U.S. Ladies [#27]: A Time to Reboot

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

She is a powerful skater with great technique who offers a nice contrast to the crowd of wispy little girls who seem to be dominating.

I so agree. Amber gives me that Osmond feel to the ice with those fast powerful jumps!!

Just how ANL likes them!!!!

 

[layman]

Her favorite skater is Sasha Cohen.

This was her as a Juv: https://youtu.be/lcH6vkDnpJc

Her FS at Mid Atlantic’s: https://youtu.be/tdvz5IJWipA

Can you guess who inspired her dress?

Promising...she does not yet have Sasha Cohen's extension, stretch, and body line but I think she could attain those qualities if she worked on them. She already turns out and points her feet like Cohen. She needs to work on holding her back up in the spiral like Cohen did and she would greatly benefit from a technical specialist looking at her lutz technique...it looks iffy at the moment. All of her jumps are looking like a lot of work, rather than the effortless quality of Sasha Cohen's jumps. Her team has time to tweak her technique but they need to start working on it now. Still I see a strong base on which to build.

 

[layman]

Ting Cui LP from this weekend:

Ting CUI - FS - 2019 US International Figure Skating Classic - 崔婷

(No commentary / 会場音)

youtu.be

I love the way she listens to her music and allows the music to inform her movement. I love the stretch, line and extension that she achieves. I love her turned out feet and the way she uses her arms (port de bras). I love the speed and flow, the effortless glide and the deep edges and the way she's constantly changing edges...there is so much intricacy and detail in the program. I love the amount of ice Ting can cover and the speed she gets from a single push. Her skating looks effortless, she does not have to pump her back up and down frantically in crossovers to gain speed like we see from the Russians, rather she gains speed from the push and glide of her skate blades. I love the way Ting uses her head positioning and posture to express her music. In short, I love this program and the way Ting skates it.

Ting has always had a problem with rushing her timing in certain parts of her programs and I think that is what caused the pops towards the end, that and lack of training (and endurance) after having been off the ice with an injury this summer. Still a promising first outing with this freeskate. I love it.

 

[BittyBug]

I love her turned out feet and the way she uses her arms (port de bras).

Paging @IceAlisa.

 

[natsulian]

Promising...she does not yet have Sasha Cohen's extension, stretch, and body line but I think she could attain those qualities if she worked on them. She already turns out and points her feet like Cohen. She needs to work on holding her back up in the spiral like Cohen did and she would greatly benefit from a technical specialist looking at her lutz technique...it looks iffy at the moment. All of her jumps are looking like a lot of work, rather than the effortless quality of Sasha Cohen's jumps. Her team has time to tweak her technique but they need to start working on it now. Still I see a strong base on which to build.

I think her technique is actually one of the better ones for US junior ladies. She uses her legs and she has a knee bend to die for. The knee bend gives her jumps, especially the combos a certain rhythm which is just next level. As for her lutz, they’re still working on it as she only learned it this year. As for maturity and such, she’s probably the most mature 12 year old on the ice. It feels like watching a seasoned veteran in terms of PRESENCE. I think she has many things to work on, but she’s definitely on the right track. Her and the current Chinese champion (An Xiangyi) are the ones I’m most looking forward to for next season’s new debuts.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Just watched Ting's free. That was awesome. I thought we were gonna be looking at a score of 130+ until the final jumping passes.

I think Ting will bring it still. She is recovering from an injury.

But her jumps look good to me!

Love her music, love her dress!!!!!

I also thought Amber's dresses were the best she ever had. Her hair was great in the free too. She gives such a refreshing contrast with her jumps because they are so powerful. You can tell her music is personal for her and that makes me want to watch more.

Great job to Amber and Ting.

 

[Debbie S]

Imagine having just gotten off of a major injury that kept her off the ice for about three months

For the sake of accuracy, she was off the ice for a month. As with any injury recovery, when a skater returns to the ice, they build gradually back to where they were pre-injury.

Also, Ting literally started jumping a month ago

Also wrong.

Best of luck to our little artist on ice.

There's something rather condescending (and sexist?) about that word in the context of your sentence.


I thought Ting's new FS was beautifully skated and as others have pointed out, full of intricate movements and challenging transitions. Whatever the cause/reason of the missed jumps, this is a starting point. For every skater, where they start each season is not where they end up. Skated clean, this program will be a stunner.

