2018-19 U.S. Ladies' figure skating

[GS Forum Staff]

Hi folks,

Just a reminder

As we kick off with the JGP, please refrain from using the "State of (national)" and Fan Fest threads to discuss competitions. As always, keep competition chat in the Competition forums.

Should we find that folks are discussing competition info in these threads, they will be closed until after the competition.


Thanks!


GS Forum Staff

 

[Bluediamonds09]

If Karen is going for a fs that isn’t as heavy, dramatic, or something like that (as her past fs programs have been, definitely) what do u guys think, or hope, she’ll be using this season?? Beethoven? George Winston? Winter’s Tale soundtrack by Hans Zimmer? An unknown piece? “Slow Dancing” from last year?

 

[MarinHondas]

Hi folks,

Just a reminder

As we kick off with the JGP, please refrain from using the "State of (national)" and Fan Fest threads to discuss competitions. As always, keep competition chat in the Competition forums.

Should we find that folks are discussing competition info in these threads, they will be closed until after the competition.


Thanks!


GS Forum Staff

Are we allowed to discuss results after the competition or say, for example, "x did great at their JGP! they recieved x score and x placement. Congrats!"

 

[loopy1217]

http://www.usfigureskatingfanzone.c...n-chen-seeks-fresh-start-in-colorado-springs/

Nice interview with Karen from Champs Camp. I can't remember if we already knew that she was working with Tammy + Christy + Tom. It's unclear who her main coach is, so I'm assuming it's still Tammy (bummer). At least she has access to great resources and seems happy with her programs. If she's going with something soft and lyrical for her LP (which I think she is implying?), I think that will suit her well.

I wish she would talk about getting her jumps sorted out. :confused2:

Thank you for sharing the article!

Somehow I’m reading the article that she is not sure who her main coach will be. I mean if she want to stick with Tammy, then she would have end the article saying so. But half of the article talk about how she is trying out different coach. I guess we will know for sure next month at US classic.

It’s also interesting she didn’t mention about Alex O...

 

[gsk8]

Hi folks,

Just a reminder

As we kick off with the JGP, please refrain from using the "State of (national)" and Fan Fest threads to discuss competitions. As always, keep competition chat in the Competition forums.

Should we find that folks are discussing competition info in these threads, they will be closed until after the competition.

Thanks!

GS Forum Staff

Just to clarify, we are simply asking that posters don't use these threads as a replacement for competition threads.

You can discuss a skater's performance and the overall results of a skater. Comment's like this are ok: "So-and-so got the bronze -- yay!" or "Trusova makes history with the first quad combo in competition" in the Edge. If someone wants to put that so-and-so landed a triple Axel in the respective FF, that is no problem.

However, there are folks who will inevitably try to use the national threads as a replacement for the competition threads, and that is what we want to avoid.

The pleasure of the competition threads is the feeling of sitting around the sports bar with your buddies all watching the action together and discussing play-by-plays and elements in depth.. Many people are actually watching on various platforms and like to make comments such as, "Did you see that? She fell on her triple flip in the warm-up?" Or, "What kind of a silly costume is that?"

 

[andromache]

Thank you for sharing the article!

Somehow I’m reading the article that she is not sure who her main coach will be. I mean if she want to stick with Tammy, then she would have end the article saying so. But half of the article talk about how she is trying out different coach. I guess we will know for sure next month at US classic.

It’s also interesting she didn’t mention about Alex O...

Last year she couldn’t decide on a program, and this year she can’t decide on a coach? She keeps getting in her own way. (Unless she intends on having a team of coaches with no real main coach and it’s just being communicated poorly? The shame about fluff articles like these are that Lynn isn’t pushing the skaters on any “tough” questions.)

 

[Ice Dance]

Last year she couldn’t decide on a program, and this year she can’t decide on a coach?

Her coach moved to work with other coaches. Instead of upending her entire coaching situation as many fans seemed to think she should do, she is maintaining some consistency. I wish people would stop inventing their own solutions to skaters' problems and trust that the athletes themselves can make more informed decisions. Maybe not decisions that will fix all their problems but more informed decisions than anything we would be able to make on the athletes' behalf.

All the celebrating about Boyang moving to Orser, and it turns out the young man didn't want to go himself. Sheesh.

 

[ice coverage]

... Somehow I’m reading the article that she is not sure who her main coach will be. I mean if she want to stick with Tammy, then she would have end the article saying so. But half of the article talk about how she is trying out different coach. …

Disagree. My take is that the article talked about Karen trying out the Colorado Springs training base as a whole.

Karen was not trying out different coaches (was not making a choice among Christy vs. Tom vs. Tammy).

Her coach moved to work with other coaches. Instead of upending her entire coaching situation as many fans seemed to think she should do, she is maintaining some consistency. ...

:agree: My understanding/interpretation of the article is that Karen is sticking with Tammy as primary coach.

At Philadelphia International, parents of two different skaters who work with the coaches in Colorado Springs told me that things there already have become very much intermingled. Taking frequent lessons from more than one of the Big Three (TZ, Krall, Gambill) already has become nothing unusual.

