U.S. Ladies [#19]: Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

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I feel like Hicks is often good on the Grand Prix and then come US Nationals she can't maintain or build on that early season success and fads into the middle of the pack. I don't think there is a clear front runner for the US right now, so it's probably best to wait and see what happens come January before predicting who is going to make the US team.
 
And I don’t think it happened here. My only complaint is I thought Hongbo score was high for what she did. That said, it is personal preference and probably not based on the rules :lol:
Her speed is variable, and in the worst way: she gets bogged down in her elements. That limits her ability to do TR, IN, PE, minimally, yet she's marked as is if she is skating well.

She was smoother and less brittle than I've see her in the past, but that's not a very high bar.

her speed and power,
Chen was my biggest disappointment here. She wasn't slow by any means, but I wasn't seeing much of either. Between Chen and Wagner's unusually flat presentation in the second half of the program (for her), yikes, US Ladies.

Hicks was a highlight, absolutely beautiful skating quality, with power, flow, and amazing glide off the blade.
 
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Hicks was a highlight, absolutely beautiful skating quality, with power, flow, and amazing glide off the blade.


Courtney has incredible basic skating skills & that's why she scores high with international judges. Some people seemed surprised about her score yesterday ... It's the skating skills.

If she were ever to put that together with consistent jumping & top-level packaging .... look out world! ;)
 
I was surprised that Tara picked her to win this week on the Ice Talk podcast

Say what???????????

has tara ever heard of this woman called Kaetlyn Osmond?

and tara does realize all this is going down in a country called Canada?

I have no idea what Johnny and Tara have been lighting up recently. lol.
 
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I agree with you and @oleada Ash SP seemed a bit stale, and while I always love a brand new fresh costume Im not sure this dress fully goes with the music.

Was just odd to see Ash kinda give up on her last spin.... Yes, i know the spinning isn't her strong suit but to me she seemed like she just bailed on the last spin and said Bye Felicia.

JUST DONT understand why she didn't go out there and do a B to get the rust out, because it was well, rusty.

I love her tho and I feel she will climb to 5th or 4th tomorrow.

With her low placement yesterday, and her international results in 2017, more and more I'm sensing that Ashley's world silver in Boston was a double edged sword. Firstly, when Gold bombed, Wagner was the Plan B (much like Lipnitskaya and Sotnikova in Sochi), and secondly, it felt like a lifetime achievement award. Thanks for everything. See you later.
 
Upon re-watching Karen's SP, it's clear that she was distracted the whole time. This SP isn't a natural fit for her and I think Karen wants to stick with it in order to show she can do a program like this and expand her range, but I just wish she didn't have a program where she has to try so hard. I wouldn't mind if she changed her SP as well to something a bit more in her wheelhouse (like one of those gorgeous exhibitions) but that might be too similar to her LP. I think what's really holding Karen back from being a consistent medal threat internationally is that although she clearly has power and speed and good (some times great to excellent) edges on some of her MITF, she doesn't showcase her edges enough throughout the routine and in the footwork. Comparing Karen with Kaetlyn, Kaetlyn makes so much more use of her edges throughout and it shows a mastery of the blade. Karen seems to only be able to do it on certain moves during the program. It goes to show you power and speed in of itself is not enough.
 
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I think Ashley retired after the Would Silver. She has not informed her body and is just going through the motions...but her mind knows.

Perhaps there is some pressure for her to keep skating ..does it give us more spots?
 
I was pleasantly surprised by Courtney Hicks, I've always had a soft spot for her because her powerful skating is a stand out for US ladies of late. Rohene's choreography looked so good on her. She needs to keep him as a choreographer.

Ashley - disappointed is all I can say. I am huge Ashley fan but it does not look good for her.

Karen Chen - Her performance was puzzling. She seemed uninterested.


Courtney was so good.
 
Ashley didn't look great in the SP, but I'm not ready to go all doom and gloom yet. Literally every skater but Hicks, the Russians, and Osmond were getting absolutely nailed by the caller on URs (and still are getting nailed today). If there is a more favorable caller at Nationals or the Olympics and Ashley gets her fire back she'll be in a better position at those events.

ETA: Does Ashley have a cold? I saw her sniffling a couple times in the FP
 
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... US ladies are in a very strange state right now... It's all quite frustrating.

^^ And you might become more depressed if you listen to some of Dave & friend's snarky ramblings about Mirai and U.S. ladies on TSL Rostelecom review.

Who knew how long the backlash against MK's dominance and general bad luck for U.S. ladies would last when MK exited the scene and Sasha took her last bows? Unfortunately, Kimmie Meissner succumbed to injury and brilliant Alissa Czisny never quite managed to make a breakthrough herself on the World stage, despite having inspired many of her generation, including Italy's Carolina Kostner who finally came into her own artistically during 2011-2012, the season after Alissa's captivating Winter into Spring fp that won Alissa a GPF gold medal in 2011.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCBmjO_v1WI

But in figure skating, hope springs eternal. Doesn't it? :drama:
 
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I think what's really holding Karen back from being a consistent medal threat internationally is that although she clearly has power and speed and good (some times great to excellent) edges on some of her MITF, she doesn't showcase her edges enough throughout the routine and in the footwork. Comparing Karen with Kaetlyn, Kaetlyn makes so much more use of her edges throughout and it shows a mastery of the blade. Karen seems to only be able to do it on certain moves during the program. It goes to show you power and speed in of itself is not enough.

What held Karen back today was her jumps. I personally think she makes quite good use of her blades. One thing to remember also is that Kaetlyn is 3+ years older than Karen. 3 years' more experience can make a big difference in performance quality ...
 
I guess good for Ashley for getting bronze but none of the performances were good IMO. I thought Hicks was better but PCS cost her.

What was with judge 6 going -3 on Hicks' triple flip-triple loop but only -1 on Osmond's triple flip-triple toe?
 
Ash kind of backed into the bronze here. I was feeling gloomy at the beginning of the LP but I recall that Ash is usually subpar in her opener. She really needs to work out her tech by the 2nd GP to have a prayer though
 
I guess good for Ashley for getting bronze but none of the performances were good IMO. I thought Hicks was better but PCS cost her.

What was with judge 6 going -3 on Hicks' triple flip-triple loop but only -1 on Osmond's triple flip-triple toe?

Judge 6 was the Australian judge. I have no sense how much experience she would have at this level. With the rapid improvement in Australian Skaters over the past few years I assume Australian judges are getting more chances to be on higher level panels. I think that is great for the sport and great for Australian Skating. There may be a few growing pains, but that is to be expected and well worth it if it means we can get greater breadth on the panel. I would have given them both -2.
 
I was pleasantly surprised by Courtney Hicks, I've always had a soft spot for her because her powerful skating is a stand out for US ladies of late. Rohene's choreography looked so good on her. She needs to keep him as a choreographer.
Courtney has been working with both Rohene Ward and Jonathan Cassar for a few years now. This year Ward choreographed her SP and Cassar her FS (eta: ditto last season and it was reversed in 2015-16). I think Cassar first choreographed her 2013-14 FS and Ward started working with her in 2015.

Hicks will get a chance to compete again in just a few weeks -- at Warsaw Cup, her second ISU Challenger this fall.

Caroline Zhang and Angela Wang now are both listed for their second ISU Challenger -- Tallinn Trophy in Estonia, Nov. 21-26 -- on USFS' Assignments page. This should give Angela a bye though Pacific Coast Sectionals, along with Courtney (Warsaw Cup is the same week as Sectionals).
 
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