U.S. Women [#6]: The More the Merrier!

[Sylvia]

Competing this week at the Santa Claus Cup in Budapest:

Starr Andrews, Sonja Hilmer and Lindsay Wang (Team USA debut; WD after injuring herself during the SP at 2023 Cranberry Cup Int'l) - Senior Women's event is on Friday, Nov. 29 & Sunday, Dec. 1

Junior: Logan Higase-Chen, Josephine Lee - they also compete on Friday & Sunday

Adv. Novice: Skylar Lautowa-Peguero (Team USA debut) - competes on Wednesday, Nov. 27 & Friday, Nov. 29

 

[Sylvia]

Asked in the Wichita thread - I'm replying here.

Of all 18 skaters, the only one I don’t know anything about is Bonillo, what could you tell us about her?

Alina Bonillo’s post-Sectionals post:

Alina Bonillo on Instagram: "🥇 midwest sectional champion!!! wow, what a week it’s been—such a rollercoaster of emotions. i truly have no words. i’m so satisfied with my programs, putting out two mostly clean skates in my first year as a senior, and

808 likes, 119 comments - alinabonillo.sk8s on November 25, 2024: "🥇 midwest sectional champion!!! wow, what a week it’s been—such a rollercoaster of emotions. i truly have no words. i’m so satisfied with my programs, putting out two mostly clean skates in my first year as a senior, and winning...

www.instagram.com

Her “first 3A in 8 months” - clip posted on June 22 when she was at one of the Peak Ice camps:

Alina Bonillo on Instagram: "great way to finish off the first week at @thepeakicecamps!! first triple axel in 8 months! #peakice #peakicecamps #courmayeur #italy #figureskating #winter #tripletriple #athlete #lululemon #athleta #nike #sport #winte

2,919 likes, 49 comments - alinabonillo.sk8s on June 22, 2024: "great way to finish off the first week at @thepeakicecamps!! first triple axel in 8 months! #peakice #peakicecamps #courmayeur #italy #figureskating #winter #tripletriple #athlete #lululemon #athleta #nike #sport #wintersports...

www.instagram.com

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

One or both of Elyce Lin-Gracey and Sarah Everhardt are likely bets for junior worlds, assuming both don’t make the world team (pretty unlikely, IMO).

Interesting but I don’t know…. Currently if I had to pick the world team would be Amber and Sarah with whoever skates better between Isabeau wherever She’s at these days, Bradie and Alysa. Elyce was not consistent and showed nerves at major competitions.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Alina Bonillo’s post-Sectionals post:

Alina Bonillo on Instagram: "🥇 midwest sectional champion!!! wow, what a week it’s been—such a rollercoaster of emotions. i truly have no words. i’m so satisfied with my programs, putting out two mostly clean skates in my first year as a senior, and

808 likes, 119 comments - alinabonillo.sk8s on November 25, 2024: "🥇 midwest sectional champion!!! wow, what a week it’s been—such a rollercoaster of emotions. i truly have no words. i’m so satisfied with my programs, putting out two mostly clean skates in my first year as a senior, and winning...

www.instagram.com

Her “first 3A in 8 months” - clip in June 22:

Alina Bonillo on Instagram: "great way to finish off the first week at @thepeakicecamps!! first triple axel in 8 months! #peakice #peakicecamps #courmayeur #italy #figureskating #winter #tripletriple #athlete #lululemon #athleta #nike #sport #winte

2,919 likes, 49 comments - alinabonillo.sk8s on June 22, 2024: "great way to finish off the first week at @thepeakicecamps!! first triple axel in 8 months! #peakice #peakicecamps #courmayeur #italy #figureskating #winter #tripletriple #athlete #lululemon #athleta #nike #sport #wintersports...

www.instagram.com

Wow, so she has a triple axel? Has she done it in competition? I watched the video it looks good.

 

[Sylvia]

Wow, so she has a triple axel? Has she done it in competition?

Not that I know of.

