Canadian Ladies 2017-18 season news & updates

[mag]

Is Olivia Gran injured?

She must be. I can't see her getting a JGP spot when we have so few without showing that she is ready.

 

[Tinami Amori]

Yep. I went on a total Edith Piaf no he after watching KO at Worlds

I'd love to see KO going back to "Piaf" SP..... If she skates with the same mind set as last year, i can watch it 10 times over and over. But i can see arguments against doing so. She made a splash with that programme and repeating it may not have the same impact. However! going into an Olympic year with a programme of "lesser impact" is a questionable move as well.

KO has a history of skating to "sultry female characters". Last year some nutty sports writer even accused her of portraying "prostitutes" once too often. I strongly disagreed with that writer, mainly because "Sweet Charity" and characters in Piaf's songs are NOT prostitutes (one is a dancer, the other is a flirty vagabond), but there is certainly a patter of "sexed females" in KO's music choices: Carmen, Cleopatra, Mambo, Sweet Charity, and now Black Swan and "inappropriately sexy" Summertime....Maybe an Olympic years would be a good reason to show that she can portray some other "aspect of life"... 3000 years of stories and characters and all we see so far is "Sex and the History"....

 

[Sylvia]

Michelle Long just tweeted : https://twitter.com/TheMichelleLong/status/899023804252520450

I have been assigned the US International Classic in Salt Lake City! I will once again get the chance to represent Canada

What is known so far re. Challenger assignments for the Canadian ladies:

Austman got Ondrej Nepela for her Senior B. https://www.instagram.com/p/BXrZROKDt1W/?taken-by=larkynaustman

Daleman also mentioned in an Instagram story the other day that her first event of the season would be Finlandia.

Any guesses for the others? I would assume Osmond will get Autumn Classic. Maybe US Classic or Nebelhorn for Chartrand?

 

[JanetB]

Kaetlyn Osmond. BC Summer Skate 2017, FS 209.31

 

[danafan]

Michelle Long just tweeted : https://twitter.com/TheMichelleLong/status/899023804252520450

Wow! I'm so happy for her, and pleased Skate Canada is giving her this opportunity!

A longer post from her on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BX_Z4EVgxaA/?taken-by=themichellelong

 

[AxelAnnie]

KO....and that is how you win an OGM. You have an epic program that you skate like that in August. The music cuts, the choreography, the master skating is all there!

Someone please save her from that horrid short!

 

[kwanfan1818]

I really like Osmond's short. I love the dress.

She looked a bit winded in the FS; it looked to me like she needed more miles on it, but it's a terrific program.

 

[JanetB]

I really like Osmond's short. I love the dress.

She looked a bit winded in the FS; it looked to me like she needed more miles on it, but it's a terrific program.

I like the short also and they may have "dumbed" it down a bit because the long program is very complex.

 

[fsfann]

I see the russians are out in full force with hate for the new LP that was posted from the BC Summer Skate!! LOL.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Is KO there highest jumper of any lady right now? Those jumps look so high..

Man those youtube comments echo these boards.. many people don't seem to like her programs....

I don't mind them.. My fav shorts tho are La Vie en Rose and last years. I don't mind Swan Lake/ Black Swan for this year.

BTW has KO ever practices 3 axels? She is the one gal I could see getting full credit most of the time.

 

[honey]

Don't you guys know better than to look at a youtube comments section?

 

[barbarafan]

I'd love to see KO going back to "Piaf" SP..... If she skates with the same mind set as last year, i can watch it 10 times over and over. But i can see arguments against doing so. She made a splash with that programme and repeating it may not have the same impact. However! going into an Olympic year with a programme of "lesser impact" is a questionable move as well.

KO has a history of skating to "sultry female characters". Last year some nutty sports writer even accused her of portraying "prostitutes" once too often. I strongly disagreed with that writer, mainly because "Sweet Charity" and characters in Piaf's songs are NOT prostitutes (one is a dancer, the other is a flirty vagabond), but there is certainly a patter of "sexed females" in KO's music choices: Carmen, Cleopatra, Mambo, Sweet Charity, and now Black Swan and "inappropriately sexy" Summertime....Maybe an Olympic years would be a good reason to show that she can portray some other "aspect of life"... 3000 years of stories and characters and all we see so far is "Sex and the History"....

