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

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Starr Andrews article by Nick McCarvel (Oct. 23):

Figure skater Starr Andrews says "There's no limit", eyes Beijing 2022

Find out why African American skater Starr Andrews wants to be a role model for young black athletes, while keeping an eye on the next Winter Olympics.
www.olympicchannel.com www.olympicchannel.com

I thought Mariah, Amber and Karen all looked sharp yesterday in their official program run throughs - we'll see what the SP brings later today!
 
I love all the US ladies and I want all of them on the podium and it's a problem.

It's insane how competitive the US ladies are with each other and how they still struggle on a world level. 10 years ago all of our top 3-4 would be world podium contenders if they were clean. Now it's much different.
 
concorde said:
Lui skates in the San Francisco area - right? If so, I would assume that the air quality in that area is greatly affected by the surrounding forest fires.

san francisco air quality today - Search Videos

www.bing.com www.bing.com

If the air quality is that poor, I cannot imagine trying to skate in that.

From what I heard from work colleagues that live in the Portland areas, the smoke is getting into home thought door and window cracks. Many have towels shoved in to try to keep the smoke out.
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Air quality here put me in the hospital.
And there is Ash everywhere..and I have A new home that is supposed to be sealed.
...but. Ash is just everywhere. I sweep the hardwood floors And am astonished At the sand Ike particles that are e everywhere. And my car is a Sticky mess. Not a. Clue what it. Could be doing to the paint. I keep getting it washed every few days

Alysa may have little risk at the ice rink. And I would assume she is not outside running around.
 
Natanielle825 said:
Oh Gracie :( If you didn't want to be there and you weren't going to try, why get on the ice? I feel very sorry for her, she doesn't appear to have made much progress on self-preservation.
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Clearly she does not look happy. I know the bubble environment that these skaters have to be in is tough for all of them but if she is still battling depression it may be even tougher for her. She looks like she just wants to get out of that environment...stat.
 
Maximillian said:
Can we please stop inventing narratives for people we don't know, in order to express our 'concern'?
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I don't know her but stating she doesn't look happy is what it looks like... ofc I don't know anything else but she does look like someone just going through the motions
 
Willin said:
I love all the US ladies and I want all of them on the podium and it's a problem.

It's insane how competitive the US ladies are with each other and how they still struggle on a world level. 10 years ago all of our top 3-4 would be world podium contenders if they were clean. Now it's much different.
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Yet last season Bradie beat Zagitova and Bell also beat her in the LP at an event. The US ladies are improving. The US girls aren’t pushed to learn quads and triple axels before getting basic skills and are developing later.
 
ISU picked a decent Getty Images photo for Bradie in their SP recap: https://www.isu.org/isu-news/news/1...lead-in-ladies-short-program?templateParam=15

2020 Skate America final standings:

GOLD Mariah BELL, USA 76.48 (1) 136.25 (4) 212.73
SILVER Bradie TENNELL, USA 73.29 (2) 137.78 (1) 211.07
BRONZE Audrey SHIN, USA 69.77 (3) 136.38 (3) 206.15
4 Karen CHEN, USA 68.13 (4) 136.77 (2) 204.90
5 Amber GLENN, USA 67.85 (5) 122.24 (6) 190.09
6 Shan LIN, CHN 59.29 (7) 122.82 (5) 182.11 (previously competed as Ashley Lin for USA through 2018)
7 Paige RYDBERG, USA 63.91 (6) 114.22 (8) 178.13
8 Starr ANDREWS, USA 57.20 (10) 114.50 (7) 171.70
9 Sierra VENETTA, USA 59.28 (8) 111.44 (9) 170.72
10 Pooja KALYAN, USA 55.50 (11) 103.45 (10) 158.95
11 Finley HAWK, USA 59.12 (9) 95.13 (11) 154.25
12 Gracie GOLD, USA 46.36 (12) 81.46 (12) 127.82
 
We all know about Gracie Gold’s struggles and what being at Skate America meant. Cheers to her for making it through two respectable programs. She’s come a long way since her last Grand Prix Series event at Cup of Russia a couple of years ago.

