What's sad is that Ashley almost always skates clean(ish) at least once a season. I feel like she was due to deliver it at the Olympics.
A related thought - looking at how the US ladies, Sakamoto and Sotskova skated in PC, how should the qualification system work to ensure / discourage skaters from competitive nations to not peak at Nationals?
This. All the way. I had one concern with her in 2017 and that was the two popped triples at Worlds LP and at Nationals this January. Until 2017, I literally cannot recall a time when AW failed to rotate the majority of rotations she had planned. The fact that the pops happened on her 3-3 combos indicates to me, that her ability to pull either off had started to slip. Considering she used to have a 1-season expiration on 3-3s, she held onto 3f-3t remarkably well in the SP and it was still looking OK compared to, say, Sochi, when her original 3f-3t technique was a struggle. And, the 3-1-3 pop could likely have been fixed with ramped up training.
I think she had gotten over her past SP issues and would have at worst skated a clean program with a < on the 3t, and maybe a L3 spin in there. High 60s minimum is a score I would bet money on if she were able to train to peak for the Games. In the LP, Helsinki was maybe the only time she didn't come out blazing in the LP after a not-so-encouraging SP; otherwise, her record speaks for itself. 99% of the time, we got a clean program with an average of two <'s and one L3 spin. Unfortunately, the "E" returned this year, too, after having been her strongest jump in Spring 2015. Regardless, she was more likely to have skated a totally flawless program than to have made mistakes beyond what I just mentioned.
Her final total may have only put her in 8th or so, but if she rotated that 3t in the SP a hair more, received a "!" in the LP, etc., she had an equally plausible chance of being 5th-ish, which - unless you want to believe Mirai can ever duplicate her (historic and memorable regardless) team LP - was not rationally in the cards for ANY of the 3 U.S. skaters. Anyone could see that the PCS gap alone should have ensured AW a place, because the other 3 were just not going to get the scores needed and shouldn't.
I know I'm an uber and can spend a day defending the girl, but she really was consistently screwed by the USFS and despite people commenting to the contrary, I think she remained poised and focused on her own tasks vs. the politics, save for the infamous slip-ups. She has been far and away the #1 American skater internationally, but that, a World silver, and a GP win weren't enough to give her a 4th National title last season when it could have been easily justified, just as medals in 2014 and 2018 would have been. In most other countries, she would have won 2016 and 2017 Nationals and made this OG team. As National Champ, might she have scraped a few extra points in the SP at Worlds to get into the final flight? What impact did skating in the penultimate group have on her competitiveness? Either way, even if she had spent all of this time since Boston on her couch eating Chipotle, she never received the support that has been commonplace for established skaters. In a battle year with Slutskaya, would USFS judges put Jenny Kirk over Michelle because of a fluke mistake? No - they were in totally different leagues. Pretending any of the 3 OG girls had PCS that could touch Ashley's is as ludicrous as AP McDonough having won 2003 Nationals.
Thank you to whomever reiterated her record which is so often forgotten. Pre-AW, she had skaters dropping into the teens as National Champions with 3 spots gone for far too long. 2012-2017 top 7 finishes each year, earning the record for most GPF appearances and perhaps medals, winning GP events through 16-17, winning 4CC over Asada, three LP 'mini medals' from 2012, 2015, and 2016, with a close 4th from 2014... I don't anticipate any mini medals next month from BT, MN, or KC. I have no issues with them since they can't be blamed for judging, but they are the ones who were supposedly better picks in January and direct comparison seems fair.
I will miss the sass!
And her silver at Worlds after two great skates will always be one of my favorite skating memories.