 

[Teamgracie]

Love both of Amber’s programs, just beautiful. I love it when I don’t want a program to end because it draws me in. Wish her all the best!

 

[Jammers]

Promising...she does not yet have Sasha Cohen's extension, stretch, and body line but I think she could attain those qualities if she worked on them. She already turns out and points her feet like Cohen. She needs to work on holding her back up in the spiral like Cohen did and she would greatly benefit from a technical specialist looking at her lutz technique...it looks iffy at the moment. All of her jumps are looking like a lot of work, rather than the effortless quality of Sasha Cohen's jumps. Her team has time to tweak her technique but they need to start working on it now. Still I see a strong base on which to build.

I'm not sure i'd call Sasha's jumps effortless or quality to be honest. When landed they were rather small those she did rotate them fast.

 

[natsulian]

For the sake of accuracy, she was off the ice for a month. As with any injury recovery, when a skater returns to the ice, they build gradually back to where they were pre-injury.

Also wrong.

There's something rather condescending (and sexist?) about that word in the context of your sentence.


I thought Ting's new FS was beautifully skated and as others have pointed out, full of intricate movements and challenging transitions. Whatever the cause/reason of the missed jumps, this is a starting point. For every skater, where they start each season is not where they end up. Skated clean, this program will be a stunner.

First and foremost, I would never mean to be condescending nor sexist and if my comment came across as such, I apologize. Speaking of context, I should have clarified that Ting is a budding artist rather than use the word “little”. As a minority who has been part of several organizations to combat ignorance and hatred, I would never ever make sexist comments and I have ALWAYS tried to be positive about ALL the ladies we talk about.

On a lighter note, the Junior ladies’ division of the Challenge Skate ended and Calista Choi won. Choi gave a rousing performance and attempted 7 triples. Mia Kalin won the silver and landed a clean 3Lz+3T as part of a 7 triple program. Noelle Rosa jumped from 9th in the Short to 2nd in the Long to place 3rd overall after executing a clean performance. Nicole Chong places 3rd in the Long and 4th overall after completing a five triple program. Although altitude definitely affected the performances today (lots of falls, pops, and unders), it is great to see such character and fight from all the skaters.

Results: https://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2019/28864/index.asp

 

[Sylvia]

... the Junior ladies’ division of the Challenge Skate ended and Calista Choi won. Choi gave a rousing performance and attempted 7 triples. Mia Kalin won the silver and landed a clean 3Lz+3T as part of a 7 triple program. Noelle Rosa jumped from 9th in the Short to 2nd in the Long to place 3rd overall after executing a clean performance. Nicole Chong places 3rd in the Long and 4th overall after completing a five triple program. Although altitude definitely affected the performances today (lots of falls, pops, and unders), it is great to see such character and fight from all the skaters.

Junior Ladies results/link to protocols: https://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2019/28864/CAT006SEG012.html

Replay video: https://usfigureskatingfanzone.com/watch/?Archive=776
Noelle Rosa's 2nd place FS (97.57) starts around the 54 minute mark.
Nicole Chong's 3rd place FS (94.67) starts around 1:39:30.
Mia Kalin's 4th place FS (93.11) starts at 1:52.
Calista Choi's 1st place FS (98.78) is the final program around 2:06:30. Her 153.94 total is her new high total score for the season.

 

[Marco]

Absolutely love Ting Cui. She is by far my most favorite US senior lady. The way she moves to the music is just lovely. And she wasn't even skating anywhere near her best. Can't wait to see her back in form and skate those programs perfect.

Alysa proved herself coming back with a very strong free skate to win the free and overall. What an easy 4lutz. Lovely spins. Speed and flow is what she needs to work on next if she wants to compete with the top junior Russian girls.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

^^^ Really, though?

I see it Much differently.. what do the top Russian junior girls need to do to compete with Liu.......

She's going to go to the JGP Final as probably the second highest ranked skater, maybe third. And she will only be a mere 10 points behind the highest ranked.

And on top of that she's 14 and can do triple axels and quad lutzes until the cows come home, wake up, go out and come back home again.

