2013 U.S. Nationals Scrapes and Scraps, Vol. 2

Let’s start this roundup of the Nationals ladies by looking over the results from last weekend’s Junior Worlds in Milan.

The best news (for U.S. fans): all 3 nationals entrants—Josh Farris, Jason Brown, and Shotaro Omori-- made it to the podium in the men’s division, resulting in a full-U.S. sweep. It was the first sweep of junior worlds medals since Rachael Flatt, Caroline Zhang, and Mirai Nagasu did the sweep in 2008. (And Zhang, Nagasu and Ashley Wagner did the same thing in ’07.)

The very good news: Denney/Frazier (5^th at Nats) won the Pairs event over the favorites Fedorova/Miroshkin, RUS, who were 7^th in SP but won the FS... and Yu/Jin, CHN, the leaders after SP who were 5^th in the FS and finished in 4^th. It was the first time THAT has happened since McLaughlin/Brubaker did it in ’07. Fingers crossed this victory leads to a better overall ending.

The pretty good news: Aldridge/Eaton won their 2^nd consecutive Junior Worlds bronze medal, just behind the same two teams that took gold and silver ahead of them at last fall’s JGP Final—Stepanova/Bukin of RUS, and Papdakis/Ciezron of FRA. But Papdakis did their FD on a sprained, heavily taped ankle that forced them to stop mid-routine and start up again several minutes later (much as Virtue/Moir did at 4CC last month). And once again (as with V/M) there were no deductions for stopping down the program. I know there is precedence for this—Zhang/Zhang, silver medalists at the Torino Olympics to name one of the better known cases—but right now the “penalization” for being unable to complete a program straight through seems increasingly arbitrary. Hopefully the ISU will address this in the off-season? But I digress...

Now, the not-so-good news... the U.S. junior ladies were unable to get to the podium at all. The sweep in that case was Russian; Elena Radionova, Julia Lipnit “Gumby” skaia, and Anna Pogorilaya went 1-2-3. The U.S. senior ladies pewter medalist, Courtney Hicks, finished 5^th, while SP winner Samantha Cesario (8^th at Senior Nats) slipped to 4^th place after several of her triple jumps were downgraded. Yasmin Siraj (6^th at Senior Nats) finished down in 11^th.

Speaking of Hicks’ fourth-place finish at Nationals, here is a little breakdown as to how 3^rd/4^th/5^th in the ladies final turned out as it did (Zawadzki/Hicks/Gao)... and I’ll add up front that I studied this because I was pretty agitated to see Gao in 5^th place yet again (as I probably said at the time!):

With regards to the free skate scores between these three ONLY...

Elements: Hicks got the highest score, followed by Gao, then Zawadzki

Components: Zawadzki highest, then Gao, then Hicks (and it’s worth noting that in most areas, Zawadzki’s score was around a half-point higher than Gao’s).

Spins: Hicks, then Zawadzki, then Gao. The first two had level 4’s on all three spins, while Gao lagged 3 to 3.5 points behind them... not helped, I’m sure, by the level 1 given for her flying spin. (NOTE: talking about the FS here, not the SP when she unfortunately had the glaring error on her final spin.)

Footwork: Gao (with Level 4 FW), followed by Hicks (level 3) and Zawadzki (level 2—about 1.5 points lower than Gao).

Considering the difference between 3^rd and 5^th place was around 3.5 points, you could blame some combo of the component score and the spins scores... but also considering the fact that Zawadzki only had the 7^th best FS of the night and, like Wagner, earned her medal on the strength of her SP... I’d have to go study the SP protocols as well if I really wanted to get to the nitty gritty of these differences. Haven’t done it yet, but... who’s curious besides me? Anyone? Let me know.

Finally, a few words about Mirai Nagasu’s dismal 11^th place FS at Nationals (which ultimately took her from 3^rd after the SP to 7^th overall)... you’ve probably heard by now that downgrades and underrotations were to blame for her remarkably low elements score (49.80; Gracie Gold’s, by comparison, was 71.14). A level 2 spin and a fall on her triple flip didn’t help either... but the brutal truth was that of the five triples she landed in some fashion, four of them were “dinged” by the judges in one way or another. It adds up fast. (If it’s any comfort, her total score this year would’ve been good enough for fourth place last year!)

