Seguin/Bilodeau, Firus out of Worlds

[bronwynsings]

https://skatecanada.ca/2016/03/liam...-2016-isu-world-figure-skating-championships/

Nguyen and Moore-Towers/Marinaro are both in.

 

[fan]

interesting. SC must have forced Liam to WD - an athlete never would do it of his own accord.

 

[ioana]

I love Seguin and Bilodeau and was looking forward to seeing them in Boston. Hope she heals up quickly and they don't miss too much training time before next season.

also to Liam Firus. Very mature decision on his part

 

[bronwynsings]

interesting. SC must have forced Liam to WD - an athlete never would do it of his own accord.

Exactly what I'm thinking. They sent Kevin Reynolds to a senior B competition to get the minimums he needed (I think just the SP?) and when he didn't get them, they sent Nam instead.

I feel bad for Liam, though. I can understand why SC didn't want to send him, but they shouldn't have named him to the team in the first place if they didn't want to send him.

 

[skategal]

So sad for S&B. Missing worlds. And sad for me not getting to see them in Boston.

Hope she heals soon.

Very mature decision by Firus. I'm impressed.

 

[BlueRidge]

oh gosh darn it Seguin & Bilodeau were who I most wanted to see.

 

[dinakt]

My goodness. Sad that Seguin/Bilodeau won't be competing; they've quickly become among my favorites. Speedy recovery!
Do not know what to think about Firus withdrawing.

 

[Eladola]

I'm all for Kirtsten and Mike's first attempt at the big time

Hope S\B are well soon though.

 

[dramagrrl]

Gutted that Julianne and Charlie won't be at Worlds.

Just when I had something to get excited about again... Argh.

Glad to see Nam get a chance to redeem himself at Worlds, though. I was hoping it would happen somehow.

P.S. Not a chance in hell that Firus made that decision on his own, though...

 

[peibeck]

(((Blue Ridge))) All your faves are dropping.

Very sad about Seguin, hope she recovers soon.

I have to say I think the decision by Firus seems unusual. I was looking forward to seeing him, as I think his skating skills are lovely (even if his jumps are so inconsistent). Obviously it's a great opportunity for Ngyuen though.

 

[danafan]

Interesting that the press release makes it sound like this was all Liam's own idea.

“Making this decision was extremely difficult. However, I feel that withdrawing from the World Championships is vital for our team,” said Firus.

And

“My teammates Patrick Chan and Nam Nguyen are among the top men in the world. I have full faith in their abilities. This decision is about performance and giving our country the best opportunity to obtain three spots for the World Championships next year,” explained Firus.

 

[fan]

Interesting that the press release makes it sound like this was all Liam's own idea.



And

Media quotes are almost always made up by the communications professional. They are not real.

 

[skatfan]

I'm all for Kirtsten and Mike's first attempt at the big time

Hope S\B are well soon though.

Sad for S/D, but thrilled that Korsten and Mike can redeem themselves.

 

[sus2850]

That is sad news, Julianne and Charlie are such a great team. I wish them all the best for next season.

 

[Erin]

So disappointed that Seguin & Bilodeau won't be there, I was really looking forward to seeing their improvements this year live.

And as for Liam, I would be shocked if this was his own idea. I didn't agree with him being named to the team but have always felt that once the team had been named, the spot shouldn't be pulled. I feel really bad for him and hope that Skate Canada makes it up to him with some good fall assignments. I'd say they owe him a Skate Canada host spot and at least one Challenger Series spot. And whether it's his idea or not, he is very classy in his comments.

That said, I am really looking forward to seeing Nam in Boston. I assume that this would not have happened if Nam wasn't looking really good in practice. It will be my first time seeing Nam live and I'm interested to see how he is live after some of the negative reports at Canadians.

 

[Erin]

double post

 

[WanderlustTO]

If they didn't want Liam there they never should have named him. It's unfair to name an athlete to the team and then pull him like that.

 

[Dobre]

Bizarre. Skate Canada should either have had the guts to name the men's team they wanted or just have WAITED until after Four Continents to name the team.

 

[Catherine M]

So sad that I won't get to see Julianne & Charlie skate in person. they were one of my main highlights from 2015 Canadians and I so wanted to see them again.

Add me to the list that doesn't believe Liam came up with his withdrawal all on his own. Ton of pressure now on Nam to get into top 10.

 

[pinky166]

Really respect Firus' decision. Classy guy. Hope he can continue to improve next season, if he can get more solid on the jumps, he has everything else he'd need to have success on the international level.

Sad for S/B

 

[pinky166]

If they didn't want Liam there they never should have named him. It's unfair to name an athlete to the team and then pull him like that.

Unless it actually was his decision? I'm not convinced it wasn't.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I had just seen the article over at IN.

So sad. S&B came on like gangbusters this season. Was excited to see how they had improved even more since GPF.

These weeks al;ways seem to be a bit nerve racking as we wait to see if and how many withdrawals come in.

 

[zebraswan]

Training at a high level, with all the time, effort, $$$ and sacrifice that entails, isn't something you do just to turn around and withdraw from the biggest competition of the season for the good of "the team." What else do you think he's going to say, he's withdrawing because the Fed forced...I mean, "strongly encouraged" it? Please...

 

[Loves_Shizuka]

Poor Firus That's all I'm saying.

Nam?! Ugh.

Well, best of luck to both of them.

 

[Tinami Amori]

Help me out here with "inside info". What is the logic behind asking Liam to step aside? He won 2nd place at Canadian Nationals, but over-all he is not as good as Kevin and Nam, his 2nd place is a fluke, and he is asked to let the other 2 go ahead of him?

 

[mag]

Liam will be, I believe, 25 years old this year, and has been landing up to triple lutz for almost 10 years. I know the 3A and 4T are there in practice, but it seems highly unlikely at this point that they will ever been anywhere close to consistent in competition. I would have more faith if he was a late bloomer who had gradually added jumps over the years rather than basically stagnating technically. It is too bad because he is a great person and a beautiful skater who has been given a ton of opportunities. I suspect there is a lot of woulda, coulda, shoulda as he looks back over the last 8 years.

He has been to the Olympics but not Worlds. Given the state of men's skating in Canada, this could be his last chance to be on the World team. I disagree that SC owes him anything in the fall. He has had the SC host pick twice and has not been able to capitalize on the opportunity. I have posted this before, if Liam wants to continue, he needs to start his season early, he needs to compete in a whole bunch of club competitions doing both programs full out, and he needs to get used to competing again. Too many injuries have really, IMHO, hampered his competitive skills. Oh, he also needs to land the darn 3A because it is a beauty!

 

[mag]

Help me out here with "inside info". What is the logic behind asking Liam to step aside? He won 2nd place at Canadian Nationals, but over-all he is not as good as Kevin and Nam, his 2nd place is a fluke, and he is asked to let the other 2 go ahead of him?

Liam almost always has his best (and often only good skate of the season) at Nationals. Kevin is on his way back from injury. I suspect if Nationals had been held a month later Kevin would have been second.

 

[midori]

About Liam: I don't like this. I really don't like this.

 

[cheerknithanson]

I literally have so much angst right now...groannnnnn

 

[Tinami Amori]

Liam almost always has his best (and often only good skate of the season) at Nationals. Kevin is on his way back from injury. I suspect if Nationals had been held a month later Kevin would have been second.

thank you for info. i see. so i guess it is "what's best for the country" after all.