U.S. Women [#1]: The Contenders Unmask Themselves

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Brenda_Bottems said:
......

I may get flamed for this,but I found the coach's casual cleavage in the kiss and cry to be in poor taste and frankly inappropriate. This is a junior-level competition with many children and minors present—not happy hour at the local highway tavern.

-BB
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ITA, BB! Speaking of Courchevel Kiss n’ Cry images... I wish that young lady skaters wouldn’t sit in KnK with splayed legs, with a water bottle between their legs...pointing directly at you-know-what!!! Yikes!!! (At least the offending young miss put a jacket over her lap after the LP.)
 
Brenda_Bottems said:
I am thrilled to see our US ladies back on top of the podium,where they belong.

Clare is a delicate and enchanting skater. She was undermarked. Shades of Beatrisa Liang.

Lindsey's interview was lovely and I find it bewildering that short interview is worthy of the discourse here. She has shown measurable improvement since the National Championships in most aspects of her skating. However,the poem reading in the middle of the program is superfluous and suspect this is an attempt to pander to the eastern European judging bloc.

I may get flamed for this,but I found the coach's casual cleavage in the kiss and cry to be in poor taste and frankly inappropriate. This is a junior-level competition with many children and minors present—not happy hour at the local highway tavern.

-BB
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I say bring back frosted tips and sable coats!
 
Congratulations to Lindsay and Clare. They both skated well. Lindsay has methodical and careful execution and attention to detail with finely finished movements and a lovely Ina Bauer. However, Clare's performances impressed me more for the fluidity and quickness in her graceful and intricate movement and fine edges and speed in skating skills, step sequences and flow and transitions into and out of her jumps. She also had a really picturesque layback and Biellmann spin. She has a beautiful abandon which is vividly displayed in her engaging range of facial expressions and sophisticated arm and back flow and extension that brings emotional resonance to her performances. Given these admirable qualities, Clare is really getting low balled in PCS combined with harsh tech calls. In my opinion, the micro instant replay tech game and tying the PCS directly to tech scores irrelevant of the stated criteria takes away from the marvelous macro elements of skating.
 
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IMPRESSIVE JGP debut today for Isabeau Levito in Courchevel - won the SP with a big score of 71.25! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6j0O218uKE
She landed 2A, 3F & 3Lz+3T cleanly and was the only skater to receive all level 4s in spins & footwork.

Josephine Lee, 13, is in 7th (51.30) - only 3T+1T today (has been landing her 3T+3T combo consistently this summer) and didn't get her levels on 2 spins, but she did land her 2A & 3F.
 
JGP Courchevel (2) results for the USA:
GOLD Isabeau LEVITO 202.35 1 1 (131.10 in FS - 69.90 TES/61.20 PCS) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1EN7CP1D5A
Jumps landed in FS: 2A, 3Lz, 3Lo, 2A, 3F+3T (11.36 points), 3Lz+1Eu+3S (12.78 pts), 3F!+2T(-0.23); plus level 4 on footwork (only one) & 2 of her 3 spins.

8th Josephine LEE 144.97 7 7 (93.67 in FS) - expressive performance to the Don Quixote ballet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XCAtr7PDQ4
Quite a big jump to the JGP from 12th in Novice Ladies at the Pacific Coast Sectional Championships in November 2019 (she didn't enter the virtual U.S. Championship Series in either Junior or Novice this past season).
 
ErikWilliam said:
I think your problem is that you cannot believe that I and ALOT of other people do not see her skating "for the joy of it". Is she "selling" her program despite the jumps being off? Does she sell her spiral, spread eagle, flying camel, choreo, WHATEVER to show she is indeed invested in the performance? What I am seeing is a detached skater skating to a piece of music that can really carry itself because it is so uplifting, and she's just going through the motions with no emotional commitment. Every. dang. time. If there is joy in her skating that I'm not seeing, could you please reference to me even one second of her performance where she exhibits such? You accuse me of being unable to believe that someone can skate for the joy of it, which is just incorrect. Nugumanova skates for the joy of it, and she'll never make a World/Olympic team, but her skating is compelling because you can see that she's skating "for the joy of it" (also because she's a beautiful skater as well). I love watching Nugu's performances, even when she usually bombs. I'm not poo-pooing her skating and saying she should retire, because it's clear to the eyes that she is happy and enjoying herself. So yes, I can believe that someone can skate FTJOI. Do I see Gracie skating FTJOI? No. Almost the opposite.
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I think you have a point for when she competes, she does look a bit miserable. BUT check out her practices, she has the joy of skating still and still skated well and does the harder elements as well. Unfortunately her nerves seem to impact her skating at the competitions which is really tough as that is like 5% of your actual skating time. So one could argue that for 95% of the time Gracie is skating for the joy of it.
 
Does anyone know if Isabeau is skating at the senior level at Nationals? Her cumulative score is just 3 points behind Alysa's. If yes, this should be interesting....
 
Levito is very impressive (we have so many strong junior ladies competing--great to see it), but I'd assume Liu's PCS scores are going to improve markedly by the time Nationals rolls around--think the type of jump Sotnikova saw between Europeans & Sochi in 2014. Liu was still getting a couple 6s in the SP at Cranberry. She's got multiple Senior Bs & the GP series to get the judges used to her new & improved skating skills, and if she competes well I think there's little chance the US judges are going to keep it close between her & Levito at Nats, given that Levito isn't age eligible for the Olympics & Liu could be going into Beijing as US #1.
 
baramin said:
Levito is very impressive (we have so many strong junior ladies competing--great to see it), but I'd assume Liu's PCS scores are going to improve markedly by the time Nationals rolls around--think the type of jump Sotnikova saw between Europeans & Sochi in 2014. Liu was still getting a couple 6s in the SP at Cranberry. She's got multiple Senior Bs & the GP series to get the judges used to her new & improved skating skills, and if she competes well I think there's little chance the US judges are going to keep it close between her & Levito at Nats, given that Levito isn't age eligible for the Olympics & Liu could be going into Beijing as US #1.
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IMHO, Alysa has more speed and power than Isabeau. And the latter's technique on her 3L3T leaves me with my heart in my mouth.....
 
