U.S. Men 2021-22 season news & updates

[Vash01]

Ilia Malinin free skate in Linz
He has talent and he is only 16. A future champion?

Ilia MALININ USA | MEN FREE SKATING | Linz 2021 #JGPFigure

MEN FREE SKATE START ORDER :Visit https://isu.org/JuniorGrandPrix for more information on the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating.Courchevel, France - Au...

www.youtube.com

ETA- As I had suspected, he is the son of Tatiana Malinina (singles skater). He was born in the USA (Virginia). I like his potential better than that of Max Naumov.

 

[olympic]

What is the status of Max and Yaro as of now? Anyone know?

 

[Karen-W]

What is the status of Max and Yaro as of now? Anyone know?

Great question. I've been wondering why Yaro wasn't assigned to one of the November Challengers or Golden Spin next month, or even listed as an alternate.

 

[Debbie S]

I guess Phil goofed...

Phil's tweet now says 3 of 6 spots. He did, however, goof (still) on the tally of previous dance placements. He may be mixed up about which U.S. teams were 2nd and 3rd two years ago. Come on, Phil, get it together.

 

[olympic]

Great question. I've been wondering why Yaro wasn't assigned to one of the November Challengers or Golden Spin next month, or even listed as an alternate.

Did he compete domestically this Fall?

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Phil's tweet now says 3 of 6 spots. He did, however, goof (still) on the tally of previous dance placements. He may be mixed up about which U.S. teams were 2nd and 3rd two years ago. Come on, Phil, get it together.

I don't get how it could now say 3 of 6 spots. You can't edit a tweet.

 

[Karen-W]

Did he compete domestically this Fall?

No, but since he was 4th at Nats, he has a bye and didn't need to.

 

[Debbie S]

I don't get how it could now say 3 of 6 spots. You can't edit a tweet.

No idea. I just read the tweet sk9ting fan linked to.

 

[Tavi]

I don't get how it could now say 3 of 6 spots. You can't edit a tweet.

Maybe he deleted the original tweet and retweeted the correct info? Or maybe it always said 3 of 6?

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Maybe he deleted the original tweet and retweeted the correct info? Or maybe it always said 3 of 6?

If he deleted the original tweet, then the FSU poster who posted the link would also have to have deleted the link to the original tweet and put in a link to the new tweet. As far as I can tell, it always said 3 of 6.

 

[Tavi]

If he deleted the original tweet, then the FSU poster who posted the link would also have to have deleted the link to the original tweet and put in a link to the new tweet. As far as I can tell, it always said 3 of 6.

Thx. Of course you’re right. And when I saw the tweet it said 3/6.

 

[clairecloutier]

I wanted to share an interview I did recently with Max Aaron. Max is skating on Saturday at A Night of Stars, a fundraising event at the new Skating Club of Boston. (Tickets: https://scboston.org/grandopening/)

Max Aaron: 'Always give 100 percent, every single day.' - Figure Skaters Online

By Claire Cloutier, Team FSO contributing writer Photos by Robin Ritoss and Skating Club of Boston In 2018, Max Aaron retired from competitive figure skating to start a career in finance. However, he did not leave the sport behind. The former U.S. champion stays involved in figure skating...

figureskatersonline.com

Max talks about what he's been doing lately, his favorite moments from his career, and his participation in skating seminars and shows.

 

[misskarne]

I wanted to share an interview I did recently with Max Aaron. Max is skating on Saturday at A Night of Stars, a fundraising event at the new Skating Club of Boston. (Tickets: https://scboston.org/grandopening/)

Max Aaron: 'Always give 100 percent, every single day.' - Figure Skaters Online

By Claire Cloutier, Team FSO contributing writer Photos by Robin Ritoss and Skating Club of Boston In 2018, Max Aaron retired from competitive figure skating to start a career in finance. However, he did not leave the sport behind. The former U.S. champion stays involved in figure skating...

figureskatersonline.com

Max talks about what he's been doing lately, his favorite moments from his career, and his participation in skating seminars and shows.

It's such a lovely interview! Thankyou!

