U.S. Ladies [#30]: Cover Girls

[Colonel Green]

Czisny truly had Tuktamysheva-level bad timing; like winning nationals both the year before and the year after the Vancouver Olympics.

 

[SidelineSkater]

Czisny truly had Tuktamysheva-level bad timing; like winning nationals both the year before and the year after the Vancouver Olympics.

And winning the GPF the season after the Vancouver Olympics - the last US lady to do so. Granted there were very few ladies doing triple-triple combos there - only three in the short and one in the long. I re-watched her World's performance this week and still think she should have been on the podium. Even with the fall on the lutz, she could have been third had she received level 3 on her step sequences - she got l2 in both programs. It was a contrast listening to Tara commentate with someone other than Johnny - she mentioned Alissa didn't like toe jumps - although she only did two edge jumps the entire long program! No Salchow, and one loop and axel.

As ANL would say, refresh my drink - Cover Girls implies the ladies need to do more cover songs or the fact they are doing them more now? Bell doing Britney a few seasons ago/Pink/Abba now? Bradie skating to Florence?

 

[Vagabond]

Czisny truly had Tuktamysheva-level bad timing; like winning nationals both the year before and the year after the Vancouver Olympics.

The phrasing of the bit in bold:
The content of the post as a whole:

 

[Vagabond]

Cover Girls implies the ladies need to do more cover songs...?

They need to do fewer cover songs, not more!

Indeed, no cover songs at all.

 

[VGThuy]

I actually thought Alissa had great timing. That third slot (and second slot) was wide open for her in 2006. She came off a GP win and a GP silver (winning the LP) and making the GPF. She herself just didn't take advantage of the opportunity. The 2010 Olympics was also wide open as there was no real favorites to make the team. Mirai and Rachel ended up getting it (Mirai with a fire but a carrot filled performance), but again she couldn't take advantage.

The only time she was ill-served by timing was the timing of her injury that prevented her from continuing the roll she was on from the 2010-2011 season going towards 2014. Honestly, her jumping technique that she spent her career trying to fix, and her inability to compete under pressure was what really hurt her.

 

[Colonel Green]

I actually thought Alissa had great timing. That third slot (and second slot) was wide open for her in 2006. She came off a GP win and a GP silver (winning the LP) and making the GPF. She herself just didn't take advantage of the opportunity. The 2010 Olympics was also wide open as there was no real favorites to make the team. Mirai and Rachel ended up getting it (Mirai with a fire but a carrot filled performance), but again she couldn't take advantage.

The only time she was ill-served by timing was the timing of her injury that prevented her from continuing the roll she was on from the 2010-2011 season going towards 2014. Honestly, her jumping technique that she spent her career trying to fix, and her inability to compete under pressure was what really hurt her.

It depends on how you define timing — what I mean is that the seasons when she was really “on” never quite coincided properly with the Olympic cycle (and/or tended to run out of gas toward the end).

 

[Sylvia]

Speaking of Alissa Czisny, she and Angela Wang are part of the 2021 Ice Dance International Winter Company that will perform twice today via livestream - first group performance (eta: link to rewatch today's performance to "Revival"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atQoMg0geWk&t=18m55s

ETA:

Jan. 31st performance of "Solstice" (linked from the front page of the IDI website):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PpU1SBgKQg&t=12m15s

Founder and Artistic Director Douglas Webster, who grew up in North Conway, NH and currently lives in Kittery, Maine, says the IDI performances are called Winter Surprise and Delights and will showcase a mix of world-premiere pieces he choreographed. Says Webster, “Two new works, Revival, set to the music of Mumford and Sons, Jason Castro, and Audra Mae; and Solstice, a fantasy ice ballet set to a commissioned score by Jonathan Galland; are both designed to lift the spirits during this unprecedented year. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to share this program that focuses on hope, joy, and overcoming struggle.”

The final performance of "Solstice" will be livestreamed today at 6:45 pm Eastern time.

 

[Integrity]

Speaking of Alissa Czisny, she and Angela Wang are part of the 2021 Ice Dance International Winter Company that will perform twice today via livestream - first group performance is starting soon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atQoMg0geWk

I only caught the one and a half songs. It was nice. The announcer said there will be another show at 6:45, since this is in NH, I assume 6:45 Eastern. Thanks for posting about this!