Starr Andrews is another story, 8th here. I’m wondering if perhaps the marketing pressure has been too much for her? She is a beautiful skater. I noticed big improvements in the ISP Points 1st event, compared to the 19/20 season. Not sure what happened here.

Then there’s Amber... sigh. Maybe after her GREAT showing at the 2nd ISP Points event, I was expecting too much?

I have greater appreciation of anybody with nerves of steel. Exhibit A: Audrey Shin.
 
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Natanielle825 said:
Oh Gracie :( If you didn't want to be there and you weren't going to try, why get on the ice? I feel very sorry for her, she doesn't appear to have made much progress on self-preservation.
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Totally agree. I don't know what she needs to work out in her life or recovery or whatever.... But she needs to work it out somewhere else.... Or inform her face that she wants to be there.
And find some other music.
 
Frau Muller said:
We all know about Gracie Gold’s struggles and what being at Skate America meant.
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I don't think she actually gets credit for making it to this year's Skate America. It wasn't really a "grand prix" event this year. And I also don't know if she should get kudos for doing two programs- does the positive reinforcement of making it through an entire competition outweigh the negative reinforcement of coming in dead last over and over again?
 
Omg... thank goodness for the ignore feature, yet another one to add. I'd say more but I think I'll stick with the old "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all..."

To the skaters, thank you for participating and bringing us skating to watch during this awful pandemic and kudos for having the guts to do it!! :respec:
 
mikey said:
I don't think she actually gets credit for making it to this year's Skate America. It wasn't really a "grand prix" event this year. And I also don't know if she should get kudos for doing two programs- does the positive reinforcement of making it through an entire competition outweigh the negative reinforcement of coming in dead last over and over again?
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It’s a good thing you don’t get to decide that for her.
 
Willin said:
I love all the US ladies and I want all of them on the podium and it's a problem.

It's insane how competitive the US ladies are with each other and how they still struggle on a world level. 10 years ago all of our top 3-4 would be world podium contenders if they were clean. Now it's much different.
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Even three years ago - at the last Olympics.
 
Nick Zaccardi's Skate America Ladies FS recap: https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2020/10/25/mariah-bell-skate-america-womens-results/
Excerpts:
Audrey Shin, the 16-year-old, 2019 U.S. junior silver medalist who failed to qualify for last season’s senior nationals, held onto third place by landing seven triples in her free [Sylvia's note: 6 were called clean, incl. 3Lz+3T; 2nd combo was 2A+3T< on her protocol sheet.].
...
Tennell, the top U.S. woman internationally the last three seasons, had the highest-scoring free skate. That came after minor injuries prevented her from doing combination jumps until nine days before the competition.
“I had a lot of things thrown at me the last month and a half,” said Tennell, who changed coaches from Denise Myers to Tom Zakrajsek in the offseason, moving from her native Chicagoland to Colorado Springs. “To be able to come out here and compete like that for the first time in eight months, I feel really great. There’s a lot of room to grow.”
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ETA: Tennell's 3 combos were marked 3Lz+3T<, 3Lzq+3Tq & 3Fq+2T+2Lo on her protocol sheet. 'q' is a new designation this season, meaning the technical panel deems the jump missing rotation of a ¼ - more info on 'q' here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...idelines-for-marking-goe.107375/#post-5886415
If this had been a normal year, Shin would have competed on the (now canceled) Junior Grand Prix rather than at Skate America.
She took advantage of the situation, despite a difficult previous season — May 2019 surgery to remove a cyst from her right ankle that kept her off the ice for about a month, followed by boot and blade issues that contributed to her not qualifying for last January’s nationals.
Shin is working on a quadruple toe loop and a triple Axel with coach Tammy Gambill in Colorado.
“[Gambill] told me, Skate America is a chance for you to show how much more consistent you are now,” Shin said. “After Skate America, you want to get that world team spot and you want to get that Olympic spot.”
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Lynn Rutherford's Skate America Ladies recap (scroll past the Men's recap): https://www.teamusa.org/News/2020/O...ell-Strike-Gold-At-Skate-America-In-Las-Vegas

