2018-2019 Canadian Ladies News and Updates!

[skatingguy]

What a tough crowd this is. Canadian women, do not read...RUN!!!

This is a fan site, it's not for the athletes to read. We have social media for people to communicate directly with the athletes, and it's ten times worse than anything that's been posted here.

 

[mag]

Hey its summer folks, who wants to peak in August. The time is ripe to try new programs, approaches, and for some, coaches. For now, I would give some the benefit and see how it goes in a month or so.

Exactly, and it's the first year after an Olympics so a lot of people worked REALLY hard last year....including those who didn't go to Worlds or Olympics. Everyone is recovering and regrouping, so cut them some slack already.

Absolutely it is, and skaters and coaches need plan their seasons the way they think will be best for the athletes. This is why I think it was a huge mistake for SC to give Chartrand and Austman the Skate Canada spots so early. Other than Chartrand at 4Cc’s last season (and even that wasn’t spectacular) neither skater really did anything to earn their SC spot. Chartrand is still with rotational issues and Austman has never landed a Clean 3/3 in competition and failed to make the LP at both the Olympics and Worlds (and didn’t even try the 3/3 at Worlds.) Add to that that Austman was given the S/C spot last year again without landing the required 3/3 at either of her summer comps and when Alicia P did land the 3/3 in the short at Fall Classic.

Again, skaters and coaches need to plan their season the way they see fit, but there should be some requirement to show readiness before plum assignments like SC are handed out.

 

[Flora]

She is a sweet, hardworking girl, she was outgrowing her current club and needed to be "taken to the next level" so the move made sense. She liked Ravi a lot when she worked with him last year so people all around are supportive. Her making the National team and the extra funding helped the decision I believe.

Just watched her Wild Rose free and you can already see a slight difference on the axel takeoff. Could have affected her on the second one where she had a pretty bad fall. With more speed and some deeper edges, there is a lot of potential there. Looking forward to her progress.

 

[barbarafan]

Just watched her Wild Rose free and you can already see a slight difference on the axel takeoff. Could have affected her on the second one where she had a pretty bad fall. With more speed and some deeper edges, there is a lot of potential there. Looking forward to her progress.

Where did you see it. Do you have a link? pls and thank-you

 

[Osmond4gold]

This is a fan site, it's not for the athletes to read. We have social media for people to communicate directly with the athletes, and it's ten times worse than anything that's been posted here.

So skatingguy, you believe skaters, and family & friends of these athletes don't read sites like FSUNIVERSE...please. I beg to differ given my own history on skating forums and personal emails received.

All I am saying is athletes deserve the chance to make errors and to learn from them. The ability to peak at the right time of the year is an art. Have we learned nothing from the 2018 Russian Ladies World team. Insert shock and awe ...here.

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

Relax gals and guys, they have been said worse than this at monitoring and national camp.
I am sure Michelle Long was pissed with her long program as she is a far better skater than this. I do like her. My point was that making that bench mark of 150 didn't mean much as being worth of an international assignment based on this number only. Some seemed ashamed she hadn't been assigned already. My point is that she hadn't had a convincing lp. There is peaking delivering a strong program with 6 triple jumps and only landing one triple at the end of summer. She sure knows she is far ahead of the latter in her schedule.

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

At this point I would just be happy with a senior lady with decent program who looked like she had been working hard all summer and who at least looked a bit pissed off with herself when she doesn’t skate well. (Oh, and a judging panel that isn’t throwing positive GOE on very average triples.)

We are talking about senior ladies, not pre-novice girls. They are at the stage of "learn to win/live to win ". Training hard is a good step towards winning but delivery is what is expected. Canadian girls are well trained by excellent coaches and are well-rounded skaters. What they need to do is learning to get their mind set to win.

The best thing you can do for them is to expect them to do what they can do in practice, no more, no less.

 

[Flora]

Where did you see it. Do you have a link? pls and thank-you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSgUJnYPbR0&feature=youtu.be

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

So skatingguy, you believe skaters, and family & friends of these athletes don't read sites like FSUNIVERSE...please. I beg to differ given my own history on skating forums and personal emails received.

All I am saying is athletes deserve the chance to make errors and to learn from them. The ability to peak at the right time of the year is an art. Have we learned nothing from the 2018 Russian Ladies World team. Insert shock and awe ...here.

Your last paragraph does not hold in an Olympic year. The Russian ladies had to peak at Nationals three months before. We all know Zagitova and Sostkova were exhausted from the Olympics and Konstantinova was at her first major senior competition. Worlds is not the target competition in an Olympic year.