And for anyone wondering why NBC chose to stay on an uncomfortable close-up of Nagasu in the K’n’C after learning her fate... rather than cut away ASAP to the joy/relief shared by Wagner and Gold... all you need to know is that I can almost guarantee the man directing (aka “calling the shots”) for NBC is the same man who was responsible for staying FOREVER on the miserable close-up of Nancy Kerrigan as she sank to a 5^th-place finish back at the ’93 Worlds. I talked to him several times for Skating on Air, and much as he loves the innate drama of a good old-fashioned rivalry, he seems to love the raw (read: agonizing) emotion of defeated athletes just a little bit more. Better get used to it if you aren't already...

Worlds predictions coming up... by necessity... in the next few days!!!

Nationals Scrapes and Scraps Roundup, Pt. 1

There were a few more things I wanted to say about Nats even though we’re one month removed from it now... 4CC intervened before... so here it comes (in two parts) before Worlds preview, predictions and performances eclipse it completely!

The meltdown: it’s uncomfortable to watch a despondent skater in the Kiss’n’Cry (think Alissa Czisny at last year’s Worlds). It’s agonizing when the despondents in question are a dance or pairs team, particularly when one appears to be more to blame for whatever just happened (think Pechalat/Bourzat at ’11 Worlds).

But how about when one part of the team appears to have made the mistakes and the other one has the meltdown? That’s what IceNetwork viewers witnessed if they watched the post-mortem following Tiffany Vise and Don Baldwin’s last place-earning SP at Nationals. (Sorry I can’t find a YouTube link to post.) Vise fell on the side-by-side triple toes, and put her hand down on their throw jump—definitely not what you expect from veteran pair skaters who surely had hopes of finally making it to the podium this year. But once in the K’n’C, Baldwin was a cursing, skate guard-slamming, grimacing mess who could barely look at his partner. Poor Tiffany tried to get him to cool it (with a couple of sharp “Donny”s), if only because there was a camera and live microphone focused on the whole thing, but “Donny” made it clear he couldn't care less who was watching (“I really don’t care... what’s the difference? There is no difference,” he snarled.) By the time he stalked off (alone), as their scores were read, all I could think was “... and that’s the oldest competitor we have at this event??”

I’d speculate on the possibility of Vise ditching Baldwin next season in favor of Rockne Brubaker, but Brubaker just recently partnered up with Lindsay Davis... she of the almost-just-as-recently-dissolved Davis/Ladwig. And I’d better stop there before my head threatens to spin off my body from pairs-go-round dizziness.

Oh, one more thing... it was announced this week that Tai Babylonia and Randy Gardner—aka 1979 World Champions and one of the finest pairs teams the sport has ever seen— have been nominated for induction into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. No argument there... for the longer U.S. fans (and skaters) sit and wonder if we’ll ever have another Top 5 in-the-world team—let alone a world medalist—the more precious Tai and Randy’s accomplishments of years gone by become.

THE MEN

We tend not to hear much about the athletes that finish out of the top 10, but I was somewhat surprised to learn that Omaha was the end of the competitive road for two veterans. Both 26 year-old Jonathan Cassar and 27 year-old Wesley Campbell have elected to hang up the skates one year shy of Sochi, and as sad as that surely makes some of us, I give both of them big props for doing so. Both men are wonderful all-around skaters with artistry to spare... and Cassar, of course, even has a signature move (his physics-defying inside spreadeagle). But they’re both missing triple axels from their arsenal of jumps (never mind quads), and without ‘em there’s just no way to rack up the kind of points they’d need to be contenders in any shape or form: Campbell, for instance, had a beautiful and clean 7-triple free skate, and a relatively clean SP, yet wasn’t even close to breaking the 200 mark. What impresses me most is that, rather than hang around for the glory of an Olympic season, both are embracing their achievements for what they are and clearing the way for two other guys to begin their own journeys as national elite skaters.

