2024-25 USFS International Assignments

[Karen-W]

Sarah Everhardt

She earned the 4CCs assignment and I'd rather have her there than at Jr Worlds where she's likely to have a similar placement and earn less WS points.

 

[Dobre]

A 6th place finish at the GPF/JGPF--especially a GPF/JGPF the other team didn't attend--should never hurt an athletes' chances. It is both earned based on a consistent season and is a form of experience. An experience which the Mullens do not have.

As I said, it's stupid.

It's like thinking you can arbitrarily swap Green & Parsons for Bratti & Somerville and that it won't matter. Yes, it matters. Experience matters.

 

[Karen-W]

A 6th place finish at the GPF/JGPF--especially a GPF/JGPF the other team didn't attend--should never hurt an athletes' chances. It is both earned based on a consistent season and is a form of experience. An experience which the Mullens do not have.

As I said, it's stupid.

It's like thinking you can arbitrarily swap Green & Parsons for Bratti & Somerville and that it won't matter. Yes, it matters. Experience matters.

Hold on, this wasn't just any ol' 6th place finish at the JGPF. That was their WORST performance of the season, where they scored nearly 10 points below their lower JGP score.

Peals - average 150.88
LPIDI 145.27 - 4th place
JGP Bangkok 152.55 - 3rd place
JGP Wuxi 160.50 - 1st place
JGPF 143.08 - 6th place
Nationals 153.00 (lost the FD to the Mullens) - 2nd place

Mullens - average 153.40
LPIDI 147.41 - 3rd place
JGP Riga 156.42 - 2nd place
JGP Ljubljana 161.16 - 3rd place
US ID Finals - 153.50 - 2nd place
Nationals 148.51 (beat the Peals in the FD) - 3rd place

The Peals made it to the JGPF because the field at their 2nd JGP was much weaker than the field at the Mullens 2nd JGP. The ONLY time the Peals had a higher score than the Mullens throughout the season was at Nationals.

Go look at the Protocols for their events and compare them.

Peals
LPIDI RD - MiStW2+MiStM2, PDkp 2+B, Twizzles W4+M4
LPIDI FD - CiStW3+CiStM3, OFTW1+OFTM1, Twizzles W4+M4
JGP Bangkok RD - MiStW2+MiStM2, PDkp 3+1, Twizzles W4+M4
JGP Bangkok FD - CiStW3+CiStM2, OFTW1+OFTW2, Twizzles W4+M4
JGP Wuxi RD - MiStW3+MiStM2, PDkp 3+3, Twizzles W4+M4
JGP Wuxi FD - CiStW1+CiStM3, OFTW2+OFTM2, Twizzles W4+M4 (they lost the FD here to Perrier Gianesini/Blanc Klaperman, btw, despite winning overall)
JGPF RD - MiStW1+MiStM2, PDkp 2+2, Twizzles W4+M4
JGPF FD - CiStW1+CiStM2, OFTW1+OFTM2, Twizzles W4+M4
Nats RD - MiStW1+MiStM1, PDkp 2+1, Twizzles W4+M4
Nats FD - CiStW1+CiStW2, OFTW1+OFTM1, Twizzles W4+M2

Mullens
LPIDI RD - MiStW3+MiStM2, PDkp 2+2, Twizzles W3+M4
LPIDI FD - OFTW3+OFTW3, CiStW3+CiStM3, Twizzles W3+M3
JGP Riga RD - MiStW2+MiStM3, PDkp 4+1, Twizzles W4+M4
JGP Riga FD - OFTW3+OFTW3, CiStW3+CiStM3, Twizzles W4+M4
JGP Ljubljana RD - MiStW2+MiStM2, PDkp 4+3, Twizzles W4+M4
JGP Ljubljana FD - OFTW2+OFTW3, CiStW3+CiStM2, Twizzles W4+M4
US ID Finals RD - MiStW3+MiStM3, PDkp 4+4, Twizzles W3+M4
US ID Finals FD - OFTW3+OFTM3, CiStW2+CiStM3, Twizzles W2+M4
Nats RD - MiStW2+MiStM2, PDkp 1+2, Twizzles WB+M3
Nats FD - OFTW3+OFTM3, CiStW3+CiStM3, Twizzles W2+M2

The Mullens have consistently better step sequences, one-foot sequences and pattern dances than the Peals. The only element where the Peals are consistently better than the Mullens are on the twizzles - and it's a huge issue when Caroline misses, but there's nothing about the scoring of these two teams internationally that should lead anyone to believe the Peals would do better than the Mullens, and the Mullens season average is better, in every way, even including Nats, than the Peals.