I love edith Piaf but I like her songs better sung by Rachel Leahcar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Hu0eS0IlA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr3PcGERrX0

 

[Tinami Amori]

I see the russians are out in full force with hate for the new LP that was posted from the BC Summer Skate!! LOL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46LDrq6qmD8

That's an exaggeration..
- There is a discussion that her score of 141 is too high for this particular skate. Russians and non-Russians agree and disagree.
- Sweet Dreams says (in Russian): Kaetlyn is a strong and interesting skater, but why give her a misleading and inadequate score..
- Russian and non-Russian posters say “I love Kaetlyn, and her great programmes last year, but this year’s programmes don’t do her justice”.
- Couple of Russians are upset that Chaikovsky’s great Swan Lake was so grossly misused and twisted (in the dumb movie Black Swan).
- One or two don’t think KO looks or moves like a ballerina, and her moves are robotic. One poster suggests KO should see the real Swan Lake Ballet and not just the movie.
- French poster (in French) says the same thing: not a ballerina, robotic, not right for Olympic year, go back to last year’s stuff as it was great and we love it.
- Plenty of fans are disappointed (in English, Russian, French and Japanese) saying “this is not an Olympic year quality programme, last year’s was great.
……….. kind of like what we’ve been reading on FSU so far…..

Also for the record: Russians do not consider KO to be the main and only rival to Medvedeva. Japanese girls are the main rivals…… and maybe Daleman (because she is powerful), and if Medvedeva for some odd reason has a off skate.

KO this past season was beat by quite a few skaters……. She needs to beat all of them too to win...
4CC – Mihara, Daleman, Nagasu
GPF – Med, Miyahara, Pogo
Cup of China – Elena Radionova

 

[fsfann]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46LDrq6qmD8

That's an exaggeration..
- There is a discussion that her score of 141 is too high for this particular skate. Russians and non-Russians agree and disagree.
- Sweet Dreams says (in Russian): Kaetlyn is a strong and interesting skater, but why give her a misleading and inadequate score..
- Russian and non-Russian posters say “I love Kaetlyn, and her great programmes last year, but this year’s programmes don’t do her justice”.
- Couple of Russians are upset that Chaikovsky’s great Swan Lake was so grossly misused and twisted (in the dumb movie Black Swan).
- One or two don’t think KO looks or moves like a ballerina, and her moves are robotic. One poster suggests KO should see the real Swan Lake Ballet and not just the movie.
- French poster (in French) says the same thing: not a ballerina, robotic, not right for Olympic year, go back to last year’s stuff as it was great and we love it.
- Plenty of fans are disappointed (in English, Russian, French and Japanese) saying “this is not an Olympic year quality programme, last year’s was great.
……….. kind of like what we’ve been reading on FSU so far…..

Maybe I've been reading elsewhere, but the reviews of the LP have been pretty darn positive here on FSU. Summertime, not so much...but Black Swan, I haven't seen many negative comments.

Anyway, maybe she should just do a cutesy "mime" story thingy and put her hand over her head on every jump and that'll satisfy everyone. =)

 

[Karpenko]

I'm pretty sure that if Kaetlyn can start doing ten clean programs in a row, that'll please everyone just fine.

 

[coppertop1]

I just saw Austman's free skate from Wild Rose. It looks like a good vehicle for her. Again, I think it's too soon to start forming strong opinions. With Kaetlyn, she isn't the most consistent throughput the main season. She peaked at Worlds last year but hadn't skated a clean LP before then. Are there videos of Daleman's programs?

 

[Sylvia]

I just saw Austman's free skate from Wild Rose. It looks like a good vehicle for her.

For those who haven't seen Larkyn Austman's Wild Rose FS (109.78): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BasCTXJmGf0

Are there videos of Daleman's programs?

