 nats, the sliced calf muscle after 2009 nats, a joint condition a couple years before that. This history of being injured made me wonder about that. But, no news about an injury has been released, so I'm hoping that this no news/no competitions is good news.

I didn't know about the joint condition, that's a little worrisome. But I agree, surely we'd have heard something if he was injured, maybe they're just not wanting to push the envelope, reduce Josh's workload a bit and look after his body.

I guess Josh only has one new program though, and as a SP, there's just 3 jumps, we can assume his layout will be 3a, 3lz-3t, and 3f, all of which he's been landing for years, at least for the JGP, maybe at Nationals/other senior events he would put in a 4t, but I doubt he would risk it in the SP at the JGP where the 3f has to be a solo jump so he couldn't add a combo to it should the quad go wrong like he could in a senior event. I'm more just worried, most guys go through a lot of physical changes around age 17, and appearing to have grown in height in the past season and voicing desire to gain weight just makes me wonder about the status of his jumps. It could help the 3a and 4t, but it could also mess up the timing for those jumps, which is why I was hoping he'd compete in a summer competition or two. At least the start of the JGP is less than 2 months away, and we can assume Josh will be at the 1st or 2nd event (I reckon he, Jason, and Nathan will be the first in line for assignments, meaning 2 will be at the first event, and the other the 2nd).

Oh yes, for sure...he could probably do that jump layout in his sleep. I'd say the main concern over the weight etc is probably to do with the quad, and hopefully if he gains weight in a sort of even manner (on both upper and lower body) he'll be all right. Fingers crossed!

Perhaps they are trying to make sure of everything before they bring it out for the first time.

However, Josh, you are now OFFICIALLY the last favourite that I don't know new music for, since I saw a video of Artur's new LP today.

At least Jason and Nathan are competing at Glacier Falls. I'll be interested to see if Nathan goes for the 3a...if he does and is landing it, and Jason is still struggling with it, and something weird is in fact going on with Josh, it will be interesting to see how things pan out. If Nathan can successfully add the 3a, i'll be curious to see how he stacks up against the big boys ...I tend to think he'll be able to.

Oh goodness, I'm not even prepared to consider that possibility I'm just going to float along with my wildly-optimistic mood on and decide that Josh is just being cheeky and hiding his quad and Jason is now landing 3A perfectly.

Glacier Falls is looking like a mini-Nationals...so I wonder if that's why they're skipping it? Not wanting to throw Josh up against everyone else right at the start of the season? Save the big guns for Nationals?

In all seriousness, while Chen may be able to match at least Jason for technical content, he's miles behind them in artistry and musicality, and you can never underestimate the power of experience, either. With luck, both Josh and Jason will be fulltime Seniors by the end of this season (I'm still holding out for a 4CCs or even a senior Worlds assignment for them!), and Chen will be able to do whatever he likes on the Junior circuit .

[pinky166]

At 13 and 4'9" or however big he is, I'm not that worried about Nathan yet...but in a few years, once he's grown and had more time with Raffael, watch out world! But honestly his artistry is pretty good for someone so young and small...he did get the highest PCS of all the junior men in the FS at Nationals and some of those guys, like Philip Warren, were pretty strong artistically, not on the level of Jason or Josh, but getting up there, so we'll see what happens.

I don't get why Josh would want to hide his quad though? Seems weird. So I'm not convinced that's the reason. Hopefully there is some sort of strategy behind all this nonsense of not competing all summer...fingers crossed it's that and not anything bad!

Let's hope the USFS allow Josh and Jason to become full time senior next season...it sounds like at least one of them wanted to do that THIS season but USFS had a different agenda . I don't have a problem with either going to JW again, unless their Nationals placement means they should be sent to senior Worlds but are passed over in which case I will be very mad! But I digress...

I'll be curious to see how Jason's 3a is looking come Glacier Falls. He'll have had a couple months since Southport to have worked on it so hopefully he'll be landing and rotating it by then, for Nationals, he's really going to need to have two 3a in his FS to have a shot at the World team so I hope he can manage that in the next 6 months!

