U.S. Men 2020-21 season news & updates

[cgirl8]

He just posted a retirement announcement on instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/COx5BnhpboX/

 

[Evgeniafan]

He just posted a retirement announcement on instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/COx5BnhpboX/

It's so sad. I will miss him.

 

[Marco]

Alexei did have some gorgeous jumps.

 

[livetoskate]

It's so sad. I will miss him.

Same here. He was exciting to watch and had so much speed across the ice. Glad he is looking forward to college.

 

[olympic]

You could tell that he was a Mishin student as a young boy by his jump technique

 

[Sylvia]

The original alternates for Worlds were (in order): Hiwatashi, Naumov, Pulkinen. Naumov was later removed (at his request, I heard unofficially) and Jimmy Ma became 3rd alternate.

The fact that Tomoki was not listed as an alternate for WTT likely means he is not competition ready or declined, like Naumov reportedly did for Worlds.

Tomoki Hiwatashi was interviewed on the Cafecito con Masha YT channel earlier today and mentioned that he had a back injury in March (an MRI revealed a fracture in one or more of his L2 to L4 vertebrae), took time off to rehab./recover and now can land triples and quad toes again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1npXEXmiwI&t=255s

ETA: He's keeping his 2020-21 SP to "Standards" by Leslie Odom Jr. (choreo. by Mark Pillay) and having a new FS -- also choreographed by Mark Pillay -- to selections from The Artist film soundtrack (at 35:30 of the interview).

 

[Sylvia]

Lutz Get Down to Business podcast's interview with Camden Pulkinen (uploaded to YT [on May 9]):
...
(scroll down further in the caption for timestamp links.)

He talks about what he'd like to focus on in 2021-22 (starting at this point): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IchKo9RNiYk&t=1425s

Jordan Cowan filmed at the World Arena rink in Colorado Springs this past week and posted this 25-second clip of Camden: https://twitter.com/IcePerspectives/status/1392985399459565574

Re-posting here from last year's PFT thread (the 7 men who entered this year):

The 2021 Peggy Fleming Trophy will be streamed on July 16 via USFS' Fan Zone: https://twitter.com/PFTrophy/status/1392982063205265409
Jason Brown
Tomoki Hiwatashi
Jordan Moeller
Yaroslav Paniot
Camden Pulkinen
Emmanuel Savary
Andrew Torgashev

 

[YukiNieve]

I attended a Zoom fan meeting with Vincent Zhou (held by his Japanese fan club).
More details can be found in his fan thread.

Vince mentioned:

• He plans to do Broadmoor Open, Cranberry Open and Nebelhorn Trophy.
• He will make an announcement about his new programs on Instagram soon.

He looked great in Japanese kimono (he put it on himself) and has lots of stuffed toys!

 

[misskarne]

That implies the Nebelhorn spot has already been given to Vincent, and I'm not sure that's wise. They should choose whoever is looking in best form at the time.

 

[skatingguy]

That implies the Nebelhorn spot has already been given to Vincent, and I'm not sure that's wise. They should choose whoever is looking in best form at the time.

I think that's more of a matter of what Vincent plans to do, and not that the USFS has decided on the entries.

 

[misskarne]

I think that's more of a matter of what Vincent plans to do, and not that the USFS has decided on the entries.

But it's the same thing. US will only be allowed to send one man, so if Vincent is planning for Nebelhorn, that implies he would be that one man. If USFS had told the men "we will choose closer to the event" then why would he be planning for Nebelhorn?

 

[gkelly]

So he will be available and prepared in case he is assigned?

 

[skatingguy]

But it's the same thing. US will only be allowed to send one man, so if Vincent is planning for Nebelhorn, that implies he would be that one man. If USFS had told the men "we will choose closer to the event" then why would he be planning for Nebelhorn?

Because he's planning for Nebelhorn - I'm sure he's planning for the Olympics as well - it doesn't mean that he's going to get it, or that he's gotten it yet - stop reading so much into a comment in an interview. We'll know who has the Nebelhorn assignments when the federations announce them.

