U.S. Men 2025-26 Discussion - Quad God and the Mere Mortals

With so many Grand Prix changes recently, any chance of Naumov or Sanchez getting a 2nd Grand Prix?
Sanchez maybe? He's currently 6th on the Alternates List but he could move up to the top if he has a strong outing at CoC next week - of course, the other 5 ahead of him could also maintain or improve their own position with solid outings at their lone GPs also.

Same can be said for Naumov, though I have less confidence in his ability to score 235+ internationally in the fall since that's not his usual competitive track record.
 
According to the fall issue of Skating, Maxim Naumov earned the 2024-25 Skating magazine Readers' Choice Award!

Returning to the topic of Max Naumov as winner of "SKATING magazine Readers' Choice of the Year Award" ...

FYI for non-subscribers: The Fall 2025 issue of the magazine now is available on USFS website.
If anyone wants to read the full text of the "Naumov Earns SKATING Readers’ Choice Award" article, it is on p. 5.
(It is normal that each issue does not become available online until some lag time has passed after delivery of hard-copies to subscribers.
And IIRC, it is normal procedure that at both links above, the Fall 2025 issue eventually will be replaced by the subsequent issue.)

Excerpt from the article:
“I’m truly honored to be named Readers’ Choice Skater of the Year,” Naumov said. “Thank you to everyone who voted and supported me — your belief in me keeps me striving to inspire others both on and off the ice.”​
 
Well, Tomoki kept the conversation going about the 3rd man. Is he competing again before nationals?
There's nothing on the schedule internationally. Even though he has a BYE to nats, I suppose he could opt to compete in sectionals in two weeks if he wants to show consistency and big numbers. Sectionals doesn't play a huge role, but it's not nothing either. There's so few CS-level international competitions coming up to plead his case that haven't already been assigned, just Warsaw and Zagreb, right?
 
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He already did 3 challengers and 2 GPs. He can do some international competitions but those scorings don't count for anything
Well, theoretically, he could improve one or both of his Challenger scores if he competed again.
 
At this point, other than Nationals, I think Tomoki has done all that he can do. It's really on the other guys. Jimmy hasn't done any GPs yet. He needs to have some really fabulous performances to be in the mix for the Olympic team. It's a real long shot. Andrew needs to do well at his second GP. I don't see what Max can do at this point. If he somehow managed to outskate all the other guys (besides Ilia) at Nationals, then there's a very slim chance they would choose him. Ditto for Jacob and Liam. I think it's very doubtful.

I think Camden is pretty much out of contention because of missing competitions due to injury. Even if he skates well at Nationals and ends up on the podium, I doubt that would be enough.

I think Jason is pacing himself, but will be fine even if he just does okay at his GPs.

Has Lucas said whether he is out for the entire season? Is there any chance he will even be at Nationals? I don't think he would be in contention for the Olympic team, but it would be lovely to see him skate. It's sad that he delayed starting college in order to skate and then he withdrew from SCI just a few weeks after school started. All after missing most of last season with a bad injury.
 
I bet Camden won't even be at Nationals.

Right now I'd say the 3rd spot for Milano will be between Torgy and Tomoki, though I agree I'll need to see if Jimmy Ma can repeat his Four Continents performances here to see if he can join that conversation. (To be perfectly honest I don't think the Selection Committee really gives a hoot about Jimmy's Four Continents medal unless he can repeat them to some degree in his two Grand Prix assignments.)

Your thoughts...
 
Has Lucas said whether he is out for the entire season? Is there any chance he will even be at Nationals?

I don't think there are enough qualifying events left to earn him a BYE to nationals. He hasn't skated at all this season, so I don't think a sectionals route is open to him either unless he competes in a CS or GP. The advancement criteria guide says there's no medical byes to nationals, but doesn't mention sectionals -- so that is the only other route I can imagine that he could use to make it to nationals (if the rules allow). He'd have to absolutely crush his scores (landing between Brown and Malinin) I think for USFS to override any concerns about a recent lack of a body of work.
 
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Right now I'd say the 3rd spot for Milano will be between Torgy and Tomoki

I agree. But, you never know with the men. :lol:

He'd have to absolutely crush his scores (landing between Brown and Malinin) I think for USFS to override any concerns about a recent lack of a body of work.

As I said, I don't think he would be in contention for the Olympic team. I'd just like to see him skate, so I was wondering if there is any chance that he could even skate at Nationals. I don't know what his injury situation is. But, it sounds like it's going to be hard for him to get to Nationals even if he's physically okay by then.
 
Here's the way I see it...

Tomoki & Torgy are just slightly ahead of the rest of the men based upon their solidly scoring in the 230s (with Tomoki having one score in the 240s).

Liam, Max & Jacob are behind based upon their score range being in the 220s.

Jimmy - we'll have to see what he can manage this week and at Finlandia. If he can score in the 230s, then he puts himself in the Torgy/Tomoki tier.

But we're talking about the 3rd spot for the Olympic team and none of these guys are going for the Team Event - they're there for a nice trip to Italy & the honor of calling themselves an Olympian for the rest of their lives. In that regard, I don't think the USFS cares much who gets the spot and, seeing that, so far, neither Tomoki nor Torgy have really pulled far ahead of the rest of the guys sitting in that 220s range, it probably will come down to whomever wins bronze at Nats. They're all nice, hardworking guys but none of them have really set themselves apart from the pack and none of them have demonstrated, this season, the ability to put up a score in either the SP or FS that makes them a legitimate consideration for the TE.
 
