2018-19 U.S. Ladies' figure skating

Moxiejan · Jan 20, 2019

IMHO, there are plenty of club competitions & shows that allow skaters of lesser technical ability to show their love of the sport & express their wish to compete/perform. Therefore, I think the regionals/sectionals/nationals structure should be specifically aimed at the development of the highest-skilled skaters, with an eye to producing the best senior team possible. I’m all for going back to the days of having nationals be the ultimate reward for the very best seniors and juniors (and, yes, keep novices), to prevent sandbagging at lower levels. Want a national medal? Work harder & move up faster.

Going back to just these 3 levels also helps in finding more options for nationals sites, since ice facilities are needed for a much shorter stretch & clubs don’t have to find as many volunteers.

CellarDweller · Jan 20, 2019

My hopes for the Nationals are clean skates for Bradie, Mariah and Starr. I would really love for Starr to build on the impact she made last year at her debut.

natsulian · Jan 20, 2019

The one aspect of the new system I like is how the top two Novice skaters will earn an opportunity to skate as Juniors at Nationals. Not only will it invigorate them, but it will also offer some great experience. Apart from that, there are more Novices trying 3-3’s than Juniors which I believe will also push the Juniors technically as well.

el henry · Jan 20, 2019

I have a new favorite skater, Hannah Miller, based on this interview

Hannah Miller, figure skating and a war on negative body image

"For too long, Miller was made to feel as if she did not have that look.

'I was told for multiple years that I wasn’t good enough,' she said. 'My body wasn’t good enough. I didn’t have the right look. Mostly, that I wasn’t thin enough. I consider myself a strong and powerful skater. That’s who I am. I’m not built to be a mini-tiny person on the ice. That’s not who I am.' "

I hope Hannah slays. :clap:

natsulian · Jan 20, 2019

What are some U.S. ladies on your “skaters to watch” list?

Mine:
- Alysa Liu
- Isabeau Levito
- Hanna Harrell
- Lindsay Thorngren
- Ting Cui
- Kate Wang

bobbob · Jan 20, 2019

If everyone skates clean, I think Alysa will win, and Bradie, Ting, and Mariah will be bunched very closely in 2nd-4th. However, Bradie's chances of skating clean are higher than Ting and Mariah.

If Alyssa makes any sort of major mistake in either of her programs (especially the short), she will not be judged so nicely. Then it will be between Bradie/Ting/Mariah. Whoever skates the cleanest of the three will win.

natsulian · Jan 20, 2019

Bradie is an excellent competitor and does not receive the credit she deserves. Regardless of Bradie's artistic capabilities (which she is aware of and working on), she's technically superior to any of the other U.S. ladies currently. Of course, this season was a bit disappointing Grand Prix wise because of the 3Lz-3Lo in the short program... but that's a new combo (for her) only a handful of women are competing with, short and free. Furthermore, she's the only U.S. lady with the prospects of medalling in any event should she go clean. Aside from my little tangent, I hope that everyone skates cleanly so that the chips fall where they need to be.

Bradie's 2018/2019 Season Thus Far:

- Ranked #10th in the world
- Has the #9th highest total score in the world
- Has the #8th highest short program score in the world
- Has the #9th highest long program score in the world
- Only U.S. lady to earn a medal at the Grand Prix with bronze in France
- Gold at the Autumn and Golden Spin Challenger events

Metis · Jan 20, 2019

natsulian said:
Bradie is an excellent competitor and does not receive the credit she deserves. Regardless of Bradie's artistic capabilities (which she is aware of and working on), she's technically superior to any of the other U.S. ladies currently. Of course, this season was a bit disappointing Grand Prix wise because of the 3Lz-3Lo in the short program... but that's a new combo (for her) only a handful of women are competing with, short and free. Furthermore, she's the only U.S. lady with the prospects of medalling in any event should she go clean. Aside from my little tangent, I hope that everyone skates cleanly so that the chips fall where they need to be.

