U.S. Men in 2017 - articles & latest news

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ilovepaydays said:
I thought Max was interested in going to graduate school for his MBA (or even law) in the near future.
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I heard that too. I think he either recently finished his undergraduate business degree or is set to finish this year (I think he goes to ASU online) so the timing lines up.

That being said, not retiring after this season doesn’t mean you have to be all in for the next quad. It’s fairly common to take things year by year in “youthful” sports like skating or gymnastics and just see how things go. IIRC Adam wasn’t committed to 4 more years after Sochi but once he started having more success he stuck around. Someone like Max may have a goal of a World medal, and his best chances at that would probably be the year after the Olympics.
 
I have no knowledge of Tim D.'s plans, but as a fan of both Alexei K. and Tim D., I think it would be great if they could continue to train together. If Alexei gains just a smidgen of Tim's smoothness and those spins:saint:, watch out world!
 
Before the Grand Prix Final, here's a compilation of the top 5 contenders' detailed scores, in event order, so far this season:

(ISU Season Best scores are bolded below)

Nathan Chen
CS Salt Lake 275.04 Total, 1st
91.80 47.40 44.40 8.85 8.80 8.85 8.95 8.95 0.00 (SP 1st)
183.24 95.24 88.00 8.75 8.45 8.80 9.05 8.95 0.00 (FS 1st)

GP Russia 293.79 Total, 1st (ISU SB #2 as of 11/29/17)
100.54 57.57 42.97 8.61 8.39 8.61 8.57 8.79 0.00 #10 (SP 1st)
193.25 104.85 88.40 8.96 8.57 8.89 8.89 8.89 0.00 #12 (FS 2nd)
275.88 Total, 1st

GP America 275.88 Total, 1st
104.12 59.56 44.56 8.89 8.64 9.07 9.00 8.96 0.00 #11 (SP 1st)
171.76 86.68 87.08 8.82 8.50 8.57 8.86 8.79 2.00 #12 (FS 2nd)

Adam Rippon
(Orange County Open 256.21 [89.33 SP, 166.88 FS] 1st in August)

CS Finland 249.88 Total, 3rd
83.69 41.94 41.75 8.29 8.04 8.54 8.42 8.46 0.00 #6 (SP 3rd)
166.19 81.85 85.34 8.50 8.21 8.63 8.58 8.75 1.00 #16 (FS 2nd)

GP Japan 261.99 Total, 2nd
84.95 43.16 41.79 8.32 8.11 8.43 8.36 8.57 0.00 #9 (SP 4th)
177.04 91.46 85.58 8.54 8.29 8.75 8.46 8.75 0.00 #6 (FS 2nd)

GP America 266.45 Total, 2nd (ISU SB #7 as of 11/29/17)
89.04 45.04 44.00 8.64 8.50 9.00 8.82 9.04 0.00 #10 (SP 2nd)
177.41 88.91 88.50 8.82 8.50 8.89 8.93 9.11 0.00 #11 (FS 1st)

Jason Brown
(Skate Milwaukee 210.00 in July / Glacier Falls 234.01 [86.39 SP, 147.62 FS] 2nd in late July)

CS Italy 259.88 Total, 2nd
83.01 39.26 44.75 8.80 8.80 8.90 9.10 9.15 1.00 #18 (SP 2nd)
176.87 85.07 91.80 9.10 8.90 9.20 9.25 9.45 0.00 #21 (FS 2nd)

GP Canada 261.14 Total, 2nd (ISU SB #10 as of 11/29/17)
90.71 45.64 45.07 8.79 8.96 9.11 9.00 9.21 0.00 #10 (SP 3rd)
170.43 80.77 90.66 8.86 9.04 9.04 9.07 9.32 1.00 #12 (FS 2nd)

GP Japan 245.95 Total, 4th
85.36 40.58 44.78 8.82 8.82 8.93 9.07 9.14 0.00 #11 (SP 3rd)
160.59 72.73 89.86 8.89 8.93 8.79 9.11 9.21 2.00 #11 (FS 4th)

Max Aaron
(Philadelphia Summer International 209.37 3rd in early August)

CS Salt Lake 261.56 Total, 2nd (ISU SB #9 as of 11/29/17)
86.06 48.41 37.65 7.75 7.00 7.55 7.75 7.60 0.00 (SP 2nd)
175.50 94.90 80.60 8.20 7.60 8.15 8.15 8.20 0.00 (FS 2nd)

GP China 259.69 Total, 3rd
83.11 44.50 38.61 7.89 7.50 7.79 7.75 7.68 0.00 #9 (SP 5th)
176.58 96.60 79.98 8.21 7.71 8.18 8.00 7.89 0.00 #8 (FS 1st)

