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

[pinky166]

Gao is so not out of it yet. She's behind Mirai and Agnes but only by like 5-6 points and she has been skating clean or nearly clean FS programs all season and does not have the same UR issues as Mirai. I think Gao will move to 2nd honestly and then Agnes and Mirai, maybe Gracie, can fight for the bronze.

[demetriosj]

[QUOTE=smarts1;3809081]Agnes should not be in second. Could you believe that Agnes would have been 1st after the SP had she skated clean? What the h*** is wrong with the USFS judges?!? ]


I agree, what the h**** is wrong with them! If this event were truly being judged fairly, Gracie should be about twice as far down as she was placed by the judges. This is the short program at Nationals, allegedly a technical program, and what did she actually land? One fall, one pop, and an UR! How did she even place as high as 9th?

We know the judges are going to move her way up in the FS, even with a mediocre skate.

In their efforts to move her on or near the podium, mark my words, they will completely ignore a superior skate by Wang, Gao, Yasmin, Cesario, Baga, Miller, Hicks, etc., or even possibly Mirai and Agnes. No wonder fans are turned off by this ridiculous judging!

[Jarrett]

I wouldnt be so sure. Agnes has to do a strong LP sometime. She is too talented to keep messing it up.

What kind of flawed logic is that? She has never done it before so she will do it now just... because has messed up every other time. lol

[Sylvia]

For those unaware ... Icenetwork has a free "B" video stream available and some of the Ladies' FS practice run throughs are being replayed right now. Go to the front page of IN and click on the "U.S. Champs - Backstage" link.

[Jarrett]

Thanks Sylvia!

[smarts1]

Gao is so not out of it yet. She's behind Mirai and Agnes but only by like 5-6 points and she has been skating clean or nearly clean FS programs all season and does not have the same UR issues as Mirai. I think Gao will move to 2nd honestly and then Agnes and Mirai, maybe Gracie, can fight for the bronze.

pinky... We all know you love Christina, but the 6 points she has to make up is pretty big, and I'm not sure she'll move all the way up to second.

[RD]

I wouldnt be so sure. Agnes has to do a strong LP sometime. She is too talented to keep messing it up. I wouldnt be surprised if she finally does and holds Nagasu off for 2nd, or even wins if Wagner has some problems.

True - but she could also be a Cohen where the clean FS continues to elude her throughout her career.

I still say odds are she drops down to 3rd or 4th.

Gao is so not out of it yet. She's behind Mirai and Agnes but only by like 5-6 points and she has been skating clean or nearly clean FS programs all season and does not have the same UR issues as Mirai. I think Gao will move to 2nd honestly and then Agnes and Mirai, maybe Gracie, can fight for the bronze.

I agree that Gao can move up, but 2nd is quite optimistic. She'll need help from above in addition to skating lights out. Very unlikely.

[AliasJohnDoe]

What's the chances of Gao finishing 5th again. She finished 5th for the last 3 years(2010, 2011,2012).

[victoriaheidi]

If Gao finishes 5th again, I'll feel bummed.

[Alex Forrest]

I have a feeling the top four will stay the same... I don't know how I'll feel if three Oly spots depend on Zawadska's skating though. I think at best Wagner is good for third at Worlds, and so someone else needs to make top ten. I don't think Gao could do it, even though she went to GPF and must have some better international reputation now. I'd still go with Nagasu. I really didn't understand Nagasu's scores versus Zawadska's in the SP... That's why I'm thinking the standings will stay the same.