So Cassar, with five senior appearances, topping out at 11^th place... and Campbell, with six appearances and several 14^th place finishes (though he went as high as 7^th place back in 2008)... tip of the hat to you both, and hope to see you somewhere down the road. Here is a clip from each of them; sorry I couldn’t find either of their most recent appearances on YouTube.

On the other hand... you know how you watch these Nationals year in and year out, and you come to expect certain names to be those who always “round out the top 20”... but then every once in a great while one of those names goes Bang! ZOOM! Into the top 10 before you even know what hit you?

Well this year was the Great While, and the “name” was Alexander Johnson. He was a bronze medalist at 2009 Junior Nationals, but in the years since was making glacier-like progress at the senior level—17^th in ‘10, 16^th in ‘11, and 15^th in ’12. A fall on his triple axel contributed to his 12^th place SP this year, but this free skate proved to be one of the cleanest and most enthralling performances of the evening—good enough to pull Johnson all the way up to 7^th place, and earn him a trip to the recent Challenge Cup in Graz, Austria. Where he was just barely edged out for the title by Brian Joubert! What a cool way to wrap up a season.

The Men, and the Ladies, and the multiple meanings of Four Continents 2013

ABOUT THE 4CC MEN...

Sometimes we get mad when the men’s event becomes a quad contest. And sometimes we get mad when it seems a clean quad hasn’t been landed in months—right around the time nay-sayers lament “the sport isn’t progressing!”

Lately, we’ve been hit with a couple of quad contests. We saw it at U.S. Nationals, where both Jeremy Abbott and Adam Rippon ceded the world team spots to a couple of guys who could land what they could not. And then we saw it again at Four Continents, when Daisuke Takahashi faltered to a trio of young quadmasters (not to mention U.S. Champ Max Aaron’s FS rally to 4^th place). It’s more complicated than that, of course. We know Abbott's artistic scores could’ve kept him on the team if he could’ve landed all the triples he had planned, and that Takahashi had lots of little mistakes (2-footed quads, stepouts etc.).

But if you've been waiting for Kevin Reynolds to get his Canadian-quad-king due, this was YOUR event. Part of his problem in the past has involved quads that looked clean initially, but were later found to be under-rotated. Another part of his problem has involved triple jumps (especially axels) that were blown or, more typically, popped after he’d put all his energy into the quads. But none of that was in evidence here, landing 3 quads in the FS as well as all his planned triples. Has he turned a corner... just in time for Worlds? We’ll know in a few weeks.

As for Yuzuru Hanyu—if ever there was a sign he was here to stay (like the GP series wasn’t enough?) it would be here, with a relatively subpar but still silver-worthy skate. He doubled his quad salchow and popped a triple lutz (both in his FS), but he was by far the best of the Japanese men. Maybe the crazy-competitiveness of so many excellent athletes took its toll here? Or they’re all subconsciously harvesting their energy for Worlds? Let’s face it, Japan could’ve sent Mura with Kozuka and Oda to this event (or maybe even a name further down the list) and gotten similar results to the 2^nd/7^th/8^th generated by Hanyu/Takahashi/Mura. Great, now I’m sitting here pouting about how I’d have rather seen Kozuka skate... and I still can’t believe he won’t be at Worlds... WAAAH.

Anyway, 4CC occasionally serves a very important purpose in that it actually affects decisions about who goes to said Worlds. Last year, Canada used it to determine whether Cynthia Phaneuf or Amelie Lacoste would get the lone ladies spot available to them. This time, former junior skater Yan Han did so well in his 4CC debut (bronze medal!) that many suspect he’ll be representing at Senior Worlds rather than Junior Worlds (as he was slated to do until a few days ago). Since Song Nan finished out of the top 12 last year, China gets only one spot for men’s singles... and Song was only able to finish 6^th here at 4CC... Aw, rats. Now I’m upset at the thought of Song missing Worlds too. (NOTE: as of now, I believe Song is still the one listed. Don't know if that's official yet, as they were still deciding Russian spots for Worlds up until today!)

About the 4CC ladies... Well first let’s consider ALL the top ladies, worldwide... 

