U.S. Men 2022-23 news & updates

[Sylvia]

Polina Edmunds chatted with Camden on her podcast (January 3, 2023):

The Iron Butterfly: Stepping Into Your Moment ft. Camden Pulkinen

I chat with 2018 Junior Champion Camden Pulkinen about his skating career so far: How and when he started, winning the Junior Championship in 2018, imposter syndrome and developing his confidence over the next few years as a senior competitor, tips and tricks he uses to ground himself competing...

bleav.com

I chat with 2018 Junior Champion Camden Pulkinen about his skating career so far: How and when he started, winning the Junior Championship in 2018, imposter syndrome and developing his confidence over the next few years as a senior competitor, tips and tricks he uses to ground himself competing now, balancing school and skating while at Columbia University in New York, and who his favorite skaters are.

ETA: Camden is back training at Great Park Ice while on winter break from Columbia.

 

[livetoskate]

Polina Edmunds chatted with Camden on her podcast (January 3, 2023):

The Iron Butterfly: Stepping Into Your Moment ft. Camden Pulkinen

I chat with 2018 Junior Champion Camden Pulkinen about his skating career so far: How and when he started, winning the Junior Championship in 2018, imposter syndrome and developing his confidence over the next few years as a senior competitor, tips and tricks he uses to ground himself competing...

bleav.com

ETA: Camden is back training at Great Park Ice while on winter break from Columbia.

Polina's podcasts are always so interesting to listen to. I enjoy getting to know more about her interviewees.

 

[ice coverage]

Great coverage of Nathan Chapple and Alexa Gasparotto from Chicago Sun-Times today, with both a long article and a video:

The future of U.S. figure skating includes rising stars Alexa Gasparotto and Nathan Chapple
This month Gasparotto competing at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, and Chapple competing at the World University Games, will make history.
By Annie Costabile Jan 7, 2023, 8:00am EST
(includes nice photos too!)

The future of U.S. figure skating includes rising stars Alexa Gasparotto and Nathan Chapple

This month, Gasparotto competing at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and Chapple competing at the World University Games will make history.

chicago.suntimes.com

Nathan, Alexa, Rohene Ward, and Amber Gil speak in the accompanying video (3:16).

Rising U.S. figure skating stars Alexa Gasparotto & Nathan Chapple prepare for competition

This month Gasparotto competing at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, and Chapple competing at the World University Games, will make history as the first...

youtu.be

 

[Sylvia]

^^^ Thank you @ice coverage - I've been waiting for this feature ever since Rohene Ward did an Instagram Live from the Glenview rink back on Dec. 21: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmceLFvJ6qO/

 

[Sylvia]

After really delivering at sectionals, Joonsoo Kim has been added to USFS ISP -- and has been assigned to Edusport EduSport Trophy in Romania.

Mission accomplished in the SP for Joonsoo Kim today in Romania (he was one of only 2 men left in the field!): https://twitter.com/SylviaUnseen/status/1614236692378001413

Fan Zone article on Lucas Broussard by Jillian L. Martinez (Jan. 12):

Lucas Broussard Soars in New Season After Injury and Illness - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

Lucas Broussard after winning silver at the 2022 Junior Grand Prix Final. Lucas Broussard certainly had his share of ups and downs in 2022. The 16-year-old

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

I recently posted links to 2 pre-Nationals articles, including excerpts, in Ilia Malinin's fan thread: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/ilia-malinin-fan-thread.109289/page-8#post-6364127

 

[Sylvia]

Happy that Joonsoo Kim skated a good FS in his senior international debut (148.27 in FS, 79.47 TES, 216.13 total) - just tweeted his FS protocol - oops, wrong link, hold on (ETA): https://twitter.com/SylviaUnseen/status/1614672559932592129

 

[Sylvia]

World University Games in Lake Placid - U.S. men's results last week: Dinh Tran 9th (tweeted a clip from his FS kiss & cry with happy reaction to his scores: https://twitter.com/dinhtranskater/status/1616175815041114113), Goku Endo 12th (improved his TES scores from the 2022 Philly Summer International & now has the 4CC minimums), and Nathan Chapple (23rd).

Video made from the livestream - Tran's 8th place FS (137.90 would be an ISU SB/PB but not scores were not counted in Lake Placid for ISU SB/PB, just for TES minimums which he improved here to 71.13 TES): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocmcHxZG0D4

Exhibition Gala is streaming now (Monday 2 pm Eastern start) on ESPN+ and Paul Wylie will be the on ice host (he is the ORDA Director of Sport).
...
ETA: First up is USA's Nathan Chapple, invited to perform on Martin Luther King Day in the U.S.!
He seemed more relaxed today and skated well.

