2021-2022 U.S. Men's Figure Skating | Page 3 | Golden Skate

2021-2022 U.S. Men's Figure Skating

Dogo

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 2, 2020
Agree with your post. Just a small correction Mt. Whitney is in California and stands at 14,494 feet. Still anything above 8000 ft and you can start feeling the lack of oxygen.
Yup, thank you! That post reveals how little I know California even though I lived there for 3 years haha
 

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
6:45 a.m. Eastern time
3:45 a.m. Pacific time - I believe you mentioned you're in Cali, mrrice : )
Yes, I'm Cali. Well. it's 9:28 am so, I guess I'm going to look and see how things went. Holding My Breath....
 

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
Well, it looks like Ilia won the event but, seeing the posts above, it may not have been his best performance. What did you guys think?
 

kolyadafan2002

Fan of Kolyada
Final Flight
Joined
Jun 6, 2019
Well, it looks like Ilia won the event but, seeing the posts above, it may not have been his best performance. What did you guys think?
There was way to much pressure on his shoulders. All over social media were posts about how he did a clean practice and landed 4 different types of quads, and he was reading all these and sharing them.
In previous interview he said that he needed to land multiple quads to keep his insta reputation/name of "quadgod".
Assuming he doesn't have social media manager, he really must have felt all the extra pressure with sharing all the posts about how perfect he was in the morning,
He is such an amazing talent and can't wait to see how he develops, and so glad he made such a good recovery - but at the end of the day he is very young and under a lot of pressure from himself and fans.
 

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
There was way to much pressure on his shoulders. All over social media were posts about how he did a clean practice and landed 4 different types of quads, and he was reading all these and sharing them.
In previous interview he said that he needed to land multiple quads to keep his insta reputation/name of "quadgod".
Assuming he doesn't have social media manager, he really must have felt all the extra pressure with sharing all the posts about how perfect he was in the morning,
He is such an amazing talent and can't wait to see how he develops, and so glad he made such a good recovery - but at the end of the day he is very young and under a lot of pressure from himself and fans.
Having a very famous Mother probably doesn't help either. He certainly has good genes so hopefully, his next goal is to keep his competition nerves under control.
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
Ilia, bless him, has never been the world's most consistent skater, (and he's a junior, why should he be?) and this is not the first free program that has not gone as well as his short. He has the confidence of a 16 year old, but he is a 16 year old.

He shouldn't be putting pressure on himself to deliver multi-quad programs because 1) he needs to improve other aspects of his skating, as he has with his spins,:clap: to truly be in a mix. Landing quads alone, even in today's scoring system, is not enough, and 2) he's young. That *doesn't* mean he should "wait", it means he shouldn't put unnecessary pressure on himself when he has time to put it all together.

I've always liked Lucas and I am as happy as he was with this skate, even if he didn't have the free he wanted either. Such a cutie.:)
 

cheerknithanson

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Country
United-States
Now I kinda feel bad for getting excited about Ilia if that's what made him kind of....falter in the FP due to people getting excited. He doesn't need to land multiple upon multiple quads to keep up with the name quadg0d. Look at my username lol. I don't do cheerleading anymore (All done with college and I don't have the skills to be on a professional cheer team. I really do miss cheerleading.) and I don't knit as much nowadays (I want to knit more socks, but my sock drawer of hand-knitted socks and store-bought socks are FULL. And also I don't know what else besides hats to make right now tbh.). I still love Hanson though lol.

Point is, he already shown us he can do multiple quads. And his spins look so more polished than two years ago and last year. I said that he reminded me of Krasnozhon. Started off with all jumps and not much on spins. But got better. He's only 16. He has plenty of time to show the world the heights he can reach.
 

Tahuu

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 3, 2014
Here’s IG link showing Ilia’s 4T,S,Lz,F at today practice.


Lz is underrotated at ~10-11 o’clock. Others are clean.

No worry about today’s FS. He has the goods and opportunities to build up towards Nationals: JGPs, Sr Bs, JGPF, and Nationals. Golds or a couple silvers at internationals and a bronze at Nationals with a 4-5 quad FS will set him up well to claim a spot on the Olympic team and get the Olympic experience for the 2026 games. All he needs this Season is more competitions.
 

TontoK

Hot Tonto
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Country
United-States
Here’s IG link showing Ilia’s 4T,S,Lz,F at today practice.


Lz is underrotated at ~10-11 o’clock. Others are clean.

No worry about today’s FS. He has the goods and opportunities to build up towards Nationals: JGPs, Sr Bs, JGPF, and Nationals. Golds or a couple silvers at internationals and a bronze at Nationals with a 4-5 quad FS will set him up well to claim a spot on the Olympic team and get the Olympic experience for the 2026 games. All he needs this Season is more competitions.
This is the first footage I've seen of his 4F. Now, I've seen him land them all (4A in harness not included). But I've never yet seen a sparkling free program. Something to work towards - because he clearly has the goods.
 

Tavi...