ETA (on Aug 23):

Another manifestation of collaboration among the Big Three is that today at JGP Slovakia both for Young You and for Yi Christy Leung, TZ and Gambill were together at the boards and in the Kiss and Cry.​

… I can't remember if we already knew that she was working with Tammy + Christy + Tom. ...

World Arena Skating Academy launched ten days ago, and Karen has been in the WASA posts since then. Example: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmgl3KwFO1Q/?taken-by=coachtomz

---

BTW, I think it is interesting that Karen now lives at the OTC.
Her Instagram story recently showed her name on a list of resident athletes with August birthdays.

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Neither was Hanna Harrell, or I didn't see her in the picture at least...

Hanna is in the group photo of Emerging Skaters:

https://twitter.com/LynnRutherford/status/1030854756099477504 (Aug 18)​

She is the left-most skater in the photo.

Plus Hanna also is this photo at the OTC on the following day:

https://twitter.com/LynnRutherford/status/1031396028262449152​

She is in the very middle.

 

[oatmella]

It seems that some of Karen’s fans are a bit disappointed that she didn’t move to Alex O. - but sounds like she likes the training environment in Colorado Springs and working with different coaches, in addition to Tammy.

Hopefully Tom can help with her jumps.

 

[frida80]

I'm morso concerned with her foot. She had a boot on at Champs Camp.

 

[Lenny318]

If it were me I'd absolutely want to get myself out there at least once before a big event for the sake of feeling ready, but she might feel differently. Gracie will do what's best for Gracie.

Yeah I'd want to get out there at a low(er) key event just to get the jitters out but I trust her and her team to make the right call on how to handle this comeback.

 

[snowflake]

---

BTW, I think it is interesting that Karen now lives at the OTC.
Her Instagram story recently showed her name on a list of resident athletes with August birthdays.

---

What's OTC?

 

[Ice Dance]

What's OTC?

Olympic Training Center

 

[snowflake]

Olympic Training Center

Thanks. So there is some sort of housing there? Like dorms or flats?

 

[macy]

I'm morso concerned with her foot. She had a boot on at Champs Camp.

i noticed that too. hope it's nothing too serious.

 

[StitchMonkey]

Thanks. So there is some sort of housing there? Like dorms or flats?

Yes. My understanding is it if very much like dorms. Many other skaters have lived there.

 

[ice coverage]

From Champs Camp 2018: Mariah Bell Ready for New Quad, Courtney Hicks Leaps to Altitude

Posted by U.S. Figure Skating On August 23, 2018

By Lynn Rutherford

http://www.usfigureskatingfanzone.c...or-new-quad-courtney-hicks-leaps-to-altitude/​

Re Mariah's music choices:

…. her 2018/2019 season’s competitive short program, choreographed by Adam Rippon to Celine Dion’s “Love You More.”

… Bell’s free skate was choreographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne to a mix of “Piano” and “Experience,” both by Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi. ...​

Re Courtney's music choices:

… The skater is keeping last season’s short, choreographed by Rohene Ward to music from La Califfa. Ward created her new free skate to the “Pas de Deux” from The Nutcracker. It’s her second free of the season; the first, a tango, was dropped about three weeks prior to Champs Camp. ...​

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What's OTC?

Olympic Training Center, which has dorms for selected athletes.

For example, Max Aaron and Jason Brown were living there in recent years.

 

[andromache]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LwA-RkYY-c

The US junior ladies are off to a great start this season with Pooja Kalyan's clean debut on the JGP. She's in 6th after the SP, but it's a pretty stacked field, and her content is a little less impressive than some of the top contenders (3T-3T combo). But her skating has a lot of power. She should be in the final group for the LP. If she skates well there, I'm hoping USFS will give her a second assignment. Even if she doesn't have a chance at JGP final, the experience of an extra JGP event could be very valuable.

 

[frida80]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LwA-RkYY-c

The US junior ladies are off to a great start this season with Pooja Kalyan's clean debut on the JGP. She's in 6th after the SP, but it's a pretty stacked field, and her content is a little less impressive than some of the top contenders (3T-3T combo). But her skating has a lot of power. She should be in the final group for the LP. If she skates well there, I'm hoping USFS will give her a second assignment. Even if she doesn't have a chance at JGP final, the experience of an extra JGP event could be very valuable.

I think what weighed down her score was the choreography. Instead of being intricate and expressive it felt very undeveloped with random hand positions. I’m not sure what Scott Brown was thinking. After the jumps were done she came alive. But she needs to have her program tweaked or her PCS score will stay low, at least for the short.

 

[andromache]

I think what weighed down her score was the choreography. Instead of being intricate and expressive it felt very undeveloped with random hand positions. I’m not sure what Scott Brown was thinking. After the jumps were done she came alive. But she needs to have her program tweaked or her PCS score will stay low, at least for the short.

The first half of the program was not good. The second half felt a lot better. Not sure if I'm blaming Scott Brown, Pooja's nerves (she seemed nervous, IMO), or maybe Alex O.? Her programs at US Nationals last year seemed much stronger artistically. Maybe the LP will be better - I hope so.