U.S. Men 2022-23 news & updates

[her grace]

Not too worried with Broussard and Yampolsky on the team.

Yeah, I'm probably being a bit "Nervous Nelly" because Broussard is the favorite for the bronze, and Yampolsky is a strong back-up.

More competition for gold, but the top 3 nation didn't change.

Here are some additional contenders for a top-3 finish: Nordeback (SWE), Chiu (CAN) Chen (CHN) , Kim, H. (KOR).

 

[DreamSkates]

4CCs. Jimmy Ma. Sigh.

 

[livetoskate]

4CCs. Jimmy Ma. Sigh.

That was sad but seems to be a pattern with him. Jimmy had a bad warm up with lots of falls, even on a triple axel. I'm glad he livened things up with a change of music in his free. Nice watching him but he almost always ends his free skates with sadness.

 

[Marco]

I really enjoyed his short progam though and thought he was a tad underscored.

 

[Frau Muller]

4CCs. Jimmy Ma. Sigh.

Why do folks keep expecting miraculous medals from Ma?

 

[Allskate]

Why do folks keep expecting miraculous medals from Ma?

Hoping is different from expecting. I wasn't even hoping for a medal. Just a performance that he could be happy with.

 

[DreamSkates]

Why do folks keep expecting miraculous medals from Ma?

I wasn’t saying he would miraculously win a medal. I would like to see him complete 2 clean programs in one competition (like Keegan Messing who unexpectedly earned a medal). Instead of mostly going away from a completion not completing everything he had been training.

 

[Frau Muller]

I wasn’t saying he would miraculously win a medal. I would like to see him complete 2 clean programs in one competition (like Keegan Messing who unexpectedly earned a medal). Instead of mostly going away from a completion not completing everything he had been training.

Oh, I know you didn’t state it. It was just a general though. I, too, am frustrated. Maybe Ma will get another chance in another GP event in fall 2023?

 

[mtnskater]

Ma was great in the 4CCs exhibition. I think he will make an excellent show skater. At 27 I don’t know whether USFS should continue to give him big assignments any longer unfortunately because of his track record.

 

[tony]

Ma was great in the 4CCs exhibition. I think he will make an excellent show skater. At 27 I don’t know whether USFS should continue to give him big assignments any longer unfortunately because of his track record.

Well I’m not sure who anyone expects to get all these assignments when Malinin is the only current ‘youngster’ with any kind of consistency. Ma still beat Naumov and Kapeikis here and they were 4th and 6th at Nationals.

If Jimmy keeps skating well the majority of the time, the events will still come.

 

[mtnskater]

Broussard. Yampolsky. Martynov.

 

[tony]

Broussard. Yampolsky. Martynov.

I’m sure you don’t need explaining that the jump from Junior to senior doesn’t always work as smoothly as planned, yet here we are.

And Martynov? The same one who finished outside the top 10 at Nats and 30 points below Jimmy? Okay then.

 

[mtnskater]

I’m talking about investing in the future with young talent instead of sending someone who constantly underperforms. But keep on backing Ma if you want. I’m not stopping you.

 

[tony]

I’m talking about investing in the future with young talent instead of sending someone who constantly underperforms. But keep on backing Ma if you want. I’m not stopping you.

How can you invest in the future at this point with skaters still on the junior level, besides send them to junior events? You think USFS should’ve just sent the juniors to 4CC instead?

And once again, Ma beat both other Americans here even with a bad LP. Should Naumov, Kapeikis, Pulkinen, and Paniot all never see the light of competition again just to make way for the hope that all juniors will rise to the occasion?

So, yes I’ll keep going. Your comments remind me of the ‘omg but Jason is taking a spot away from someone else!’ discussions when he announced he was skating at Nationals. Who exactly is stepping up to the plate that all these spots are being taken away? And let me tell you, it’s not Martynov at this point in his skating career.

 

[Karen-W]

Well, to some extent, some of these assignments, especially GP, are going to be determined by WS and SB.

Heading into Jr Worlds, Worlds and WTT as the only events left for skaters to improve, the only two US men on the SB Top 24 are Ilia (3) and Camden (19). Presumably, if Jason skates at Worlds like he did at Nats, he'll join the other two on that list.

It's conceivable, though probably not all that realistic, that either Yampolsky and/or Broussard could edge into the SB Top 24 at Jr Worlds, but right now the only Junior man in the SB Top 24 is Kataise, who is sitting at #21, and there are plenty of men within 15 points or so of him that could surpass him at Worlds (Egadze, Kvitelashvili, Nordeback, Jin, Orzel, Mihhail Selevko, Shmuratko).