GP France 237.20 Total, 7th
78.64 41.54 38.10 7.93 7.32 7.50 7.71 7.64 1.00 #7 (SP 8th)
158.56 82.70 75.86 7.86 7.32 7.54 7.64 7.57 0.00 #4 (FS 6th)

Vincent Zhou
(Skate Detroit 275.33 Total, 1st [97.68 SP & 177.65 FS] in July)

CS Finland 250.01 Total, 2nd
76.10 40.64 35.46 7.21 7.04 6.79 7.25 7.17 0.00 #2 (SP 6th)
173.91 97.97 75.94 7.71 7.25 7.71 7.63 7.67 0.00 #13 (FS 1st)

GP China 256.66 Total, 4th (ISU SB #12 as of 11/29/17)
80.23 45.66 36.57 7.43 7.21 7.04 7.57 7.32 2.00 #6 (SP 8th)
176.43 102.35 75.08 7.64 7.29 7.50 7.61 7.50 1.00 #5 (FS 2nd)

GP France 222.21 Total, 9th
66.12 32.12 36.00 7.46 7.04 7.00 7.29 7.21 2.00 #5 (SP 10th)
156.09 88.57 69.52 7.18 6.68 6.86 7.11 6.93 2.00 #1 (FS 7th)
 
I don't think the men's team is set, but if Adam or Jason medals at the GPF, then that goes a long way. I would say the only safe bet is Nathan.

I would imagine the pecking order goes like this: Nathan >> Adam > Jason > Max > Vincent. Either Jason or Adam medaling can push them further to the left. I would estimate Max and Vincent to have to place a convincing silver to be sent over Adam or Jason in 4th. Just my guess of course.
 
Sylvia said:
My impression is that Dolensky is a "late bloomer" as a skater and is likely to continue past this season since he only relocated to the Cains' training base in Dallas earlier this year.
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Thanks, Sylvia. I forgot that he just moved to Dallas which would indicate a desire to improve and continue for at least a few years.
 
olympic said:
I basically agree w/ all that you posted.

Grant announced his retirement and Ross has stated 'probably'. So, I think he will be gone after this season.

For some reason, I recall an inference recently by Tim that he had other interests in life and gave the impression that he was going to leave competitive skating soon. I think I remember something similar from Alex J. Plus, Alex is older than I thought. It seems like he made a name for himself only recently, so in my mind, I think he seemed younger than he actually is. I am not sure if either will retire but it would not be surprising if they did.

Max is a couple of years younger than Grant, so I was a little surprised when someone posted upthread that he will be done w/ competitive skating this year.

I do think Jason is young enough to stick around and his comments do not suggest he is leaving the sport just yet.

I'd be shocked if Adam did NOT retire. He is an 80s baby.

For the future, I would say US skating is in good hands post Olympic season - Chen, Zhou, Brown (probably), and the 4 juniors moving up.

ETA - I will wager that Josh does not come back and that is too bad.
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I am a cheerleading hack for all the guys this season, tbth. As for the next quad, I love the idea of Chen, Zhou, Brown and fingers crossed, Aaron returning. However, only time will tell.
 
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I think the US has some amazing junior men coming up -I’d expect them to crash the top 5 party in senior men the way that Nathan and Vincent have. I think Jason might find it hard to compete, even though I love his skating.

The fact that there is no word about Joshua is a sign that a comeback isn’t happening. I hope there was no further concussion issue for him.
 
Congrats to the US men at the GPF. Both Jr. and Sr. men lead after the SP!

That said, as a Nathan uber, I'm a little unsettled that he seems to be fighting through the jumps rather than letting them flow. Nerves? Blade issues? The blade issue at Skate America and the strange comments and body language from Raf are unnerving me a bit. It suggests to me that something is afoot, but I hope it is just me being overdramatic as an uber. I hope he can put it together tomorrow, though. A win would make him a real challenger for the top but I expected him to be 2nd from the beginning and that will be OK. A 3rd behind Kolyada would not be good. I'm more worried about him getting through GPF than Nationals.

If Nathan is having continuing blade issues, maybe he should go conservative at Nationals and not risk anything: Do enough to make the team.
 
In the after-SP comments, he did say he was "a bit" nervous and stressed. (Which if he's saying, a bit - it was probably a lot lol) I think it's just the pressure of everything, to be honest. I mean, I have no intel, no secret sources - but I think it's just the enormity of this year getting to him (also everyone else, as it would seem) I think, Skate America not withstanding (even though he still won there) - that he's doing just about as good as anybody else, considering his results so far. He also talked about that in his after-SP comments, wanting to redeem himself from Skate America. So there's also all this added pressure he's putting on himself. Is he as consistent as he was last year? No, but he wasn't really consistent until the long program at the GPF until 4CC's - he had a mistake-filled SP there. I would bet everyone (especially Raf) around him is trying to keep him calm.