Isabeau and Lindsay are looking great! I think they would still be medaling even if the Russians had been able to participate in these first JGPs. The Russian junior girls looked pretty rough at the test skates with the exception of Frolova IIRC. Akatyeva and Zhilina appear to be nowhere near as consistent on their "ultra C" elements as the prior juniors through Valieva.
 
alexikeguchi said:
Isabeau and Lindsay are looking great! I think they would still be medaling even if the Russians had been able to participate in these first JGPs. The Russian junior girls looked pretty rough at the test skates with the exception of Frolova IIRC. Akatyeva and Zhilina appear to be nowhere near as consistent on their "ultra C" elements as the prior juniors through Valieva.
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Zhilina was struggling last season with her "ultra C" elements so it doesn't surprise me that she continues to struggle this summer.
 
OMG! I just watched Isabeau - captivating. Simply amazing. Shasha 2.0 - with jumps

She was just totally amazing. I wish we could hear Uncle Dick's opinion.

She has the technical ability of the Russians but maintains the elegant expression of greats like Sasha Cohen, Kostner Karen Chen.
 
I love Levito.

For all intents and purposes, she and her team are challenging Russian dominance in the Junior Ladies division at their own game. She has Russian coaches and choreographers, skates to Russian music, and has Russian costuming and packaging.

If I had seen her cold and knew nothing about her country of origin, I would have thought she was the next big thing to come out of Sambo 70.
 
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Foolhardy Ham Lint said:
...If I had seen her cold and knew nothing of her country of origin, I would have thought she was the next big thing to come out of Sambo 70.
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...and therein lies the biggest problem. She does have Sambo 70 technique but she is not a product on an assembly line (like a Sambo 70 girl) and Levito is several years away from being age-eligible to compete in ISU events as a senior and as we have all just seen with Alysa Liu, a lot of physical growth can take place between now and then.

Alysa had the good fortune to team with Jeremy Abbott and Massimo Scali, who are re-tooling her technique (just in the nick of time I might add, prior to the re-tool, she struggled). Isabeau is going to need a re-tool too (that is if she wants to continue past the age of 15).

The judges love Sambo 70 technique but it's not technique that's built to last. I would rather see Isabeau start jumping like Tuktamysheva, so that she can continue skating indefinitely (should she so desire).
 
layman said:
...and therein lies the biggest problem. She does have Sambo 70 technique but she is not a product on an assembly line (like a Sambo 70 girl) and Levito is several years away from being age-eligible to compete in ISU events as a senior and as we have all just seen with Alysa Liu, a lot of physical growth can take place between now and then.
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Isabeau will be senior-eligible next season
 
layman said:
...and therein lies the biggest problem. She does have Sambo 70 technique but she is not a product on an assembly line (like a Sambo 70 girl) and Levito is several years away from being age-eligible to compete in ISU events as a senior and as we have all just seen with Alysa Liu, a lot of physical growth can take place between now and then.
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Wouldn't she be eligible for the Sr GP next year? Then ISU championships the year after, if I understand current rules.
 
layman said:
...and therein lies the biggest problem. She does have Sambo 70 technique but she is not a product on an assembly line (like a Sambo 70 girl) and Levito is several years away from being age-eligible to compete in ISU events as a senior and as we have all just seen with Alysa Liu, a lot of physical growth can take place between now and then.
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Huh? She turns 15 on March 3rd. She has less than a year before she's age-eligible for seniors.
 
Isabeau will be age eligible for Srs next season...why I keep harping that, should the Beijing Olympics be postponed by a year, Isabeau could be a huge factor to mix-up the women’s podium. Not that anyone wants an Olympic delay... 😉
 
Frau Muller said:
Isabeau will be age eligible for Srs next season...why I keep harping that, should the Beijing Olympics be postponed by a year, Isabeau could be a huge factor to mix-up the women’s podium. Not that anyone wants an Olympic delay... 😉
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Good thinking! The extra year helped several Olympians this year. It would presumably be a gift from god to Isabeau if the Olympics were postponed to 2023. Not so much fun for Mariah or Bradie or Karen though.
 
Wait...am I missing something, does Levito have quads? I just watched her Courcheval LP and their was no 3A or 4s, right? I mean talking about her being on the podium if the Olympics are postponed a year seems a bit much considering she doesn't have a 3A or a 4 in her last year of Jrs. Or am I missing something? I realize Shcherbakova's LP didn't have a quad at Worlds, but that was sort of an anomaly and she was very well established. For all I know Levito could be a world beater one day, but I didn't see anything that I thought was worthy of pre-Senior hype, like what EG's skaters have been doing the past few seasons in the juniors.
 
Maximillian said:
Wait...am I missing something, does Levito have quads? I just watched her Courcheval LP and their was no 3A or 4s, right? I mean talking about her being on the podium if the Olympics are postponed a year seems a bit much considering she doesn't have a 3A or a 4 in her last year of Jrs. Or am I missing something? I realize Shcherbakova's LP didn't have a quad at Worlds, but that was sort of an anomaly and she was very well established. For all I know Levito could be a world beater one day, but I didn't see anything that I thought was worthy of pre-Senior hype, like what EG's skaters have been doing the past few seasons in the juniors.
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She's working on those jumps. I think she attempted some quads in summer competitions.
 
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