U.S. Men 2025-26 Discussion - Quad God and the Mere Mortals

[her grace]

Jackie Wong's throwing Kazanecki's name into the Olympic mix after today's bronze at the JGPF.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1996853466992627801

Not sure I think there's much chance of that happening. Even if he did wind up on the podium at Nats, the USFS would have to send him out to get the Sr CTES mins in January and we know they passed right on over Ilia in 2022 for the Olympic team, which is what I would expect to happen to Lucius this year.

Agreed. If USFS wanted him to be in consideration, they would have sent him to a Challenger or Senior B to get the CTES minimums. That they did not shows that he's not in the Olympic mix.

Comparing to the Malinin 2022 situation, Malinin was more dominant at the junior level and USFS did send him to a 2021 Challenger pre-nationals where he got his tech minimums for 4CC/Olympics, but didn't reach the TES needed for Worlds. Also, the domestic field that Malinin faced was more difficult with 3 U.S. men making the GP Final in the 2021-2022 season. You'd think that with the weaker U.S. field this year, USFS would have been interested in sending their age-eligible JGPF qualifier to a senior event, but they didn't.

Jackie Wong seems to get a bit optimistic whenever there's something that it would make logical sense to do, but that USFS has shown no evidence of wanting to do. For example, he also claimed that Shin/Nagy would be replaced at the OQE after almost every American team beat them at John Nicks. It sounds like wishful thinking to me.

 

[Jonas]

Lucius Kazanecki very likely secured himself a ticket to Jr. Worlds! I would not be surprised neither if he manages to jump his way onto the podium in St. Louis and I'd wonder if the USFSA would then send him to get his minima for Worlds. USFSA did it for Torgy in 2023, so it should do it for Lucius if this comes to fruition.

I'd say that the 2nd ticket to Jr. Worlds goes to whoever between Patrick Blackwell and Caleb Farrington finishes higher (presumably wins) at Nationals. Personally, I enjoy Nicholas Brooks a lot, so if he manages to pull an upset in St. Louis, I'd have no objections to him being sent!

Your thoughts...

 

[Karen-W]

Lucius Kazanecki very likely secured himself a ticket to Jr. Worlds! I would not be surprised neither if he manages to jump his way onto the podium in St. Louis and I'd wonder if the USFSA would then send him to get his minima for Worlds. USFSA did it for Torgy in 2023, so it should do it for Lucius if this comes to fruition.

I'd say that the 2nd ticket to Jr. Worlds goes to whoever between Patrick Blackwell and Caleb Farrington finishes higher (presumably wins) at Nationals. Personally, I enjoy Nicholas Brooks a lot, so if he manages to pull an upset in St. Louis, I'd have no objections to him being sent!

Your thoughts...

I can't see Brooks being sent to Jr Worlds over either Blackwell or Farrington.

It's possible they could send Kazanecki out to get his Sr CTES mins if he winds up on the podium at Nats (they also sent Ilia out for the Worlds TES mins in Feb 2022 after he wound up on the podium at Nats), but it feels to me like his coaching team is taking a slightly slower approach with him than they did with Ilia in 2021. I have a hard time thinking the USFS wouldn't have gladly sent him to a Sr B last month if he wanted one, especially since he did compete at Easterns just to run his senior programs again even with the bye to Nats already secured. That makes me think he is going to remain strictly junior internationally this season and Worlds isn't on his radar.

 

[Stephanie]

Sanchez is also an option for junior worlds.

 

[skatfan]

Sanchez is also an option for junior worlds.

Except he hasn't got Jr programs this year. I kinda doubt he'll want to go again.

 

[Sylvia]

CS Golden Spin of Zagreb results:

5 Jacob SANCHEZ USA 216.59 10 [75.31] 3 [141.28] - 198 ISU WS points
6 Daniel MARTYNOV USA 216.34 2 [84.06] 9 [132.28] - 178 ISU WS points

Copying out Jacob's quotes to Golden Skate after his FS: https://x.com/goldenskate/status/1997026062492950577

Jacob: I’m good. I’m really happy with how this season is going. I made it to a lot of cool places, so I’m really excited and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year. I’m just trying to keep progressing my skating and be the best that I can.

On which cool places he got to see

I mean, I went to China for my Grand Prix, that was the most memorable. I also went to Austria and Bratislava for the first time. Now I’m here in Zagreb and I didn’t know I was going to be here until like three weeks before. So I’m kind of a short notice, but I’m happy to be able to compete in my third Challenger this year.

On today’s skate:

I mean, today was not my best this season, but I’m really happy that even with the initial mistake, I was able to keep myself together for the rest of the program. I can feel it’s difficult now with a different pacing than in juniors. It’s weird now having all these competitions so close together in the later part of the season, so I’m kind of adjusting to it.

I’m actually happy that I made it out here. The last two weeks were hard. I got the flu, I was off for six days and I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t get a lot of run-throughs in before this competition. So I’m honestly happy that I was able to make it here because I was thinking about withdrawing last week.

On the Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix going on right now:

I mean, it was awesome to watch them. I woke up this morning, I was watching the free skate of the junior men and all six guys, they’re so strong and I would kill to be there right now. I kept getting all my photo memories from last year and then now that the final is happening, I’m like, oh, I wish I was there.

But I’m really happy for Rio, Minkyu and happy for Lucius. Also Denis, he made so much progress. It’s really cool to see him competing at the final representing a smaller federation. And also tomorrow, my best friend, Ilia, is competing. So I’m really excited for that. I really believe in him and his strong mind.

Next week he is having a show in Philadelphia with Ilia, Alysa and Isabeau. He’s very excited and he’s very excited for that.

 

[Stephanie]

Except he hasn't got Jr programs this year. I kinda doubt he'll want to go again.

He did say in an interview several months back that he’d be happy to go again. I’m sure his team has a plan to adjust his LP as needed just like Elyce Lin-Gracey did last year.

 

[skatfan]

He did say in an interview several months back that he’d be happy to go again. I’m sure his team has a plan to adjust his LP as needed just like Elyce Lin-Gracey did last year.

Ah, thanks for the info, given the post that Sylvia included, it does seem like he has some serious FOMO regarding the JrGPF!