Alina qualified for Nationals in Junior last season but didn’t skate her best in Columbus. She was added to the ISP this season and invited to compete in the U.S. Junior Team Cup in Milwaukee in July - refer to @her grace’s results/2025 Junior Worlds prospects post on the previous page: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...-more-the-merrier.111884/page-26#post-6694052

ETA (bringing over from the other thread):

... a small FYI re Alina Bonillo:
She pronounces her last name as "bo-nil-o". With the L sound, in other words.
As I learned directly from her at Cranberry, her own pronunciation is not "bo-nee-yo".

While watching Mids I wasn't able to identify Bonillo's FS music, but her SP music is "Lacrymosa" by Evanescence, choreographed by Kate McSwain.

ETA 2: She is 17 now and made her Team USA debut at the Adv. Novice level back in February 2020 at Challenge Cup in The Hague NED.

 

[PRlady]

Interesting but I don’t know…. Currently if I had to pick the world team would be Amber and Sarah with whoever skates better between Isabeau wherever She’s at these days, Bradie and Alysa. Elyce was not consistent and showed nerves at major competitions.

It will be Amber and Isabeau because you don’t leave the GPF qualifier and the World silver medalist at home unless they truly bomb Nats. I’m really hoping for Alysa or Ava for the third spot and would bet it’s one of them unless Ava is rusty from injury recovery. Sarah and Elyce will wait and go to Junior Worlds and Bradie is past her time.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

the GPF qualifier

Levito is no more a GPF qualifier than Loena lol

Unless your going by previous years.

Send Sarah and support future talent and ones who don’t crack. Set Sarah up for the oly year.

 

[PRlady]

Levito is no more a GPF qualifier than Loena lol

Unless your going by previous years.

I meant Amber and Isabeau dear. Not the same person.

Send Sarah and support future talent and ones who don’t crack. Set Sarah up for the oly year

 

[Debbie S]

If the callers at Nats actually call jump rotations correctly, Sarah will get the 3rd spot, assuming she skates like she did on the GP, unless Ava has an amazing performance. Given the calls (and scores) Alysa and Bradie got on the GP, I don't think USFS would take a chance on them unless Sarah has a bad day.

 

[Private Citizen]

Sarah was the “q” queen at Finlandia and also has an edge problem on her flip. I don’t think her jumps are nearly as clean as others believe them to be; I just think she has been under less scrutiny so far.

 

[Karen-W]

Sarah was the “q” queen at Finlandia and also has an edge problem on her flip. I don’t think her jumps are nearly as clean as others believe them to be; I just think she has been under less scrutiny so far.

Well, no, she didn't have any edge calls on any of her jumps at any of her GPs, but go ahead and take a look at the protocols if you don't believe me. She skated tighter in the Finlandia FS than she's skated up to that point in the season - clearly learning how to deal with the pressure of being in a medal position after the SP.

Of all the US women on the GP, she's the only skater who had NO rotation or edge calls in either SP, and given that every single other US woman on the GP (except Glenn) had rotation issues on multiple jumping passes in their FS at both events, Everhardt is a great deal ahead of the rest of the field in that regard.

I'm not pretending she's some great shakes on the PCS side, but the detractors here seem to be unnecessarily harsh on her, especially when you consider that her GP scores have all still been in a very good range that still puts her comfortably ahead of both Liu & Tennell on the SB list and all of them have scores that would place them in the Top 10 at Worlds.

If we use the average of the GP scores for all the women, here's what we'd have for a Worlds result -
1 - Sakamoto 216.55
2 - Glenn 212.99
3 - Chiba 212.23
4 - C Kim 204.23
5 - Sumiyoshi 201.90 OR Higuchi 201.51
skip - Watanabe 196.09, Matsuike 195.68, Yoshida 195.42
6 - Levito 194.83*
7 - Everhardt 194.06
8 - Repond 193.49
skip - Tennell 191.15, Liu 189.22
9 - Gutmann 189.39
10 - Pinzarrone 189.14
skip - Aoki 189.05
11 - Yun 187.68*
12 - Schizas 185.41
skip - Lin-Gracey 183.16
13 - Gubanova 175.28
14 - Schild 173.34
15 - Petrokina 172.25

* Levito & Yun only had 1 GP assignment each; and of course, that doesn't take into consideration Hendrickx who skipped the GP.