It’s a given that the Japanese ladies (Asada, Murakami, Suzuki) are tough to beat at any event. Another given: Kim Yu-Na wasn’t at 4CC, but even if her skating at Worlds is not a technical match with the top ladies, her component score will be there and keep her in contention.

Let’s hop continents and focus on Europe next. With Kiira Korpi withdrawn from the event for the second straight year (due to injury), the top contenders look to be Italian and Russian. Reigning World Champ Carolina Kostner, while (so far) no match for Kim on the Olympic front, could otherwise be quite similar: not all there technically with count-on-it components (And a steadily improving Valentina Marchei can’t be ruled out to make a dent of her own). Russia, meanwhile, will bring Adelina Sotnikova and Liza Tuktamysheva to the party along with last-year’s-silver-medalist/this-year’s biggest wild card Alena Leonova.

Now, if we hop one more time and land on North America... and look around for the leading contenders... it’s not that we don’t HAVE them; rather, it’s that they don’t make as convincing a case. This (finally!) is where this year’s 4CC comes in:

+ USA’s rising star, 17 year-old Gracie Gold, was there. Canada’s rising star, 17 year-old Kaitlyn Osmond, was also there. But they finished sixth and seventh, respectively... not just behind the Japanese team (natch), but also Christina Gao of the USA, and Zijun Li of China.

Wait a minute... are you talking about Gao, perpetually 5^th-place-at-Nats Gao but also GP- ladies- finalist Gao? 

Yes I am. Gao outskated Gold and Osmond AND Agnes Zawadski at 4CC. While it’s nice that each of these 3 U.S. skaters has had a chance to shine in the past few weeks—Zawadski in the SP at Nats, Gold in the FS at Nats, and Gao at this entire event—it also plays up a dogged lack of consistency among them. Sure, they’re young (17-18), and the consistency may come with time and experience... but 2 out of 3 of the Russians are that age or younger. Kanako Murakami is young. Zijun Li is younger (16), and had one of the best free skates at 4CC.

And consider this: last year Ashley Wagner attended 4CC fresh off her first-ever U.S. title... and won this event too, defeating the tough-to-beat Japanese women in the process. Which set her up for Worlds very nicely, and left little surprise when she almost reached that podium too.

Her newly consistent self hit a wall, some might say, with the GP Final and (recent) U.S. Nationals free skates. It’s unfortunate that illness plus injury (and the recovery time needed for both) kept Wagner from defending her 4CC title—now we’ll all have to wait a few more weeks to see if she can regain her consistency WHILE beefing up the difficulty necessary to stay in the hunt. Because based on a season’s worth of results, she’s still our best chance for that.

"Carmenus Interruptus" and Other Pairs/Dance Observations from 2013 Four Continents

Some 4CC thoughts for you...

PAIRS: Simply stated, the World Team goals for the top North American pairs teams seem to break out like this:

Canada—get on the podium.

U.S.—break into the Top Six.

With no Pang/Tong (Injured? Exhausted?), no Sui/Han (Long-term injured? Long-term exhausted?), and no Takahashi/Tran (broken up), this year’s 4CC was all about Canada and the U.S. And they fell in line as you might expect: Canada 1^st and 2^nd; U.S. 3^rd and 4^th. The good news for Canada is that their one-two punch keeps getting stronger. Duhamel/Radford’s total score of 199.18 would have given them the bronze medal in last month’s European Championships, while Moore-Towers/Moscovitch’s total of 196.78 would’ve been plenty for fourth place. Even better news for Canada—maybe— is that Duhamel/Radford in particular had plenty of room for technical improvement in their free skate. So in theory, they could do even better at Worlds. But will they...? Or will M-T/Mosco get the advantage (and the medal)?

The good news for the U.S. pairs of Castelli/Shnapir and Zhang/Bartholomay is that they gained much-needed international experience and skated fairly well (in “Euros” terms they’d have ended up in the 6^th/7^th place range). The bad news for the U.S. is that we just do NOT have a one-two punch. And with only one of the U.S. 4CC teams headed to Worlds, while another (Denney/Coughlin) tries to heal up in time for the trip... and all other recent Worlds pair competitors from the U.S. either split up (Marley/Brubaker, Evora/Ladwig) or re-teamed and split up AGAIN (Davis/Ladwig, who parted company last week)... momentum simply continues to elude us.