[misskarne]

I don't get why Josh would want to hide his quad though? Seems weird. So I'm not convinced that's the reason. Hopefully there is some sort of strategy behind all this nonsense of not competing all summer...fingers crossed it's that and not anything bad!

Definitely hoping it's a strategy play. Ashley Cain posted a pic on Twitter and Facebook of Josh at a rink in Dallas, and he looked okay, well, as far as one can tell from a pic of him in his USFSA jacket and from the waist up, haha. Hopefully we hear some good news soon!

(Incidentally, he didn't look much bigger in terms of weight, but then, as I said, we could only see his top half.)

Let's hope the USFS allow Josh and Jason to become full time senior next season...it sounds like at least one of them wanted to do that THIS season but USFS had a different agenda . I don't have a problem with either going to JW again, unless their Nationals placement means they should be sent to senior Worlds but are passed over in which case I will be very mad! But I digress...

They would be mad to hold either back from being a fulltime Senior next season. I still think they're mad not to allow Josh to move up this season! Instead it's like they're afraid that the younger skaters might show up the older ones...

Still hoping for Josh and Jason to squash everybody at Nationals and go to Worlds

I'll be curious to see how Jason's 3a is looking come Glacier Falls. He'll have had a couple months since Southport to have worked on it so hopefully he'll be landing and rotating it by then, for Nationals, he's really going to need to have two 3a in his FS to have a shot at the World team so I hope he can manage that in the next 6 months!

I've got everything crossed for him! His toe jumps are simply beautiful (except for that so-very-close-to-a-flutz) so I can't imagine a quad is too far away when he chooses to start working on it.

But I will definitely settle for him landing and rotating the 3A with consistency by the end of this season! Come on Jason!

[pinky166]

It seems like all skaters flutz or lip, at least a little bit. I notice Josh sometimes lips, and Jason does have a very slight flutz, which is actually unusual for a guy...usually the girls flutz and the guys lip! Although obviously not always (Yuna...). I'm still puzzled by this no summer competition thing for Josh and hope it doesn't end up hurting him, although maybe he is trying to build slower this season to aim to peak at Nationals and then JW/Worlds/4CC. I mean last season he scored almost 76 points for his SP at his first JGP event in mid september and that ended up being his SB for the SP! He knows Nationals has been a problem in the past, and he also saw Dornbush get named to the senior world team after competing on the JGP in the same season, so he knows if he can skate well at Nationals, there's a chance he could make the team, or 4CC team, so hopefully it's strategic and he's trying not to wear himself out or peak too fast, in which case it might be a good plan. At least I hope so...

[misskarne]

It seems like all skaters flutz or lip, at least a little bit. I notice Josh sometimes lips, and Jason does have a very slight flutz, which is actually unusual for a guy...usually the girls flutz and the guys lip!

I had noticed that about Josh's flip, but I'm genuinely surprised Jason doesn't get more edge calls. It just seems really obvious to me. Still, I guess that's why I'm not a tech specialist! Jason has a really lovely flip though, and Josh's Lutz has a really nice deep edge, so I guess they're just trade-offs.

As for flutzing being unusual for guys, just watching the positions Jason bends himself into, I think we can say he's just a pretty unusual guy!

I'm still puzzled by this no summer competition thing for Josh and hope it doesn't end up hurting him, although maybe he is trying to build slower this season to aim to peak at Nationals and then JW/Worlds/4CC. I mean last season he scored almost 76 points for his SP at his first JGP event in mid september and that ended up being his SB for the SP! He knows Nationals has been a problem in the past, and he also saw Dornbush get named to the senior world team after competing on the JGP in the same season, so he knows if he can skate well at Nationals, there's a chance he could make the team, or 4CC team, so hopefully it's strategic and he's trying not to wear himself out or peak too fast, in which case it might be a good plan. At least I hope so...

I think it's not unrealistic to assume that their plan is to try and peak a little later. I mean, he was fabulous at JWC, but Nationals is where he really needs to hit it this year so I can see the sensible side of trying to peak there.

Josh for Worlds!