U.S. Women [#7]: Make Me a Believer!

Karen-W said:
Well, now... Isabeau just popped up on IG for the first time since she WD from Nats. Posting pics with her mom in Milano...

... looks like she's there already for next week's competition.
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Isabeau will be interviewed in Milan on NBC's Today show on Wed Feb 12 as part of one-year-until-OWG programming -- if the article below is correct. It would be a good reason for her to be in Milan earlier than necessary for Road to 26 Trophy.

" Milan-Cortina is on the clock for its Games, and it will feel like it across NBC on Wednesday.

... to highlight the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics opening in just 360 days.

“TODAY” will feature the Games, with Craig Melvin on site in Milan to interview NBC Sports host Mike Tirico as well as American speedskater Erin Jackson and figure skater Isabeau Levito.

The interviews from Italy kick off a daylong push for NBCU. ... "

www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

NBCU activating with one year to Milan-Cortina

NBCUniversal launches its year-out marketing efforts for the Milan Cortina Games on Wednesday, planning appearances from Milan, athlete interviews and other activations for the 2026 Olympics.
www.sportsbusinessjournal.com www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

Nice storyline for NBC: reigning World silver medalist has a family connection to Milan and is coming back from injury.

BTW ... if anyone will be near Washington Square Park in NYC tomorrow, NBC is inviting the public to celebrate with cannoli :):

www.instagram.com

NBC Olympics & Paralympics on Instagram: "Sending love from NYC to Milan! 🇮🇹 Help us celebrate one year out to the Winter Olympics with cannolis & celebration as we cheer on Team USA! 🏅❄️"

678 likes, 7 comments - nbcolympics on February 11, 2025: "Sending love from NYC to Milan! 🇮🇹 Help us celebrate one year out to the Winter Olympics with cannolis & celebration as we cheer on Team USA! 🏅❄️".
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com

ETA:​
Going further off topic ... I must say that the branding at the cannoli celebration looked impressive.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DF-7I7xvKps/​
 
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Firedancer said:
Isabeau on the Today Show this morning. She says her foot is healed.
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And says that she is ramping up her training again and finally getting back into the swing of things. So, the question is just how much (or little) training she has had and how fit she is and how fit she can be by the time Worlds rolls around.

Private Citizen said:
Please let Isabeau emerge from hibernation with a new lutz. I'll believe in miracles and say the rosary. 🙏🙏🙏📿
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I've never said the rosary in my life, but if she emerges from her injury and lost training time with a new lutz, I'll join you. LOL. That truly would be a miracle. At this point, I'd be happy with a fairly good short program and okay long program in Italy. And no stupid spins. She would need to improve before Worlds. I do hope she doesn't rush things, though. Being healthy next season is much more important.
 
Spiralgraph said:
^^^ Suppposedly I think the Road to 26 trophy is unofficially her test skate for worlds. If she skates well with no pain I think she's in. On the other hand if Isabeau skates poorly assignments might change as far as Worlds goes.
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I agree with this, in general, though I think it's a bit more nuanced. There are different degrees of skating poorly and if it looks like it's a stamina issue, then she'll probably be left on the team. If it's more than that AND Sarah skates/scores well at 4CCs, then I think there will be a change to the Worlds team. Things get fuzzy if it's looking to be more than that and Sarah either struggles or gets crapped on score-wise.
 
I think if they still have concerns about her being healed, they'll test her again later. While conditioning doesn't just snap back like that, five weeks can mean a lot of run-throughs, and the most important thing at Worlds is a good SP, which is more a test of nerves than stamina. The key thing for her right now is to be able to balance progress with overdoing and risking re-injury.
 
Is anyone else seeing a difference in Isabeau Levito's lutz? Also, lutz/loop combo. Is this tempting fate?

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sk9tingfan said:
Is anyone else seeing a difference in Isabeau Levito's lutz? Also, lutz/loop combo. Is this tempting fate?

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Click to expand...

That's her flip :lol:.

But it's good to see the flip-loop combo back!
 
sk9tingfan said:
Is anyone else seeing a difference in Isabeau Levito's lutz? Also, lutz/loop combo. Is this tempting fate?
Click to expand...