 

[Vagabond]

But it's the same thing. US will only be allowed to send one man, so if Vincent is planning for Nebelhorn, that implies he would be that one man. If USFS had told the men "we will choose closer to the event" then why would he be planning for Nebelhorn?

Dinnae fash yersel. The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley. A' body kens this.

 

[Carolla5501]

That implies the Nebelhorn spot has already been given to Vincent, and I'm not sure that's wise. They should choose whoever is looking in best form at the time.

No that implies he plans to do it. Doesn’t mean he gets to, but he plans to. He probably also plans to go to the Olympics if someone asked him. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to automatically send him.

But it's the same thing. US will only be allowed to send one man, so if Vincent is planning for Nebelhorn, that implies he would be that one man. If USFS had told the men "we will choose closer to the event" then why would he be planning for Nebelhorn?

Well I don’t know, maybe he should just not plan and maybe he’ll be ready if they picK him. I’m sure that always works so well LOL.

Using your theory, there’s not a skater out there in the United States who should plan to go to the Olympics this year because they haven’t been told they’re going so there’s no need to plan your season on the theory that you might get to go. LOL.

 

[olympic]

Regardless, considering his situation at 2021 Worlds and what is on the line at Nebelhorn, I'm sure the USFSA will closely monitor Vincent before assigning him.

 

[Marco]

Or, if he was indeed preliminarily assigned at this stage, who was to say USFS would not swap him out closer to the event if he did not practice well (and others did)?!

 

[Sylvia]

Fan Zone article on Vincent Zhou by Darci Miller (May 3):

Vincent Zhou on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Free Skate: ‘It Felt Like Me’ - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

The 2018-19 season was a good one for Vincent Zhou.

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

Vincent announced yesterday he is bringing back his 2018-19 FS program to the the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon film soundtrack and shared a clip recently filmed by Jordan Cowan at the World Arena: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPMDgwyH7we/

This program, originally choreographed by Jeff Buttle, is one of my all-time favorites - so over the past few weeks, I’ve worked with Lori Nichol to reimagine the choreography and bring new life to the program. [...]

 

[VGThuy]

I'm looking forward to the sequel. I can see Lori re-editing the music and bringing out the more lyrical parts of the score for Vincent to stretch out. Plus, it's not a bad idea with Beijing in mind.

 

[Sylvia]

Ilia Malinin's clip of his 4Lo in practice last week (rink looks like Great Park Ice in Irvine, CA): https://www.instagram.com/p/CO_YhgFH2uI/

2020 Youth Olympian Liam Kapeikis debuted a Senior SP to the Overture from Man of La Mancha at the BC/YK Section's Victoria Day virtual competition on Saturday - video & protocol links are posted here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...titions-virtual-whatever.108307/#post-6004739

 

[zigzig]

Alexei did have some gorgeous jumps.

He had an amazing 3A and those nice 3Lo combinations - shame the quads never clicked for him. I loved his intensity and yellow blonde hair. Best of luck with his next chapter.

 

[olympic]

Ilia Malinin's clip of his 4Lo in practice last week (rink looks like Great Park Ice in Irvine, CA): https://www.instagram.com/p/CO_YhgFH2uI/

2020 Youth Olympian Liam Kapeikis debuted a Senior SP to the Overture from Man of La Mancha at the BC/YK Section's Victoria Day virtual competition on Saturday - video & protocol links are posted here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...titions-virtual-whatever.108307/#post-6004739

Ilia has lovely lift and quick, tight rotations which whether a natural talent or learned, should serve him well.

 

[Karen-W]

Ilia has lovely lift and quick, tight rotations which whether a natural talent or learned, should serve him well.

I've been saying this for awhile now... I fully expect our men's Olympic team to be Nathan, Vincent and Ilia.

