2024-25 USFS International Assignments

[dancefan17]

This may well be a stupid question, but is the value actually there for a coach to accompany each skater to a competition? And surely most small federations don't send a medical person to each competition. I wonder if there ought to be a rethink on what is actually needed based on what other federations actually do--and whether there might be some reasonable collaboration with Canada to have a consolidated team support structure that would lessen costs for both federations and athletes.

On the coaching question, I think it depends upon the age, maturity and experience of the skater. I feel that in most cases, the skater is more comfortable and confident with their coach present. For medical personnel, it is a small price to pay if something happens- injury, concussion, etc. It is not something I would skip, having been at competitions where medical personnel were not well represented.

 

[crzesk8dad]

Deleted

 

[Karen-W]

The last two JGPs have been assigned on the USFS Int'l Assignments page -

JGP Slovenia
Men - Jacob Sanchez
Women - Sophie Joline von Felten
Ice Dance - Mullen/Mullen & Pedersen/Starr

JGP China
Men - Patrick Blackwell
Women - Mia Kalin
Ice Dance - Ilin/Cain & Peal/Peal

 

[Karen-W]

If the money’s not there, it’s not there and the skater’s family made a sensible choice.

Looking at past USFS decisions, I doubt USFS will weigh these Jr. B results particularly highly. Looking at some past assignment selections from women, Lee got chosen for Jr. Worlds without any amazing international results because of her strong nationals performance. Higase-Chen had won a jr. B (Budapest) and junior nationals, but that was weighted less in the selection committee’s choice than senior nationals. This year, Cleo Park got chosen for a JGP because of her Milwaukee Cup results later fortified by NQS results. Not going to the Cranberry Jr. B (not sure if she was invited there) didn’t eliminate her chances for a bigger international assignment selection. I do think Nemirovsky’s result at Cranberry springboarded her on to the JGP, but it goes to show that there’s several different routes to an international assignment.

If a skater can’t self-fund internationally, then they need to make the most of Nationals and Junior Cup. That’s their route to USFS-paid international assignments.

Circling back to this, the last 2 JGP assignments for the women certainly solidify the point made above. Here are the top 10 scores across this summer's Junior Cup, Cranberry Cup Jr B & NQS Series:

1) Mia Kalin - 193.35/168.35 - NQS (senior)/Cranberry
2) Logan Higase-Chen - 191.63/179.74/169.45 - NQS (senior)/Jr Cup/Cranberry
2) Cleo Park - 187.33/168.21 - NQS/Jr Cup
3) Emilia Nemirovsky - 180.37/167.50 - Cranberry/NQS
4) Annika Chao - 179.85/173.12 - Jr Cup/NQS
5) Katie Shen - 179.10 - NQS (senior) - did not participate in Jr Cup
6) Sophie Joline von Felten - 176.44 - NQS
7) Josephine Lee - 173.02 - Jr Cup
8) Jessica Jurka - 172.49 - NQS
9) Sofia Bezkorovainaya - 168.52 - NQS
10) Keira Hilbelink - 168.15 - Jr Cup (currently injured)

JGP #1 - Annika Chao (2nd at Jr Cup)
JGP #2 - Josephine Lee (3rd at Jr Cup)
JGP #3 - Logan Higase-Chen (1st at Jr Cup, 2nd at Cranberry)
JGP #4 - Emilia Nemirovsky (1st at Cranberry, 2nd in NQS Jr Women)
JGP #5 - Cleo Park (4th at Jr Cup, 1st in NQS Jr Women)
JGP #6 - Sophie Joline von Felten (3rd in NQS Jr Women)
JGP #7 - Mia Kalin (2nd in NQS Sr Women, 3rd at Cranberry)

There were, very clearly, multiple paths for the US Women who have earned JGP assignments to earn those USFS-paid international assignments; and, ultimately, the USFS has gone down the list of high scores across three different paths (Jr Cup, Cranberry and NQS) and doled out the assignments taking all of those results into consideration.