Yes, this is a hill I'm going to die upon because the Mullens FD is one of my faves in the junior ranks this season and I'm thrilled they get to skate it again, hopefully clean, at Jr Worlds.

 

[her grace]

@Karen-W, that’s a good summation of Peals v. Mullens.

It seems that the message is that JGP placement wasn’t as important as JGP scores, which seems fair since the fields can be lopsided. And that nationals was not as important as international scoring.

That said, the Peals are an excellent team, and they are unlucky in that the U.S. had four amazing, strong teams. Four out of the top 8 on the JGP circuit! It’s sad that a deserving team has to stay home.

 

[ice coverage]

U.S. Figure Skating
Athlete Selection Procedures
2026 Olympic Winter Games
Publication Date: January 21, 2025
22 pages

https://www.usfigureskating.org/sites/default/files/media-files/2026%20FSK%20Athlete%20Selection%20Procedures%20FINAL%20OLY.pdf

(If this document already was added to FSU elsewhere, sorry that I missed it.)

 

[kwanfan1818]

Am confused about this from page 4 (emphasis mine):

"Qualification to each of the events linked within the international calendar is dependent on the
type of event.
• Grand Prix: Selection based on World Standing
o Exception: Skate America athletes are selected by respective Discipline Groups as
they are not based on World Standing"

Not results at prior Worlds? Top 24 SB? Top 75 SB? Being part of a split couple or return skater? Reaching specific Jr. results?

Thank you for posting, @ice coverage !

 

[Karen-W]

Am confused about this from page 4 (emphasis mine):

"Qualification to each of the events linked within the international calendar is dependent on the
type of event.
• Grand Prix: Selection based on World Standing
o Exception: Skate America athletes are selected by respective Discipline Groups as
they are not based on World Standing"

Not results at prior Worlds? Top 24 SB? Top 75 SB? Being part of a split couple or return skater? Reaching specific Jr. results?

Thank you for posting, @ice coverage !

Well, we know that athletes have multiple pathways for selection to the Grand Prix - unless the GP Host Commission is revamping the selection process entirely, which is something we won't know until the ISU publishes next season's GP Announcement - so I don't think the USFS/USOPC are limiting which GP assignments "count" for this.

Reviewing the entire document, specifically Appendix B and the Championship Event Data Proposal (Excel Spreadsheet linked on pg 18) - the selection pool calculation table is exactly the same one that has been used this season, so I don't see any reason to believe that only some GP of the GP assignments will count and others will not. I think it's just the USFS' inelegant (how unexpected) way of saying that GP assignments, apart from SkAm Host TBD spots, are out of the USFS' control.

 

[Sylvia]

I've created a separate thread for USFS' 2026 Olympics team selection criteria document: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...res-for-the-2026-olympic-winter-games.112577/

Challenge Cup, Feb. 13-16, in Tilueg, NED - USA entries published on the competition's event page as of Jan. 31:
Women: Starr Andrews, Lindsay Thorngren
Junior Men: Lorenzo Elano
Junior Women: Angela Shao (debut), Sherry Zhang
Junior Pairs: Elizabeth Hansen/William Church, Sofia Jarmoc/Luke Witkowski (debut)
Advanced Novice Women: Mia Iwase (debut)
Advanced Novice Pairs (only 2 teams entered): Giuliana Gariti/Matthew Curtis, Juliet & Devin Meek (debuts for both teams)

 

[Karen-W]

Cross-posting -

As most of us expected, Max Naumov has withdrawn from 4CCs and been replaced by Tomoki Hiwatashi.

https://results.isu.org/events/fc2025_Men.htm

 

[Firedancer]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1887914234706866564

 

[Karen-W]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1887914234706866564

Just gonna say it right now - there's no way Jason Brown is going to Worlds. If he was in decent competitive shape, he would be the one competing at this competition.

 

[Tesla]

Just gonna say it right now - there's no way Jason Brown is going to Worlds. If he was in decent competitive shape, he would be the one competing at this competition.

Ok, why? I think Jason going to Worlds hinges on how well the US men do at 4CCs. USFSA wants those three spots for the Olympics. If the US men can hold their nerves and lay down corkers at 4CCs, I expect one of them to be going to Worlds.