 

[Sylvia]

I've bumped up Max Aaron's fan thread and included an interview excerpt about his move to NYC for a new job: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/max-aaron-cheer-thread.102854/page-3#post-6125696

Qualifiers for 2022 U.S. Nationals as of 11/29/2021 (I found the document linked from USFS' event page for Nationals):

Championship Men (18; * marks the 12 who are currently listed in USFS' ISP)
*Jason Brown, Skokie Valley SC (264.20 IdF GP) BYE
*Nathan Chen, Salt Lake Figure Skating (307.18 Skate Canada GP) BYE
Artur Dmitriev, Individual Member (189.24 VA-3) E2 - debut at U.S. Nationals
Ryan Dunk, Baltimore FSC (197.66 MA-1) E1
Mitchell Friess, St. Paul FSC, Inc (205.73 WA-2) M1
*Tomoki Hiwatashi, DuPage FSC (221.77 Skate Canada GP) BYE
William Hubbart, Champions' Edge SC (184.60 TX-1) E3
*Liam Kapeikis, Wenatchee FSC (215.51 WA-1) P2 - senior national debut
*Jimmy Ma, The Skating Club of Boston (233.58 U.S. Classic/228.12 Skate America GP) BYE
*Ilia Malinin, Washington FSC (245.35 JGP Linz) BYE - senior national debut
*Maxim Naumov, The Skating Club of Boston (223.15 Cranberry Cup) BYE
*Yaroslav Paniot, All Year FSC (210.84 Cranberry Cup) BYE
Sebastien Payannet, Los Angeles FSC (193.12 NV-3) P3
*Camden Pulkinen, The SC of New York, Inc. (237.97 Rostelecom Cup) BYE
*Eric Sjoberg, Los Angeles FSC (227.12 NV-1) P1
*Dinh Tran, The Skating Club of San Francisco, Inc (189.07 WA-4) P5
Paul Yeung, All Year FSC (192.10 WA-3) P4 - senior national debut
*Vincent Zhou, The Skating Club of San Francisco, Inc (295.56 Skate America) BYE

Junior Men (18 total; * marks the 13 who are currently listed in USFS' ISP)
*Will Annis, The Skating Club of Boston (175.98 TX-1) E4
*Lucas Broussard, Highland SC (185.72 WA-1) P2
*Goku Endo, Los Angeles FSC (171.03 WA-5) P4
Allan Fisher, All Year FSC (139.87 IN-N3) Novice, 3rd
*Jonathan Hildebrandt, The Skating Club of Boston (166.45 MA-3) E5
*Joseph Klein, Skokie Valley SC (187.49 IN-1) M2
*Kai Kovar, Wasatch FSC (190.28 NV-2) P1
Lake Liao, Detroit SC, Inc. (157.10 IN-N1) Novice, 1st
*Samuel Mindra, Portland ISC (167.03 IN-3) P5
Antonio Monaco, Scott Hamilton SC (149.62 TX-N2) Novice, 2nd
Nhat-Viet Nguyen, Dallas FSC, Inc. (173.91 GA-2) M5
*Matthew Nielsen, Winterhurst FSC (194.41 NV-1) M1
*Jacob Sanchez, Hudson Valley FSC (183.36 VA-2) E2
Taira Shinohara, Chicago FSC (186.34 IN-2) M3
*Beck Strommer, Alpine SC (174.50 WA-4) M4
*Michael Xie, All Year FSC (177.24 WA-3) P3
*Robert Yampolsky, North Jersey FSC Inc (202.60 VA-1) E1
*Maxim Zharkov, Dallas FSC, Inc. (180.47 GA-1) E3

7 U.S. men competed on JGP this fall (as currently ranked on the ISU SB list):
24 Ilia MALININ USA ISU JGP Cup of Austria 2021 08/10/2021 245.35 J
68 William ANNIS USA ISU JGP Kosice 2021 03/09/2021 204.60 J
79 Lucas BROUSSARD USA ISU JGP Krasnoyarsk 2021 17/09/2021 198.77 J
86 Jacob SANCHEZ USA ISU JGP Baltic Cup 2021 02/10/2021 194.03 J
89 Matthew NIELSEN USA ISU JGP Ljubljana Cup 2021 24/09/2021 192.38 J
109 Maxim ZHARKOV USA ISU JGP Courchevel (2) 2021 28/08/2021 178.05 J
114 Kai KOVAR USA ISU JGP Courchevel (2) 2021 28/08/2021 175.87 J