 

[Stephanie]

The junior Trophee Metropole Nice assignments are up on the USFS website:

Ladies: Alayna Coats, Jessica Jurka, (Teryn?) Kim
Men: Nicholas Brooks, Lorenzo Elano, Vaclav Vasquez
Dance: Stapert/Korotcov, Renzi/Lissauer

 

[Sylvia]

Anyone here remember USFS' Young Internationals program many, many years ago?

There were, very clearly, multiple paths for the US Women who have earned JGP assignments to earn those USFS-paid international assignments; and, ultimately, the USFS has gone down the list of high scores across three different paths (Jr Cup, Cranberry and NQS) and doled out the assignments taking all of those results into consideration.

I assume 2024 Nationals results were factored in as well.

Among the men, in retrospect, the top 2 at the U.S. Junior Team Cup in July (Patrick Blackwell and Aleksandr Fegan) were assigned to the first 2 JGPs; Taira Shinohara (4th at Jr. Team Cup and the Junior national silver medalist) and Jacob Sanchez (2024 YOG, 2nd at Cranberry Cup) were the next 2 assigned and both have 3A in their programs.

 

[Sylvia]

U.S. skaters/teams who currently have the 2025 Junior Worlds TES minimums (men 80 / women 72 / ice dance 71 / pairs 63):

Men (10):
120.34 Patrick Blackwell (JGP CZE 2024; upcoming: JGP CHN)
119.45 Jacob Sanchez JGP TUR 2024; upcoming: JGP SLO)
111.72 Daniel Martynov (JGP ARM 2023)
107.48 Taira Shinohara (Bavarian Open 2024); JGP THA 2024
97.47 Nicholas Brooks (Cranberry Cup Int'l 2024; upcoming: Nice)
97.42 Aleksandr Fegan (JGP ARM 2023 & JGP LAT 2024)
91.51 Kirk Haugeto (Cranberry 2023 & 2024; upcoming: Tayside)
89.81 Lucius Kazanecki (Cranberry 2024)
85.84 Kai Kovar (Cranberry 2024)
81.21 Lorenzo Elano (2023 & 2024 Cranberry; upcoming: Nice)
---
Zachary LoPinto (74.14 at 2023 Kings Cup Int'l; upcoming: Tayside)
Vaclav Vasquez (70.90 at 2023 Kings Cup; upcoming: Nice)
Caleb Farrington TBD (upcoming: Tayside)

Women (18):
104.42 Sherry Zhang (JGP ARM 2023 & YOG 2024)
103.96 Mia Kalin (2023 Kings Cup; upcoming: JGP CHN)
100.71 Elyce Lin-Gracey (JGP ARM 2023 & JGP TUR 2023)
100.59 Emilia Nemirovsky (Cranberry 2024); JGP TUR
99.25 Cleo Park (Tayside 2023 & 2023 Kings Cup); JGP POL
98.98 Logan Higase-Chen (Budapest Trophy 2023 & Cranberry 2024)
97.93 Annika Chao (2023 Kings Cup); JGP THA
92.38 Sarah Everhardt (JGP POL 2023)
89.98 Josephine Lee (Cranberry 2023 & JGP CZE 2024)
89.27 Sofia Bezkorovainaya (Cranberry 2024; upcoming: Tayside)
88.35 Katie Shen (Cranberry 2023)
87.67 Sophie Joline von Felten (Cranberry 2024; upcoming: JGP SLO & Tayside)
86.34 Jessica Jurka (Cranberry 2024; upcoming: Nice)
85.32 Jiaying Ellyse Johnson (Cranberry 2023; upcoming: Tayside)
80.65 Teryn Kim (2023 Kings Cup International; upcoming: Nice)
80.32 Ela Cui (Cranberry 2023)
78.05 Mia Barghout (Cranberry 2023)
74.99 Ella Kim (2023 Kings Cup International)
---
TBD Alayna Coats (upcoming: Nice)