She hasn't competed yet.

ETA:

Results of the top Senior finishers in the 5 National Summer Series comps:

BC/YK SummerSkate:
1 Kaetlyn Osmond Ice Palace FSC AB/NT/NU 67.85 (1) 141.46 (1) 209.31
2 Kelsey Wong Champs ISC of BC BC/YK 56.20 (4) 95.40 (2) 151.60
3 Sarah Tamura Champs ISC of BC BC/YK 56.85 (2) 93.21 (3) 150.06
4 Larkyn Austman Coquitlam SC BC/YK 56.51 (3) 86.50 (5) 143.01
5 Megan Yim Champs ISC of BC BC/YK 47.27 (6) 92.79 (4) 140.06

Ontario Summer Skate/Thornhill:
2 Amanda Tobin Burlington Skating Centre 51.74 (2) 101.21 (3) 152.95
3 Emy Decelles CPA Baie Comeau 49.39 (4) 102.58 (2) 151.97
4 Michelle Long Richmond Training Centre 49.41 (3) 92.13 (4) 141.54

Quebec Summer Championships:
1 Alaine Chartrand Nepean SC ON 68.77 119.65 188.42 (1) (1)
2 Alicia Pineault Varennes RS 46.99 103.27 150.26 (5) (2)
3 Kim De Guise Léveillée Sorel-Tracy RA 54.55 91.05 145.60 (2) (4)
4 Emy Decelles Baie-Comeau CN 50.36 93.32 143.68 (4) (3)

Wild Rose:
1 Kaetlyn Osmond Ice Palace FSC AB/NT/NU 63.32 (1) 133.55 (1) 196.87
2 Larkyn Austman Coquitlam SC BC/YK 52.60 (3) 109.78 (2) 162.38

Minto Summer Skate:
1 Alaine Chartrand Nepean SC 66.05 (1) 113.77 (1) 179.82
2 Alicia Pineault CPA Varennes 56.76 (3) 87.86 (2) 144.62
3 Michelle Long Richmond Training Centre 56.92 (2) 87.43 (3) 144.35
4 Kelsey Wong Champs International Skating Centre 54.43 (4) 73.50 (9) 127.93
5 Amanda Tobin Burlington Skating Centre 46.09 (6) 78.01 (5) 124.10
6 Sarah Tamura Champs International Skating Centre 48.31 (5) 75.52 (7) 123.83
7 Megan Yim Champs International Skating Centre 46.05 (7) 77.21 (6) 123.26
8 Kim DeGuise Léveillée CPA Sorel-Tracy 39.78 (14) 82.55 (4) 122.33

 

[JanetB]

Kaetlyn Osmond. BC Summer Skate 2017, SP

 

[JanetB]

Kaetlyn Osmond. BC Summer Skate 2017, SP

Sorry double post

 

[nimi]

^^Thanks for the link, @JanetB!

I read some of the Youtube comments discussed above on and... yeah... Seems like various folks there are already gearing up for the Great Olympic Flamewars of 2018. It's gonna get intense

P.S. Hugs and kisses for fellow fairly reasonable and reasonably well-behaved skating nerds #onhere!

 

[coppertop1]

I watched Chartrand 's free skate from Summer Skate. I can see potential. One issue she has with her jumps is under rotating, especially when she's nervous.

When will the final spot for Canada be announced?

Do they have paid Russian Bots for figure skating now? Sheesh!

 

[danafan]

When will the final spot for Canada be announced?

Do you mean for the Olympic team? Following the Canadian Championships in January. If you mean for Skate Canada, hopefully soon. I don't know what the ISU deadline is.

 

[coppertop1]

No, I mean the final straw for Skate Canada International. Speaking of the Olympics, if another lady beat Chartrand for the throne spot, would there be a rematch at Four Continents or would the spot go to the bronze medallist?

