U.S. Ladies [#5]: All That Glitters Is Not Gold

[Coco]

Finlandia Trophy entries were published by the competition organizer today and Mirai Nagasu is on the list as the 1 U.S. lady.

Yes! I love that competition, thrilled she's going as it usually turns out to be one of the more competitive Senior B's. It will be a good test for her, plus it seems to get a great crowd.

[pinky166]

Yes! I love that competition, thrilled she's going as it usually turns out to be one of the more competitive Senior B's. It will be a good test for her, plus it seems to get a great crowd.

Yes for sure! Now she also doesn't have to do regionals which gives another PACs lady a chance to advance to sectionals and then Nationals. Still hoping she gets a 2nd GP assignment though..

[skfan]

Yes for sure! Now she also doesn't have to do regionals which gives another PACs lady a chance to advance to sectionals and then Nationals. Still hoping she gets a 2nd GP assignment though..

i like this. good for mirai, good for the pacific coast ladies!

[flipforsynchro]

^yes it's happened before. not every time. i can't say i'm the most seasoned observer or her skating, but it seems to me that... maybe 3 times out of 5 there is no centering problem. and even when she does lose centering it is usually less noticeable than at last year's nationals or this year's lake placid JGP LP.

it's happened often enough, though, that it's high time to fix it and quit giving away points. i'd prefer they make it work without resorting to the hair cutter--i am not a fan of the hair cutter spin. wish i could see the beauty in it, and the I-spin too, but sadly i lack this level of enlightenment

i would prefer that angela polish up her spins in general, and trade in the multiple catch-foot spin she's done for years for one that looks more aesthetic and better fits her level of flexibility... if it's not possible to address the flexibility without giving up jump stability.

i feel terribly nitpicky writing this. skaters are expected to do so many things well. but if any tweaking will ruin her beautiful layback spin, then please don't change a thing! i love that layback spin. and i like the nice, classic sit spin position too--quite rare nowadays.


ETA angela's bielmann is not especially great but it's not ugly to me--some of the positions that other skaters choose to highlight their flexibility are far more.. hard on the eyes. IMO.

Her and Hicks and Cain should ditch the Biellmann. I hate being nitpicky because skaters have SO much that they need to focus on at once, but certain moves should just not be done.

And I love hair cutters, but only if done like Gracie and not like Carolina. Btw how old is Angela?

[falling_dance]

Btw how old is Angela?

She's 16. Her birthdate is July 30, 1996.

[query5]

courtney got gifted at lake placid due to her previous injury, she double footed her jumps in the short and long and didn't get taken off for them like she should.

they way they allow certain U.S. skaters to get away with their jumps like, courtney, agnes, ashley, mirai, gracie and not get caught doesn't help me to follow them or the current crop, shows they are pushing, favoring those skaters no matter what,
only pulls me further away from the sport

[kwanatic]

they way they allow certain U.S. skaters to get away with their jumps like, courtney, agnes, ashley, mirai, gracie and not get caught

I agree that some of Courtney's jumps looked a little short and they might have been. I mean, do they even have slo-replay at the JGP events? I think hers look short b/c she tends to hook some of her landings...what I mean is her exiting edge curves inward sharply. I prefer a nice outward riding edge. Courtney jumps really big but her jumps aren't very pretty to me. Sometimes they look a little wild and unrestrained in the air and on the landings...just like the rest of her skating. I hope she gains some fluidity and finesse as she gets older.

They do let skaters get away with calls on occasion (especially US skaters at competitions held in the US), but more often than not they are penalized.

[Jammers]

courtney got gifted at lake placid due to her previous injury, she double footed her jumps in the short and long and didn't get taken off for them like she should.

they way they allow certain U.S. skaters to get away with their jumps like, courtney, agnes, ashley, mirai, gracie and not get caught doesn't help me to follow them or the current crop, shows they are pushing, favoring those skaters no matter what,
only pulls me further away from the sport

Why include Gracie and Agnes in that list? When they are both on those two are among the best jumpers in the world and they rotate their jumps.

[Marco]

I agree that some of Courtney's jumps looked a little short and they might have been. I mean, do they even have slo-replay at the JGP events? I think hers look short b/c she tends to hook some of her landings...what I mean is her exiting edge curves inward sharply. I prefer a nice outward riding edge. Courtney jumps really big but her jumps aren't very pretty to me. Sometimes they look a little wild and unrestrained in the air and on the landings...just like the rest of her skating. I hope she gains some fluidity and finesse as she gets older.

ITA about the hook landings. She really needs to refine her technique and timing - she rushes her takeoffs and her jumps are just not pretty, even if high.

If the little stylistic details are not fixed under Nicks, it doesn't look good that they can be fixed elsewhere.

[chipso1]

ITA about the hook landings. She really needs to refine her technique and timing - she rushes her takeoffs and her jumps are just not pretty, even if high.