Ice Dance (6):
97.26 Leah Neset/Artem Markelov (JGPF 2023/24) - presumably only senior internationals this season?
91.20 Katarina Wolfkostin/Dimitry Tsarevski (JGP POL 2024; upcoming: JGP Final)
89.94 Hana Maria Aboian/Daniil Veselukhin (JGP THA 2024 & Lake Placid IDI 2024)
87.34 Caroline Mullen/Brendan Mullen (JGP LAT 2024; upcoming JGP SLO)
86.30 Elliana Peal/Ethan Peal (JGP TUR 2023; upcoming: JGP CHN)
81.80 Olivia Ilin/Dylan Cain (YOG 2024; upcoming: JGP CHN)
---
Yahli Pedersen/Benjamin Starr (70.49 at JGP POL 2024; upcoming: JGP SLO)
Emily Renzi/William Lissauer (68.93 at JGP CZE 2024; upcoming: Nice)
Julia Epps/Blake Gilman (59.80 at Lake Placid IDI 2024)
TBD Annelise Stapert/Maxim Korotcov (upcoming: Nice)

Pairs (5):
88.13 Olivia Flores/Luke Wang (Junior Worlds 2024 & JGP TUR 2023)
72.91 Naomi Williams/Lachlan Lewer (Junior Worlds 2024)
68.60 Elizabeth Hansen/William Church (JGP TUR 2023 & JGP POL 2024)
67.51 Saya Carpenter/Ignacio (Jon) Maravilla (JGP POL 2024 & JGP CZE 2024; upcoming: Tayside 2024)
66.96 Reagan Moss/Jakub Galbavy (JGP LAT 2024 & JGP POL 2024; upcoming: Tayside 2024)
---
Addyson McDanold/Aaron Felberbaum (58.53 at John Nicks 2024 & JGP TUR 2024; upcoming: Tayside 2024)

 

[her grace]

Anyone here remember USFS' Young Internationals program many, many years ago?

Yes, it was pay-to-play without needing to reach a certain standard like being in an ISP, so skaters who couldn’t even qualify to nationals or sectionals could go. There was much

 

[Stephanie]

I noticed that USFS added Ice Challenge in Austria, scheduled for November 4-10, to their international assignments page. It’s pretty close to sectionals, so I wouldn’t expect a lot of entries, but we’ll see.

 

[Karen-W]

I noticed that USFS added Ice Challenge in Austria, scheduled for November 4-10, to their international assignments page. It’s pretty close to sectionals, so I wouldn’t expect a lot of entries, but we’ll see.

I noticed that too and wasn't sure if it was new or I'd just missed it in the past, lol. IceChallenge is a good event as they have all four disciplines in Sr, Jr & Novice age categories.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see some skaters/teams who already have Byes to Nats get sent there, especially if they don't wind up with any additional GP assignments beyond what they currently have.

 

[Frau Muller]

Ice Challenge in Austria, which used to be a CS event (scores on post-it notes).

 

[Sylvia]

Circling back to this, the last 2 JGP assignments for the women ...
...
JGP #4 - Emilia Nemirovsky (1st at Cranberry, 2nd in NQS Jr Women)
JGP #5 - Cleo Park (4th at Jr Cup, 1st in NQS Jr Women)
JGP #6 - Sophie Joline von Felten (3rd in NQS Jr Women)
JGP #7 - Mia Kalin (2nd in NQS Sr Women, 3rd at Cranberry)

A few corrections to the above:
Emilia Nemirovsky (1st at Cranberry [in early August], 7th in NQS Jr Women [July]); also 4th in Junior at 2024 Nationals as a Novice skater
Sophie Joline von Felten (2nd in NQS Jr Women [Sept.])

I noticed that USFS added Ice Challenge in Austria, scheduled for November 4-10, to their international assignments page. It’s pretty close to sectionals, so I wouldn’t expect a lot of entries, but we’ll see.