Also, he's trying such difficult elements - there are going to be days where they are harder than they are usually. I'm glad he fought for them - as it looked like during Skate America, he just kind of gave up and wasn't really fighting for the landings (of the jumps he didn't pop, anyway) I mean, I'm a huge Nathan uber - and I'm always rooting for him, but I do think he needs to have a good skate in the long program, for his confidence more so than anything else. It doesn't need to be perfect, and like you, I don't expect him to win - but I think for his own state of mind, he needs to put out a good program.
 
Pretty Vegas said:
In the after-SP comments, he did say he was "a bit" nervous and stressed. (Which if he's saying, a bit - it was probably a lot lol) I think it's just the pressure of everything, to be honest. I mean, I have no intel, no secret sources - but I think it's just the enormity of this year getting to him (also everyone else, as it would seem) I think, Skate America not withstanding (even though he still won there) - that he's doing just about as good as anybody else, considering his results so far. He also talked about that in his after-SP comments, wanting to redeem himself from Skate America. So there's also all this added pressure he's putting on himself. Is he as consistent as he was last year? No, but he wasn't really consistent until the long program at the GPF until 4CC's - he had a mistake-filled SP there. I would bet everyone (especially Raf) around him is trying to keep him calm.

Also, he's trying such difficult elements - there are going to be days where they are harder than they are usually. I'm glad he fought for them - as it looked like during Skate America, he just kind of gave up and wasn't really fighting for the landings (of the jumps he didn't pop, anyway) I mean, I'm a huge Nathan uber - and I'm always rooting for him, but I do think he needs to have a good skate in the long program, for his confidence more so than anything else. It doesn't need to be perfect, and like you, I don't expect him to win - but I think for his own state of mind, he needs to put out a good program.
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Thank you for walking me back :)

This year (unlike last year) mainstream corporate America and others outside the FS circle are beginning to take notice of Nathan because of the Olympics. I am seeing his face on NBC Olympic promos representing team USA (All team USA, not just the US figure skating team). His profile has skyrocketed upward and there is a good chance a lot of what we see are nerves. Even the Kween was not immune to olympic pressure. And you are correct, and I forgot, he was actually fumbling a bit last season until the GPF LP, then he hit his stride. Still, I wonder if they sorted out the blade issue (?). During his Monday Morning QB at SA, he stated he made a mistake fiddling w/ the blades before the LP and basically said he wasn't going to do it again. We will see.

BTW, It looked like Adam was 1/4 turn short on the 3Z but I would have given it to him. I would like to see a return of the Rippon Lutz and why not try the 3F-3L as the opening move in the SP? He does it in the LP and Krasnozhon is capable of doing it in the 2nd half of the SP. It would mean more points and he would score in the 90s.
 
olympic said:
BTW, It looked like Adam was 1/4 turn short on the 3Z but I would have given it to him. I would like to see a return of the Rippon Lutz and why not try the 3F-3L as the opening move in the SP? He does it in the LP and Krasnozhon is capable of doing it in the 2nd half of the SP. It would mean more points and he would score in the 90s.
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My guess is that the under-rotation on the lutz was due to his re-dislocated shoulder :( I guess that Adam may or may not try the quad lutz in the long program depending upon how you look at it. Does he throw caution to the wind and go for it or play it safe, based on the under-rotation in the SP?
 
olympic said:
Thank you for walking me back :)

This year (unlike last year) mainstream corporate America and others outside the FS circle are beginning to take notice of Nathan because of the Olympics. I am seeing his face on NBC Olympic promos representing team USA (All team USA, not just the US figure skating team). His profile has skyrocketed upward and there is a good chance a lot of what we see are nerves. Even the Kween was not immune to olympic pressure. And you are correct, and I forgot, he was actually fumbling a bit last season until the GPF LP, then he hit his stride. Still, I wonder if they sorted out the blade issue (?). During his Monday Morning QB at SA, he stated he made a mistake fiddling w/ the blades before the LP and basically said he wasn't going to do it again. We will see.
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Haha, no worries! I get super nervous for him so don't let my calmness fool you. :rofl: Yeah, he also said that he thought they (meaning he and his team) acted irrationally during Skate America - which I took to mean switching the blades out. And I don't skate and never have so I don't know how much something like that would have attributed to his performance. I think we're used to Nathan being so calm and level-headed and I still think he is to a certain extent, but he's also still a teenager with a toooon of hype. And he's going to have to figure out how to compete with all of that. And up until Skate America, he had been doing an admirable job. And to be fair, I've never seen him skate like he did at Skate America. I think how he does in the long program tomorrow will tell us a lot. If he can bounce back and do a serviceable job, I'll feel good about him moving forward. If he has another mistake-filled program, I'll definitely be more concerned because at that point, it'll have been two in a row. His practices at Skate America prior to the blade stuff seemed fine - so I am not inclined to think it's a technique issue, more just a mental thing. I'm hoping for the best!!
 
