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

[Karen-W]

I understand what you mean and I agree. Yes he can be selected but all I want to say is that Olympic Games is not JGP Ankara... it's a different level and in my opinion someone who has no experience on that level should not have his senior premiere at the most importand event of all no matter what the junior scoring says. Not if you have other options. Neither of all possible men who will get the 2 spots besides Ilia will have a chance to win a medal. So my choice would be Max. He doesn't have the highest score but consistent around 223 and he proved to be a fighter no matter what life is throwing at him

This is such a ridiculous line of reasoning. Taking Kazanecki out of the discussion, Naumov still doesn't beat either Hiwatashi or Torgashev in any numerical analysis.

Why not just be honest with yourself and the rest of us and cut out all the faulty pretzel-twisting and instead just say that you want Naumov on the team for purely sentimental reasons?

 

[Kiki5375]

This is such a ridiculous line of reasoning. Taking Kazanecki out of the discussion, Naumov still doesn't beat either Hiwatashi or Torgashev in any numerical analysis.

Why not just be honest with yourself and the rest of us and cut out all the faulty pretzel-twisting and instead just say that you want Naumov on the team for purely sentimental reasons?

As I said "My choice would be"
No need to be so rude

 

[gkelly]

Because the junior is showing more future promise and neither of those two have ever come close to delivering on the promise they showed at the same age as Lucius. Here's a comparison of their fall scores scores this season - keep in mind, Lucius skating only juniors this fall has had one less jumping pass and no quads in the SP

No quads in the junior SP is true.

Juniors and seniors have the exact same number of jumping passes in both programs. The difference between the junior and the senior free skate elements is that seniors do both a choreographic sequence and a leveled step sequence, whereas juniors only do the choreo sequence now.

 

[Kiki5375]

So you think Lucius can be compared to Ilia and Yuma since he was so good at JGP? Same number of jumping passes and all?

 

[her grace]

I understand what you mean and I agree. Yes he can be selected but all I want to say is that Olympic Games is not JGP Ankara... it's a different level and in my opinion someone who has no experience on that level should not have his senior premiere at the most importand event of all no matter what the junior scoring says. Not if you have other options. Neither of all possible men who will get the 2 spots besides Ilia will have a chance to win a medal. So my choice would be Max. He doesn't have the highest score but consistent around 223 and he proved to be a fighter no matter what life is throwing at him

Polina Edmunds would like a word.

 

[skateboy]

I love to see Ilia, Tomoki and Max on the Olympic team. But, even if they are the top three at Nats, I realize that's wishful thinking.

 

[Winnipeg]

I don't see how any current skater can beat Ilia M. (unless he makes a few, not just one, mistake(s)).

 

[Capt. DeSoto]

I don't see how any current skater can beat Ilia M. (unless he makes a few, not just one, mistake(s)).

The drama is about who is getting the third assignment. The first two are universally understood to be going to Ilia and Jason. Ilia could go out there and do snow angels at center ice for four minutes, come in dead last, and still not lose his assignment.

 

[Karen-W]

As I said "My choice would be"
No need to be so rude

The part I took exception to was trying to find some sort of numerical justification for putting Naumov on the team - as if that steady mid-220 score range he's had all season is something to tout. It's not. Especially when both Hiwatashi and Torgashev (who you also mentioned in your original post as preferring to put on the team over Kazanecki) have higher average & median scores from the fall season.

It's fine if you want Naumov on the team for sentimental reasons - all I would ask is for folks to have the intellectual honesty to admit that their reasons for wanting him on the team have nothing to do with how he's actually skated in comparison to the rest of the US men this season. Who knows? Maybe his perennial pewter medal spot will finally prove lucky for him.

 

[Rhumba d’Amour]

The first two are universally understood to be going to Ilia and Jason. Ilia could go out there and do snow angels at center ice for four minutes, come in dead last, and still not lose his assignment.

Same with Jason, I think

 

[Karen-W]

Same with Jason, I think

Ehhhhhh... I think Jason needs to show his 3A is back on more solid ground than it's been on this past fall. Mind, the Nats tech panel is going to overlook anything but the most egregious of under-rotations, so as long as Jason can stand his 3A up and land on one foot without a visible step out in both programs, but especially the FS where we need him skating at his best for the TE in Milano, then his spot is locked. But if that 3A is still a mess... All bets may be off.