I don't think the USFS will go terribly wrong with Glenn and 2 of Levito, Everhardt, Tennell or Liu and I think it's really going to come down to how they all skate at Nats. Lin-Gracey seems to have put herself at a disadvantage for the Worlds team selection, but she's looking to be a good choice for the Jr Worlds team still.

The only way Ziegler is in the mix is if she barnstorms her way onto the podium at Nats, otherwise, she's not in the conversation - and I'd even hesitate at that unless she went to 4CCs and did well again.

 

[Jammers]

Well, no, she didn't have any edge calls on any of her jumps at any of her GPs, but go ahead and take a look at the protocols if you don't believe me. She skated tighter in the Finlandia FS than she's skated up to that point in the season - clearly learning how to deal with the pressure of being in a medal position after the SP.

Of all the US women on the GP, she's the only skater who had NO rotation or edge calls in either SP, and given that every single other US woman on the GP (except Glenn) had rotation issues on multiple jumping passes in their FS at both events, Everhardt is a great deal ahead of the rest of the field in that regard.

I'm not pretending she's some great shakes on the PCS side, but the detractors here seem to be unnecessarily harsh on her, especially when you consider that her GP scores have all still been in a very good range that still puts her comfortably ahead of both Liu & Tennell on the SB list and all of them have scores that would place them in the Top 10 at Worlds.

If we use the average of the GP scores for all the women, here's what we'd have for a Worlds result -
1 - Sakamoto 216.55
2 - Glenn 212.99
3 - Chiba 212.23
4 - C Kim 204.23
5 - Sumiyoshi 201.90 OR Higuchi 201.51
skip - Watanabe 196.09, Matsuike 195.68, Yoshida 195.42
6 - Levito 194.83*
7 - Everhardt 194.06
8 - Repond 193.49
skip - Tennell 191.15, Liu 189.22
9 - Gutmann 189.39
10 - Pinzarrone 189.14
skip - Aoki 189.05
11 - Yun 187.68*
12 - Schizas 185.41
skip - Lin-Gracey 183.16
13 - Gubanova 175.28
14 - Schild 173.34
15 - Petrokina 172.25

* Levito & Yun only had 1 GP assignment each; and of course, that doesn't take into consideration Hendrickx who skipped the GP.

I don't think the USFS will go terribly wrong with Glenn and 2 of Levito, Everhardt, Tennell or Liu and I think it's really going to come down to how they all skate at Nats. Lin-Gracey seems to have put herself at a disadvantage for the Worlds team selection, but she's looking to be a good choice for the Jr Worlds team still.

The only way Ziegler is in the mix is if she barnstorms her way onto the podium at Nats, otherwise, she's not in the conversation - and I'd even hesitate at that unless she went to 4CCs and did well again.

Do we even know if Ava will be in any kind of shape to be at Nationals?

 

[Sylvia]

Do we even know if Ava will be in any kind of shape to be at Nationals?

No, we don't.

Alexa Gasparotto, who skated REALLY WELL at Mids this past weekend, is the first alternate, if needed. Alexa's post today:

Alexa Gasparotto🤍 on Instagram: "What a fun season!🤍✨ With so much work in such little time this year I’m very proud of my final results at sectionals with a new PB in the short and a PB for my total segment score as well🥰 Thank you especially to my

355 likes, 21 comments - alexaskatess on November 26, 2024: "What a fun season!🤍✨ With so much work in such little time this year I’m very proud of my final results at sectionals with a new PB in the short and a PB for my total segment score as well🥰 Thank you especially to my coaches for all...

www.instagram.com

What a fun season! With so much work in such little time this year I’m very proud of my final results at sectionals with a new PB in the short and a PB for my total segment score as well Thank you especially to my coaches for all the work they put in towards me this season now let’s keep going from here!

... Her [Gasparotto's] high, powerful jumps look much more controlled now - she started working with Denise Myers, Jeremy Allen & Steenberg this past summer.

Correcting myself - Alexa G. started working with Myers/Allen/Steenberg in January 2024.

