U.S. Ladies [#6]: "Swaggering with the S'Wagner" et al. into 2013

[pinky166]

Gao's FS was not almost as good as Gracie's. While Gracie has a ways to go in terms of presentation the jumping clinic she put on display in the LP was the best of any US lady since the days of Tonya Harding. It was spectacular and only Yuna probably has as of a hard LP technically.

Gracie's FS was better, I admit that. But the difference in scores should have been maybe 5 points, I'd have had Christina in the low 120s and Gracie in the high 120s, however, Gracie was held up in the SP and if marked fairly, would have been skating in the 2nd warmup group instead of the penultimate, which would have likely affected her PCS which were too high anyways, and further, her SP score should have been more than 4 points below Christina's. Honestly, I don't think Gold's SP should have broken 50 points. To me, Gracie was overscored about 5 points in the SP and 5 points in the FS, while I thought Gao was fairly marked in the SP but undermarked by about 5 points in the FS. Do the math and subtract 10 points from Gracie's score and add 5 points to Christina's and guess who comes out ahead...

Anyways, this is what frustrates me about Nationals. It's one thing if they inflate everyone's PCS, but it's frustrating to see some skaters get big PCS boosts year after year at Nationals while others receive virtually no inflation. Gao, along with Nagasu and Zhang, get no PCS inflation at Nats while skaters like Agnes, Alissa, Rachael up until last season, and now Gracie and Ashley get considerable PCS inflation that's enough to alter the outcome compared to what it would be at an international event. THAT is the issue. It's the same for the men. You think they would learn, Adam's 240 from last year was never going to happen internationally, not with the state of his 3a and chronic << status of his quad attempts at that time. Yet he was sent to Worlds even after Miner beat him at 4CCs. It's just like, international judges have a ranking of the US skaters that's different from USFS rankings because of this PCS manipulation. From what was shown this season internationally, Gao is US #2 and Nagasu US #3, and yet they finish 5th and 7th at Nationals. Hmmm

[judgejudy27]

It is funny why a skater like Nagasu was not a USFSA favorite yet a boring and mediocre skater who was NEVER in a million years going to ever improve her 5th place at the 2009 Worlds ever again got such love from them, as well as a late blooming and erratic skater like Czisny who was probably never going to be a World medalist, nor could be counted on for solid finishes to help the U.S gain 3 spots back. Add to that Zawadzki who as yet doesnt get any big scores at senior international events even when she skates well, and is inconsistent as heck. The USFSA is really quite stupid when it comes to their ladies. They are best to just mark them all fairly at Nationals, since when it comes to which they are wise to do their favors for they are too clueless and out of touch with reality even pick the right people.