2019-20 U.S. Ladies Figure Skating | Page 161 | Golden Skate

2019-20 U.S. Ladies Figure Skating

katymay

Medalist
Joined
Mar 7, 2006
Extremely rude and nasty of them to not invite Bradie. There were only 6 competitors in ladies ffs.

I've seen her exhibition program too. It's super fun and she performs it really well. The audience would have enjoyed it.

I'm hoping that maybe she had an early flight or something, and turned the Gala down. This made me sad too though-leaving out one person in a group seems harsh. I think what they should have done is have 1) only the top 3 per group for both Jr. and Sr.s'. This makes 24, 12 per half.
 

Autumn Leaves

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 22, 2018
Most likely Rika received an invitation as the current GP champion (ok, until yesterday) and Alina as the current World and Olympic champion. I believe it wasn't meant to be disrespectful to Bradie. It is just that we live in crazy times, where the three little monsters (saying it with love) took the entire podium and the organisers had to be creative with the gala. It would be weird not to invite the GP champion and the Olympic champion. At the end, it became weird that they didn't invite Bradie but, as I said, we live in extraordinary figure skating times.
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
For the Torino gala: Five of six senior men were invited; five of six senior dance couples were invited; five of six senior ladies were invited; four of six senior pairs were invited. Two junior entries were invited from each discipline, including the junior pair who placed sixth.

I believe Bradie is more than mature enough not to feel disrespected.

(She did attend the Torino banquet that took place after the gala. :))
 

Roo87

Medalist
Joined
Nov 12, 2017
I'm hoping that maybe she had an early flight or something, and turned the Gala down. This made me sad too though-leaving out one person in a group seems harsh. I think what they should have done is have 1) only the top 3 per group for both Jr. and Sr.s'. This makes 24, 12 per half.

If she was invited and declined she would be fined $5000. She only gets $4000 for getting 5th place, so I doubt this was the case.

Edit: dollar amounts were incorrect.
 

randomfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2014
Well, this certainly isn't the first time this happened. Gracie Gold was skipped over in the 2015 GPF, and I'm sure there are other non-U.S. skaters who were treated the same way. :(

Though for this case, I feel that they really should've invited Bradie, especially since they knew in advance that Alina would just be doing a speech. I'm sure there wouldn't have been much of a problem with ending the gala on time because Alina was literally out there for only a minute.
 

katymay

Medalist
Joined
Mar 7, 2006
For the Torino gala: Five of six senior men were invited; five of six senior dance couples were invited; five of six senior ladies were invited; four of six senior pairs were invited. Two junior entries were invited from each discipline, including the junior pair who placed sixth.

I believe Bradie is more than mature enough not to feel disrespected.

(She did attend the Torino banquet that took place after the gala. :))

Then it should have been the top 5, period.
 

brightphoton

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
Then it should have been the top 5, period.

Bradie didn't win the popularity contest this year. It's gotta sting that she couldn't manage to get invited when all the other lady competitors did, but them's the brakes. There was a phrase in the 6.0 era, skaters had to "pay their dues", so Bradie's gotta continue doing that

Yeah, the other invited girls were younger and debuted as seniors this year, but I get the feeling that Eteri and Daniil are much more involved in getting financial compensation and opportunities for their skaters than Bradie's coach
 

randomfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2014
Yeah, the other invited girls were younger and debuted as seniors this year, but I get the feeling that Eteri and Daniil are much more involved in getting financial compensation and opportunities for their skaters than Bradie's coach

I don't think this is completely accurate in this specific situation though. The ones who made their senior debut were the top 3, and the top 3 are always supposed to be invited regardless of how famous/popular they are.
 

brightphoton

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
I don't think this is completely accurate in this specific situation though. The ones who made their senior debut were the top 3, and the top 3 are always supposed to be invited regardless of how famous/popular they are.

Of course! How could I forget about Rika :)

seems a bit mean of the gala organizers, like it's designed to say "Everyone is invited to the party!!! :hap10::hap10: .......... not you"
 

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
I'm hoping that maybe she had an early flight or something, and turned the Gala down. This made me sad too though-leaving out one person in a group seems harsh. I think what they should have done is have 1) only the top 3 per group for both Jr. and Sr.s'. This makes 24, 12 per half.

This is what I thought as well. It would make no sense to invite Zagitova and not Bradie. I didn't see the Gala. Was Bradie the only lady not there?
 

Happy Skates

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 18, 2019
This is what I thought as well. It would make no sense to invite Zagitova and not Bradie. I didn't see the Gala. Was Bradie the only lady not there?