 

[peibeck]

Sonja Hilmer's Mids 3rd place FS (self-choreographed): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--KIU-qEBiA
Her trademark 3S to reverse 2S combo is at 3:10 and since she was the final skater, her jubilant "Yes!" in the kiss & cry was her reaction to knowing she had just qualified for Nationals in the final spot.

I love how in her flying sit she does the difficult variation on the TOEPICK! We've seen quite a few less than stellar camels spins with people going up on the heel of the blade this season, moves like that is one reason she is so fascinating to watch.

 

[Joubabe]

It will be Amber and Isabeau because you don’t leave the GPF qualifier and the World silver medalist at home unless they truly bomb Nats. I’m really hoping for Alysa or Ava for the third spot and would bet it’s one of them unless Ava is rusty from injury recovery. Sarah and Elyce will wait and go to Junior Worlds and Bradie is past her time.

Agree on all counts but hope Bradie is not past her time yet.

Sarah is a great talent but to me her tech needs to be increased to really be a player internationally. She doesn’t have a 3/3 combo in her long and her short combo is
triple toe/triple toe.

 

[skatfan]

Sarah has been very consistent and competitive this fall. She would be the "3rd" spot and therefore not that critical to keeping 3 spots next year. Personally, I'd really like to see Alysa at worlds, but she's going to need to improve her FP performance. Hope she's working on her conditioning.

 

[Lutzes&Loops]

Sarah is a great talent but to me her tech needs to be increased to really be a player internationally. She doesn’t have a 3/3 combo in her long and her short combo is
triple toe/triple toe.

How so? She has 7 triples, repeating lutz and loop. What else can she add to “increase her tech” in the free?

 

[Jarrett]

How so? She has 7 triples, repeating lutz and loop. What else can she add to “increase her tech” in the free?

That poster specifically mentioned the toe toe in the short so I am not sure why they would be asked about the free but she can increase her tech scores in both the short and long. She isn’t going transform and start giving performance qualities anytime soon. Armchair coaching obviously but her GOE on her jumps and elements actually are not that great. They can definitely be improved.

 

[skatfan]

How so? She has 7 triples, repeating lutz and loop. What else can she add to “increase her tech” in the free?

This. One no longer needs a triple-triple to score high in the LP. She loses a bit with the toe/toe combo in the short, but gains by decent GOE.

 

[Lutzes&Loops]

That poster specifically mentioned the toe toe in the short so I am not sure why they would be asked about the free but she can increase her tech scores in both the short and long. She isn’t going transform and start giving performance qualities anytime soon. Armchair coaching obviously but her GOE on her jumps and elements actually are not that great. They can definitely be improved.

I was specifically addressing the comment about not having the 3/3 combo in the free and as a result not being competitive internationally. I am still unclear what content with the 3/3 in the free the poster had in mind.
Re: GOE and performance qualities improvement... well, that's just stating the obvious, sure, Sarah (and any skater out there) can benefit from improvements in those areas, but that's not what my question was about.

 

[Lutzes&Loops]

I was specifically addressing the comment about not having the 3/3 combo in the free and as a result not being competitive internationally. I am still unclear what content with the 3/3 in the free the poster had in mind.
Re: GOE and performance qualities improvement... well, that's just stating the obvious, sure, Sarah (and any skater out there) can benefit from improvements in those areas, but that's not what my question was about.

Also, about the combo in the short and the jump value calculation... If my math checks out,
3T+3T, 2A, 3Lzx = 18.19
3F+3T, 2A, 3Lox = 18.19
If memory serves me right, Amber's content in the short at last year's Nationals was just that and I don't recall calling her jump content not competitive.

 

[Jarrett]

I dunno I have to look at the base values of skaters but for being clean her scores of 66ish are not impressive in the short. I think judges are more generous with the goe when more difficult jumps combos are completed.

 

[gkelly]

I dunno I have to look at the base values of skaters but for being clean her scores of 66ish are not impressive in the short. I think judges are more generous with the goe when more difficult jumps combos are completed.

Or are skaters who attempt more difficult combos also more likely to execute the jumps more strongly (i.e., to deserve higher GOE) for successful jumps?

Looking only at the mix of positive numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 on the successful jumps. You can't just look at the value in the GOE column of the protocol, because the GOE value is prorated to the base value of the hardest jump in the combo.


