U.S. Ladies [#29]: Skating with Adjusted Vision

[Sylvia]

Replying to @4rkidz here :

i’m just watching the youth olympics the women’s and who is this Kate Wang? Lots of potential. she was underscored lol .

Kate, 15 going on 16, who replaced Hanna Harrell at the 2020 YOG, will compete in her second straight U.S. Nationals at the junior level next week (she finished 5th in Greensboro). Her best international showing to date was her JGP debut in Chelyabinsk (6th place) last year. She likes to jump! Link to her Team USA bio (looks like she has a new FS program to “The Haunted Heart” by Christina Aguilera that has replaced her Tango medley from the ISP Points Challenge): https://usfigureskatingfanzone.com/sports/figure-skating/roster/kate-wang/422

ETA:

I heard that Bay Area skaters were having trouble getting ice time.

Besides Alysa and Dinh Tran in Senior, Kate Wang and Mia Kalin are the 2 Nationals-bound juniors who skate in the Bay Area.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Brentwood Ice is just a little outdoor pop-up rink (not suitable for training).

That is even worse! So, I wonder where she trains.

 

[Sylvia]

FOR FIGURE SKATER AUDREY SHIN, THE SKY IS THE LIMIT IN LAS VEGAS by Lynn Rutherford (Jan. 11): https://www.teamusa.org/News/2021/J...Audrey-Shin-The-Sky-Is-The-Limit-In-Las-Vegas
Excerpt:

“I always feel like, if you do that many clean programs every day, you’re not going to mess up that badly, unless something catastrophic happens,” Gambill said. “At Skate America, she was just in a really good place mentally and physically.”

Performing well as an unheralded underdog is one thing. With all eyes on her this week, is a Vegas encore possible?

“I know people are expecting more now, but I’m not putting that sort of pressure on myself,” Shin said. “There is really not a top medal goal I have; I’m just going to try to skate the best I can. From there, it is out of my hands.”

 

[Willin]

That is even worse! So, I wonder where she trains.

Brian Boitano and Jeremy Abbott have posted at least one video from SF's rink, so one would assume they're letting a very small/select group of people in to skate.

 

[Vagabond]

IIRC, Alysa Liu has sometimes trained at Vacaville Ice, which is open for private skating.

From their website:

Our facility is NOT open to the public. We are only open to participants taking the ice who have pre-registered online. No spectators, no fans, no parents."

It sounds like Heaven.

Heaven for the skaters, that is. I hate to imagine what the parents do in Vacaville while their children are training.

 

[AxelAnnie]

IIRC, Alysa Liu has sometimes trained at Vacaville Ice, which is open for private skating.

From thei

It sounds like Heaven.

Heaven for the skaters, that is. I hate to imagine what the parents do in Vacaville while their children are training.

Vac has

IIRC, Alysa Liu has sometimes trained at Vacaville Ice, which is open for private skating.

From their website:

It sounds like Heaven.

Heaven for the skaters, that is. I hate to imagine what the parents do in Vacaville while their children are training.

Oh not so quick. Vacaville has the BEST outlet mall ever!

 

[Karen-W]

Vac has

Oh not so quick. Vacaville has the BEST outlet mall ever!

LMAO. I haven't lived in Tracy for almost 17 years and I almost commented "Doesn't Vacaville have an outlet center?" but decided not because even if it was still open pre-crud, it probably doesn't have many stores open at the moment given the level of lockdowns all over most of the state.

I imagine that parents who are driving to Vacaville for their kids to get ice time have a healthy collection of books, print or electronic. ;-)

 

[Vagabond]

This discussion is taking me down memory lane and the singing bridges of Solano County my father used to drive on to take us to The Nut Tree when it was still The Nut Tree, with its restaurant, toy store, aviary, and those wonderful, small, aromatic loaves of freshly baked bread. I've never really gotten over its closure.

 

[concorde]

IIRC, Alysa Liu has sometimes trained at Vacaville Ice, which is open for private skating.

From their website:

It sounds like Heaven.

Heaven for the skaters, that is. I hate to imagine what the parents do in Vacaville while their children are training.

That is how many of the East Coast rinks operated all summer- reservations only and no spectators. Added to that, many East Coast rinks also imposed a members only rule.

Some have laxed that while other rinks continue to keep all of those Covid rules in place.

 

[bladesofgorey]

yep. New Jersey rinks for the most part (at least the ones I go to) have and still have that rule.

 

[Firedancer]

I don’t think this has been posted yet. New Mariah Bell article: https://usfigureskatingfanzone.com/...ariah-bell-builds-on-her-best-season-yet.aspx

 

[Tinami Amori]

Oh not so quick. Vacaville has the BEST outlet mall ever!

from where the family lives to Vacaville is approx. 1 hour's drive one way, and over 1.5 hours with traffic at the off-ramp/580 section to the Richmond Bridge. Her father maybe spending 2-3 hours just driving.