Private Citizen said:
That's her flip :lol:.

But it's good to see the flip-loop combo back!
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sk9tingfan said:
But any change in technique?
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I've always thought that her lutz was worse than her flip and that maybe she should consider having her short programs include a flip combo with a loop. (I think she's practicing her long program in this clip, though.) She won't get an edge call on the flip and it looks better, partly because of the entrance. I think she tends to have a little better reach back on the flip than on the lutz. But, I don't see much of a change in her flip technique from earlier in the season. (She looks slightly slower. She might be being even more deliberate than usual because of the need for a controlled landing, but she always looks slower at the beginning of the season and, with the time off, it's kind of like the beginning of the season.)

Doing a loop on the back end of a combo is always risky because you really need a good controlled landing on the first jump. I'm sure there's a reason why she's gone back to including loops in a combo. We don't know exactly what her foot injury was or which foot was injured. Maybe she was able to practice loops earlier or more than some of her other jumps.
 
Allskate said:
I've always thought that her lutz was worse than her flip and that maybe she should consider having her short programs include a flip combo with a loop. (I think she's practicing her long program in this clip, though.)
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Music is clearly heard in the clip - it's "Moon River", so I thought it was her SP run-through.
 
Dancers often say that when they have a debilitating injury, one of the upsides is having to start from scratch on their technique, which allows them to unlearn bad habits (and heal chronic overuse and compensation-al injuries), which they don't think they can "afford" to do when they are still capable of dancing. Dancers also start with barre or some foundational exercises, their technical base, but aside from skaters talking about starting back with singles or doubles and adding revolutions, and some skaters mentioning that a training group on the whole do edge work exercises before breaking out into other lessons, I've never heard of a universal foundational strategy in skating, for daily practice or for comebacks.

Those injuries are usually require a lot more time off than Levito had, though, even if there was a strategy to take the opportunity to fix her technique.
 
Karen-W said:
Music is clearly heard in the clip - it's "Moon River", so I thought it was her SP run-through.
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Ooh. You're right. I didn't have the sound on when I first watched it. I thought it was replacing her triple flip/half-loop/triple sal in the long program. Maybe she really is doing a triple flip/triple loop in her short program. (Or, maybe she's using practice to show monitors she's good to go.) If she is doing in in the short, I'm curious to see what her solo triple will be. Doing a good triple loop with interesting entrances and exits could be better for her than a triple lutz with negative GOE.
 
AngieNikodinovLove (ANL) said:
Did people really think Isabeau was going to step away for a month or two to heal an injury and come back with a fixed lutz?
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I did wonder :sekret: how much was injury, v. taking time to rework and reassess after a disappointing start to the season. Seeing triple loop combos back, after two seasons gone, doesn't lessen my suspicions.

Allskate said:
Maybe she really is doing a triple flip/triple loop in her short program. (Or, maybe she's using practice to show monitors she's good to go.) If she is doing in in the short, I'm curious to see what her solo triple will be. Doing a good triple loop with interesting entrances and exits could be better for her than a triple lutz with negative GOE.
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She can't do the loop as a solo jump, too, if she's doing 3F+3Lo combo. So the solo jump is likely 3Lz (alternatives would be 3S or 3T, and those seem unlikely). Any negative GOE on the lutz will have less of a multiplier effect if it's the solo jump, at least.
 
Private Citizen said:
She can't do the loop as a solo jump, too, if she's doing 3F+3Lo combo. So the solo jump is likely 3Lz
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I forgot about that. We'll see if she really does the flip/loop in the short program. Isabeau doesn't post often. The audience for that clip may have been whoever is deciding whether she is good to go to Worlds.

I still like the idea of her doing 3 flip/3 toe and then 3 loop in the short program.
 
Rukia said:
I don't think her technique looks any different. She still slows down and leans way forward going into the flip and a loop in combo is always dangerous that being said it's nice to see her jumping and looking healthy
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I just don't understand why any competent coach would allow a young skater to develop such bad jump technique early on. She's gotten as far as she has on talent (and some luck), but imo it can only take her so far.
 
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