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
There was way to much pressure on his shoulders. All over social media were posts about how he did a clean practice and landed 4 different types of quads, and he was reading all these and sharing them.
In previous interview he said that he needed to land multiple quads to keep his insta reputation/name of "quadgod".
Assuming he doesn't have social media manager, he really must have felt all the extra pressure with sharing all the posts about how perfect he was in the morning,
He is such an amazing talent and can't wait to see how he develops, and so glad he made such a good recovery - but at the end of the day he is very young and under a lot of pressure from himself and fans.

Unfortunately, when your insta handle is quadg0d, your bio adds lutzgod, you frequently post clips of yourself landing new and different quads, and you read and share clips of your “perfect” pre-comp practice, you’re kind of inviting the pressure. He and his team may want to rethink all of that. If he’s as talented as he seems to be, he’ll succeed without hyping himself.

When you think about it, Nathan had a ton of expectations on him from the time he was a tiny little kid, but I don’t recall him ever adding to the pressure by trying to draw attention to himself.
 

discode

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 27, 2018
There was so much talk about him replacing Jason or Vincent after that practice, which I'm guessing he might have seen as well. Even if he magically got silver at nationals I don't think he'd get picked over the two of them.... he can get junior worlds obviously, 4CC, and maybe worlds after the Olympics possibly at best and work towards 2026. And I'm not sure why he has to live up to a self proclaimed Quad God title and do all the quads all the time. Who else is calling him that but himself? :scratch2: Literally zero reason to practice a 4F/4lz in a competition he had no plans to do those jumps in. He shows promise, but should slow down a bit. There's no reason to hype yourself landing quads, just let your competitions speak for you. Though hard to tell a 16 year old that.

Hope is all works out in the end since he does seem to have the goods. Just needs some clean freeskates now.
 

Tahuu

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 3, 2014
^ If Ilia got silver at Nationals, he’ll go to Beijing. Just look at Polina Edmunds in her Olympic season as a junior in 2013 - 2 golds at JGPs, 4th at JGPF and silver at Nationals. She has no senior international experience and no body of work to back her up and was selected to the Olympic team.
 

figureskatingandrainbows

It's Oka ShinnosuSLAY Season!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 8, 2020
Country
Olympic
If Ilia pushes himself too much with landing quads, he's going to end up like Shun Sato and Andrei Mozalev: loads of potential, but set back a season or two because of injuries. He needs to focus right now on improving performance, skating skills, spins, and consistency even more, and occasionally practicing a quad lutz or flip here and there. Then, when he goes full-time senior, he can start to add in the harder quads while being fully healthy. He's already had one injury last season. Right now, him and his team need to focus on doing well at Junior Worlds and the JGP and setting the groundwork for going to the 2026 Olympics. Because it would take flops out of Jason, Yaro, Vincent, and Jimmy Ma at US Nats and a squeaky clean Ilia to get silver at US Nats, and even then, I doubt he'd get sent to the 2022 Olympics simply because he's young and the US has a lot of talented senior men.
 

Apple1078

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 6, 2020
I just hope Ilia stays healthy. Someone mentioned that right now, he's the same age as Nathan when he decided to throw in an unnecessary 4T during the US Nats gala in 2016 and got seriously injured.

He's so talented but I think it will be very difficult to make the 2022 Olympic team. I don't see it happening.. but my goodness, he's going to be a huge contender in the next quad.
 
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el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
^ If Ilia got silver at Nationals, he’ll go to Beijing. Just look at Polina Edmunds in her Olympic season as a junior in 2013 - 2 golds at JGPs, 4th at JGPF and silver at Nationals. She has no senior international experience and no body of work to back her up and was selected to the Olympic team.

Two words.

Ross Miner.

2022 will be a very different selection process than 2014. I think Ilia is young, talented and driven, but there would need to be a perfect storm of meltdowns from other skaters and Ilia landing every quad in every comp from here on in for that to happen. I'm not saying it can't, I'm saying a podium finish at Nats won't ensure it. :scratch2:

ETA: Whether or not I personally believe podiums at Nats should ensure it is another matter. :)
 

TontoK

Hot Tonto
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Country
United-States
Ilia's original Instagram handle was generated when he was something like 12 or so. He might be forgiven for the hubris. I don't mind that he promotes himself through social media, but he needs to separate his social media life from his real life and real results, just as we all do. Instagram clips do not translate to figure skating medals. Not for Ilia, nor for anyone.

Much to my dismay, the US Olympic Team is probably pretty firmed up, assuming that third-spot mess is cleaned up at Nebelhorn. Not because I wish the "top three" men any ill fortune... I just believe in a trials system.

Of course, we've really only seen Vincent in competition this season. I'm not even sure what music Nathan has chosen. US Nationals is about six months away, right? It's a little early to draw any conclusions.

I will say this though... If Ilia blasts into Nationals and delivers a two-quad short and a four-quad long and ends up on the podium... I think the selection committee will have a hard time not sending him to the Olympics. Why should the USFSA send three Olympic veterans who are probably headed towards retirement, when they can send two of those and a fresh talent who is likely to be a World Team stalwart for the next quad?

Such a program by Ilia is not out of the question... look at his improvement over the past six months. If that trajectoy continues... who knows. Let it play out.
 
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