 

[livetoskate]

I wanted to share an interview I did recently with Max Aaron. Max is skating on Saturday at A Night of Stars, a fundraising event at the new Skating Club of Boston. (Tickets: https://scboston.org/grandopening/)

Max Aaron: 'Always give 100 percent, every single day.' - Figure Skaters Online

By Claire Cloutier, Team FSO contributing writer Photos by Robin Ritoss and Skating Club of Boston In 2018, Max Aaron retired from competitive figure skating to start a career in finance. However, he did not leave the sport behind. The former U.S. champion stays involved in figure skating...

figureskatersonline.com

Max talks about what he's been doing lately, his favorite moments from his career, and his participation in skating seminars and shows.

Great interview. He seems like such a nice guy & has good things to say about his fellow skaters & how his skating career went. Glad he's enjoying his career in NYC. His sister sounds so impressive too.

 

[Panja]

I wanted to share an interview I did recently with Max Aaron. Max is skating on Saturday at A Night of Stars, a fundraising event at the new Skating Club of Boston. (Tickets: https://scboston.org/grandopening/)

Max Aaron: 'Always give 100 percent, every single day.' - Figure Skaters Online

By Claire Cloutier, Team FSO contributing writer Photos by Robin Ritoss and Skating Club of Boston In 2018, Max Aaron retired from competitive figure skating to start a career in finance. However, he did not leave the sport behind. The former U.S. champion stays involved in figure skating...

figureskatersonline.com

Max talks about what he's been doing lately, his favorite moments from his career, and his participation in skating seminars and shows.

Thank you so much for this interview Claire. It's great to read about him and how he is doing. He seems to be a really nice and warm young man. I'm really pleased to see he's kept in touch with the skating world, and the way he talks about fellow skaters is really admireable. Hurrah for Max!

 

[Karen-W]

Thought I'd share this here... liked and "Wow"ed by Miki Ando herself...

Instagram

www.instagram.com

 

[misskarne]

Well, Jason's team just became the 1000IQ play, by entering him at Golden Spin regardless of whether he qualified for GPF or not - and by not withdrawing him immediately once he qualified. Jason is still on that entry list, so it is possible we will still see him competing next weekend, even with the cancellation of GPF.

 

[Vagabond]

Well, Jason's team just became the 1000IQ play, by entering him at Golden Spin regardless of whether he qualified for GPF or not - and by not withdrawing him immediately once he qualified.

Isn't that USFS, not "Jason's team"? Don't Member Federations decide which of their skaters to send to Challenger Series events, not the skaters themselves?

 

[Karen-W]

Isn't that USFS, not "Jason's team"? Don't Member Federations decide which of their skaters to send to Challenger Series events, not the skaters themselves?

The USFS makes the final decisions on entries but Jason's team absolutely requested that assignment. They wanted him to compete that weekend, regardless of whether it was at the GOF or GS.

 

[Sylvia]

Vincent Zhou article (dated 11/30/21 before the cancellation of the GPF):

Vincent Zhou Putting Faith in Preparation for Grand Prix Final - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

Vincent Zhou has adopted a personal mantra for this season.

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

He mentioned he wasn’t able to train properly in the weeks leading into NHK Trophy due to being sick (not covid-related).

"Every single day, no matter good or bad, I have that end goal in sight," he said. "I just have this boundless drive to want to show just how good I can be and I think what's more valuable than anything else is having that desire and believing in myself."

 

[toddlj]

I think USFS should petition for an exception to the "3 per country" rule at Golden Spin, like the Russians did in the JGP. It would be great to add Ilia, especially, but also Nathan and Vincent, if they want.

 

[misskarne]

I can't picture the Golden Spin organisers wanting to add a bunch more entrants with less than a week before the event, especially given my understanding is that GS has had to move to a smaller rink because of earthquake damage.

 

[Stephanie]

Jason is out of Golden Spin of Zagreb per the USFS international assignments page

Too bad Ilia Malinin couldn't take his place :-/

 

[Sylvia]

Replying to @VGThuy in this thread :

Is it bad in the junior and novice ranks in the U.S. men right now? Like, will there be someone who can rise up once they become age-eligible before the 2026 Olympics?