I was trying to figure out what was added in the Oct. 2nd update and I'm pretty sure it was only the line for "IceChallenge
Graz, Austria Nov. 4-10, 2024" in between Grand Prix de France and NHK Trophy.

 

[marshallpond]

Sophie Joline von Felten will replace Mia Kalin for JGP China.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

It’s kind of incredible… since Sophie and Mia have the higher technical content elements planned and if clean they should’ve been sent out first. It’s a shame USFSA did not do that, regardless of what they did in July.

Sophie and Mia have high scoring potential if they land, while some of the other US skaters can only reach a certain score because of their content

Now having said this, I did check out the competitors for next weekend, and it’s very stacked in the ladies.

 

[Karen-W]

It’s kind of incredible… since Sophie and Mia have the higher technical content elements planned and if clean they should’ve been sent out first. It’s a shame USFSA did not do that, regardless of what they did in July.

Sophie and Mia have high scoring potential if they land, while some of the other US skaters can only reach a certain score because of their content

Now having said this, I did check out the competitors for next weekend, and it’s very stacked in the ladies.

We've beaten this dead horse over and over again - Mia's scoring potential is not as high as you believe - if it was, she'd have been winning medals on the JGP the past three seasons. Sophie did not show this sort of scoring potential until... Well... Today.

Next week is OFF THE HOOK - three JGP champs and two JGP silver medalists. There are going to be some very broken hearts next Saturday.

ETA - Also, speculating here that Sophie's Swiss passport is going to come into use here. US citizens need a visa to visit China, however Swiss citizens can enter China for tourism, business or to visit family/friends for up to 15 days without a visa.

 

[her grace]

I hope Kalin is given a USFS-paid Jr B to replace the international assignment.

 

[Evgeniafan]

I hope Kalin is given a USFS-paid Jr B to replace the international assignment.

Replace Sophie at Tayside. Mia could certainly win.

 

[Karen-W]

I hope Kalin is given a USFS-paid Jr B to replace the international assignment.

Agreed. It would be a shame for her to miss out on a USFS-paid Jr B simply because of the way this has played out with the US women who got earlier assignments.

Replace Sophie at Tayside. Mia could certainly win.

Get outta my head!

 

[Stephanie]

I hope Kalin is given a USFS-paid Jr B to replace the international assignment.

Agreed. It's great that Sophie has a shot at making the final, but this must be tough for Mia to take since she seemed to be fully assigned to China (listed on the USFS international assignments page, etc.) Plus, although this might be a relative long shot, Mia is senior eligible next year, so if she skated really well at Wuxi that might have given her a season's best score good enough to get a GP next year.

 

[Sylvia]

Sophie Joline von Felten is listed for Wuxi as of Oct. 6: https://results.isu.org/events/jgpchn2024_JuniorWomen.htm

The ISU's JGP Women's standings page now shows the 'X' in the Wuxi column for von Felten: https://results.isu.org/events/jgp2024/jgpswomen.htm
She joins gold medalists Yuseong Kim and Yihan Wang and silver medalists Ami Nakai and Yo Takagi in the battle for 3-4(?) remaining JGP Final spots next week!

 

[Jammers]

Sophie Joline von Felten is listed for Wuxi as of Oct. 6: https://results.isu.org/events/jgpchn2024_JuniorWomen.htm

The ISU's JGP Women's standings page now shows the 'X' in the Wuxi column for von Felten: https://results.isu.org/events/jgp2024/jgpswomen.htm
She joins gold medalists Yuseong Kim and Yihan Wang and silver medalists Ami Nakai and Yo Takagi in the battle for 3-4(?) remaining JGP Final spots next week!

No matter what happens next week this is great experience for Sophie.

 

[kalbi]

You are so right. It did come into play. She doesn’t need a visa with her Swiss passport. If it was some other U.S. skater, Mia would still be going to China because of visa issues.