 

[Jonas]

Just gonna say it right now - there's no way Jason Brown is going to Worlds. If he was in decent competitive shape, he would be the one competing at this competition.

I'm thinking more cynically here and I'll say that Jason Brown WILL BE going to Worlds banking on the USFSA giving him the green light through its little monitoring session.

Your thoughts...

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I'm thinking more cynically here and I'll say that Jason Brown WILL BE going to Worlds banking on the USFSA giving him the green light through its little monitoring session.

Your thoughts...

I agree, I feel like Jason is going, and it will take a couple other of series of events to change that

 

[Karen-W]

Ok, why? I think Jason going to Worlds hinges on how well the US men do at 4CCs. USFSA wants those three spots for the Olympics. If the US men can hold their nerves and lay down corkers at 4CCs, I expect one of them to be going to Worlds.

I'm thinking more cynically here and I'll say that Jason Brown WILL BE going to Worlds banking on the USFSA giving him the green light through its little monitoring session.

Your thoughts...

I don't see any reason why the USFS would give Jason a private monitoring session while subjecting Isabeau to a real event in order to demonstrate competitive readiness - which is part of the "Return to Play" protocol under which both of them were conditionally assigned to the Worlds team.

The fact that Jason isn't even on this entry list only convinces me further that he is not in any better competitive shape than he was 2.5 weeks ago when he withdrew from Nats. I do think @Tesla is probably right, to an extent, though, that the USFS doesn't feel comfortable enough yet with any of the men assigned to 4CCs to take Jason off the table. If they (mostly Camden or Jimmy since they're the two Worlds alternates going to 4CCs) can at least lay down a solid 82+ SP score and an ISU SB in the 240+ range, then Jason's not going to Worlds. The USFS may even be okay with another solid SP score that is several points higher than what Jason earned at his GPs.

Martynov is a strange choice and is highly inconsistent with the selections in other disciplines. Torgashev or Brown would have made a lot more sense and been in line with Levito, McBeath/Parkman and Green/Parsons. But assigning the guy who finished 11th at Nats - I mean... Why pass over Kapeikis, Xie or Mindra? I get that Martynov did well in the SP at Nats & has a more reliable quad than those other three guys, but still. The more logical conclusion is that the USFS was going to send Jason but he isn't ready, so the USFS looked at the rest of the men and decided to go easy on their travel budget by assigning the guy who lives & trains in France vs. flying in some guy from the West Coast.

 

[Private Citizen]

I don't see any reason why the USFS would give Jason a private monitoring session while subjecting Isabeau to a real event in order to demonstrate competitive readiness - which is part of the "Return to Play" protocol under which both of them were conditionally assigned to the Worlds team.

Do we know that Levito was asked by USFS to compete here and/or that it was a condition of her being named to the World team? Or is it just speculation?

I hope that she was asked (or told) to compete, and would be very supportive of COMPETING PUBLICLY being the sole standard to demonstrate readiness. I've not like the subjective standard ever since Michelle Kwan's secretive monitoring session.

 

[Karen-W]

Do we know that Levito was asked by USFS to compete here and/or that it was a condition of her being named to the World team? Or is it just speculation?

I hope that she was asked (or told) to compete, and would be very supportive of COMPETING PUBLICLY being the sole standard to demonstrate readiness. I've not like the subjective standard ever since Michelle Kwan's secretive monitoring session.

Pure speculation on my part. I do think the USFS is moving slowly into a more transparent approach to demonstrating readiness - we know that last season they had both Chan/Howe and Liu/Nagy show up at Synchro Nats and skate at least their FSs as an exhibition that was scored by USFS judges to determine who really got the Worlds spot.

 

[tony]

Preliminary entries were due for this event in December. The press release is very clear in the you snooze, you lose aspect of this competition- entries were only considered in the order they were received up to the maximum quota being reached. For men and women, that number is just 12.

Each country was allowed to name 1 entry plus two substitutes, so we don't know what the USFS was thinking and who they actually named as other considerations at that time. I would suspect Brown, who hadn't yet withdrawn from US Nationals, would not have been on that list, but since Levito is there-- who knows.

Also, the competition takes place on an unusual Wednesday & Thursday. That may have narrowed a few choices, too.