 

[Sylvia]

2018 Four Continents (Jan. 22-27 in Taipei City) is not mentioned in the selection criteria document because the Olympic team will be chosen before then: https://info.skatecanada.ca/hc/en-c...2018-Olympic-Winter-Games-Selection-Criteria-

 

[coppertop1]

Thanks for the link. We know that Kaetlyn and Gabby are guaranteed their spots. This show was the third spot is wide open

 

[Rock2]

It's not fair to the athletes to wait until 4CC to name the third spot because there's so little time to prepare after Nationals as it is.
I think it will be real tough to displace Chartrand from that Olympic spot. I'm totally making this up, but if I'm on the committee I think you leave Chartrand off the team if she finishes off the national podium (and Skater X hits the podium) and at least one of the following happens:

*Skater X finishes higher than 3rd at Nationals
*Skater X medals in a Senior B this year
*Skater X finishes top 5 in a GP this year
*Chartrand has a consistently poor season - out of top 6 (ish) in a B and out of top 8 (ish) in GP events
*Chartrand bombs nationals, finishing out of top 5

Net net, Chartrand has to be crap for most of the year or Skater X has to really impress. Right now I don't see either happening but there's a long way to go. I don't worry about summer comps but Senior Bs is where athletes who want to make a run absolutely must step up.

 

[aftershocks]

who wants to think about Summertime during the Winter Olympics anyways, unless you're skating to "Run to You" by Whitney as an ode to Usain Bolt or Jackie Joyner Kersee?

You make a good point.

Thanks! I was expecting the more operatic version of "Summertime" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYlIHI35oak

It's definitely much more easy on the ears and likely truer to the composer's original intentions.

Loved KO and Black Swan. Not a fan AT ALL of Summertime. It is the music............Summertime needs to be sultry. It gets cutesy or uptempo. You can't mess around with Porgy & Bess like that.
I would love her to go back to last year's SP.

Agreed. It is the music, or moreso the screeching vocals that are a huge turn-off. Kaetlyn's skating is fine, but this music IMHO does absolutely nothing to enhance her skating. In fact, for me the music and vocals distract from her skating. Too noisy and overpowering. It's such a turn-off that I really couldn't get interested in what Kaetlyn was doing. I just wanted the program to end already. Many people in here are being quite generous in their view of her sp. The sp costume for me also does not work. It's too busy on the back and the front of the costume. Less is more sometimes. I think this just underscores how difficult the whole process of music selection and costume design can be. A few things off and it just doesn't work overall as well as it could.

I agree with those who say that Kaetlyn has too much talent to settle for this sp, which she could do of course. It just doesn't have the impact I think she's looking for going into battle this highly competitive Olympic season. Obviously, she's put a lot of work into this sp and thus it's sometimes hard to drop something that isn't quite working. Sure she can tinker with it and make some refinements. But then, the problem in this case is not really so much fine-tuning her choreo and interpretation as much as it is the dreadful, overpowering vocals which are not quite right IMO for the Winter Olympics. And the costume also doesn't work that well.

The fp works so much better. There are some really fine moments and it looks like it's shaping up to be something very special if Kaetlyn can work out some of the kinks, and get more into the interpretation. For e.g., Kaetlyn's bourrees (on pointe steps) are not used to full effect in the way that Ashley Wagner performed hers. I think KO still needs to work on the character/interpretive aspect of Black Swan for more cohesiveness, but that should work out over the course of the season. The fp costume is better than the sp costume, but I totally agree with those who feel in the case of the fp outfit, something appears to be missing. Maybe with the way the skirt is styled it highlights the bare arms and decolletage in a way which calls out for something more. I agree with @Karpenko that perhaps a feather headpiece (something more dramatic) might work. I'm no expert on costumes, but that did occur to me as well.

All of you are insane nitpickers. How about we go back to the days when we were happy when a Canadian lady attempted a triple lutz ferchrissakes and the stroke we had when one was landed. We've got the best bunch of Canadian ladies in a long time that can jump their asses off and that is what is going to count no matter what the package.

Wheeeeee... Ride 'em cowboy!

Rollin', rollin', rollin'
...
She rollin', rollin', rollin'
Though the streams are swollen
Keep them doggies rollin', rawhide
Through rain an' wind an' weather
Hellbent for leather ...

