2022 U.S. Sectionals, Pairs & Ice Dance Finals - Nov 7-13 in Norwood MA, East Lansing MI, & San Francisco CA

[Sylvia]

TES minimums for Nationals - Rhythm Dance: 23 / Free Dance: 42

Leah Krauskopf / YuanShi Jin should end up 5th - do they and Koncius/Shchepetov have the mins.?

 

[~tapdancer~]

That didn't take the lead.

Less by 5 points which is huge in ice dance. That was definitively behind Z/K.

 

[Aceon6]

Koncius/Shchepetov closing things out. More purple, also approved, but I’d take 5 points away for the hair bow. I’m afraid they’re not quite good enough to be using this music. Competent. (I find him crush worthy, though)

 

[Karen-W]

TES minimums for Nationals - Rhythm Dance: 23 / Free Dance: 42

Leah Krauskopf / YuanShi Jin should end up 5th - do they and Koncius/Shchepetov have the mins.?

For the RD - yes, absolutely. Both were well above that yesterday.

 

[~tapdancer~]

WE soundtrack is such beautiful music.
Lovely ice dance couple, too. I liked that.

 

[Karen-W]

Less by 5 points which is huge in ice dance. That was definitively behind Z/K.

But, as someone else pointed out, their final lift might have been invalidated because they didn't hit clear positions. We won't know for sure until we see the protocol, but it'll be interesting to know what the judges saw as the differences between them.

Koncius/Shchepetov - clearly battling for 14th place at Nats.

 

[peibeck]

K/S pretty but they need to skate "out" more. It's more technical than passionate right now.

 

[clairecloutier]

That was nice from Koncius/Schepetov. Never saw them before.

The Choreo Char Steps aren’t working for me in a lot of free dances. They feel too much like a separate segment, not organic, especially in a lyrical piece like this.

 

[Frau Muller]

Poor kid, that really sucks. It was nice of Mirai and others to call her.

I’m just reading this about Sofia’s disqualification reason - working on the practice ice.

I have one silly question: Where was her coach? Coaches are usually close to skaters during competition time (between the warm-up, wait time, competing, after). Sofia has had this coach for ages.

 

[peibeck]

They good news is also, I guess, the bad news. After a significant drop off in talent after the top 5 at Nationals, it appears there a lot of capable, growing young talents in US ice dance. How many will be able to parlay that into international assignments soon and stay on the scene, I guess we shall see.

 

[jlai]

I don't see any particular reason why the BLR fed wouldn't release him to the USFS since his previous partnership ended over a year ago. It's probably just a matter of securing it though, and I'm sure the USFS is working on it. We'll only know they have gotten it once the USFS adds them to the ISP, I think.

Could you clarify? If they are in isp, doesn't it mean they are released already?

 

[Sylvia]

Flores/Desyatov are not listed in the ISP right now (Zingas/Kolesnik are listed and hopefully can go to Golden Spin).

Waiting for FD protocols are linked now: https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2022/30614/CAT013SEG014.html

1	5	Emilea Zingas, St. Clair Shores FSC Vadym Kolesnik, SC of New York	1	79.58	1	113.16	192.74
2	7	Isabella Flores, Thunderbirds FSC Ivan Desyatov, Thunderbirds FSC	2	78.99	2	108.87	187.86
3	8	Angela Ling, Peninsula SC Caleb Wein, Washington FSC	3	70.39	4	100.91	171.30
4	9	Raffaella Koncius, Los Angeles FSC Alexey Shchepetov, Florida Everblades FSC	4	62.55	3	102.31	164.86
5	6	Leah Krauskopf, University of Delaware FSC YuanShi Jin, Los Angeles FSC	5	54.78	7	75.98	130.76
6	1	Cara Murphy, Arctic FSC Joshua Levitt, Pittsburgh FSC	8	48.50	5	81.98	130.48
7	3	Caroline Depietri, SC of Boston TJ Carey, SC of Boston	7	50.48	6	77.67	128.15
8	2	Klara Kowar, Aspen SC Thomas Schwappach, Broadmoor SC	6	54.43	8	72.14	126.57
WD		Riona Harris, Georgia FSC Tyler Vollmer, Los Angeles FSC	9	40.97

 

[AYS]

I was already ubering F/D after seeing them do this FD live at Challenge Cup, but I'm now officially lost to it. They are really special.