 

[Karen-W]

Preliminary entries were due for this event in December. The press release is very clear in the you snooze, you lose aspect of this competition- entries were only considered in the order they were received up to the maximum quota being reached. For men and women, that number is just 12.

Each country was allowed to name 1 entry plus two substitutes, so we don't know what the USFS was thinking and who they actually named as other considerations at that time. I would suspect Brown, who hadn't yet withdrawn from US Nationals, would have been on that list, but since Levito is there-- who knows.

I agree that Brown (and Levito, for that matter) likely being on the initial entries/substitutes list is a reasonable & logical conclusion. Safe to presume that neither would want to compete at 4CCs, but would be open to competing at the Olympic test event.

For some reason, Martynov has been given a lot of consideration despite subpar results during the fall, so I could see him being included, especially since he's based in France now, as a substitute. The US men are such a mess beyond Ilia & an emergent Torgy that it's hard to guess who else would have been listed as a substitute given that any of them were just as likely as another to nab a 4CCs assignment.

Also, the competition takes place on an unusual Wednesday & Thursday. That may have narrowed a few choices, too.

It's not much more unusual than most Nats or ISU Championship weeks where competitions can start on Wednesday or Thursday. I can see it maybe being an issue for some skaters who share coaches who have other skaters at 4CCs that same week, but there's not that much overlap and most skaters have at least two coaches who handle travel responsibilities.

 

[Andrea82]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1887914234706866564

The subs listed in the entry list are

Men: Kapeikis, Ma, Naumov
Women: Andrews, Hilmer, Lin-Gracey, Thorngren
Pairs: Chan/Howe, Shin/Nagy
Dance: Bratti/Somerville, Brown/Brown, Neset/Markelov, Pate/Bye, Zingas/Kolesnik

 

[Theatregirl1122]

These entries were due before nationals, right? Including subs? So the sub list should indicate who they were deciding between.

 

[Karen-W]

These entries were due before nationals, right? Including subs? So the sub list should indicate who they were deciding between.

Possibly? They could always go into the ISU system and eliminate any skaters/teams from the substitute list before it was officially published by the ISU today.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Possibly? They could always go into the ISU system and eliminate any skaters/teams from the substitute list before it was officially published by the ISU today.

True, but they left Ma and Naumov on there

 

[Karen-W]

True, but they left Ma and Naumov on there

Good point.

 

[sheetz]

Not sure how relevant this is but Brown was just announced to be appearing in a show in Tulsa with Ashley Cain on Feb 15.

Ashley Cain on Instagram: "I’m excited to be performing February 15th in the Sk8 to Elimin8 Cancer® Celebration Ice Show presented by The William S. Smith Charitable Trust! Join us as we raise money for the fight against cancer with Olympic Gold Med

icegirlash on February 7, 2025: "I’m excited to be performing February 15th in the Sk8 to Elimin8 Cancer® Celebration Ice Show presented by The William S. Smith Charitable Trust! Join us as we raise money for the fight against cancer with Olympic Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton, myself, and Jason...

www.instagram.com

 

[Stephanie]

Liam Kapeikis has replaced Daniel Martynov for the Road to 26 Olympic Test Event per the USFS international assignments page.

I'm happy for Liam, as I think he deserves this assignment more after nationals (I know the entries were done before), plus Martynov had more opportunities earlier in the season (3 Challengers and a free pass to nationals).

 

[Stephanie]

I just noticed 2 new events on the USFS international assignments page:

Maria Olszewaka Memorial March 5-9 in Lodz, Poland, all disciples novice through seniors. Entries are due Sunday

Denver Cup March 6-8, junior and novice singles. Entries are due today

Denver Cup announcement: https://isu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.az...upInternationalv6016783600_17388463261143.pdf

 

[BittyBug]

Is there a thread for this Road to 26 Trophy in the K&C? I can't find anything.

 

[Karen-W]

Is there a thread for this Road to 26 Trophy in the K&C? I can't find anything.

I don't think anyone has started it yet since the Results link isn't available yet and the comp doesn't start until next Wednesday.

 

[Jarrett]

I don't see any reason why the USFS would give Jason a private monitoring session while subjecting Isabeau to a real event in order to demonstrate competitive readiness - which is part of the "Return to Play" protocol under which both of them were conditionally assigned to the Worlds team.

Do we know that is actually the case or Isabeau wanted to shake off some rust at a zero pressure event/skate at the Olympic venue?