@sk8momma (thanks!) posted a video of Wylie introducing Nathan Chapple & his EX performance in the FISU WUG thread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX4vt0DyDls

 

[Sylvia]

I recently posted links to 2 pre-Nationals articles, including excerpts, in Ilia Malinin's fan thread: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/ilia-malinin-fan-thread.109289/page-8#post-6364127

Here's one of the two - Meet the Vienna Teen Who’s Changing the Figure Skating World by Jill S. Devine (January 9, 2023; originally published in the January 2023 edition of Northern Virginia Magazine - Ilia was interviewed back in October for this feature article):

Meet the Vienna Teen Who's Changing the Figure Skating World

Ilia Malinin was only 17 when he did what no figure skater in history had done before -- land a quad Axel in competition.

northernvirginiamag.com

Ilia had his pre-Nationals call yesterday: https://twitter.com/LynnRutherford/status/1616232229113405440

On media call, Ilia Malinin said his recent week in CA [in late December] included work with choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne to "make everything a lot more fluid & comfortable," adding his main concern is PCS "because the past couple years, it (wasn't) the highest."
That said, Malinin plans quad axel in his FS in San Jose, but "it all depends on the situation. It's always a huge risk to try to go for when I'm not feeling my best."

 

[Sylvia]

Figure Skaters Online article on 2022 U.S. Junior silver medalist Will Annis, who turned 18 last week, before he makes his senior national debut in San Jose:

Hard work pays off for Will Annis – Figure Skaters Online

 

[Firedancer]

Interview with Cam ahead of nationals:
https://usfigureskatingfanzone.com/...d-theory-to-the-test-at-us-championships.aspx

 

[clairecloutier]

Here’s a new Phil Hersh story about Camden Pulkinen:

Living in two worlds at once, Camden Pulkinen seeks first U.S. Championships medal

Figure skater Camden Pulkinen talks about life as a Columbia student and an elite figure skater ahead of the 2023 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

olympics.nbcsports.com

The article has more details about Camden’s future plans. He plans to graduate from Columbia in either May or December 2024; after that, he expects to move to CA to train full-time with Arutunian. (I hope he also continues working with Alex Johnson!)

 

[VGThuy]

Here’s a new Phil Hersh story about Camden Pulkinen:

Living in two worlds at once, Camden Pulkinen seeks first U.S. Championships medal

Figure skater Camden Pulkinen talks about life as a Columbia student and an elite figure skater ahead of the 2023 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

olympics.nbcsports.com

The article has more details about Camden’s future plans. He plans to graduate from Columbia in either May or December 2024; after that, he expects to move to CA to train full-time with Arutunian. (I hope he also continues working with Alex Johnson!)

That plan seems doable.

 

[Allskate]

If it's true that Ilia is doing some shows instead of 4CCs, then I think it's a good thing. IMO, he needs a little bit more time to process his performance today. Going straight into an international competition might not be the best thing for him. Plus, I think he really could benefit from performing more. There is no way an international panel would have given him the presentation scores that he got today - the second highest of the day behind Jason.

I will be really annoyed on Ilia's behalf if they do not hire choreographers to work with him, including working with him to create new programs for next season while working with him to find his style. Ilia is smart enough to know that he wants this and has said so.

I hope Jason goes to Worlds because I'd like to see more of him and because he can help secure 3 places for the U.S. for next year. "Impossible Dream" is not one of my favorite Jason competitive programs, but I can understand why he wanted to use it for this competition. I love his short program.

There is not going to be a great American men's team at 4CCs, but at least some of the guys will get some good experience.

ETA: I forgot that Worlds is in Japan this year. I don't think Jason will be able to resist that. He said that making the Worlds team was not his goal for Nationals. But, he loves Japan. (I'm impressed that he is conversant in Japanese and can even write in Japanese.)

 

[Karen-W]

I'm betting the post-season assignments look like this:

Worlds - Malinin, Brown, Torgashev* (Challenge Cup to earn TES mins); alt 1 - Naumov, alt 2 - MA, alt 3 - Kapeikis

4CCs - Naumov, Ma, Kapeikis; alt 1 - Paniot, alt 2 - Pulkinen, alt 3 - Hiwatashi (Mindra doesn't have TES mins)

Jr Worlds (to be announced after the Jr Worlds Singles Camp) - Broussard, Sanchez, Yampolsky; alt 1 - Xie, alt 2 & 3 - who knows? Klein, Strommer, Annis, Hagueto?