I feel bad that Bradie wasn't invited, but it wouldn't make "no sense" to invite Zagitova and not Bradie. Zagitova is the reigning World and Olympic champion and has a huge amount of fans for a ladies figure skater competing today. They don't just go by placement when inviting people to the gala, and "stars" like Alina are almost always invited (imagine Yuzuru Hanyu having a bad day and then not being invited to the Gala, it just doesn't happen). And I don't think it was an intentional slight on Bradie, as they skip over people all the time. It happened in other disciplines too - the fourth place pairs team wasn't invited even though fifth place was, and in that case there wasn't even a good reason that I can think of. In ladies, it just happened to be that in addition to the podium, they had to invite Rika as last years GPF and 4CC champion, and Alina who is one of the biggest stars of ladies skating in the past couple of years. I wish Bradie could've been invited too, but they can't invite everyone, and 5th place isn't always invited unless they are a huge star (not that Bradie isn't a star but you know what I mean) or from the host country or some other extra reason.
 

natsulian

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 14, 2018
Also, the last time US ladies brought home 3 Grand Prix medals was back in 2016-2017... more than 3 years ago.
 

Bluediamonds09

Medalist
Joined
Sep 8, 2016
Alysa will definitely be working on her rotations now. She’ll want to beat Bradie at nationals. However, I don’t believe that she’ll be working enough on her pcs. Alysa needs to spend hours upon hours with Lori and Carolina in person, and a video conference won’t do the trick. Alysa has admitted that she loves to jump most of all; I believe that’s where the focus will be, unfortunately. After all, she’s already receiving decent pcs, so why work on them?
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
Alysa will definitely be working on her rotations now. She’ll want to beat Bradie at nationals. However, I don’t believe that she’ll be working enough on her pcs. Alysa needs to spend hours upon hours with Lori and Carolina in person, and a video conference won’t do the trick. Alysa has admitted that she loves to jump most of all; I believe that’s where the focus will be, unfortunately. After all, she’s already receiving decent pcs, so why work on them?

i don't think Alysa's goal for this year or even next, since she will still not be eligible for international senior events, should be winning nationals. the big goal is 2022, and with time and experience her PCS will come. it doesn't matter much if she loses a national title in the next couple years to Bradie or Mariah. PCS is just something that doesn't happen overnight and while working diligently on it, her team should already know that. i think she should focus on being on the podium which should be an easy goal- she's not losing international assignments regardless.
 

Tavi...

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
I feel bad that Bradie wasn't invited, but it wouldn't make "no sense" to invite Zagitova and not Bradie. Zagitova is the reigning World and Olympic champion and has a huge amount of fans for a ladies figure skater competing today. They don't just go by placement when inviting people to the gala, and "stars" like Alina are almost always invited (imagine Yuzuru Hanyu having a bad day and then not being invited to the Gala, it just doesn't happen). And I don't think it was an intentional slight on Bradie, as they skip over people all the time. It happened in other disciplines too - the fourth place pairs team wasn't invited even though fifth place was, and in that case there wasn't even a good reason that I can think of. In ladies, it just happened to be that in addition to the podium, they had to invite Rika as last years GPF and 4CC champion, and Alina who is one of the biggest stars of ladies skating in the past couple of years. I wish Bradie could've been invited too, but they can't invite everyone, and 5th place isn't always invited unless they are a huge star (not that Bradie isn't a star but you know what I mean) or from the host country or some other extra reason.

Arguably, the difference is that in other competitions, there is a much larger number of competitors per discipline than at the GPF. I have no idea if Bradie was upset, but inviting 5 out 6 competitors has a different feel than inviting 5 out of 12, or 5 out of 20, competitors. Would inviting the remaining competitors here make the gala logistically impossible? I don’t know, but I tend to doubt it.
 

ladyjane

Medalist
Joined
Jun 26, 2012
Country
Netherlands
Is Alysa going to the Youth Olympic Games? I know it's far too close to US Nationals for comfort (or even overlapping?), but it would be really nice to see her there - and hopefully get a medal. I should think that's a much more important event for a young girl than winning Nationals (but perhaps I am viewing this wrongly. Feel free to correct me). I presume she's eligible.
 

bytheriver

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 28, 2016
Is Alysa going to the Youth Olympic Games? I know it's far too close to US Nationals for comfort (or even overlapping?), but it would be really nice to see her there - and hopefully get a medal. I should think that's a much more important event for a young girl than winning Nationals (but perhaps I am viewing this wrongly. Feel free to correct me). I presume she's eligible.

She confirmed on her IG Live that she isn’t going to YOG. It seems like the team’s priority is winning Nationals, which I understand. However, I think YOG is a really valuable experience, because there are no guarantees about getting an “Olympic” experience again.
 
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