DANCE

Without Weaver/Poje at this event, the top skaters were all-American with a big dash of Canadian at its core. Because the rookie team of Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier is progressing quickly, but not quite that quickly, you know? (Kudos to them for finishing 5^th nonetheless.)

So a battle for bronze emerged between the U.S.’s Shib Sibs and Chock/Bates... the very same teams that twizzled it out for Nationals silver a few weeks ago. With the same outcome, save for the 1-point deduction the Shibs got at Nats.

Chock/Bates: 160.42 4CC; 175.91 Nats

Shib Sibs: 159.97 4CC; 174.21 Nats

So whether skating for international judges or national ones (with traditionally higher scores all-around), it has become a virtual dead heat—with Chock/Bates getting the edge both times, and in this case, the Shib Sibs just missing out on the 4CC bronze medal for the second year in a row. Shibs devotees must be losing their minds as we head into Worlds, wondering what it could possibly take for the Sibs to feel the judicial love that was first heaped upon them two years ago. And it surely doesn’t help that, as some of you mentioned in the last post, that these two teams also represent opposite sides of the Zueva/Shpilband coaching split of last summer.

And then came a little something I’m calling CARMENUS INTERRUPTUS. If you haven’t yet seen Virtue/Moir’s FD from a few days ago, take a look at it here  ... it’s at the 2:56 mark when they seemingly missed a lift, then stopped the program altogether, then ping-ponged back and forth between their coaches and the judges a few times (well, Scott did anyway), then picked up where they left off 4 minutes later and finished the rest of the program—complete with the previously aborted lift. No, they didn’t win—Davis/White did, with another season’s best score I believe—but their silver medal-worthy performance has generated plenty of chatter just the same: Why no deduction for stopping down the program? Why was so much time allowed for them to regroup and continue? Why did they get another shot at that lift? Was it really another case of leg cramps for Virtue (as she indicated later), or did Moir screw up the lift the first time around?

Even though the deduction thing has been explained here and there (with the most recent non-deduction happening with the Shib Sibs during last fall’s GP series), I think the questions will remain for a while—at least until we see what unfolds at Worlds next month.

Personally I try to cheer on V/M as much as I can—for a D/W fan, anyway—but I can’t help but feel Moir is developing an above-the-law attitude I can neither appreciate nor relate to in any manner. And last weekend’s events only reinforced that feeling.

Men’s and Ladies commentary still to come... can you believe I haven’t yet taken a look at Kevin Reynolds’ gold-medal free skate??

Post-Omaha, Nationals 2013: Men's Overview

Last but not least, the MEN of U.S. Nationals... Men's Overview

Top 6 Men: Max Aaron, Ross Miner, Jeremy Abbott, Joshua Farris, Adam Rippon

The debate: Did Aaron deserve to win?

I made a prediction on January 21^st that Aaron would win bronze to Abbott’s gold and Miner’s silver. Had Abbott executed all his planned triples, my prediction probably would’ve been more accurate (although Aaron’s TWO quad salchows kept him a step ahead of Miner’s ONE quad salchow). But I’ve got some of the free skate protocols here in front of me, so let’s take a look at them in an effort for some clarity:

Aaron had four double-digit point-getters... the 4sal/2toe (13.94), solo 4sal (12.93), solo 3ax in 2^nd half of program (12.06), and 3toe/loop/3sal in 2^nd half (10.88).

Miner’s double-digit point-getters numbered four as well... the 4sal (12.64), 3ax/2toe (11.80), 3lz/3toe (10.20), and 3lz/loop/3sal in 2^nd half of program (12.37).

In the wake of his fall on the quad toe, Abbott only had three double-digit point-getters ... 3ax/2toe (11.51), solo 3ax in 2^nd half of program (11.78), and 3lz/3toe in 2^nd half (12.41).