I'm waiting for those protocols, as I'm not quite seeing that score differential and wondering if there were level problems.

ETA: That doesn't mean I'm not extremely impressed with Z/K as well.

 

[Sarah]

I agree with @AYS — Z/K are fabulous too, but F/D are on another level (or will be). I’m way too invested already. But, I can’t wait to see both over the next 4 years. Both teams better not break my heart!

 

[AYS]

F/D had L2 dance spin, both L3s on the twizzles and an extended lift deduction, but also a bit behind in GOE and PCS. So room for that score to grow!

Congrats to the teams heading to nationals, what a great group to join the other great group with byes. Dance at Nationals is going to be epic.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

Considering I want Woodkid banned from skating music, the fact that I was completely mesmerized by F/D speaks to their talent and the ability to draw the audience in. We are so blessed in US dance to have such depth at Nats. I am such a fangirl of some of these up and coming teams and am going to be a basket case watching them all fight it out in San Jose.

 

[Karen-W]

They good news is also, I guess, the bad news. After a significant drop off in talent after the top 5 at Nationals, it appears there a lot of capable, growing young talents in US ice dance. How many will be able to parlay that into international assignments soon and stay on the scene, I guess we shall see.

Significant drop off in talent after the top 5? More like top 10, 13 if you include ZingKol and FlorDes in with the 11 teams that have had at least one int'l assignment this fall.

ChoBat
HawBak
GrePar & CarPon
McNSpir, PateBye, & BraSom
WolfChen, ZingKol & FlorDes
Browns
CesYeh & LingWein

It's kind of nuts, really. Oh, and the USFS has added Santa Claus Cup (Budapest) to its Int'l Assignments - no skaters/teams named yet, but the event is for S/J/N Men, Women & Dance, so it's possible we could see the top 4 teams here get int'ls (presuming that FlorDes get his release soon).

 

[Sylvia]

Koncius/Shchepetov Krauskopf/Jin, 5th overall, were 7th in the FD but got 42.28 TES (42 is the minimum for Nationals!).

 

[Karen-W]

Koncius/Shchepetov, 5th overall, were 7th in the FD but got 42.28 TES (42 is the minimum for Nationals!).

You mean Krauskopf/Jin...

 

[crzesk8dad]

Novice Women SP is up on the Pacific Coast, but no audio.....

 

[Sylvia]

I'm going to try and catch Coco Zhang live (she skates 3rd to last) - Easterns Intermediate Women FS is halfway through (2 groups left): https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2022/30614/CAT002SEG030.html

Pacific Coast Intermediate Women FS is also going on (Alayna Coats cleanly landed 3Lz, 3T+2T & 2A in her SP yesterday & is the final skater): https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2022/30618/CAT001SEG002.html

Livestreams & replay videos: https://usfigureskatingfanzone.com/watch/

Zhiqi "Coco" Zhang (landed 5 triples including a 3F) and Alayna Coats (landed 5 of 6 triples including opening 3Lz) won their respective Sectional Intermediate events. Naomi Nam & Themi Leftheris were in the kiss & cry with Coats.

Keira Hilbelink will lead off the Novice Women's SP at Pacific Coast and Cleo Park skates 4th in the first group: https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2022/30618/CAT007SEG007.html

ETA:

Novice Women SP is up on the Pacific Coast, but no audio.....

Audio was fine for Pacs Intermediate Women...

 

[peibeck]

Significant drop off in talent after the top 5? More like top 10, 13 if you include ZingKol and FlorDes in with the 11 teams that have had at least one int'l assignment this fall.

ChoBat
HawBak
GrePar & CarPon
McNSpir, PateBye, & BraSom
WolfChen, ZingKol & FlorDes
Browns
CesYeh & LingWein

Do you believe the quality of, say, Green/Parsons is really pretty equal to, say, Pate/Bye? Really? I certainly don't.

I see lots of potential in the top two here. Already better than CesYeh, imo.

And some of these teams are definitely benefitting by getting assignments due to the lack of Russian teams. But yeah for USFS assigning more ice dancer to Santa Claus Cup.

 

[Sylvia]

Keira's SP music is Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" so just hum along.

Jumps: 2A, 3T+3T (I think) & 3Lo. ETA: 49.71

Audio just came on for the 2nd skater, of course!

 

[crzesk8dad]

Novice Women SP is up on the Pacific Coast, but no audio.....

