U.S. Men 2021-22 season news & updates

[DreamSkates]

But how does this affect the US entries at next year's Four Continents Championshps?
I'll give you one guess.

I wasn't commenting on that, just communicating cheers for the great results with Ice Dance and Pairs, and one result for Ladies. Almost embarassing for the men's results.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Placements at the current 4C's have zero impact at the following year's 4C's, and they never have from the inception of 4C's.

In all the years, among the four strong Feds, in the disciplines where they've had three to send, the top two placements would have earned three spots anyway, and in the rare cases where they didn't, the top two placements the following year would have earned them back. We'll see if that's true of Canadian Ladies next year, since they kept #1 Schizas out, like the US and Canada do for all Olympians, while KOR sent their "A" team, which which won't happen next year for CAN.

For smaller.Feds, which don't have funds to send their skaters off their continents very often, 4C's is one of the few competitions where they can earn minimums, get on the SB list, and earn few WS points. Even if they're from Houston or Montreal.

 

[Karen-W]

Ilia's at it again on his IG... https://www.instagram.com/tv/CZFJtnhqL55/?utm_medium=copy_link

4t-1eu-4s

Insane... the IJS really should be updated to give more credit for something like this...

 

[her grace]

Combos should have their own values, period.

A 3a-3t and 3f should not be worth the same as a 3f-3t and 3a.

 

[olympic]

^This is my argument from the beginning of IJS in 2006. Perhaps all combos should get a 10% bonus?

 

[seabm7]

For the people who got confused on the maximum entries for 4CC, here is the corresponding regulation from the ISU document:

https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/rules/fsk-regulations-rules/file

Rule 378 2 d)

The ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships will have an open Overall Entry Quota with each ISU Member entitled to enter up to a maximum of three entries for each discipline.

 

[Sylvia]

Quotes after their respective 4CC free skates are copied from the ISU Quick Quotes document, linked from the ISU's 4CC event page (placements added by me):

Tomoki Hiwatashi (8th at 4CC with 222.37, 7th in SP, 10th in FS)
(on his performance today) Not the best, obviously. I could have done a lot better on (my quad) toe and on (triple) Axel for sure, too.
(on his immediate goal) For now it’s a good time to rest, take in the good things that I did, and reflect on the things that I wasn’t able to do. I’ve been talking about consistency a lot, not just this season but throughout the past seasons too, and I really feel like that’s the part where I really need to get better at and I’ll continue to work on that.
(on his future) I would still like to compete next season and do the best I can. In terms of the next four years... I think it’s really up to how my relationship goes with skating - it goes on and off sometimes. I feel like continuing is the goal for now and doing what I can, reaching the goals that I wasn’t able to this season and these (past) 4 years.

Jimmy Ma (10th at 4CC with 215.12, 9th in both SP & FS)
(on his season overall) Generally speaking it was an upward spiral. The general direction of (my) skating is going up and I’m already very proud of that. Making it to a Championship level event - that was a goal for this year - so that was successful. In future seasons I’ll know how to pace myself a little better. This season was extremely exhausting, albeit extremely rewarding - even on the crap days like this - and I’m nothing but grateful for the opportunity.
(on skating to his anime music, Attack on Titan) First of all it’s a bomb ass show. Second of all it’s got really beautifully haunting music and it’s something that I’ve always wanted to skate to. Nikolai (Morozov, his choreographer, finally) agreed to it because it’s pretty damn good music!

Camden Pulkinen (12th at 4CC with 204.39, 14th in SP, 7th in FS)
I felt obviously nervous, I had a lot to prove. Today I skated freer and left it on the table. In the short I was a little tight. I was happy that could skate and have fun.
(on next plans) I’m sad to see both my programs go, but also I’m excited to try new stuff and see what I could take to skate to. I try to calm down from this season, because I competed so much. So just preparing for next season, recovering very well and hopefully learning some new tricks.
(on studying financial economics) In August I’m moving to New York City for my university [Columbia] and it’s going to be a little bit of a change. I have two years left. I think it is important to get a degree. I want to keep skating through university and really challenge myself. I’ve been doing part-time at school up to now but I want to challenge myself by doing full-time.
(on his coach, Damon Allen, being in quarantine in Tallinn) It was kind of tough to find out that my coach can’t leave his hotel room from Europeans (he was at the European Championships). Initially, in practice it threw me off a little bit, but at the end of the day I’m going to skate the program.