After Ilia the highest scoring US man on the JGP was Will Annis, who turns 17 in January. He's talented but still rough around the edges. At this point I'd put him behind Maxim Naumov.

Annis has an impressive ability to rotate different quads, including loop, but consistency in competition is a work-in-progress (like for all young skaters).

The Junior men's field at Nationals looks pretty wide open this year with the 3 who have landed 3A cleanly in international competition being Annis, Zharkov & Kovar (first 2 have attempted quads in competition this season and I recall recently seeing good practice attempts by Kovar):

Junior Men (18 total; * marks the 13 who are currently listed in USFS' ISP)
*Will Annis, The Skating Club of Boston (175.98 TX-1) E4
*Lucas Broussard, Highland SC (185.72 WA-1) P2
*Goku Endo, Los Angeles FSC (171.03 WA-5) P4
Allan Fisher, All Year FSC (139.87 IN-N3) Novice, 3rd
*Jonathan Hildebrandt, The Skating Club of Boston (166.45 MA-3) E5
*Joseph Klein, Skokie Valley SC (187.49 IN-1) M2
*Kai Kovar, Wasatch FSC (190.28 NV-2) P1
Lake Liao, Detroit SC, Inc. (157.10 IN-N1) Novice, 1st
*Samuel Mindra, Portland ISC (167.03 IN-3) P5
Antonio Monaco, Scott Hamilton SC (149.62 TX-N2) Novice, 2nd
Nhat-Viet Nguyen, Dallas FSC, Inc. (173.91 GA-2) M5
*Matthew Nielsen, Winterhurst FSC (194.41 NV-1) M1
*Jacob Sanchez, Hudson Valley FSC (183.36 VA-2) E2
Taira Shinohara, Chicago FSC (186.34 IN-2) M3
*Beck Strommer, Alpine SC (174.50 WA-4) M4
*Michael Xie, All Year FSC (177.24 WA-3) P3
*Robert Yampolsky, North Jersey FSC Inc (202.60 VA-1) E1
*Maxim Zharkov, Dallas FSC, Inc. (180.47 GA-1) E3

7 U.S. men competed on JGP this fall (as currently ranked on the ISU SB list):
24 Ilia MALININ USA ISU JGP Cup of Austria 2021 08/10/2021 245.35 J
68 William ANNIS USA ISU JGP Kosice 2021 03/09/2021 204.60 J
79 Lucas BROUSSARD USA ISU JGP Krasnoyarsk 2021 17/09/2021 198.77 J
86 Jacob SANCHEZ USA ISU JGP Baltic Cup 2021 02/10/2021 194.03 J
89 Matthew NIELSEN USA ISU JGP Ljubljana Cup 2021 24/09/2021 192.38 J
109 Maxim ZHARKOV USA ISU JGP Courchevel (2) 2021 28/08/2021 178.05 J
114 Kai KOVAR USA ISU JGP Courchevel (2) 2021 28/08/2021 175.87 J

Broussard, Sanchez and Klein are 3 juniors I really enjoy watching perform and are gifted in expressing their music (there are others in the field too).

I really like Lucas Broussard, only 15 and seems like he has promise.

Also... Tomoki is only 21... is he staying for the next cycle?

Hope so!

 

[misskarne]

Jason is out of Golden Spin of Zagreb per the USFS international assignments page

Too bad Ilia Malinin couldn't take his place :-/

Jason is still listed on the Golden Spin entry page.

 

[Tavi]

Jason is still listed on the Golden Spin entry page.

The US assignments page says withdrawn 12/3, which is today.

 

[toddlj]

The US assignments page says withdrawn 12/3, which is today.

I'm just a bit confused as to why... hopefully just to stay safe and train at home.

 

[VGThuy]

Better to be safe than sorry, honestly. Tis the season to not take needless trips.

 

[Karen-W]

Better to be safe than sorry, honestly. Tis the season to not take needless trips.

Agreed. With Omnicron still quite the unknown quantity, I can see his team deciding that an additional competition just this coming week wasn't worth any potential risk.