 

[barbarafan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSgUJnYPbR0&feature=youtu.be

thank-you so much

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSgUJnYPbR0&feature=youtu.be

I am really impressed by the huge steps Cotop has made in terms of basic stroking and edges. On top of that she was able to deliver it under pressure. Changing basic stroking is hard to do, it requires a lot of will power from the skater. It usually comes back to old habits during competition. A big ? to Aurora and Ravi . She soooo needed it to get to the next level. She is getting there.

 

[mag]

We are talking about senior ladies, not pre-novice girls. They are at the stage of "learn to win/live to win ". Training hard is a good step towards winning but delivery is what is expected. Canadian girls are well trained by excellent coaches and are well-rounded skaters. What they need to do is learning to get their mind set to win.

The best thing you can do for them is to expect them to do what they can do in practice, no more, no less.

I agree completely. My post was in exasperation at what I saw in the senior ladies event at Summer Skate. So many looked totally unprepared for the end of the summer. Delivering is very important. One way to encourage that is for judges to mark what is actually put out on the ice. There is no way most, if not all, of the senior women at Summer Skate would get anything close to those scores internationally. I am not talking domestic inflation, many of those scores, PCS, GOE, and calling, we’re down right crazy.

 

[skatingguy]

So skatingguy, you believe skaters, and family & friends of these athletes don't read sites like FSUNIVERSE...please. I beg to differ given my own history on skating forums and personal emails received.

No, I'm saying they shouldn't read them because these sites are not here for them, they are for the fans.

 

[4rkidz]

I am really impressed by the huge steps Cotop has made in terms of basic stroking and edges. On top of that she was able to deliver it under pressure. Changing basic stroking is hard to do, it requires a lot of will power from the skater. It usually comes back to old habits during competition. A big ? to Aurora and Ravi . She soooo needed it to get to the next level. She is getting there.

I totally agree some big improvements in her basic skating An her jumps look really solid.

 

[overedge]

I agree completely. My post was in exasperation at what I saw in the senior ladies event at Summer Skate. So many looked totally unprepared for the end of the summer. Delivering is very important. One way to encourage that is for judges to mark what is actually put out on the ice. There is no way most, if not all, of the senior women at Summer Skate would get anything close to those scores internationally. I am not talking domestic inflation, many of those scores, PCS, GOE, and calling, we’re down right crazy.

I think the federations (not just Skate Canada) are in a bit of a bind with the deadlines for the GP entries - those are closed before most of the summer competitions. I'm guessing that to make their choices for the GP, the federations are likely relying mostly on what they saw the skaters do last year, because they don't have a lot of current information to go on. So a skater underperforming at a summer event doesn't necessarily mean they shouldn't have gotten a GP assignment.

But I totally agree that the marks at the summer events should be more realistic, because among other things he marks are supposed to be feedback that the skaters/coaches can use to identify what needs to be worked on. Inflated marks don't convey that message accurately.

 

[mag]

I'm guessing that to make their choices for the GP, the federations are likely relying mostly on what they saw the skaters do last year,

That is my point. Exactly what did Chartrand or Austman do last year to deserve the assignment. They both skated terribly at their fall internationals, Chartrand imploded at Nationals and redeemed herself slightly at 4CC’s. Austman did not actually skate well at Nationals she just sucked less than everyone else not named Gabby or Kaetlyn. As for her post Nationals performances, the less said the better.

 

[overedge]

@mag So is the alternative to not send anyone at all? That wouldn't be helpful either. At least these two have international experience from last year. It may not have been great international experience, but IMO it makes more sense to send them rather than skaters who have never competed at that level. Everyone has to start somewhere, but those two at least may have less of the "Oh God I don't belong here" fear, because they've been there already.

 

[Dobre]

I think all mag is saying is that SC could have waited until the end of the summer to name their third or possibly second & third ladies' spots. And they could have. They've waited until summer competitions were over before when they had places to fill. I'm not sure any of the other ladies have done enough this summer that it would have changed SC's mind about who they wished to send. But Skate Canada did have the option of waiting, and they chose to name Chartrand & Austman instead.

 

[overedge]

@Dobre I get that, but e.g. the deadline for entries to the first GP event (Skate America) is August 15, according to this document: https://www.isu.org/docman-document...s-68/17830-gpusa-2018-announcement-final/file
So any federation that's relying on summer competitions as an indicator of who to send to the GPs is either going to have to hold its events in time to meet those deadlines, or leave the events where they are and make those decisions in a very short time frame. Neither is ideal, which is probably why last year's results are what they fall back on.