 

[soogar]

^This is my argument from the beginning of IJS in 2006. Perhaps all combos should get a 10% bonus?

They are already getting a bonus that they can repeat a jump as a single element. IJS is already stacked for jumps, no need to give people a bonus when they have an opportunity to repeat the jump as a solo element.

 

[Kateri]

Camden Pulkinen
I’m sad to see both my programs go

Let's take some solace from all this: at least we know Camden isn't keeping either of his programmes next year.

 

[wickedwitch]

They are already getting a bonus that they can repeat a jump as a single element. IJS is already stacked for jumps, no need to give people a bonus when they have an opportunity to repeat the jump as a solo element.

You could reduce base values of jumps to offset this. (Or raise base values of other elements.)

 

[Vagabond]

You could reduce base values of jumps to offset this. (Or raise base values of other elements.)

Also, the overall value of TES could be adjusted vis-à-vis PCS.

 

[Carolla5501]

You obviously missed the post about a week or so ago that said that Malinin had a strong Russian accent, and couldn't speak English in complete sentences. That's why the discussion started, and that's why the interview with TSL was posted as well as other interview links, and that's why people were joking about his American accent.

Found the original post from the PBP threads for the US Nationals Men's Free Skate.

https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/2022-us-nats-mens-fs-in-this-shirt-haters.109239/page-42#post-6160287

No I didn’t miss the post a week and a half ago


That’s exactly the problem


How many of you would like to have your speech patterns discussed by random strangers using made up names for a week and a half?


Unbelievable.

 

[skatingguy]

No I didn’t miss the post a week and a half ago


That’s exactly the problem


How many of you would like to have your speech patterns discussed by random strangers using made up names for a week and a half?


Unbelievable.

That is a very strange response.

 

[Marco]

Seeing Camden skate like this at 4CCs reminds me why I was always and completely against sending Ross Miner in 2018.

 

[skatingguy]

Seeing Camden skate like this at 4CCs reminds me why I was always and completely against sending Ross Miner in 2018.

Sending Ross Miner where?

 

[olympic]

Sending Ross Miner where?

There was a lot of convo on the Boards in 2018 when Miner was left off the team after a set of good skates at Nationals after not delivering for a long time. I think @Marco is making a comparison with Camden's great skates and not delivering recently

 

[barbk]

There was a lot of convo on the Boards in 2018 when Miner was left off the team after a set of good skates at Nationals after not delivering for a long time. I think @Marco is making a comparison with Camden's great skates and not delivering recently

Spot on. But if I had three wishes, I'd use my first one to halt further discussion of Ross Miner in this 2021-2022 thread. Where is the dead horse emoji when I need it?

 

[skatingguy]

There was a lot of convo on the Boards in 2018 when Miner was left off the team after a set of good skates at Nationals after not delivering for a long time. I think @Marco is making a comparison with Camden's great skates and not delivering recently

I guess - it's just that Pulkinen was never in the conversation for the Olympics, and Miner didn't go to 4CC's in 2018 so that comparison didn't seem to make any sense.

 

[BittyBug]

FWIW, I understood @Marco's point immediately, which (I think) was that long-term track record may be a better indicator of performance potential than one "skate of your life."

 

[Sylvia]

But 4CC is not Olympics/Worlds... Camden earned his 4CC assignment and deserved to compete in Tallinn.

 

[BittyBug]

But 4CC is not Olympics/Worlds... Camden earned his 4CC assignment and deserved to compete in Tallinn.