In terms of points for the ELEMENTS, the top 7 free skate guys shook down like this:

Aaron—96.39

Farris—87.12

Miner—86.08

Alexander Johnson (who we’ll talk about in a future post)—81.35

Abbott—78.03

Ricky Dornbush—75.87

Rippon—75.08

While in terms of points for the COMPONENTS (artistic score), it looked like this:

Abbott—88.20

Miner—84.22

Aaron—79.48

Farris—78.92

Rippon—78.14

Johnson—77.94

Dornbush—76.28

So considering Aaron’s 2 quads were worth about 26 points ALONE, it’s easy to see how he could build up such a lead in an event with no compatible quad success stories. And while his components were nearly 10 points lower than Abbott’s, they were still pretty good (third best of the event). It could be argued that those were too high, but I’m not sure what sort of case could be made against his elements score... unless you want to argue that quads are scored too high, in which case I can think of more than a few skaters who’d want to take the counterpoint position.

Going back to Abbott’s elements... he earned a 3.67 for his 2Lo/2toe combo; had he done a 3Lo/2toe as planned, I think it would have been at least 4 points higher. And the 2sal he did at the very end earned him only 1.43 points; a 3sal would’ve been at least 3 ½ points higher. That’s around 7 ½ points left on the table at an event where there was less than 6 points separating 1^st and 3^rd place. In other words... in theory, at least... Abbott could have won.

Or if he’d have tripled ONE of those last two as planned, he’d have been in 2^nd. Not the winner, but at least he’d have made the world team.

Instead, his season is over in a most maddening fashion... both for him, and for his fans.

All of which should take nothing away from the fact that Aaron and Miner are extremely deserving world team members. Miner (who carries the highest GP point totals of any U.S. skater this season) has been sitting on the bronze side for the past two years, so it’s especially rewarding to see him do so well—almost winning the whole thing, if not for a popped triple axel. As for Aaron, who has cut a fine impression for himself on the junior circuit but is very new to this whole senior thing... I’m honestly not sure what they’ll do with him. IF he has as much quad success at Worlds as he did at Nats, they’ll have to reward him properly. But it’s only part of the picture, and his international components are likely to be considerably lower in London, ON than they were in Omaha.

Will Aaron and Miner be able to win back a third U.S. men’s slot for Sochi? All I know for sure is that Abbott’s already had his turn at this. And had it, and had it, and had it even a fourth time. Given the way those turned out... and given that a third spot might be Abbott’s best bet for a shot at Sochi come this time next season... perhaps these results will prove to be the best thing that ever happened to the guy I used to refer to (with fondness) as JEREMEEEE.

Post-Omaha: Nationals 2013: Ladies Overview

Are you tired of waiting for “some thoughts” yet on the men and ladies? Because I am. Let’s see what I’ve got:

Ladies results, US Nationals 2013 (top 5): Ashley Wagner, Gracie Gold, Agnes Zawadski, Courtney Hicks, Christina Gao

The debate (a real one for some fans): Was Gold “robbed”? And/or was Wagner held up by components?  

To spice things up, here are write-ups on the topic by USA Today’s Christine Brennan and Chicago Tribune’s Phil Hersh.

As for me, I agree with the placement. Easy for me, right... I’m one of those who predicted pre-Nats that Wagner & Gold would go 1-2 (and was hedging her bets after the short program). But Gold made two gasp-worthy mistakes in the SP, so combine that with her understandably “1^st year senior lady” (quoting Sandra Bezic there) artistic scores and you get what she got—ninth place. Wagner skated like a seasoned pro for the SP, skated clean, and came out on top. Different story for the free skate—Gold was a healthy, uninjured, “angry” (so we heard) girl on a mission for redemption; Wagner was a lady recovering from recent injury and illness (salmonella—ugh!!) determined to get through a long, long four minutes. Oh, and to pull off back-to-back titles a la Kwan. I wasn’t at all sure she’d gotten it done until the scores came in. (Neither was she, in case you couldn’t tell.) But she did. Some might argue that the judges “held her up” by inflating the always-subjective artistic scores, but even if they did... it’s probably happened a time or two to any well-regarded skater that’s hung around long enough to earn the benefit of the doubt. I can live with that. More importantly, I’m not convinced that was even the case. But let me take a closer look at the protocols before commenting further on that.