 

[danafan]

Osmond will be taking the entire season off.

https://skatecanada.ca/2018/08/kaetlyn-osmond-to-take-off-2018-2019-competitive-season/

I think with three spots for worlds, I think Skate Canada should be more generous with the women's assignments so that there are more contenders for the three spots. (Meaning more women with the TES minimums). This will probably be the last time we have three ladies spots for the foreseeable future (unless Osmond comes back for 2020 worlds in Montreal).

 

[euterpe]

As things stand now, with Kaetlyn not competing at Worlds 2019, there will be only 2 ladies spots for Worlds 2020 in Montreal. And Gabby had better stay healthy!!!

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

I agree completely. My post was in exasperation at what I saw in the senior ladies event at Summer Skate. So many looked totally unprepared for the end of the summer. Delivering is very important. One way to encourage that is for judges to mark what is actually put out on the ice. There is no way most, if not all, of the senior women at Summer Skate would get anything close to those scores internationally. I am not talking domestic inflation, many of those scores, PCS, GOE, and calling, we’re down right crazy.

I get your point, we agree. As for scores, with the new -/+ 5, judges are test training too so I wouldn’t rely on raw scores in the summer/fall.

 

[coppertop1]

As things stand now, with Kaetlyn not competing at Worlds 2019, there will be only 2 ladies spots for Worlds 2020 in Montreal. And Gabby had better stay healthy!!!

We were able to maintain two spots when she was off the Word Team. We will manage. 2018-19 will be a strange season for Canadians.

 

[mag]

@Dobre I get that, but e.g. the deadline for entries to the first GP event (Skate America) is August 15, according to this document: https://www.isu.org/docman-document...s-68/17830-gpusa-2018-announcement-final/file
So any federation that's relying on summer competitions as an indicator of who to send to the GPs is either going to have to hold its events in time to meet those deadlines, or leave the events where they are and make those decisions in a very short time frame. Neither is ideal, which is probably why last year's results are what they fall back on.

So tell skaters up front, at the end of last season, if you want to be considered for the SC spot, you must compete at (insert a late July comp here, say Glacier Falls because it is on neutral ground) Then S/C can assess readiness and have a direct comparison among skaters.

With Kaetlyn out for the season I hope SC rethinks a bit and places then emphasis on ladies who have a 3/3 in the short and have the potiential to make the cut for the LP. Would Canada go down to one lady in 2020 if two of the three in 2019 don’t make it to the long?

On a completely different note, I heard a rumor that Olivia Gran may be injured. Anyone hear anything?

 

[danafan]

Skate Canada has yet to update the national team lists on their site, obviously due to retirements or skaters sitting out the season. I wonder if Kim Deguise Léveillée will be added based on her sixth place at nationals.

Also I think it would be wise to see how the JGP skaters do, the ones who are age eligible and who plan to compete senior at nationals, and give them a senior international later in the season in order to get a chance to get the minimum tech score for senior.

 

[Catherine M]

Would Canada go down to one lady in 2020 if two of the three in 2019 don’t make it to the long?

No as long as someone coughGabbycough finishes in the top 10.

Last year at worlds, 2 of the 3 canadian pair teams didn't make the long and K-MT/MM finished in the top 10, securing 2 spots for 2019 worlds in pairs for Canada as only one of the Pair teams 18 points counted. Now if K-MT/MM had finished 11th or lower, than yes it would have been 1 pair team.

 

[coppertop1]

As long as we still have Gabby, we will easily keep two spots. It's nice to send three but two is the standard. And who knows what young upstart is waiting in the wings like Kaetlyn was six years ago.

 

[Dobre]

There is nothing easy about it. I hope people will just let her compete and do her best. She's fully capable of finishing top ten, and her odds are better than most.

 

[screech]

As long as we still have Gabby, we will easily keep two spots. It's nice to send three but two is the standard. And who knows what young upstart is waiting in the wings like Kaetlyn was six years ago.

Not necessarily - don't forget she came 15th at the Olympics...
Yes, her FP was horribly out of her normal skating, but still, if it can happen once it can happen again.
I hope she delivers, though. She has the goods.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Although it's not in the Announcement, and, although there have been a few exceptions in the last three Olympic cycles, allegedly, the hosts are supposed to leave one TBD/TBA only, and then fill those within two weeks of the deadline to finalize the named spots in the original selection; this year, that deadline is August 15.

If Skate Canada followed this alleged rule, then they'd have had to choose between Chartrand and Austman for one spot, leaving another open, and I'm not sure they would have been willing to do that.