The point wasn't that Camden shouldn't have been assigned to 4CCs, but rather that Camden serves as an illustration of how one great performance after a rocky track record is probably not an indicator that you're suddenly going to be consistent. And Camden's reversion to his mean illustrates why not choosing Miner for the OLY team was a reasonable decision (because Miner was extremely inconsistent except for that Nationals performance and therefore his next performance was far more likely to be similar to his prior track record rather than to his amazing skate at Nationals).

Done with this now.

 

[Vagabond]

FWIW, I understood @Marco's point immediately, which (I think) was that long-term track record may be a better indicator of performance potential than one "skate of your life."

Or it may not. Ilia Malinin had the skate of his life so far at Nationals. Who can say with confidence that he wouldn't skate as well or better than that in Beijing?

 

[Jarrett]

Or it may not. Ilia Malinin had the skate of his life so far at Nationals. Who can say with confidence that he wouldn't skate as well or better than that in Beijing?

Who is even making that argument?

 

[BittyBug]

Or it may not. Ilia Malinin had the skate of his life so far at Nationals. Who can say with confidence that he wouldn't skate as well or better than that in Beijing?

Well, trajectory is part of long-term track record. Malinin is exponentially better as a skater now than he was at the start of the season. He's 17 and acquiring new skills at practically the speed of light, compared to skaters in their mid-20's, who may be developing artistically but are largely plateaued technically. Context matters.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Malinin also won two JGP's, the second with a 30 point improvement over the first, and both wins were decisive. He made the podium at Cup of Austria, with a very strong 2nd in the FS -- his SP results at his only senior international event really shot him in the foot -- compared to Miner, who placed 5th/6th in two Fall CS events and 6th at SA.

In 2018 USFS took the junior international skater's results over the more-experienced senior, as they did in 2014 for Women, but neither Miner nor Nagasu had competed in the prior Worlds or qualified for GPF, which Brown did, and through his results, helped to earn a chance at a third spot at Nebelhorn for Beijing, as well as placing within .5 of the US Nats bronze medalist. Brown also helped earn three spots for PyeongChang and made GPF in 2017, but was too far out of contention at Nationals (placement and score-wise) for that to make a difference.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Spot on. But if I had three wishes, I'd use my first one to halt further discussion of Ross Miner in this 2021-2022 thread. Where is the dead horse emoji when I need it?

Let us not speak of dead horses

 

[Trillian]

Well, trajectory is part of long-term track record. Malinin is exponentially better as a skater now than he was at the start of the season. He's 17 and acquiring new skills at practically the speed of light, compared to skaters in their mid-20's, who may be developing artistically but are largely plateaued technically. Context matters.

I agree. If it had been Camden Pulkinen or Jimmy Ma who medaled at nationals instead of Ilia, that would have been more comparable to Miner. While it’s true that we still don’t know 100% that Ilia can match or exceed those performances again, he has shown momentum. That’s what got him the spot on the world team. As much as I enjoy watching Camden and Jimmy, I don’t think either of them as a surprise medalist would have been viewed the same way by the selection committee.

 

[Frau Muller]

This past Sunday, TSL posted Malinin practicing quad toe-eul-quad sal:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4560717757383490&id=281547475300561&m_entstream_source=timeline

 

[Karen-W]

Vincent's got his gear!

Vincent Zhou on Instagram: "Olympic fit check🔥 Thank you, @ralphlauren and @nike, for putting me in the best ensemble! @TeamUSA #Beijing2022 #TeamUSA #figureskating #winterolympics #beijing2022 #athlete"

3,794 likes, 38 comments - govincentzhou on January 26, 2022: "Olympic fit check🔥 Thank you, @ralphlauren and @nike, for putting me in the best ensemble! @TeamUSA #Beijing2022 #TeamUSA #figureskat..."

www.instagram.com

Here's to hoping this isn't the only time he gets to wear the Nike podium kit!

 

[Karen-W]

Ilia's at it again... 4t-4lo

Ilia Malinin on Instagram: "This took a whole 45 minutes"

12K likes, 455 comments - ilia_quadg0d_malinin on January 28, 2022: "This took a whole 45 minutes"

www.instagram.com

Let your skating speak for itself, kid!