- Joined
- Aug 29, 2016
Pooja Kalyan tested her senior freestyle at a rink I was a today. Looks like she too will be competing senior at nationals. Her long program is a mix of songs from the Lion King soundtrack. Very pretty dress and skating!
Omg! Bradie's SP is good! I think this will be a good fit for her.
And WOW that 3 lutz-3 loop combo looked so clean and precise, I'm happy to see she is increasing her technical difficulty. Who would have thought the USA would have a senior lady who is consistent and can jump 3 lutz-3 loop. If she skates cleanly at her Grand Prix assignments she should be a contender to make it to the GP final.
She kind of reminds me of Gracie Gold pre-2016-2017 season (except that Bradie is a better competitor in terms of mental toughness). They have a similar look, good posture, good speed, very clean technically correct jumps and spins. The only thing they could improve on is a bit less stiffness and more connection to music.
Tara is going to love her. None US lady has landed a +3Lo combo in ages.
Courtney Hicks did 3F-3Lo last season
but usually, it was UR or a fall or a step out or turn out in between.
I'm going to nitpick because that's all there is to do with Bradie (b/c she's that good) but this is a really interesting piece of music but it doesn't sell itself. It's not Dramatic! like a warhorse and it's not high energy enough to carry the audience along for the ride. Bradie has to sell the music and she doesn't quite do that. Part of that could be saved with packaging (think black swan style make up and french twist) and part of that is Bradie needing to figure out what the character she is portraying and why she's doing things with her arms at that moment. Because so often while watching her I get the sense that to her choreography is just going through the motions because you have to do something with your arms between jumps and spins, and I think if she were able to focus on performing it would push her from being good to being amazing.
Has anyone heard of Violeta Ushakova, the novice bronze medalist this year? Inside Edition did a piece on her when the Olympics were happening but I cannot find anything about her at all.
After seeing Bradie's programs this year it appears that she will remain the top US Lady heading into Nationals. Karen, Courtney and Mariah are always in the mix. Are there any young skaters who could knock them off the podium?
Isn't Champs Camp in about week?
Any idea who the lucky lady that gets the 3rd SA slot? Or is USFS sending multiples ladies and they get to duke it out for the slot?
Can’t wait to see Gracie Gold at Champs Camp.
Coaching change for Audrey Shin, who used to be with Raf?
Not clear to whom exactly, but she is listed in Tom Z's post re the first day of the World Arena Skating Academy (a collaboration of multiple coaches):
Other U.S. ladies listed: Ting Cui, Paige Rydberg, Livvy Shilling, Karen Chen, Mirai Nagasu, Brynne McIsaac, Avery Kurtz, Angelina Huang, Lily Sun.
(Other skaters listed: Vincent, Camden, Emmanuel, Alex Wellman, Tomoki, Andrew Torgashev, Yaro Paniot, Young You, Yelim Kim, Yi Christy Leung.
btw, WASA includes pairs as well, per Dalilah's post.)