Excerpts:
“It wasn’t my best skate today,” Bell admitted. “It was a little bit stiff, but I was excited to get my long program out in a competitive setting. … I know what I need to work on for the future.”
The fall dropped Bell to fourth place in the free skate with 136.25 points. Still, when added to her short program tally, it was good enough for gold with 212.73 points. Tennell won the free skate with 137.78 points but had to settle for the silver medal with 211.07 points.
Despite winning Grand Prix gold for the first time, Bell wasn’t completely satisfied.
“I try not to look at results, but more about how I feel,” she said. “I’m walking away a little disappointed (by the fall), to be honest.”
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Skating an intense program to a dramatic medley including Max Richter’s “Sarajevo,” Tennell executed two triple lutz-triple toe loop combinations, although both had deductions from the judging panel. It’s likely a flawed landing on a relatively easy jump, a triple salchow, cost her the title.
Still, the 21-year-old, who recently moved from the Chicago area to train in Colorado Springs, Colorado, under Tom Zakrajsek, walked away happy.
“I had a couple of minor injuries that prevented me from jumping fully up until last Wednesday,” Tennell said. “Actually, on practice ice yesterday (Friday), I did my first clean triple toe in a long time. … Taking it all in, I’m really happy with what I put out there today.”
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Karen Chen, the 2017 U.S. champion who placed 11th at the PyeongChang Games, performed a sensitive, engaging program to “Butterfly Lovers” that gained the highest program component scores of the event. She placed second in the free and fourth overall.
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Sylvia said:
ETA: Tennell's 3 combos were marked 3Lz+3T<, 3Lzq+3Tq & 3Fq+2T+2Lo on her protocol sheet. 'q' is a new designation this season, meaning the technical panel deems the jump missing rotation of a ¼.
Click to expand...

Bradie only had one under rotation in the free program? I still don’t understand why at least her technical portion is not much higher ahead than Mariah. So Bradie had two triple triples and Mariah had zero and Mariah also had an under rotation with a fall. Not understanding the technical portion of the score these days

Added a moment later. OK Sylvia I see what you were talking about with the new designated q

Got it
 
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There are some Gracie Gold quotes at the bottom of the Zaccardi article as well:

olympics.nbcsports.com

Mariah Bell wins Skate America, a next step to defying Olympic history

Mariah Bell won Skate America, the biggest title of her figure skating career, over Bradie Tennell.
olympics.nbcsports.com olympics.nbcsports.com

“I just cried most of the day yesterday because of how scared I was to compete,” she said after Saturday’s free skate. “We’re going back to the drawing board, I don’t know, I guess to salvage what we can in the wreckage, but we’re a little worse off than I thought.”
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The article also mentions that she had a leg injury and boot problems. While this is not the showing she wanted I hope she doesn't see it as a setback. She's already put out the programs in a competition (many skaters will not have that experience) so hopefully she can build upon it rather than starting over.

Some other thoughts:

Mariah: The framing of the article above was a bit odd (saying she'd be the oldest U.S. ladies champion and oldest Olympic team member). I'm not sure that's the narrative I'd be putting out there since we don't even know if there's going to be a Nationals or Olympics. I've been a Bell supporter for years, but the free skate doesn't work.

The intro feels juvenile (counter to that mature narrative they're putting out) and the cuts are jarring. Perhaps if she skated to just one piece (i.e. "The Winner Takes It All" like Mirai did) or just change the beginning.

The technical content needs to be addressed. Good to see the triple Salchow, but she really needs 7 triples and 2 Axels to be competitive. The 2A+3T looks solid, and she's going for a 3F+3T in the short so that should be pretty good as well. The problem there is that she's repeating the Lutz and flip, so a better layout would be 2A+1Lo+3S and 3F+3T (she used to do half-loop Salchow combinations).

Bradie: LOVED the short. Not so sure about the long (the audio seemed low). I'd have her go back to the Cinema Paradiso free (which was generic but pleasant) so she can work on those underrotations and a triple Axel.

Audrey: Nice to see a young up-and-comer be so focused and perform so well, especially during quarantine (and I assume without major USFS funding).

Not a bad start for the American ladies at all.
 
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