If the little stylistic details are not fixed under Nicks, it doesn't look good that they can be fixed elsewhere.

Courtney is not with Nicks anymore. Her new coach is Scott Wendland.

[Sylvia]

Scott Wendland was Courtney Hicks' coach when she was 5th in Novice at 2010 Nationals.

Typo on USFSA website. Baga was 5th not 4th at lake Placid

It's been fixed.

[jlai]

Despite what viewers say about Courtney, she had the highest pcs at Lake Placid for the lp.She must
have been exciting to watch live

Thx. Sylvia!

[kwanatic]

Despite what viewers say about Courtney, she had the highest pcs at Lake Placid for the lp.She must
have been exciting to watch live

Thx. Sylvia!

The judges were a bit more generous b/c of that whole "home ice" advantage. Courtney skates with good speed and has pretty good transitions...so those scores should be decent. But in terms of aesthetically pleasing skating, she's not very good. Like Marco said, she needs to refine her technique. In addition to that, she needs to work on her lines, control and overall presentation. She has time to correct these things and I really hope she does. However, if Nicks couldn't help smooth her out, I doubt if Wendland will be able to.

[skfan]

^ hmmm.... i don't know about that. a famous coach might have a lot of students, though we know mr. nicks is quite strict about who he takes on as a student.

anyway, few people had heard of kori ade before jason brown caught everyone's eye, right?

me, i'd like to think the right combo of personalities and logistics make all the difference-- probably because it makes me sad when people say things like, if mr. frank carroll couldn't help mirai, how can wendy olson (sp)?

re: courtney's PCS from lake placid. i don't like to extrapolate what a skater's performance must have been like from the judges scores, because that assumes the judges' scores always accurately reflect what actually happened on ice. judges are human, they can err, too. i've also seen instances of skaters' PCS changing when the #1 skater from their country retire and now they are suddenly the clear #1 from country X, so... *shrugs*

[jlai]

The judges were a bit more generous b/c of that whole "home ice" advantage. Courtney skates with good speed and has pretty good transitions...so those scores should be decent. But in terms of aesthetically pleasing skating, she's not very good. Like Marco said, she needs to refine her technique. In addition to that, she needs to work on her lines, control and overall presentation. She has time to correct these things and I really hope she does. However, if Nicks couldn't help smooth her out, I doubt if Wendland will be able to.

Courtney got nearly 49 points in pcs last year in Australia, so if there is inflation
for any reason, it is not by much.

I also found her a bit stiff, but I'd add that video viewing sometimes exaggerates flaws that are not so glaring live (cough...Rachael). Anyway, she has things to improve for sure, though at the same time I am glad she is not a baby ballerina

[leapfrogonice]

Glad to see Mirai getting Finlandia. Who is her coach now?

Agree that this is a good thing for the many talented ladies hoping to emerge from Pacific Coasts and make it to Omaha.

[chipso1]

Through the first two weeks of the international season...

2012-13 U.S. Ladies -- Top International Scores

1. Courtney HICKS (153.77), JGP Lake Placid
2. Angela WANG (150.40), JGP Lake Placid
3. Kiri BAGA (142.22), JGP Lake Placid
4. Vanessa LAM (140.89), JGP Courchevel
5. Ashley CAIN (136.51), JGP Courchevel

Upcoming (confirmed) assignments:

• U.S. Int'l Classic (Gracie GOLD, Agnes ZAWADZKI)
• JGP Linz (Samantha CESARIO, Hannah MILLER)
• JGP Istanbul (Nina JIANG, Leah KEISER)
• JGP Bled (Courtney HICKS, Barbie LONG)
• Nebelhorn Trophy (Caroline ZHANG)
• Finlandia Trophy (Mirai NAGASU)

[Sylvia]

Yasmin Siraj competed at and won the Senior Ladies event at the Middle Atlantics club competition this past weekend in NYC, scoring 90.63 in the FS and 146.63 total (her season high score to date). I really like her new "Seven Years in Tibet" FS - she expresses the lyrical music very well, IMO. She turned out of her first 3Lz and put a hand down on her 2nd 3Lz but it was encouraging to see her land this jump that she was falling on at Liberty in July.

Rachael Flatt is scheduled to compete at the Skate St. Moritz club competition in Oakland, Calif. on Sunday, Sept. 16 (both short and long programs on the same day).

Glad to see Mirai getting Finlandia. Who is her coach now?

See my post and related Champs Camp article link earlier in this thread: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...69#post3669169

[Marco]

Is Wagner not to publicly debut her programs until the GPs?

[Sylvia]

Wagner debuted her SP at the Michael Weiss Foundation show this past Saturday (see the thread in GSD for reports and photos) and she is scheduled to debut her FS at the Japan Open on Oct 6.