Bradie's 2018/2019 Season Thus Far:

- Ranked #10th in the world
- Has the #9th highest total score in the world
- Has the #8th highest short program score in the world
- Has the #9th highest long program score in the world
- Only U.S. lady to earn a medal at the Grand Prix with bronze in France
- Gold at the Autumn and Golden Spin Challenger events

I agree. Bradie may not be my favourite skater of all time, but of everyone this season, she’s impressed me the most with her improved technical content, new packaging, and her work on her weakest areas. She is not, perhaps, as naturally graceful or lyrical skater, or even just as innately charming and/or connected to the audience, as Mariah Bell, but I don’t think anyone is working harder than she is to genuinely address her shortcomings. We often say we wish skaters would work on X or Y to become the total package, and Bradie has my respect for clearly doing the work — she may not be my personal favourite, but she’s determined, talented, and absolutely the favourite for nationals.

moonvine · Jan 20, 2019

el henry said:
I have a new favorite skater, Hannah Miller, based on this interview

Hannah Miller, figure skating and a war on negative body image

"For too long, Miller was made to feel as if she did not have that look.

'I was told for multiple years that I wasn’t good enough,' she said. 'My body wasn’t good enough. I didn’t have the right look. Mostly, that I wasn’t thin enough. I consider myself a strong and powerful skater. That’s who I am. I’m not built to be a mini-tiny person on the ice. That’s not who I am.' "

I hope Hannah slays.

Me too!!!!!! :love:

Bluediamonds09 · Jan 20, 2019

natsulian said:
What are some U.S. ladies on your “skaters to watch” list?

Mine:
- Alysa Liu
- Isabeau Levito
- Hanna Harrell
- Lindsay Thorngren
- Ting Cui
- Kate Wang

Do u have video of isabeau or Lindsay or Kate? I haven’t heard of them. Hanna is definitely a must watch, if only she were consistent. Same with Ting. Why oh why must the US ladies crumble under pressure??

Elana · Jan 21, 2019

Bluediamonds09 said:
Do u have video of isabeau or Lindsay or Kate? I haven’t heard of them. Hanna is definitely a must watch, if only she were consistent. Same with Ting. Why oh why must the US ladies crumble under pressure??

You can watch them all on usfigurskatingfanzone.com

Isabeau and Lindsay just skated at nats and Kate skates her short tomorrow.

oatmella · Jan 21, 2019

Nathan was impressed with 3-3 at Intermediate Ladies! Is that Isabeau?
https://twitter.com/usfigureskating/status/1087110471357005824?s=21

Raf was Hannah Miller’s coach during some of the time period she was talking about in the interview (2016 Nationals).

Charlotte 71 · Jan 21, 2019

gkelly said:
Would it be better to jump from no triples to whatever triples you want?

This is what they're going to do as of next year.
The top 2 novices at sectionals (as opposed to the top 4 now) will be invited to compete in the junior event at Nationals.

This will be possible because the ISU will be making the program lengths for junior and advanced novice the same, so the US will follow suit.

There are currently more differences in short program requirements for junior vs. novice aside from just program length. I don't know if the ISU and therefore USFS will impose the junior requirements on novices as well (aside from allowing a solo single axel, probably), or if there will still be differences and US novices who qualify to juniors at Nationals will need to make some changes to their programs.

Thank you for the information! I was not aware of these changes in the program lengths. Will we also change our competitive levels to create an "advanced novice" division that aligns with the ISU, or will we keep our Intermediate, Novice and Junior levels? I know Intermediate was added at some point. Prior to that it used to be Juvenile, Novice, Junior, Senior. Maybe Intermediate will function as Novice and Novice as Advanced Novice in ISU terms? I will be interesting to see what they do with the program elements.

I'll still miss the Novices at Nationals though. It's great that they're entering the top 2 from each section as Juniors, but a larger field of the top 4 gives more skaters big-time experience and inspriration, and at that level you never really know who will blossom as a Senior and who might burn out a couple years later. Well, sometimes you know, but not always. : )

natsulian · Jan 21, 2019

New format for the 2019-2020 season: https://www.usfigureskating.org/story?id=84035

According to the USFS:
• New National Qualifying Series
• New names for qualifying competitions
• Additional athletes qualifying for the sectional singles challenge
• National High-Performance Development Team Camp for juvenile, intermediate and novice athletes
• National ranking system based on the NQS
• Top 2 Novices in Ladies and Mens at each Sectionals will get to go to Nationals as Juniors

