U.S. Ladies [#20]: In a Week, Maybe Two, They'll Make You a Star

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Willin said:
It also seems like there's just fewer people in this exhibition in general. Usually they have a Synchro team (well, not that there are any high level synchro teams in the bay area due to USFSA's new short-sighted rules, and only one in the entire Pacific Coast section) or at least a local act. I think they teased that Kristi Yamaguchi was supposed to perform as well. I wouldn't read too much into Ashley not performing. USFSA probably just wanted more time to congratulate themselves in that Olympic champions segment.

On another note, if USFSA spent less time congratulating itself and its past champions, maybe they could provide better in-arena and on-TV analysis, particularly of the Olympic team selection.

ETA: Lisa McKinnon posted a picture of Ashley's La La Land dress. It's even prettier close up!
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That's one if not the prettiest skating dress I've ever seen. Also the program could've been amazing with more work on it, Ashley should have just kept and increased the content of it.
 
insideedgeua said:
She probably wasn’t asked. The list looks like Olympic bound skaters, Olympic alternates and then the Junior Champions, plus Ross.
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But she is the 1st Olympic Alternate? You really think they wouldn't invite Ashley a three time US champion to the exhibition? I mean none of us know if she was asked to skate but I think we all understand her declining to skate after her reaction to the selection/judging.
 
They is no way that Ashley was not invited to skate in the gala. She was probably just too mentally exhausted to want to do it. I really wish that she would go to 4CC. It's going to be a competitive competition this year with all of the Japanese women, and I would have a lot of respect for her if she goes. But I'm wondering if it's more likely at this point that we'll see her in next season's all athletes Dancing with the Stars.

Also, it seems like in the post-sp and lp reaction videos, she was dropping more hints about "maybe it's my last nationals, maybe it's not", so I have less confidence in her continuing than I did earlier this season.
 
Ashley, being one of the biggest names, was definitely asked to do the gala. She must have understandably declined.
 
I wouldn`t be sursprised, if she wasn`t asked. It's obvious TPTB have decided, they don`t need her anymore. Chens LP got 64.33 PCS at Worlds 2017, 68,30 at Nats 2017 and suddenly it's worth even more at Nats 2018, when it was clearly skated worse. Meanwhile Wagner gets the same PCS as at Worlds and three points less than Nats 2017. Go figure.
 
edwina said:
That's one if not the prettiest skating dress I've ever seen. Also the program could've been amazing with more work on it, Ashley should have just kept and increased the content of it.
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I really wish she used that LP instead of reusing Moulin Rouge, a program she did used for two seasons. Ashley peaked between 2014 and 2016. She was never able to repeat her success from the 2016 Worlds.
 
coppertop1 said:
I really wish she used that LP instead of reusing Moulin Rouge, a program she did used for two seasons. Ashley peaked between 2014 and 2016. She was never able to repeat her success from the 2016 Worlds.
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As much as I like Ashley, I still think she may have thought she could cruise into the games with Gracie out and spent too much time on endorsements and interviews and not enough time on the ice. And then Bradie came along and upset the entire apple cart.
 
Yazmeen said:
As much as I like Ashley, I still think she may have thought she could cruise into the games with Gracie out and spent too much time on endorsements and interviews and not enough time on the ice. And then Bradie came along and upset the entire apple cart.
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I don't think it was just Bradie, I think she assumed Karen would continue to meltdown and that "they like" me. So she was depending on reputation. Honestly sitting in the arena those were not great skates from my point of view, no fire, slower then I recall and overall it felt like "practice" not "performance"
 
I don’t think Wagner paid much attention to what her competition was or wasn’t doing, so I don’t think that’s the reason.

The one assumption that is clear that she made was that her PCS would remain consistent across competitions, both nationally and internationally. Whether that is a reasonable assumption or not, I cannot speak to since I’m not an IJS expert. Still, her fatal mistake here was not fighting for EVERY technical point she could as an insurance policy, especially after noticing the trend in the SP. I think she may have lost a level on a spin yet again - as well as popping that salchow - she left the door open and if she was counting on the PCS to keep her in the hunt, that’s a gamble that she lost...this one is on her.
 
Another factor: once again, doing as few competitions as possible prior to Nationals. Am I correct that Ashley was invited/assigned to Challenger events but refused them? Per her Wikipedia page, she's never done any of these ever while Mirai has participated for the last 4 seasons of them. Imagine if she had taken La La Land to a couple of those events and gotten some feedback and then worked on the program to improve it...

I wanted to see a team with both Mirai and Ashley on it (not a big Karen fan and I'm just learning about Bradie). But Ashley really tripped over her own sense of entitlement this year. And she didn't help herself being "furious" - while being angry is understandable, focusing on blaming the judges as responsible for her failure is not. She already has a reputation as as diva - I've read a lot of comments out there and outside of serious fans, she's being viewed as a spoiled brat and there are even comments about how she shouldn't have been sent 4 years ago, etc. The best thing she could do now for her own reputation, especially if she has any thoughts of continuing, is to suck it up and go to 4CC and skate lights out there.
 