I also wonder if physical growth has anything to do with it. He physically looks bigger than he did even as recently as last winter and growth effects women and men.
 
olympic said:
Thank you for walking me back :)

This year (unlike last year) mainstream corporate America and others outside the FS circle are beginning to take notice of Nathan because of the Olympics. I am seeing his face on NBC Olympic promos representing team USA (All team USA, not just the US figure skating team). His profile has skyrocketed upward and there is a good chance a lot of what we see are nerves. Even the Kween was not immune to olympic pressure. And you are correct, and I forgot, he was actually fumbling a bit last season until the GPF LP, then he hit his stride. Still, I wonder if they sorted out the blade issue (?). During his Monday Morning QB at SA, he stated he made a mistake fiddling w/ the blades before the LP and basically said he wasn't going to do it again. We will see.

BTW, It looked like Adam was 1/4 turn short on the 3Z but I would have given it to him. I would like to see a return of the Rippon Lutz and why not try the 3F-3L as the opening move in the SP? He does it in the LP and Krasnozhon is capable of doing it in the 2nd half of the SP. It would mean more points and he would score in the 90s.
Click to expand...

I think the Rippon Lutz may not make an appearance this year. His shoulder seems rather unstable!
 
British Eurosport made an interesting observation about Jason's spins that I agree with. Boy, you are the best darned spinner in the world. Hold your positions. You have to get two revolutions for them to count, and you are so borderline half the time. :lol: Even if he just held them for three he'd be better off. I reckon that's why he only got level 3 on the last spin.

Solid skate from Adam, too. I was surprised when he landed the 3Lz short of rotation because it looked good in the air, but it was fairly evident that he hadn't got all the way around.
 
sk9tingfan said:
My guess is that the under-rotation on the lutz was due to his re-dislocated shoulder :( I guess that Adam may or may not try the quad lutz in the long program depending upon how you look at it. Does he throw caution to the wind and go for it or play it safe, based on the under-rotation in the SP?
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It may have just been a weird take-off. He had a lot of distance on the jump but not as much height as usual. Sometimes the pick slips a bit or the angle is off, and your jump isn't so great.
 
Not how he wanted to win - I'm sure, but congratulations to him! :cheer2:He's still got a lot of work to do before the Olympics.
 
US men take both Jr and Sr GPF crowns

Nathan won ugly, but he did beat the world silver medalist in his home country and persevered. He does need to figure out what is going on with his blades

Finally, I think the results here seriously put Max back in the conversation
 
olympic said:
US men take both Jr and Sr GPF crowns

Nathan won ugly, but he did beat the world silver medalist in his home country and persevered. He does need to figure out what is going on with his blades

Finally, I think the results here seriously put Max back in the conversation
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I agree. The door is wide open for any of the guys to walk through, and I think Max has as good a chance as any.
 
Time to celebrate 2 of the JGP Finalists' fine achievements in Nagoya! :) Both guys set 3 new ISU personal bests there.

Junior Men SP:
1 Alexei KRASNOZHON USA - 81.33 (3Lz, 3A, 3F+3Lo): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRDMLGJoZ7k
5 Camden PULKINEN USA - 70.90 (3A, 3F+2T-, 3Lz): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5U6nPmSMEQ

Cathy Reed's interview with Alex K. after his SP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPStGj59VtQ

Junior Men FS:
GOLD! Alexei KRASNOZHON USA - 236.35 (155.02 in FS, 8 triples & stood up on opening 4Lo<): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JNyvrSn0z0
SILVER! Camden PULKINEN USA - 217.10 (146.20 in FS, 7 of 8 triples landed): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifmPKYpwf-Q

Cathy Reed's interview with Camden P. after his FS (he was 2nd to skate): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HiCFvN36PU
And her interview with Alex K. after his FS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy1DC63c-GU

Men's medalists' press conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7HTDfmc1Y0

Junior Men's medal ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIjBXEp96xg
 
Eh, I don’t see why Adam and Jason finishing 5th and 6th is any problem here. The point is that both of them qualified. A medal was simply out of reach without a disaster skate by one of the top 4. It would have been nice to see them skate better in general.

I’m more annoyed that Nathan keeps winning with these poor freeskates because of a few big-ticket jumps.
 
BTW, I just watched Nathan’s LP. It was an improvement over SA at least. I saw the negative GOE on the 4F but in real time it looked he did a Charlotte as a transition out of the jump LOL. He popped he sal, stepped out of the 2nd 4Z then fell on the
 
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