WS Top 24 we have Ilia (8), Nathan (10), Vincent (16), Camden (17), Jason (18), and Jimmy (24). Jimmy could remain in the WS Top 24 once the 2020-21 season results are dropped and the 2021-22 season results are reduced to 70%, but I haven't sat down and done the math recently.

It seems pretty certain that Ilia and Camden will get 2 GP assignments, and I'd be surprised if Jason doesn't also earn 2 on Worlds placement alone.

I'd guess Jimmy is likely to get 2 GP assignments (he's at 33 on the SB list), but it's certainly not guaranteed. On the SB list, Maxim is currently 28 and Liam 32. I'd guess they'll each get 1 assignment on the initial go-round; same with Andrew if he can skate as well as he did at Nats. And if one or both of Lucas & Robert medal at Jr Worlds, they'll probably get at least 1 GP assignment, possibly 2 (which is what happened for the 3 Jr World medalists from last season).

The USFS tends to send the skaters with GP assignments out to at least 1 Challenger prior to the GP season, sometimes 2, as a season opener, so if Jimmy gets 2 GPs, he'll most definitely get a 3rd international earlier in the fall.

I can't say, based on the current SB or WS, that Jimmy is undeserving of any assignments he gets next season. It's not as though the rest of the men in the World have been tearing it up and leaving him in the dust, score-wise. His inconsistency is aggravating AF, but goodness, the same can be said of almost every single man competing these days.

 

[Marco]

A combination of Jimmy's short performance at 4CCs and free performance at Nationals would have been quite conpetitive and easily top 5 at 4CCs. I don't think any other US men beside Ilia and Jason has delivered (together or separate) strong short and free within this season and like @tony said, none of them are that consistent anyways.

 

[clairecloutier]

I read Nathan's memoir (One Jump at a Time) on the way to/from 4CCs. It's a good read. I would recommend it. It's written in a way to appeal to the general public, but there are plenty of interesting, specific details for figure skating fans, too. For example, we learn that, in addition to coaching, Raf also gets hands-on with mounting blades on figure skating boots (and saved Nathan's boots from breaking down in Beijing). There are other interesting tidbits, such as the fact that, unlike a lot of skaters, Nathan follows his rivals' scores and elements closely during competitions. Nathan also talks quite openly about his mom's considerable role in his career. It's definitely well worth a read.

 

[Stephanie]

Nice interview with Maxim Naumov with some interesting tidbits: https://fs-gossips.com/maxim-naumov...-stronger-then-fear-of-getting-injured-again/

 

[Vagabond]

Nice interview with Maxim Naumov with some interesting tidbits: https://fs-gossips.com/maxim-naumov...-stronger-then-fear-of-getting-injured-again/

Did you follow the competitions in Russia?

Maxim Naumov: In Russia – no. Rather, I thought about myself and my competitions.

Burn!

 

[Allskate]

It's not as though the rest of the men in the World have been tearing it up and leaving him in the dust, score-wise. His inconsistency is aggravating AF, but goodness, the same can be said of almost every single man competing these days.

I read Nathan's memoir (One Jump at a Time) on the way to/from 4CCs. It's a good read. I would recommend it. It's written in a way to appeal to the general public, but there are plenty of interesting, specific details for figure skating fans, too.

I second the recommendation for Nathan's book. Even if you are not a fan of Nathan's skating in particular, I think it provides a lot of insight into the challenges of being a consistent top-level men's competitive skater. Some of Nathan's challenges are specific to him (especially his mother), but much of it applies to any of the men competing at the higher levels of the sport. Nathan writes about the pressures and anxiety he dealt with, which is probably more than most people realize. He writes a lot about the challenges of being consistent. He (and his mother) felt he needed to train a LOT of jumps and run-throughs of his programs in order to be in a position physically and mentally to deliver in competitions, especially the Olympics. However, training so much, especially so many quads, took a big toll both physically and mentally. For so much of his career he was dealing with injuries as a result of all this training, and he had periods of burnout and high anxiety.

He writes a lot about trying to find the right balance. In order to be in the right condition mentally and physically, he needed to pace himself, reduce the number of jumps he was doing, taper at times, and dial back on the intensity (including from his mother). He goes into a lot of detail about this, and that includes the fact that the expert he was working with to try to find the right training balance was in unchartered waters because he just didn't know exactly where the sweet spot was in terms of how much training a skater could and should do in the context of current quad-heavy figure skating. Nathan also talks about the mental side of things and how a sports psychologist worked with him in the lead up to the 2022 Olympics.