It finally came up after Keira Hilbelink....

 

[crzesk8dad]

Keira's SP music is Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" so just hum along.

Jumps: 2A, 3T+3T (I think) & 3Lo. ETA: 49.71

Audio just came on for the 2nd skater, of course!

I WANT A REFUND!!!!

 

[Karen-W]

Do you believe the quality of, say, Green/Parsons is really pretty equal to, say, Pate/Bye? Really? I certainly don't.

I see lots of potential in the top two here. Already better than CesYeh, imo.

And some of these teams are definitely benefitting by getting assignments due to the lack of Russian teams. But yeah for USFS assigning more ice dancer to Santa Claus Cup.

Did you notice I how I broke them into different groupings? I had GrePar & CarPon above the next three teams (McNSpir, PateBye, & BraSom). In no way do I think that PateBye are on par with GrePar.

Right now, I'm tentatively putting ZingKol and FlorDes on the same level as WolfChen - mostly because I'm not sure how they'd score internationally, but I suspect it would be considerably lower than they scored in the NQS and this event. But, yes, they're already better than the Browns and CesYeh.

The only downside to being assigned to Santa Claus Cup is it isn't a Challenger, so those teams wouldn't get on the SB list with any scores there. If any senior dance teams are assigned there, my guess is it would be Ling/Wein and maybe Koncius/Shchepetov. I could see them also sending Neset/Markelov so they get a 2nd fall international since JGP Armenia was cancelled.

 

[Sylvia]

Keira Hilbelink will lead off the Novice Women's SP at Pacific Coast and Cleo Park skates 4th in the first group: https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2022/30618/CAT007SEG007.html

Cleo landed 3T+3T (bit shaky) and final 2A but had a very hard fall on her 3Lz and was teary in the kiss & cry.

Hannah Gahan skated very well (I saw her 3S & 2A) and was thrilled in the kiss & cry (Doug Razzano is one of her coaches).

Athena Huang (in ISP because she is ISU Junior age-eligible) will skate first after the warmup.

 

[jlai]

I adore F/D. I can’t wait to see them in a few more months. They have so much potential and Flores is so talented. I haven’t been this excited about a dance team in forever.

I was in love with Green/Green until Brother Green went off to college

 

[Karen-W]

I know we still have Pac Coast events going on today, but, here's tomorrow's marathon schedule... Thank goodness for small mercies like IceChallenge's stream being available post-competition. The major senior overlaps look manageable for the most part.

All times Eastern
4:45am IceChallenge Junior Dance RD
5:45am IceChallenge Senior Women FS
8:10am Eastern Juvenile Girls FS
8:45am MKJW Dance RD
10:20am MKJW Women SP
10:50am Pacific Coast Junior Women SP
11:30am IceChallenge Junior Pairs FS
12pm Eastern Senior Men FS
12:15pm IceChallenge Senior Pairs FS
1:35pm MKJW Pairs FS
1:45pm IceChallenge Senior Men FS
2pm Pacific Coast Junior Men SP
2:40pm Eastern Senior Women FS
3:05pm MKJW Men FS
4:05pm Pacific Coast Novice Women FS
7:50pm Pacific Coast Senior Men SP
9:20pm Pacific Coast Senior Women SP

 

[jlai]

I know we still have Pac Coast events going on today, but, here's tomorrow's marathon schedule... Thank goodness for small mercies like IceChallenge's stream being available post-competition, and that the only major senior event overlap is with Easterns Sr Men and MKJW Men FS!

All times Eastern
1:45am IceChallenge Junior Dance RD
2:45am IceChallenge Senior Women FS
5:45am MKJW Dance RD
7:20am MKJW Women SP
8:10am Eastern Juvenile Girls FS
8:30am IceChallenge Junior Pairs FS
9:15am IceChallenge Senior Pairs FS
10:35am MKJW Pairs FS
10:45am IceChallenge Senior Men FS
10:50am Pacific Coast Junior Women SP
12pm Eastern Senior Men FS
12:05pm MKJW Men FS
2pm Pacific Coast Junior Men SP
2:40pm Eastern Senior Women FS
4:05pm Pacific Coast Novice Women FS
7:50pm Pacific Coast Senior Men SP
9:20pm Pacific Coast Senior Women SP

Karen is this Pacific time? I though rd mkjw is 7:45 central.