 

[natsulian]

In terms of TES, Alysa is 0.02 points behind Kamila. Alysa received 83.94 in Poland and Kamila received 83.96 in Russia. Should Kamila land her second 4T, her TES will increase to around 90. If Alysa lands all her jumps with positive GOE, her TES will increase to around 88. With the huge difference in PCS, Alysa will need a second quad Lutz to compete with Kamila. Alysa will receive anywhere between 55-60 at the Final and Kamila's will be between 60-65, further increasing Kamila's lead. However, the ice is slippery and anything can happen. Best of luck to Alysa and Kamila! Some very exciting stuff that fans should just ENJOY and not try to kill each other over.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

^^ Ummmmmmmm, Thats one Russian girl... Marco implied "to keep up with the Russian girls." And Im ,like.. they need to keep up with her.....lol

How old is Kamila to be receiving higher PCS than Liu? I wouldn't expect a 13/14 year old to have dynamo PCS.

Also it seems like you are only talking about the free program. Since Liu will be adding in the 3axel/3 toe for the SP, what is Kamila doing?

 

[skatinggold]

In terms of TES, Alysa is 0.02 points behind Kamila. Alysa received 83.94 in Poland and Kamila received 83.96 in Russia. Should Kamila land her second 4T, her TES will increase to around 90. If Alysa lands all her jumps with positive GOE, her TES will increase to around 88. With the huge difference in PCS, Alysa will need a second quad Lutz to compete with Kamila. Alysa will receive anywhere between 55-60 at the Final and Kamila's will be between 60-65, further increasing Kamila's lead. However, the ice is slippery and anything can happen. Best of luck to Alysa and Kamila! Some very exciting stuff that fans should just ENJOY and not try to kill each other over.

You can't compare competition to competition. Kamila's PCS and GOE were totally inflated in Russia. The max is about 3 points difference in PCS. I have a feeling the Alysa will win. Girl is so consistent.

 

[Frida80]

In terms of TES, Alysa is 0.02 points behind Kamila. Alysa received 83.94 in Poland and Kamila received 83.96 in Russia. Should Kamila land her second 4T, her TES will increase to around 90. If Alysa lands all her jumps with positive GOE, her TES will increase to around 88. With the huge difference in PCS, Alysa will need a second quad Lutz to compete with Kamila. Alysa will receive anywhere between 55-60 at the Final and Kamila's will be between 60-65, further increasing Kamila's lead. However, the ice is slippery and anything can happen. Best of luck to Alysa and Kamila! Some very exciting stuff that fans should just ENJOY and not try to kill each other over.

Alysa landed a 4S in practice in Poland. If she adds that, it will be better since she won’t have to give up one of her backloaded triple triple combos and can still do two 3Lz’s in the second half.

Alysa loves to go to competitions for practice. She’s been in five in the last six weeks. I’m sure she’ll go to regionals and sectionals to practice her programs more before JGPF.

 

[zoe111]

You can't compare competition to competition. Kamila's PCS and GOE were totally inflated in Russia. The max is about 3 points difference in PCS. I have a feeling the Alysa will win. Girl is so consistent.

So I don’t think there’s much difference in any national bias factor between Valieva in Chelyabinsk and Liu in Lake Placid. But to play out the scenario you could look at Courcheval where Valieva had mistakes in the short-lutz combo, and the free - short flip with fall, doubled sal in sequence and still scored a 138. She had 62 in pcs to Liu’s upper 50s. She only had one quad toe. Usacheva in her short program debut had higher pcs than Liu’s short. If Liu had done the triple loop in the short in Poland she would have been right at 68 or 69 max, same as Usacheva with no lutz in the short and no 3A. Liu is very good but I agree with the above post that said she really needs to improve her speed especially in and out of the jumps, which go up and down with almost no flow out. Witness the fact that outside the big tricks- axel and lutz, Liu didn’t score above a 1 in goe for any of them. That’s a lot of points left on the table both technically and in pcs. She’s great don’t get me wrong, but she’s still got to fix the speed/flow for sure.

 

[zoe111]

^^ Ummmmmmmm, Thats one Russian girl... Marco implied "to keep up with the Russian girls." And Im ,like.. they need to keep up with her.....lol

How old is Kamila to be receiving higher PCS than Liu? I wouldn't expect a 13/14 year old to have dynamo PCS.

Also it seems like you are only talking about the free program. Since Liu will be adding in the 3axel/3 toe for the SP, what is Kamila doing?

Kamila is doing a lutz toe which makes her total short TES within about a half a point from Liu. There’s not a lot of advantage to the 3A in the short. Kamila and Liu are about the same age- age is not the relevant factor. The biggest difference driving the PCS is the speed. Valieva has a lot more speed and flow in and out of the jumps.

 

[Finsta]

Kamila is obviously feeling threat of alysa. She mentioned her by name in recent interview about looking forward to compete with her. She’s aware.