 

[Sylvia]

FOR FIGURE SKATER AUDREY SHIN, THE SKY IS THE LIMIT IN LAS VEGAS by Lynn Rutherford (Jan. 11): https://www.teamusa.org/News/2021/J...Audrey-Shin-The-Sky-Is-The-Limit-In-Las-Vegas

Figure Skaters Online launched Audrey's official website today: https://audreyshin.figureskatersonline.com/

 

[AxelAnnie]

from where the family lives to Vacaville is approx. 1 hour's drive one way, and over 1.5 hours with traffic at the off-ramp/580 section to the Richmond Bridge. Her father maybe spending 2-3 hours just driving.

Yep. That is the bay area for ya.

 

[AxelAnnie]

LMAO. I haven't lived in Tracy for almost 17 years and I almost commented "Doesn't Vacaville have an outlet center?" but decided not because even if it was still open pre-crud, it probably doesn't have many stores open at the moment given the level of lockdowns all over most of the state.

I imagine that parents who are driving to Vacaville for their kids to get ice time have a healthy collection of books, print or electronic. ;-

For sure!

 

[AxelAnnie]

This discussion is taking me down memory lane and the singing bridges of Solano County my father used to drive on to take us to The Nut Tree when it was still The Nut Tree, with its restaurant, toy store, aviary, and those wonderful, small, aromatic loaves of freshly baked bread. I've never really gotten over its closure.

Great sadness. When the Nut Tree was there..and really the Nut Tree..it was such a great place to take your kids.

 

[Sylvia]

Might as well post this in here, too ... Amber's 3A in unofficial practice, tweeted by Johnny Weir earlier today: https://twitter.com/JohnnyGWeir/status/1349133753487028225

 

[Natanielle825]

It's a weird feeling, I'm kind of excited for the ladies event because there's the possibility of a shakeup, but I'm also kind of dreading an event like skate america, with a "least of the worst" champion pick btwn Bradie and Mariah. I hope everyone really skates well

 

[UGG]

I really hope Mariah wins. She wasn’t robbed last year but she should have won.

 

[Marco]

I postulate Miss Glenn will win Nationals over Bridesmaid Bradie and Mariah Bell's unfortunate homage to homosexual eurotrash disco.

As an added bonus she will avenge her namesake Amber Corwin,who was never judged fairly at Nationals.

-BB

 

[layman]

I am excited to see Hanna Harrell. The last time she competed, she placed 4th. Could she get on the podium this time? Correction: She was on the podium last time. Could she move up the podium? I am very excited for her.

Looks like Hanna is training up in Boston now along with Alexei K and Jimmy Ma. That's good company.

 

[kwanfan1818]

she placed 4th. Could she get on the podium this time?

Ahem. ( )

 

[Sylvia]

Hanna won the PEWTER medal in 2019 (her senior debut). I plan to keep my expectations low for her due to her long injury layoff.

2020 Junior champ Lindsay Thorngren (youngest Senior in the ladies' field this year) shared 4 clips from her unofficial practices on Tuesday: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKAsFJQLfz9/
#1 (2A), #3 (3Lz+3T) & #4 (3F) are the jumps in her SP run through (same jumps she did in yesterday's SP run through) and #2 is the from the beginning of her FS.

Here's Elliott Almond's latest Alysa Liu article with quotes from her, Scali and Abbott: https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/01...nsforming-a-year-before-the-beijing-olympics/

 

[Lemonade20]

Sorry, BB. I'm gay and don't appreciate your remark. As if being homosexual, that word in itself derogatory, equates with inferior. Lots of straight people like ABBA too, me thinks.

Agreed, that was a tiny bit harsh.

 

[Sylvia]

Phil Hersh's Gracie Gold article:

Gracie Gold’s progress stalled again after poor short program at U.S. Championships

With her characteristic and often searing honesty, Gracie Gold had minced no words in evaluating her dismayingly poor performances at Skate America in October.

olympics.nbcsports.com

 

[Natanielle825]

WTF how did I miss Mariah getting engaged?

 

[Natanielle825]

Alyssa was delightful, beautiful, well-dressed, expressive - I'm so happy for her!

 

[Vagabond]

The leading candidate for the next thread title is U.S. Ladies [#30]: Cover Girls.

 

[Willin]

@Vagabond this is amazing

I was rather dismayed how few ladies were able to land a clean 3-3. Like, Japanese and Russian ladies are doing 3As and quads and yet our ladies are stuck in the past where 3-3s don't matter. I could give a pass for lack of training time - it I didn't know that this was an ongoing problem during normal seasons as well.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Wow..Alysa Liu's maturity and presentation was breath-taking. I felt also like I was watching a woman and not a tweeny jumping bean.

Surprised that the talk was that without her arsenal that her PCS wouldnt challenge for top spots. As soon as I saw her take the ice I was like she has loads of presentation and the most artistic so far (including Mariah IMO).

Massimo is her coach? If so it seems evident with that music choice.

I really have not been following much skating except for the last SkAm so I was not really knowing what to expect.

Gracie still looks sad and scared. A shame.

The top 5 spots after the SP is the same exact order as 2020 right down to (I think) the .13 split of Chen and Glenn.

I love that my girl Bradie has the 3 highest SP scores at Nats!