And of course skaters who attempt the hardest jumps but get rotation or edge calls, or have other errors, will end up with lower GOE than clean execution of the easier combos.

 

[Lutzes&Loops]

She is not getting gabby daleman goe on her triple toe/triple toe. It is a just an average jump combo for her. She is getting +1 from judges most of the time. That is low for such an “easy” triple triple. It is not just every skater can do better with goe. Across the board Sarah’s GOE is not great.

Not sure why you are saying this... A quick check to skatingscores would show that she gets +2/+3 on her combo when she does it well.
As far as the jump GOE in the short, at GP France (her Sr Grand Prix debut) - 3rd in GOE, 3rd in jumps, 7th in spins, 3rd TES. in Finland - 1st in GOE, 1st in jumps, 4th in spins, 1st TES.
And yes, EVERY skater has something to improve on, including Sarah.
You may have your favorites and she is clearly not one of them, but there no need to spin some sort of false narrative here.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

For whatever you need to say that Sarah needs to work on or improve on she’s one of two people that has beaten the three time world champion. That says enough for me.

She’s rotating her jumps.

And she is mega consistent.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

We`re only guessing at this point. Amber is having a very successful year. Good on her but things are never easy. If she did poorly at the GP final it might take her a few competitions to recover. Also, not sure what exactly is wrong with Isabelle. But, she`s a fierce competitor as is Bradie. Should make a dicey nationals for all.

 

[Jarrett]

Not sure why you are saying this... A quick check to skatingscores would show that she gets +2/+3 on her combo when she does it well.
As far as the jump GOE in the short, at GP France (her Sr Grand Prix debut) - 3rd in GOE, 3rd in jumps, 7th in spins, 3rd TES. in Finland - 1st in GOE, 1st in jumps, 4th in spins, 1st TES.
And yes, EVERY skater has something to improve on, including Sarah.
You may have your favorites and she is clearly not one of them, but there no need to spin some sort of false narrative here.

I edited my post right before you responded but I guess you quoted the original message. I reviewed France’s pdf but that goe is not what she has been getting consistently for that combo. I actually like Sarah overall I see a personality in the kiss and cry and obviously she is working hard but she is a bit of a statue on the ice which make me hesitant to uber. It kind of reminds me of Mirai who would be rather stone faced during her performances a majority of the time. To me Sarah has a long way to go be a lock for worlds and that is all I am saying. I think if anyone skates relatively well at nationals they will be picked and I believe it is very likely that Elyce, Bradie and Alysa will all be ranked ahead nationally. No one seems to have a clue what form Ava will be in but she would also get the nod over Sarah if she lands some jumps IMO. People are saying Sarah is rotating the jumps and she does but she was hit with quite a few Qs as well so I don't understand. She jumps high which is fun to watch but her air position or revolution speed isn’t all that great. Her PCS has just been going down internationally which is not the direction to be going in a season.

 

[Joubabe]

How so? She has 7 triples, repeating lutz and loop. What else can she add to “increase her tech” in the free?

I stand corrected. I guess I was still living in the days of Zagitiva and Medvedeva. I looked back at the protocols for worlds last year and only Isabeau had two 3/3’s. But of the top fifteen or so, they all had one 3/3 in the long except Hana Yoshida who had a triple axle.

I guess I was reacting to some posters who want to throw over the reigning world silver medalist who has also medaled at every GP she’s been in and the GP final and also won junior worlds. That’s a proven track record. Unfortunately, her current status is a mystery. I hope she’s healthy for the rest of the season.

As far as Sarah, I have high hopes for her but I think it’s a little early to put her in US top three when we have so much talent. At the start of the season it looked like Elyce was the one to beat. Now the buzz is all about Sarah. Hopefully she’ll have great success in the future.

 

[SidelineSkater]

I think the rule change for how 2As are scored in a combo changed the need for 2 3/3s. Less risk, more reward.

 

[DreamSkates]

I realize that now - I was copying & pasting lines from some skaters when I added others onto the list and forgot to doublecheck that line. I'll go back and re-edit as soon as I've verified everything.

Thanks for all your work on this.