US Skaters for 2013 Skate America spots

[demetriosj]

If they wanted to, could USFS send a newbie like Polina Edmunds to Skate America?

[pinky166]

Edmunds is only 14 and will most certainly do a season on the JGP before leaping up to the GP.

[sammyf]

Pairs- My big hope is for the wonderful new team of Kayne/O'Shea. I was also super impressed by Leng/Leduc and Baga/Toth. The way things worked this past season with all the injuries and splits, I think Davis/Ladwig, Denney/Frazier, and Donlan/Speroff will be ok to get a spot or two even if they're outside of the top 24. I have hope for Zhang/Bartholomay to score well at 4CC also. Of course, Rockne and whichever new partner could factor in also if they are ready by summer/fall comps. I think Calalang/Sidhu, Simpson/Blackmer, and Pfund/Reiss all age out of juniors too, but at the moment I am significantly less impressed with all of them than our lower ranked senior pairs, and just think they need more time to bake or whatever. But the former two have another shot at a higher SB at Junior Worlds, so good luck to them!

For pairs, Castelli/Shnapir, Denney/Coughlin, Denney/Frazier, Scimeca/Knierim, Zhang/Bartholomay, Simpson/Blackmer will all hopefully earn spots.
I can see Calalang/Sidhu, Baga/Toth, Leng/LeDuc, Vise/Baldwin offered B events.
So Skate America should be between Donlan/Speroff, Kayne/O'Shea, ?/Brubaker.

[jlai]

I'd love to see Alex too. But even more, I'd like to know where SA will be.

By the end of summer, fans usually complain about deserving skaters who have been training well but won't be getting a host pick at SA because that spot has already been assigned to someone who skated well at nationals (but might not have been as well trained. (case in point, R Flatt) Why not send Alex Johnson to a senior B and see how he does first?

[Jammers]

Edmunds is only 14 and will most certainly do a season on the JGP before leaping up to the GP.

I wonder if Edmunds will skate as a Senior at Nationals next year? She's now won the Junior title so she has nothing more to gain as a Junior Nationally.

[os168]

It seems fairly obvious to me, they will give the spot to Gracie and Ashley. Federations tends to shield and buffer their big hitters at home GP series, esp provide a nice boost to their PCS for the rest of the season.

I'd be terribly shocked if Rachel is selected again, if so there's must be serious politicking behind the scene that we don't know about. Rachel is from La Jolla San Diego right? Very affluent neighborhood the last time I visited... maybe rich and powerful connections

[euterpe]

Gracie and Ashley will each get two GP invitations based on ISU World Standing, SB list, or top 12 finish at Worlds. USFS might have one of them at Nationals, but most likely not both.

Polina Edmunds might skate Senior nationally, but not internationally. She will be 15 in May, but she hasn't had any international competitions as yet, and she won't be going to JW, so it doesn't seem reasonable to put a complete newbie in the GP. Polina should do a season (or maybe two) in the JGP.

[SkateFan66]

I have no doubt that Lysacek will be assigned to Skate America. It will be the Olympic season and he is the reigning Olympic champion. If the comments that Lori Nichol made last Friday during the HOF induction about the quality of Evan's skating shortly before his injury are accurate, then Lysacek will be competitive if fully recovered from surgery.

[merrywidow]

I'd be surprised if Johnny chooses to compete next year. I think he hoped to this year (Evan too) because they both felt they could top Abbott on the podium. After watching the success of the younger men landing quads I'd be surprised if Johnny gives it another shot. Evan is another story. Healthy & with a quad, he's still competitive.

[kwanfan1818]

I wonder if the USFS will use USIC as a skate-off or monitoring competition before it decides on its final spots.

I wish the ISU would go back to 12 spots for singles and 10 for Pairs and Dance, at least in the pre-Olympic year, and just agree not to replace any injury withdrawals after the skater confirmation deadlines and the TBDs have been replaced, unless a host wants to replace a host spot up to the start of the competition (whatever the official meeting or practice is at which the team could be finalized. It would be a plus for US, Japan, and Russia across all disciplines, but I'm not sure China, France, and Canada would want to pay for it.

I think it would be a shame for Lysacek to be assigned a Skate America host spot when he can get two as a come-back skater. (Two year ago when he was assigned two, he didn't have to use the one-time clause, because he was guaranteed at least one as still having WS in the top 24.) Although there's strong preference for come-back skaters to be assigned one host spot, it's not required, as neither Weir nor Ando was assigned a host spot in the initial allocation this season.