Devastating. Nationals won't feel complete without our top pair, but I will feel much better if their petition is accepted (as it deserves to be) and they are given every possible opportunity to show readiness for both the Olympics and the Team Event. Earlier in the thread I dissected all the US pairs scores to help show that Alexa & Brandon are our best choice for the team. There's nothing that could happen at US Nationals that would change my feeling on that.
Alexa said she's doing the best skating of her life, and I could see that in the way she was practicing. She posted a runthrough of a recent LP and it was so fantastic that I just feel even more sad now. This pair has such great potential and athleticism and no real weaknesses. I would have been surprised if they didn't win this Nationals. I'm praying USFS accepts their petition so that our Olympic selection can be based on pair skating and international scoring history and not who is lucky enough to be last man standing.
I'm relieved USFS has such a good and detailed Selection Procedure document these days that is based on international scoring far more than Nationals. If they are truly following that document, K/F should have a spot of the team as our clear best international pair that is in a higher Priority Grouping. The are the only US pair that has ever shown consistency in scoring over 200 points, and they have plenty of room to grow.
Alexa was in a similar predicament in 2017- she wasn't recovered from her surgery in time for Nationals, but they were named to the World/4CC teams and competed there on limited training time and were the US's best pair at both. So she has experience handling these situations well.
It would be wise to solidify selection for the Team Event at a later date after giving Alexa/Brandon a chance to be monitored. There's no rush in determining that. The Team Event SP is especially important, and their SP scores were clear best among US pairs. There were so many lower scores by the other US pairs, that it really solidified K/F being the best choice there.
No, they said Jackie SHOULD have known. Why they think that, or mentioned him at all, I don't know.
Jackie clearly didn't know about the situation because he remained in the practice arena through an ice-resurface waiting to watch Knierim/Frazier practice and then expressed surprise at them not being there. Hours later he still thought K/F were competing. So obviously he didn't know much before everyone else did. And what would it even matter if he did. I wasn't sure what Dave was getting at. During distressing times, it's easy to want to lash out at people, and Jackie was the target.
I was fixated on Yesterdays Pairs session where Alexa was the only one on the rink with a mask on. I thought that was thoughtful of her but I found it was weird that she would have one on and not Brandon… And then watching the ladies practices just now a lot of people had a mask so I just thought maybe there was nothing to it then. But who knows
I think Alexa wore a mask during a gala practice at GP France, so it seemed normal enough to see her in a mask here. She had been doing everything in her power to try to stay safe-- I remember her tweeting about getting groceries delivered and it seemed like she wasn't even leaving her house at all leading up until Nationals aside from going to train.
Skaters aren't required to wear a mask while skating or during anything overly strenuous, so Brandon not wearing one on the ice is totally understandable especially in pairs. It's often nobody's fault when someone gets sick, it's clearly just going around now and there's sadly nothing we can do to fully protect the athletes. It's very sad for them to get dreams crushed over something that often tends to just be cold symptoms. Think of how easily the common cold spreads.
Why the suspicion--how about hearing the excessive coughing on the practice ice and her wearing a mask? If it was Brandon on the other hand, it would be even more irresponsible considering the fact that he wasn't wearing a mask at all. IMO, if it makes you feel better I can just say Alexa/Brandon--I didn't mean to exactly pin it on her but regardless of who, BOTH should NOT have been in the arena even if only one tested positive because everyone in close contact including their coaches should be isolating right now.
You made a lot of wrong assumptions. Both skaters tested negative before getting on the plane. They had to present a negative test to USFS, not the airport, to get into the competition. They practiced Tuesday night. Brandon went to get tested Wednesday and it was positive, so they didn't go to that day's practice. Alexa wasn't in the arena for Jr pairs, she tweeted a photo during it where she was watching on a TV.
The point I was trying to make is that by not staying put, anything you do puts you at risk of contracting it and there were plenty of opportunities to get sick.