[pinky166]

Between Zawadzki's FS mistake tendencies and Mirai's UR tendencies, I don't think 2nd for Christina is really out of the question. It's going to be hard and she'll need a good skate, but she IS a strong freeskater whereas the other 2 tend to be better SP skaters in addition to being more prone to mistakes/giving up points. 6 points is like 2 URs or a fall and another minor jump mistake...really not much in the grand scheme of things. Idk I'm hoping for Gao to make it to Worlds, I'd certainly be less nervous about her performing there than Agnes or Mirai. But truthfully, if Christina can pull up to 4th but the top 3 stay the same, I'd be very happy with that too. Or if Mirai is second. I very much like all of Ashley, Agnes, Mirai, and Christina, and Gracie too, but I think she just might need a little more time to get used to handling the senior level elite skating scene...she really is so new to all of this when you consider the experience someone like Mirai or Ashley have in comparison, even Christina with her 3 JW trips, 3 senior nationals, 2 GP seasons w/ a GPF trip, and 2 JGP seasons w/ 2 JGPF trips, has a lot more experience dealing with this kind of stuff compared to Gracie.

[victoriaheidi]

pinky, I love Christina, too, but I'm thinking Christina may have to settle for just making the podium. I really hope 1-5 winds up Wagner, Nagasu, Gao, Zawadzki, Hicks.

[judgejudy27]

What kind of flawed logic is that? She has never done it before so she will do it now just... because has messed up every other time. lol

We will see, but I think she is too talented and too strong a competitor to not have a good LP at some point. It might be here, or it might not be, but it wouldnt surprise me if it was, and if it is she will likely make the team (and possibly even win depending what Wagner does).

[judgejudy27]

True - but she could also be a Cohen where the clean FS continues to elude her throughout her career.

I didnt say a clean FS. I said a good FS. I dont think she even needs a clean FS to stay in 2nd. If she does about 5 of her 7 jumping passes cleanly I would be surprised if she doesnt stay 2nd. Based on the SP scoring I think Nagasu would have to skate lights out to take 2nd even then, and I dont see her skating a totally clean LP with no URs either.

[Alwaysaway]

I echo a lot of your thoughts. Not a big fan of the thought of Angnes "Flip a coin" Zawadski being the great American hope for 3 spots and at her first Worlds at that.

[Jammers]

Who else is going to help Ashley getting those 3 spots back? Mirai is unreliable and is just not the skater she was a few years ago. While Agnes is shaky too if she skates clean with her big jumps she will get a good score even at Worlds.

[Jarrett]

We will see, but I think she is too talented and too strong a competitor to not have a good LP at some point. It might be here, or it might not be, but it wouldnt surprise me if it was, and if it is she will likely make the team (and possibly even win depending what Wagner does).

too strong a competitor? I think that is key. I agree Agnes is SUPER talented; however, she is a horrible competitor and has NEVER skated to her potential. Heck even in the SP she fell and due to skate order she is still second. If Agnes skates amazingly and wins I will certainly be happy for her but I also would be completely shocked.

[Jarrett]

Who else is going to help Ashley getting those 3 spots back? Mirai is unreliable and is just not the skater she was a few years ago. While Agnes is shaky too if she skates clean with her big jumps she will get a good score even at Worlds.

Yea Mirai is unreliable. She just has just been skating better in every event this season and just had her best short program in years, which if done in an international competition would probably be 5 points ahead of Agnes at this point. What a loser.

[pinky166]

I think people are underestimating Agnes here, Christina too, but especially Agnes. She IS improving under Christy Krall, she's not a beacon of consistency yet for sure, but she's getting better and better each time out. I don't think she's really a headcase, I think the size of her jumps combined with her height maybe make it harder for her to consistently have control over all her jumps, but when she hits them, they are the best in the field, or well, maybe tied with Gracie but she has better presence and more maturity than Gracie at this point anyways. I think she might just surprise people and do really well in the FS. Not that it means she'll necessarily come in 1st or 2nd and make it to Worlds, but idk, I really think she is improving a lot and is due for a great FS.

[Mayra]

I'm so over this mythical third spot that the US ladies HAVE to get back. Let the top skaters be scored for what they do on the ice on Saturday and not what they could potentially do in two months. At this point everyone is so inconsistent it doesn't matter who they send. Everyone has the potential to be great or bomb in the intent so they might as well be honest in their scoring and send the top two performers.

JMO