All the things I'm missin'
...
Are waitin' at the end of my ride

Move 'em on, head 'em up
Head 'em up, move 'em on
Move 'em on, head 'em up
Rawhide

Cut 'em out, ride 'em in
Ride 'em in, cut 'em out
Cut 'em out, ride 'em in
Rawhide

Keep movin', movin', movin'
Though they're disapprovin'
Keep them doggies movin', rawhide

Don't try to understand 'em
Just rope, throw an' brand 'em
Soon we'll be livin' high an' wide

I love her Mambo program! Along with going back to last year's short, I would also be on board with reworking the mambo program and bringing it back.
I'm just gonna put this here as reminder of what she's capable of from a performance standpoint:
https://youtu.be/MId9_QOVips

Return to last season's sp or this Mambo, for sure! Or, maybe something from the Chicago soundtrack for a new sp:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_xOSaaVUi8 Please KO! Adam Rippon listened to fans, and to his own heart and mind and ditched a program that wasn't working in time to come up with something that worked so much better. I guess the decision is whether to give up on something KO has spent so much time working on. But if she can get something better, it won't be as much of a struggle to perfect. When the music and concept is right, there's less to work on and worry about. Also, rethink sp costume, and rework a bit some styling or a headpiece for fp costume.

And for the future, I truly hope KO will consider doing a fp to Laura soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIWTqMoTUM8

Also think of doing something modern and edgy in a bodysuit for a future sp.

I think the main question will be how Med deals with the pressure.

You kiddin' right? Med bears down when the pressure hits. Pressure seems like oxygen for her. Not to say Med can't make a mistake, nor has never made a mistake. It's just that since she's fairly consistent on tech, the judges don't seem to downgrade her much when she makes the rare mistake. Confounding, I know. Most confounding is how she's so over-rated on PCS. TBH, I rarely watch Med skate anymore. If I do, I'm not interested in sitting through her entire performances. My attention wanes, and I get up to use the bathroom or grab a snack from the fridge. I know Med can rotate, and I seen it all before and I'm tired of the arms overhead and the OTT histrionics.

However, mayhap Med gonna try to beef up her artistic vitamins this season. Maybe she or someone in her camp realizes she can't rest on her laurels. Perhaps they are beginning to understand that less contorted facial expressions and less gratuitous hand gestures and less wacky choreo themes might be warranted. Not apparently that Med needs much help to further impress the judges, since they seemingly are only interested in rewarding the way she rotates and lands. I am totally tired of having to be forcefed Med though and being bored and annoyed watching her receive inflated PCS scores.

There are too many other ladies with great tech and much more maturity and genuine expressiveness and musicality, as long as they can combine that with consistency to try and defeat the Med overdose onslaught. Hopefully the OGM in ladies will be up for grabs. I'd like to see a competitive season, and not gimmes for rotating jumps on a dime.

 

[RoseRed]

Results of the top Senior finishers in the 5 National Summer Series comps:

BC/YK SummerSkate:
1 Kaetlyn Osmond Ice Palace FSC AB/NT/NU 67.85 (1) 141.46 (1) 209.31
2 Kelsey Wong Champs ISC of BC BC/YK 56.20 (4) 95.40 (2) 151.60
3 Sarah Tamura Champs ISC of BC BC/YK 56.85 (2) 93.21 (3) 150.06
4 Larkyn Austman Coquitlam SC BC/YK 56.51 (3) 86.50 (5) 143.01
5 Megan Yim Champs ISC of BC BC/YK 47.27 (6) 92.79 (4) 140.06

Ontario Summer Skate/Thornhill:
2 Amanda Tobin Burlington Skating Centre 51.74 (2) 101.21 (3) 152.95
3 Emy Decelles CPA Baie Comeau 49.39 (4) 102.58 (2) 151.97
4 Michelle Long Richmond Training Centre 49.41 (3) 92.13 (4) 141.54