Bottom line: it is incredibly hard to be a consistent competitor at the top levels of men's figure skating even when you have access to the top coaches and other experts and have Nathan's talent.

 

[barbk]

Ma was great in the 4CCs exhibition. I think he will make an excellent show skater. At 27 I don’t know whether USFS should continue to give him big assignments any longer unfortunately because of his track record.

Age needs to get left out of the assignment equation. Send him (or not) because of what he does (or doesn't do) on the ice and his record of accomplishment, not his age. Rudy Gallindo finished 11th, 8th, 5th, 7th, 8th..and then first in 1996, with a 3rd at Worlds that year. I think he was 27 when he won.

 

[Trillian]

I second the recommendation for Nathan's book.

Third. I will say that I didn’t feel like it gave a ton of insight on who Nathan is away from the ice - but as a completely sports-focused memoir, there was a lot of good content. The period between 2018 and 2022 was really interesting to read about in particular IMO - there was really a sense of how much he grew up in a lot of ways over those years. I also enjoyed some of the insight into how he approached his music and choreography.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

Nice interview with Maxim Naumov with some interesting tidbits: https://fs-gossips.com/maxim-naumov...-stronger-then-fear-of-getting-injured-again/

Nice interview where people actually say something. Can't stand USFS Fanzone
So boring

 

[Allskate]

Third. I will say that I didn’t feel like it gave a ton of insight on who Nathan is away from the ice - but as a completely sports-focused memoir, there was a lot of good content. The period between 2018 and 2022 was really interesting to read about in particular IMO - there was really a sense of how much he grew up in a lot of ways over those years. I also enjoyed some of the insight into how he approached his music and choreography.

I agree that it didn't give much insight into who Nathan is away from the ice, though part of the discussion in the book was about how much his focus was on skating. His mother gave him a curfew even when he was 20 and was pretty much opposed to him doing anything other than skating. But, yeah, he did have friends he wanted to spend time with, and you don't get much of a sense of him outside of his skating. Even the discussion of his relationships with other skaters, including friends and training mates, was minimal.

I also enjoyed his discussion of his programs between 2018 and 2022. (In general, the book focuses on jumps.) I particularly enjoyed his discussions of working with Shae Lynn Bourne and Marie-France Dubreuil, both of whom come across as talented and kind and interested in what was best for Nathan. It was interesting to learn about how he ended up ultimately deciding on what programs to use in Beijing.

 

[Sylvia]

Andrew Torgashev did enough today (35.50 TES, 70.33 in SP) to get the Worlds SP minimum of 34 TES in his Challenge Cup SP (fell on 4T & 3A, recovered to land 2nd half 3F+3T + level 4 steps & on 2 of 3 spins according to elements box on screen) - glad he didn’t water down his content. On to the FS tomorrow!
Screen shot of his scores: https://twitter.com/SylviaUnseen/status/1629175681111191552
(Fortunately TES is more than just jumps - not popping helps. I'm glad Andrew didn't water down his SP jump content here - same as his Nationals SP.)

ETA: His dad Artem is with Andrew (placed 10th of 18 in SP) in NED - link to a kiss & cry pic of them tweeted by GS: https://twitter.com/goldenskate/status/1629180925518004227

 

[Sylvia]

Congrats to Andrew on officially qualifying for his first Worlds! https://twitter.com/SylviaUnseen/status/1629466278141239296

With 6 men to go:
1 Torgashev USA 215.86 (145.53 FS 1, 73.10 TES ) - jumps: 2T, 3A hung on, 3Lz, 3Lo, 3Lz+1Eu+3S, 3F+3T tight, 3F+2A

ETA:

GS has tweeted this photo & quote post-FS: https://twitter.com/goldenskate/status/1629477654737944576
“I am happy that the job is done and I can continue my season for a couple of weeks more. I am excited to return to Japan . At the beginning of the season my goal was simply to get through the season injury free and make the top 10 at Nationals!”

 

[Rukia]

Very excited he was able to get his mins and I hope he has a fantastic experience at his first worlds!

 

[jlai]

I am glad Torgashev got to go to worlds. I love Camden but it would be controversial if he gets to go after the national showing.

 

[Firedancer]

I’ve always really liked Andrew’s skating so I am excited he was able get his minimums and will be able to go to worlds. I hope he enjoys his first worlds and stays healthy going forward

 

[mtnskater]

Also very happy Torgy got the minimums! The overall quality of his skating was so exciting at Nationals. Excited to see how he enjoys his first Worlds.

Sorry that Robert Yampolsky has withdrawn from Junior Worlds. Hope he will be okay. Happy Michael Xie gets a chance to compete. I really liked him on the JGP!