Elana · Jan 21, 2019

natsulian said:
New format for the 2019-2020 season: https://www.usfigureskating.org/story?id=84035

According to the USFS:
• New National Qualifying Series
• New names for qualifying competitions
• Additional athletes qualifying for the sectional singles challenge
• National High-Performance Development Team Camp for juvenile, intermediate and novice athletes
• National ranking system based on the NQS
• Top 2 Novices in Ladies and Mens at each Sectionals will get to go to Nationals as Juniors

It’s kind of interesting, at first it sounded like a Russian cup type thing, but they’re still doing regionals. I like this though, sounds more effective. My only question is, I think it’s good to let novice go to nationals, but would if the fifth place junior skater scored higher than the top 2 novice skaters in a given section, isn’t that a little unfair if that were to happen??

concorde · Jan 21, 2019

There will now be two ways to qualify for sectionals.
1. The top 2 skaters in the Region (through this newly created series) will be a bye. That is new and for all levels
2. The top 4 skaters at each Regional (no change there).
So Sectionals will go from 4 to 6 skaters from each Regions.

USFS started releasing information about changes to the qualifying pipeline almost 2 years ago. It was voted in May 2017 and they have spend the last year trying to figure out how to implement these changes.

concorde · Jan 21, 2019

Elana said:
My only question is, I think it’s good to let novice go to nationals, but would if the fifth place junior skater scored higher than the top 2 novice skaters in a given section, isn’t that a little unfair if that were to happen??

Not sure. The current levels are currently screwed up with the sandbagging so doing this is probably for the best.

Junior skaters SHOULD have higher scores than Novices since Juniors are required to do more elements. As a result, comparing scores between the two is not apples to apples.

This year, USFS changed the time requirements so have both Novices and Junior programs the same length. Howver, those top 2 skaters per Section advancing to Junior Nationals will have to revised their programs to add the extra elements.

Personally I see these changes as positive.

concorde · Jan 21, 2019

Charlotte 71 said:
Will we also change our competitive levels to create an "advanced novice" division that aligns with the ISU, or will we keep our Intermediate, Novice and Junior levels? I know Intermediate was added at some point. Prior to that it used to be Juvenile, Novice, Junior, Senior. Maybe Intermediate will function as Novice and Novice as Advanced Novice in ISU terms? I will be interesting to see what they do with the program elements.

USFS has not released anything indicating that the actual levels will be changing. Personally I don't see why those changes are needed.

To the best of my knowledge, USFS has never sent Team USA "Novice" skaters to any event.

"Advanced Novice" seems to the the entry point for Team USA. Team USA members seems to be 12-13 years old and skate domestically at the Novice level but higher level skater are allowed as evidenced by Alyssa Liu.

gkelly · Jan 21, 2019

I think the us juvenile and intermediates have been around since the 1950s? They were certainly not new when I was skating in the 70s.

Yes, the novice skaters that usfs sends to internationals tend to compete as advanced novice in is terms. Remember that novice is an age group for the is and a skill level in the us. As long as the is divides by age first and the us by test level first, the levels will never align exactly.

concorde · Jan 21, 2019

concorde said:
There will now be two ways to qualify for sectionals.
1. The top 2 skaters in the Region (through this newly created series) will be a bye. That is new and for all levels
2. The top 4 skaters at each Regional (no change there).
So Sectionals will go from 4 to 6 skaters from each Regions.

Actually what I listed above regarding #1 is incorrect. The top 6 skaters in the series from the SECTION get a bye to Sectionals. That will average to the top 2 from each Region but theoretically in a strong Region, all 6 can come from the same Region.

Curious when USFS will release what the competitions will be in the series. I assume the Broadmoor Open, Glacier Falls, Philadelphia, and Skate Detroit will be "in.

2018-19 U.S. Ladies' figure skating

Moxiejan

CellarDweller

Ice Time

natsulian

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.

natsulian

bobbob

natsulian

Metis

Shepherdess of the Teal Deer

moonvine

All Hail Queen Gracie

Bluediamonds09

Elana

oatmella

陈巍

Charlotte 71

natsulian

Elana

concorde

concorde

concorde

gkelly

concorde

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2018-19 U.S. Ladies' figure skating

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