Edit to add: Czisny wore bib shorts and a yellow top for this first performance, no closeups.

 

[olympic]

Re Czisny, I remember back in '06 leading up to Nationals, Kwan's participation in Torino was always questionable in my mind and I suspected that the team was going to be Cohen, Meissner and Czisny. I really believed that Kwan's injury was career ending at that point. I knew of Czisny blowing the GPF but thought of it as a one-off. I didn't know at the time she was that much of a head case

 

[thvu]

One persons notion of timing is another’s notion of luck.

Skaters who average 3 triples in a long program rarely occupy my thoughts.

 

[mjb52]

One persons notion of timing is another’s notion of luck.

Skaters who average 3 triples in a long program rarely occupy my thoughts.

Leave that to #ttw lol

 

[Marco]

One persons notion of timing is another’s notion of luck.

Skaters who average 3 triples in a long program rarely occupy my thoughts

Alissa averaged 5 triples in 2011, same as Yuna and Miki who was top 2 at Worlds.

 

[Brenda_Bottems]

Skaters who average 3 triples in a long program rarely occupy my thoughts.

I weep for you. I pray for our sport.

-BB

 

[Marco]

I re-watched her World's performance this week and still think she should have been on the podium. Even with the fall on the lutz, she could have been third had she received level 3 on her step sequences - she got l2 in both programs.

The PCS and GOE at those Worlds were a little suspect - I feel that about Miki vs Yuna, and feel that about 3rd to 5th too. I agree Alissa should have had the bronze.

 

[VGThuy]

The PCS and GOE at those Worlds were a little suspect - I feel that about Miki vs Yuna, and feel that about 3rd to 5th too. I agree Alissa should have had the bronze.

I rewatched Miki Ando’s 2011 Worlds winning skate recently and really wished I didn’t.

 

[Brenda_Bottems]

I rewatched Miki Ando’s 2011 Worlds winning skate recently and really wished I didn’t.

A rather masochistic endeavor, no?

-BB

 

[Vagabond]

I rewatched Miki Ando’s 2011 Worlds winning skate recently and really wished I didn’t.

(((((VGThuy)))))

It's a good thing that da bossman doesn't read this thread.

 

[Sylvia]

ICYMI, Polina Edmunds' podcast conversation before Ting Cui's was with Amber Glenn (~24 mins. on Feb. 2, 2021):

Amber Glenn

I chat with 2021 US Silver medalist Amber Glenn about her skating journey, getting the triple axel and trying it in competition, how she trained mentally for the 2021 US Championships without normal competitions all season, her mindset while at Nationals, and her goals for next season!

art19.com

Version on Polina's YT channel (Amber was in her car): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r-MkAMjHPg

Amber said she will continue to train (as the Worlds alternate) and do some virtual competitions, plans to keep her "Rain, in Your Black Eyes" FS music ("build a lot on it... add a lot more flair") and is searching for new SP music.

"Watch @amberglenniceskater’s [2021 Nationals via USFS' IGTV] free skate from the point of view of her coach, Peter Cain." https://www.instagram.com/tv/CLISxGeAAlW/

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

As ANL would say, refresh my drink

Bwahhhh, well its 10 am, I should be pouring my first something.

 

[olympic]

The PCS and GOE at those Worlds were a little suspect - I feel that about Miki vs Yuna, and feel that about 3rd to 5th too. I agree Alissa should have had the bronze.

Interesting. I never thought of Alissa as a wuz robbed victim at 2011 Worlds. It was close between Kostner-Leonova-Czisny in the end; less than 2.5 points separated 3rd-5th place. Do you feel Czisny's marks were too low or Kostner or Leonova were over-scored? The comp was in Russia so I wonder if the competition had been anywhere else, would Leonova have been scored below Czisny? I mean for pete's sake, Gachinski got a medal here. Kostner was finally finding her feet around this time and she was skating w/ more spirit.

It would all be moot if Czisny had landed her opening jump combo and she would've been the one to break the US ladies' dry spell.