We've beaten this dead horse over and over again - Mia's scoring potential is not as high as you believe - if it was, she'd have been winning medals on the JGP the past three seasons. Sophie did not show this sort of scoring potential until... Well... Today.

Next week is OFF THE HOOK - three JGP champs and two JGP silver medalists. There are going to be some very broken hearts next Saturday.

ETA - Also, speculating here that Sophie's Swiss passport is going to come into use here. US citizens need a visa to visit China, however Swiss citizens can enter China for tourism, business or to visit family/friends for up to 15 days without a visa.

 

[kalbi]

Feel bad for Mia. Sophie as well as the other juniors have more time on the Junior Circuit. Mia is age eligible for senior next season and it would have been nice to help her set up her senior citizen with more experience and shot at a great score.

Agreed. It's great that Sophie has a shot at making the final, but this must be tough for Mia to take since she seemed to be fully assigned to China (listed on the USFS international assignments page, etc.) Plus, although this might be a relative long shot, Mia is senior eligible next year, so if she skated really well at Wuxi that might have given her a season's best score good enough to get a GP next year.

 

[tangerine dream]

Feel bad for Mia. Sophie as well as the other juniors have more time on the Junior Circuit. Mia is age eligible for senior next season and it would have been nice to help her set up her senior citizen with more experience and shot at a great score.

Kalin is eligible for senior next season but she's not aging out of junior. She can do two more junior seasons if she wants/needs to.

 

[jlai]

Is this the first time usfs takes back an assignment from a skater after it is posted on USFS assignment page? It has been an unwritten tradition that the posting on that page is what’s made the assignment firm?

This is great opportunity for Sophie, but I would be pissed if I were Mia, to have something taken from me so close to the event when I thought it were a done deal. (Unless usfs told skater no assignments were firm firm)

 

[YukiNieve]

deleted due to incorrect information

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

A first I was pleased for von Felten. Then, "Can she really be successful as a last minute replacement and a tough travel to China?". She seemed cool as a cucumber in SLO but this must be terribly taxing on a teenager. If she falters I hope we all remember what she did THIS week.

 

[marshallpond]

We've beaten this dead horse over and over again - Mia's scoring potential is not as high as you believe - if it was, she'd have been winning medals on the JGP the past three seasons. Sophie did not show this sort of scoring potential until... Well... Today.

Next week is OFF THE HOOK - three JGP champs and two JGP silver medalists. There are going to be some very broken hearts next Saturday.

ETA - Also, speculating here that Sophie's Swiss passport is going to come into use here. US citizens need a visa to visit China, however Swiss citizens can enter China for tourism, business or to visit family/friends for up to 15 days without a visa.

The Swiss passport seems critical, as they wouldn't have been able to do the uber duper last minute switcheroo for a US passport holder.

I noticed that all the names for Tayside Trophy that were listed on the USFS International Assignments page are gone...!? In the meantime Mia's name is still listed for Wuxi, China.

2024-25 International Assignments and Results

2024-25 International Assignments and Results

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

I think they are working on the updates, but why they removed all the names?　A mistake？

Have they ever put the names of those doing Tayside? I don’t recall seeing them.

 

[marshallpond]

A first I was pleased for von Felten. Then, "Can she really be successful as a last minute replacement and a tough travel to China?". She seemed cool as a cucumber in SLO but this must be terribly taxing on a teenager. If she falters I hope we all remember what she did THIS week.

I think she’s currently in Switzerland as she was supposed to fly to Scotland from Switzerland. She never flew back to the US

 

[Private Citizen]

Just fyi, Chinese visas are not as hard as people are making them out to be. They take 3-4 business days and there’s a rush one day service at embassies. The visas are good for 10 years even if you change passports. The USFS would’ve been able to make the switch for any skater who had been to China in the previous 10 years or who was able to get to an embassy on Monday.

Anyway: I hope this doesn’t put too much pressure on von Felten.