Here's the way I see it...

Tomoki & Torgy are just slightly ahead of the rest of the men based upon their solidly scoring in the 230s (with Tomoki having one score in the 240s).

Liam, Max & Jacob are behind based upon their score range being in the 220s.

Jimmy - we'll have to see what he can manage this week and at Finlandia. If he can score in the 230s, then he puts himself in the Torgy/Tomoki tier.

But we're talking about the 3rd spot for the Olympic team and none of these guys are going for the Team Event - they're there for a nice trip to Italy & the honor of calling themselves an Olympian for the rest of their lives. In that regard, I don't think the USFS cares much who gets the spot and, seeing that, so far, neither Tomoki nor Torgy have really pulled far ahead of the rest of the guys sitting in that 220s range, it probably will come down to whomever wins bronze at Nats. They're all nice, hardworking guys but none of them have really set themselves apart from the pack and none of them have demonstrated, this season, the ability to put up a score in either the SP or FS that makes them a legitimate consideration for the TE.
It's interesting to see where everyone stands right now. Out of curiosity, what would be take to be considered for the team event? Would it mean passing Jason going forward (unlikely) or scoring above 250? Andrew and Tomoki have both come pretty close, so it's always possible.
 
It's interesting to see where everyone stands right now. Out of curiosity, what would be take to be considered for the team event? Would it mean passing Jason going forward (unlikely) or scoring above 250? Andrew and Tomoki have both come pretty close, so it's always possible.

IMO, it would take an injury by Ilia or Jason for someone else to be put into the team event. The others are just far too inconsistent and most of these guys do not have the experience Jason and Ilia have of competing and performing well at a competition like the Olympics or Worlds. I can't imagine putting someone inexperienced like Jacob into the team event even if he managed to score higher than Jason at Nationals. And Torgy is a hard no given his performances at Worlds, even if he has a spectacular Nationals. And Jason has the respect of the international judges. He also has higher PCS than any of these guys, and PCS doesn't fluctuate as much as the technical scores do.
 
I think that consistency is the least of the obstacles. All of these men consistently earn scores under 240 in international competitions, except that, IINM, Pulkinen, Hiwatashi, Torgashev, and Ma have each scored over higher than that once.
 
Here's the way I see it...

Tomoki & Torgy are just slightly ahead of the rest of the men based upon their solidly scoring in the 230s (with Tomoki having one score in the 240s).

Liam, Max & Jacob are behind based upon their score range being in the 220s.

Jimmy - we'll have to see what he can manage this week and at Finlandia. If he can score in the 230s, then he puts himself in the Torgy/Tomoki tier.

But we're talking about the 3rd spot for the Olympic team and none of these guys are going for the Team Event - they're there for a nice trip to Italy & the honor of calling themselves an Olympian for the rest of their lives. In that regard, I don't think the USFS cares much who gets the spot and, seeing that, so far, neither Tomoki nor Torgy have really pulled far ahead of the rest of the guys sitting in that 220s range, it probably will come down to whomever wins bronze at Nats. They're all nice, hardworking guys but none of them have really set themselves apart from the pack and none of them have demonstrated, this season, the ability to put up a score in either the SP or FS that makes them a legitimate consideration for the TE.
I was thinking about something similar. Like for cases like this for the third spot, how much weight is really given to BOW if, say, Camden skates lights out at Nationals and scores ahead of the other third place contenders by some way there and in a way that would more-or-less make sense internationally accounting for nationals inflation and how it was applied to each skater.

I’m not rooting for Camden or anything, but I was just using him as an example since some think he may not have a competition until Nationals given his condition.
 
I was thinking about something similar. Like for cases like this for the third spot, how much weight is really given to BOW if, say, Camden skates lights out at Nationals and scores ahead of the other third place contenders by some way there and in a way that would more-or-less make sense internationally accounting for nationals inflation and how it was applied to each skater.

I’m not rooting for Camden or anything, but I was just using him as an example since some think he may not have a competition until Nationals given his condition.

According to the selection criteria, they are supposed to look at the BOW and are not supposed to base the decision on one competition. Even though you're questioning whether weight should be given to BOW, I think your silent assumption may be that nobody (not named Ilia or Jason) has an impressive body of work. If all the other guys came into Nationals with unimpressive BOW and were really weak at Nationals and Camden gave an incredible performance with technical difficulty and fabulous presentation and trounced the other guys, then it might make sense under the criteria to choose Camden. And, yeah, you'd have to take into account Nationals inflation and whether the technical callers were turning a blind eye. If someone else was coming in with a really good BOW, I don't think Nationals alone would be the sole decider. Under the selection criteria, it's not supposed to be.
 
Well, no, Nats isn't supposed to be the sole determining factor and I do think BOW is going to be a bigger factor in, say, Pairs or Women than it is for the 3rd men's spot.

For grins and giggles, I took the 2022 criteria and applied it to this season, with skaters/teams being placed into the Priority Groups/Tiers.

Using that format helps sort out which skaters have distinguished themselves into different levels for consideration because it does factor in their BOW/fall scores. The current criteria basically puts everyone into the Selection Pool and while they're supposed to consider scoring potential, again, this is the 3rd spot and I can't see the Int'l Committee being too pressed to name Torgy or Tomoki to the team if they finish 4th & 5th behind someone like Liam, Max or Jacob.
 

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