 

[Stephanie]

Martynov should also be considered for junior worlds based on his skate today

 

[Wyliefan]

I missed this Washington Post interview with Ilia that aired on Friday. Really nice article by Les Carpenter. (Apologies if it's already been posted -- I didn't see it anywhere!)

https://wapo.st/3WV6zVe

All legs and arms at 5-foot-6, Malinin is so thin that he almost disappears when he spins off the ice. But he skates with a certain cocksure bravado that led Rafael Arutyunyan, the legendary coach who guided Nathan Chen to a gold medal in Beijing and now works with Malinin, to say “he knows he’s good.” Another person who has worked with Malinin called him “cocky,” in the brazen shatterproof manner of a teenager who has beaten the world and realizes he can keep doing it.

That word makes Malinin laugh.

“I wouldn’t say it’s cocky,” he says. “I think it’s just for me … I always tried to be better than who I am at the moment. So I always try to find things that I need to work on, and I try to improve on them, and it just works. I always have this mind-set … for anything.”

 

[olympic]

That was

Those performances had me all over the place. In some performances, I felt a bit of every motion!

 

[clairecloutier]

Current ISU season's-best score rankings

2 Malinin
19 Pulkinen
26 Naumov
29 Kapeikis
39 Ma
51 Martynov
64 Tran
80 Hiwatashi


Current ISU world standing rankings

7 Malinin
15 Pulkinen
16 Brown
33 Ma
48 Kapeikis
60 Hiwatashi
74 Naumov

 

[Karen-W]

Current ISU season's-best rankings

2 Malinin
19 Pulkinen
26 Naumov
29 Kapeikis
39 Ma
51 Martynov
64 Tran
80 Hiwatashi


Current ISU world standing rankings

7 Malinin
15 Pulkinen
16 Brown
33 Ma
48 Kapeikis
60 Hiwatashi
74 Naumov

And those aren't part of the Selection Criteria.

 

[Trillian]

I'm betting the post-season assignments look like this:

Worlds - Malinin, Brown, Torgashev* (Challenge Cup to earn TES mins); alt 1 - Naumov, alt 2 - MA, alt 3 - Kapeikis

4CCs - Naumov, Ma, Kapeikis; alt 1 - Paniot, alt 2 - Pulkinen, alt 3 - Hiwatashi (Mindra doesn't have TES mins)

I want to see Torgashev assigned to Worlds, but I’m less optimistic than you are about that, and I think Pulkinen’s international standing will weigh more in his favor. I’m guessing:

Worlds - Malinin, Brown, Naumov; alt1 Pulkinen, alt2 Torgashev (+ Challenge Cup), alt3 Ma or Kapeikis

4Cc - Naumov, Ma, Pulkinen; alt1 Kapeikis, alt2 Paniot, alt3 Hiwatashi

And despite how many other options they have, I think there’s a good chance Kapeikis is in the junior worlds mix, too.

 

[Dobre]

I'm very happy for Samuel Mindra. I have been waiting to see him skate for a long time, as he is from Oregon & once upon a time he medaled among the younger kids at Nationals. First time, I have had the chance to see him. He's been signed up for events but has had to pull out, and it was so nice to see him skate well & enjoy the skating here. (Plus the crowd loved his SP).

 

[skatfan]

And those aren't part of the Selection Criteria.

She didn’t say they were.

 

[Vagabond]

And those aren't part of the Selection Criteria.

Which turns out to be a good thing.

 

[Dobre]

Raise your hand if you think Torgashev will earn the minimums if he gets the chance.

 

[Karen-W]

Raise your hand if you think Torgashev will earn the minimums if he gets the chance.

I'd like to think so, but we all saw what happened to Ilia at IceChallenge Graz 2021, soooo...

 

[olympic]

Raise your hand if you think Torgashev will earn the minimums if he gets the chance.

The USFSA really needs to send him to a competition in February to get the minimums. I think they are smart enough to do that

 

[Trillian]

I'm very happy for Samuel Mindra.

He was so fun to watch. My husband, who pays attention to skating for around five minutes a year, got sucked into his FS, then was outraged and demanded an explanation from me when Mindra went into third place instead of first. I hope we get to see a lot more of him.

 

[Dobre]

The USFSA really needs to send him to a competition in February to get the minimums. I think they are smart enough to do that

Not the question I asked.

 

[Vagabond]

Not the question I asked.

Shame on you. The skategods subscribe to this thread.

 

[Rukia]

Regardless of whether you think he can headcase himself out of getting his mins he deserves the chance to at least try for it