 

[mattiecat13]

I would rather Jason go again than Vincent, especially after the way Vincent imploded at Stockholm Worlds. Also, Vincent received his gift in 2018 when he was placed on the Olympic team instead of Ross Miner.

 

[VGThuy]

I would rather Jason go again than Vincent, especially after the way Vincent imploded at Stockholm Worlds. Also, Vincent received his gift in 2018 when he was placed on the Olympic team instead of Ross Miner.

It's going to be a nail-biter. Beautiful Jason will be very Olympic-friendly to the audiences and skate his heart out. However, we know his placements are limited and with more men getting more consistent with their quads, he may even be looking at a outside of top 10 placement at best depending on how the competition goes. Vincent is the most recent American man to win a World medal outside of Nathan (2019). Sure, he imploded in the SP at Worlds after a weird, strange pandemic-filled season, but so did Nathan at 2018 Olympics, and part of it was a result of going for broke with his tech content. High risk-high reward. Vincent just so happened to have the misfortune of missing the LP slot by one placement. At least we know his tech is competitive for a medal, and let's not ignore that very important fact just because of fandom.

As for 2018 and being gifted, please. Vincent placed in the top three. How was he "gifted"? It wasn't Vincent that received a gift, but, ARGUABLY, another skater who placed outside the top three but was named on the team. If you really want to argue the point, then we can see that at the Olympics, the skater who placed outside the top three at Nationals placed the lowest of the American men at the Olympics and wasn't able to beat competitors who fell because of his lower tech content while Vincent actually landed the first quad Lutz ever at an Olympic games and managed to place 6th.

With regard to Ross, Vincent, unlike Ross, also built up a great resume by the time 2018 Nationals (winning medals at previous Nationals and being the reigning World Junior Champion). There was a reason so many skaters like Mirai Nagasu and others on Twitter right after the men skated were publicly advocating for Vincent to receive a spot because they recognized what he did despite what the callers had to do.

With all that said, I will say that Adam and Vincent both deserved to go to the Olympics and were fairly placed on the team. Adam did a lot to promote American figure skating at the Olympics and became a huge name, but most importantly, worked hard to build his reputation up so that by 2018 Nationals, he could place lower but still be fairly named on the team if placed close enough.

 

[mattiecat13]

Adam had the body of work to justify removing "someone" who finished in the top three to place him on the Olympic team. I felt then (and still do) it would have been more fair for Adam to replace the bronze medal winner instead of the silver medal winner for the Olympics only and send Vincent to Worlds instead. I wasn't a fan of Ross's then or now but felt he had earned his spot at the Olympics by finishing second.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

Then Ross and his team should have been paying attention to the rules for the Olympic team selection. There was a thread the entire season discussing who had and hadn't built up their body of work. It shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. I am getting very tired of the poor Ross was robbed meme. Pay attention to the rules people. That's the only lesson to learn there.

 

[VGThuy]

Adam had the body of work to justify removing "someone" who finished in the top three to place him on the Olympic team. I felt then (and still do) it would have been more fair for Adam to replace the bronze medal winner instead of the silver medal winner for the Olympics only and send Vincent to Worlds instead. I wasn't a fan of Ross's then or now but felt he had earned his spot at the Olympics by finishing second.

And Vincent also built up a body of work too as per the criteria. Feelings aside, the one who did not build a body of work to overtake Adam's and Vincent's was Ross.

 

[Karen-W]

Then Ross and his team should have been paying attention to the rules for the Olympic team selection. There was a thread the entire season discussing who had and hadn't built up their body of work. It shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. I am getting very tired of the poor Ross was robbed meme. Pay attention to the rules people. That's the only lesson to learn there.

Not to mention, this was the 2nd Olympic cycle where BOW was part of the equation - which is how Ashley wound up on the team over Mirai in 2014. Truly, it should not have come as any surprise.

 

[flyingsit]

Honestly, Adam did a lot to promote ADAM at the Olympics. Not figure skating overall.