Quebec Summer Championships:
1 Alaine Chartrand Nepean SC ON 68.77 119.65 188.42 (1) (1)
2 Alicia Pineault Varennes RS 46.99 103.27 150.26 (5) (2)
3 Kim De Guise Léveillée Sorel-Tracy RA 54.55 91.05 145.60 (2) (4)
4 Emy Decelles Baie-Comeau CN 50.36 93.32 143.68 (4) (3)

Wild Rose:
1 Kaetlyn Osmond Ice Palace FSC AB/NT/NU 63.32 (1) 133.55 (1) 196.87
2 Larkyn Austman Coquitlam SC BC/YK 52.60 (3) 109.78 (2) 162.38

Minto Summer Skate:
1 Alaine Chartrand Nepean SC 66.05 (1) 113.77 (1) 179.82
2 Alicia Pineault CPA Varennes 56.76 (3) 87.86 (2) 144.62
3 Michelle Long Richmond Training Centre 56.92 (2) 87.43 (3) 144.35
4 Kelsey Wong Champs International Skating Centre 54.43 (4) 73.50 (9) 127.93
5 Amanda Tobin Burlington Skating Centre 46.09 (6) 78.01 (5) 124.10
6 Sarah Tamura Champs International Skating Centre 48.31 (5) 75.52 (7) 123.83
7 Megan Yim Champs International Skating Centre 46.05 (7) 77.21 (6) 123.26
8 Kim DeGuise Léveillée CPA Sorel-Tracy 39.78 (14) 82.55 (4) 122.33

Of the women on this list, Larkyn has confirmed she's going to Ondrej Nepela and Michelle Long confirmed she's going to the US Classic. Kaetlyn and Alaine will surely have a challenger event each, and Gabby already said she's going to Finlandia. It will be interesting to see which of the other girls get fall assignments.

 

[Japanfan]

It's all about her being sexy, that's it.

I've never seen Kaetlyn as a skater who exudes natural sex appeal. In fact I find very few of the female skaters do, quite possibly because they are all so young and yet to develop a womanly sense of sexuality. But some have it more than others - Kat Witt of course comes to mind immediately, and a few others had a bit of it. Shizuka Arakawa, Yuna Kim a bit on occasion, Carolina Kostner in the latter years of her career.

But so many of the younger ladies try to be sexy - especially in group show numbers about girl/guy flirtations, and it just doesn't work. For me Joannie Rochette is a perfect example. Her attempts to be sexy were painful for me to watch, as they seemed so affected.

To me Kaetlyn is all about the beautiful bloom of youth. I think her exuberance, vivacity and expressiveness are what makes her special. She just radiates a pure joy of skating on the ice.

KO has a history of skating to "sultry female characters". Last year some nutty sports writer even accused her of portraying "prostitutes" once too often. I strongly disagreed with that writer, mainly because "Sweet Charity" and characters in Piaf's songs are NOT prostitutes (one is a dancer, the other is a flirty vagabond), but there is certainly a patter of "sexed females" in KO's music choices: Carmen, Cleopatra, Mambo, Sweet Charity, and now Black Swan and "inappropriately sexy" Summertime....Maybe an Olympic years would be a good reason to show that she can portray some other "aspect of life"... 3000 years of stories and characters and all we see so far is "Sex and the History"....

I completely missed her portrayals of prostitutes - not in one program did it ever occur to me that she was portraying a prostitute.

I don't recall her Carmen at all, probably because I found it painful or forgettable.

And I don't see Black Swan as a sexual program - much more so as a tragic tale of a young and obsessive woman's demise.

 

[Karpenko]

I think Kaetlyn has all of the potential to be a flirty sex kitten, just not with Summertime by the singer from Pechanga Casino and resort. She's beautiful and has enough charisma to seduce an audience, but she also has many other artistic qualities that should be highlighted with a better short program. Or something that'll get the sex across better.

All JMO, but it seems that the majority of fans and the judges so far agree. They didn't give her any 10's for choreography in the SP did they? (Which is a even in the LP, had that been a ten for Janny with a fall you'd all have pounced on it like no tomorrow!!!)

I do agree the SP dress is stunning.