I do remember paying more attention to getting back 3 spots and groaning while stable Flatt tanked at the worst possible time, then finding out later she had been injured and it may have been concealed. Also I wondered whether Nagasu based on her 4CC skates that year would've gotten the job done. FC bragging that she was landing 3Z-3L in practice, and Nagasu denying it. LOL. Memories!

 

[layman]

Nice article on Amber Glenn:

Amber Glenn: America's pansexual skating star on coming out and breaking through

Since coming out as pansexual, the US national silver medalist has thrust herself into the conversation for next year’s Olympics

www.theguardian.com

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Nice article on Amber Glenn:

Amber Glenn: America's pansexual skating star on coming out and breaking through

Since coming out as pansexual, the US national silver medalist has thrust herself into the conversation for next year’s Olympics

www.theguardian.com

She gave a great interview. Thanks. Ill share this in her fan page too

 

[Sylvia]

Karen Chen article by Paige Feigenbaum (March 1):

Karen Chen Wants To ‘Recreate Magic’ At Worlds - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

Rewind four years and Karen Chen found herself in a similar position she is in today, bound for the ISU World Figure Skating Championships the year preceding the

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

Excerpts:

Now looking forward to Worlds, Chen is working on consistency and likely won't add any technical elements to her routines. She is, however, working on her triple Axel daily. If she lands it prior to Worlds, she could choose to debut it at the competition. She hasn't put much thought into working on acquiring quadruple jumps, but if she were to train them, she'd probably want to start with the quad loop and quad Lutz.
"Leading up to Nationals, I had to kind of tone it down a little because I didn't want to risk injuring myself," she said. "I know working on the overall program consistency is more important than working on the jump...I'm hoping that Worlds is my opportunity to peak.

Her ultimate goal at Worlds is to deliver two solid performances when it counts, which she proves to herself she is capable of in practice.
"I get my confidence from my training," she said. "These weeks leading up to Worlds is really important for me to hone in on my skills and work on my mental strength and build the repetition, so when I do get there and if I have any doubts, I can tell myself, 'Okay, Karen, you've trained this however many times and you've done it so many times in practice, it'll be there for you.'"

 

[euterpe]

Surprised that Karen Chen would start with quad loop when she often gets URs on her 3lo.

 

[Marco]

4lutz sounds doable for Karen given she always gets great spring on that jump. I will consider it a huge accomplishment for her to attempt all the planned triples and not receive UR calls at Worlds.

 

[Coco]

Hey - if she's going to get URs, might as well be on quads instead of triples, lol.

 

[radcliffe96]

Has USFS just given up? This is how they're marketing Karen? Her world competitors are DOING these jumps, while she "hasn't put much thought" into them?

I get that they're trying to manage expectations, but it seems like major denial of reality and basically a statement that the US is fine with aiming for mid to lower middle placement at best.

 

[olympic]

Karen would place well enough to have a shot at helping obtain 3 spots for the US if she simply skated clean and rotated her jumps. That is all.

 

[baramin]

I understand the push for the American girls to start doing more difficult jumps to stay competitive with the younger generation, but assuming the podium is the two young Russians & Rika, a clean skate by Karen could easily end up 4th. Tukt & the other Japanese ladies are great, but not unbeatable, and Young You & her 3A won’t be there. I know Karen isn’t known for clean competitions, but she and Bradie are at least capable of being competitive with the rest of the field after those top three, unless I’m forgetting someone (entirely possible this year)?

 

[Sylvia]

"In a free-flowing interview, she [Tennell] spoke to the Olympic Channel podcast last month [link to listen is embedded]. Here are excerpts from that chat, which have been edited for clarity and length for this article."

Figure skating: Two-time U.S. champion Bradie Tennell on her new confidence

What did Bradie Tennell make of a year of challenge in 2020? She turned it into change for 2021 - and beyond.

www.olympicchannel.com

ETA a related 3-minute video interview with the Olympic Channel:

Bradie Tennell on her renewed perspective

Bradie Tennell feels like she is a completely different skater now than a year ago. Find out what has changed for the US national champion.

www.olympicchannel.com