 

[sjs5572]

Alysa landed a 4S in practice in Poland. If she adds that, it will be better since she won’t have to give up one of her backloaded triple triple combos and can still do two 3Lz’s in the second half.

Alysa loves to go to competitions for practice. She’s been in five in the last six weeks. I’m sure she’ll go to regionals and sectionals to practice her programs more before JGPF.

Assuming she has no issue with executing the 4Lz in combination, Alysa is still better off with second 4Lz over 4S. She loses .52 in backloading by doing 3Lp instead of 3Lz/3t. However, 4Lz is worth 11.50 and 4S is 9.70. So, 4Lz is net gain of 1.28 assuming GOE is same. Of course, if she does three quads, then all bets are off!

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

I would go easy with Alysa. She's shown to be a competitor and can stand under pressure. Finish out this year working on the deficiency areas (PCS) and stay healthy. (Let Trusova wear herself out with all these competitions, test skates, etc.) Alysa be 15 next year and can move up to seniors. Then put pressure on field leading up to Olys.

SMH. I was with you until the unnecessary sideslap against Alexandra. I don't see why we should 'let' her basically burn herself out in order to what? Benefit Alysa? Because that's almost what you seem to be saying. Trusova is just a child like Liu. I don't understand the constant nasty swipes against either of them, mostly, I am sure, by grown adults.

I hope that Sasha, as well as Alysa, stay healthy and that both have long, successful careers ahead of them - in spite of the naysayers/haters.

 

[natsulian]

Also, cannot wait to see Gracie compete at Regionals this week. Her area’s Regionals will be held at IceWorks from October 2-6.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

SMH. I was with you until the unnecessary sideslap against Alexandra. I don't see why we should 'let' her basically burn herself out in order to what? Benefit Alysa? Because that's almost what you seem to be saying. Trusova is just a child like Liu. I don't understand the constant nasty swipes against either of them, mostly, I am sure, by grown adults.

I hope that Sasha, as well as Alysa, stay healthy and that both have long, successful careers ahead of them - in spite of the naysayers/haters.

Well, partly just rah-rahing for the home team. If there is a swipe it's at her federation. I was thinking of Julia L. who was pushed and trotted out as the next great thing - at 15. By the 2014 Oly's she was already unraveling. Of course the US has it's examples - how long did we/the USFS "hope" Gracie would be the next Michelle? Took years to realize there wouldn't be another Kwan - the structure of the sport had changed. Didn't make it any easier on Gold.

 

[concorde]

Also, cannot wait to see Gracie compete at Regionals this week. Her area’s Regionals will be held at IceWorks from October 2-6.

As I said before, comeback are hard for everyone.
Let's wait to see how she performs.

 

[tylersf]

If Alyssa, Amber, Ting and a whole host of other US skaters are starting to perform well, this could signal the resurgence of the US Ladies as well! Let's hope so!

 

[DreamSkates]

Assuming she has no issue with executing the 4Lz in combination, Alysa is still better off with second 4Lz over 4S. She loses .52 in backloading by doing 3Lp instead of 3Lz/3t. However, 4Lz is worth 11.50 and 4S is 9.70. So, 4Lz is net gain of 1.28 assuming GOE is same. Of course, if she does three quads, then all bets are off!

And if you ever needed a reason to love math, now is the time!

 

[aliona22]

Also, cannot wait to see Gracie compete at Regionals this week. Her area’s Regionals will be held at IceWorks from October 2-6.

Do we know for sure that she changed her club affiliation and is competing this weekend? She was previously a member of Wagon Wheel FSC, and kept that affiliation long after leaving Chicago. Seems like she'd go to Upper Great Lakes instead of South Atlantics?

 

[toddlj]

Do we know for sure that she changed her club affiliation and is competing this weekend? She was previously a member of Wagon Wheel FSC, and kept that affiliation long after leaving Chicago. Seems like she'd go to Upper Great Lakes instead of South Atlantics?

I was wondering the same thing. I guess we will know when rosters come out? Unless someone has inside info.

 

[natsulian]

Do we know for sure that she changed her club affiliation and is competing this weekend? She was previously a member of Wagon Wheel FSC, and kept that affiliation long after leaving Chicago. Seems like she'd go to Upper Great Lakes instead of South Atlantics?

Her ISU bio says that she’s part of IceWorks now.

Link: http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00013680.htm