While not a fan, I respect Ashley enough to think she tried her hardest at Nats. She was dealing with loss of training time because of her ankle and a last minute program change that may not have amounted to much in terms of program layout but required all-new interpretation. Those two things alone are plenty to account for a subpar performance IMO. Maybe if she had done LLL all season at least one of them wouldn't have been an issue. I just wish she had handled the defeat more graciously. She wasn't realistic about the scoring.
 
Coco said:
But she beat Karen on TES, so Karen hardly assassinated anyone. It was the judges.
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But Karen did skate well enough for the judges to get away with that, and they did it for a reason (her record, scoring potential and maybe future potential). I think Ashley underestimated all that.
 
"Karen Chen: The Quiet Assassin On A Mission to Reach The 2018 Winter Olympics | NBC Asian America" (fluff piece from this past fall): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ggF-xsyJ8g
Yazmeen said:
Another factor: once again, doing as few competitions as possible prior to Nationals. Am I correct that Ashley was invited/assigned to Challenger events but refused them?
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All the Grand Prix skaters normally are offered the opportunity to do an international before the GP season and it's been Ashley's personal choice not to do one.
 
Sylvia said:
"Karen Chen: The Quiet Assassin On A Mission to Reach The 2018 Winter Olympics | NBC Asian America" (fluff piece from this past fall): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ggF-xsyJ8g

All the Grand Prix skaters normally are offered the opportunity to do an international before the GP season and it's been Ashley's personal choice not to do one.
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That's what I thought, but I wanted confirmation, thanks.
 
The thing about being a quiet assassin is that even if you tell people that you are a quiet assassin no one worries about you until it's too late. :sekret:
 
Sylvia said:
"Karen Chen: The Quiet Assassin On A Mission to Reach The 2018 Winter Olympics | NBC Asian America" (fluff piece from this past fall): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ggF-xsyJ8g

All the Grand Prix skaters normally are offered the opportunity to do an international before the GP season and it's been Ashley's personal choice not to do one.
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Interesting that Karen comments in that vid that the judges were looking for skaters to put out solid performances all season. Not that she quite managed that, but at least she was clear about it from the get-go. It makes me feel a little better about Ross. Just a little, though.
 
Yazmeen said:
As much as I like Ashley, I still think she may have thought she could cruise into the games with Gracie out and spent too much time on endorsements and interviews and not enough time on the ice. And then Bradie came along and upset the entire apple cart.
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Ashley wanted do be on the Olympic podium so I really doubt she was even thinking of Gracie or Karen or coasting to the team this season. She did not just want a trip to the Olympics, she wanted a medal. She was probably thinking of the Russian and Japanese ladies. Ashley is 26-she is closer to 30 than to 20. I am impressed how she is even still in the mix given her age and being on the scene for 10 years. She was injured earlier too.

When she was 4th in 2014 she never once complained about the judging so I do feel she was sincere. Perhaps she should have kept it to herself but she was not necessarily wrong. She has always been outspoken it’s not like it anything new.
 
Mirai's smile ever since making the team:). Just beaming permanently this week. We've seen flashes of it now and then, but this is the most like Mirai 2010 that I have seen her in four years. Just all the way through the Gala that smile and beaming personality were there. So happy for her!

Happy for all the members of the Olympic & Junior Worlds teams. I really thought there was quite a chance that none of my favorite U.S. ladies--Karen, Mirai, Ting, & Alysa--would be headed to either the Olympics or Junior Worlds. Now three age-eligible athletes have made their respective teams, and Alysa just had the best competition I could have imagined.

Does anyone have thoughts about who the U.S. might send to the Bavarian Open?

I hope Pooja Kalyan will be able to go as she had two great skates in the SP and LP at Nationals and finished 2nd among the Junior ladies, outscoring Ting & all the junior-eligible ladies except Starr competing in the senior event. Also a few people hypothesized that Haines & Koszuta might receive an invitation, which would be nice as at Nationals they bested two dance teams that received JGP invites this season. Plus H&K would have received an invite to the Bavarian Open last season in advanced novices if they had been age eligible.
 
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UGG said:
Ashley is 26-she is closer to 30 than to 20. I am impressed how she is even still in the mix given her age and being on the scene for 10 years. She was injured earlier too.
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I do not believe some of these people really understand how hard it is as an athlete to get older. Ashley was never one of those little boneless contortionists to begin with and she has been very candid about her back issues and nerve damage. Bodies do wear out...neither she nor anyone else should be called lazy, disinterested, or "cruising" simply because time and gravity have taken their toll.

To whoever said Dancing with the Stars...that would be awesome! It will most certainly get better ratings that the Olympics this year.
 
Clutz said:
I do not believe some of these people really understand how hard it is as an athlete to get older. Ashley was never one of those little boneless contortionists to begin with and she has been very candid about her back issues and nerve damage. Bodies do wear out...neither she nor anyone else should be called lazy, disinterested, or "cruising" simply because time and gravity have taken their toll.
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This. And meanwhile the young Russians have been upping the technical ante
 
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