(By the way—raise your hand if you began to worry for Wagner as soon as she did that slight 2-ft thing on the triple salchow... the flaw that used to be her undoing at many an event!)

Is “Ash” in trouble? Difficulties with the FS at the GP Final, difficulties at Nats—are there more than simple ailments to blame? I’m not ready to declare that just yet... I DO think Wagner needs at least a good performance at Worlds (“good”= top 6) to get her groove back. But in any case, I’d rather be Wagner than Gold over the next 12 months.

You may have heard/read/been beaten over the head with the news that Gold has now proven herself to be America’s Next Big Skating Thing? NBC clearly has put all its money on her, and for the sport’s sake (in America, at least) it would be nice if it worked out that way. But the post-Kwan shadow is a mighty long one, and the last young woman in the U.S. to be anointed “Next” was a certain phenom with the last name of Meissner. Then it was Nagasu. Then Flatt. All in about 3-4 years’ time.

Sure, Gold may “love attention” as Bezic and Hamilton mentioned last Saturday night... but I, for one, hope the skating media does her a huge favor this coming year and BACKS. OFF. ALREADY.

Anyway, my bigger debate than all that is this: Agnes Zawadzki in 3^{rd place} rather than Gao?

Does anyone else have a problem with this? Not just because Gao got that bummer 5^th place AGAIN, but because she they believe she deserved 3^rd?

OK, so admittedly I say this without studying their protocols either. Let me know what you know, and I’ll see what I can find.

Ran out of time for the Men’s mini-analysis, will do that this weekend!

Post-Omaha: Nationals 2013: Pairs & Ice Dance Overview

Now that Omaha's been cleared of all blades and sequins, it's time to let the analysis fly! 

Top 5 Pairs: Castelli/Shnapir, Scimeca/Knierim, Zhang/Bartholomay, Davis/Ladwig, Denney/Frazier

The “debate” (if there really is one): Is it fair that Denney/Coughlin will go to Worlds if they are physically ready to do so by that time? 

Yes, I’d say so; it’s hardly an unprecedented move. Pairs seems the least likely of all the disciplines to get 3 spots for Sochi, but the U.S. still needs to put its best skate forward. Silver medalists Scimeca/Knierim had a pretty good GP debut this season (and will get some great new experience at Four Continents)... but Denney/Coughlin need to see if they can build on their Grand Prix momentum, and improve on last year’s 8^th place at Worlds.

As an aside—did you hear that new U.S. champs Castelli/Shnapir are planning to attempt a throw quad salchow at Worlds? They’ve made several attempts at throw triple axels in the past few years, so it’ll be fun to see if they pull it off.

Top 5 in Dance: Davis/White, Chock/Bates, Shibutanis, Hubbell/Donohue, K/L-S

The debate (if it counts): Does the Chock/Bates leapfrog from 5^th to 2^nd shock (or “chock”) anyone inside or out of the ice dance community? I’m fond of them, and anticipated a bump upwards for them—but that’s more like a BOMP, isn’t it?

If you read here with any regularity, you know that I’m not particularly schooled in ice dance. But here’s what I DO know:

a) a one-year leap in the standings like that is very rare.

b) The Shib Sibs had two extended lifts (one in the SD, one in the FD) that apparently made the slight difference between silver and bronze...

and c) on the other hand, Hubbell/Donohue skated very well but simply couldn’t reach the same levels of difficulty (a.k.a. “4s”) as the podium-finishers.

So here’s my dumb-girl theory: Bates’ previous success with Emily Samuelson—as well as Chock’s previous success with Greg Zuerlein—had already put each of them in that upper echelon of ice dance quality. It just took them a couple of years to re-discover it together.

OR, everyone just loves that cool floaty spin they do at the end of their Zhivago FD because it’s awesome.

Next up—some thoughts on the men’s and ladies results.

(Please post your own thoughts in the meantime!)