healthnut

Alexandra Boikova, bronze medalist

This is the best episode of the Skatinh Lesson I’ve ever listened to, Elena Bechke was great! She has terrific stories of her days with Tamara Moskvina and really great insight into current pairs.

Well the dance event sucked. Thank goodness I still have good vibes from Nathan’s free skate.

So happy for Karen! I, too, am frustrated by the splat fest but I also think it’s a result of the lack of a season. Russians skated a ton and it seems to be paying off at least in ladies and pairs. I don’t know what to do about the scoring. As long as Trusova can rotate her quads, they end up being about as much as a triple jump even if she falls, so if she only lands a couple she still has a massive score. If they the change the rule to getting zero if you fall then people aren’t incentivized to try. No one else is really doing enough quads for it to matter except Trusova. Super bummed about the rhythm dance today, I expect nothing but a crowning of S/K tomorrow.

Mishina/Gallimov were the only team in the whole event not to have negative GOE. What a messy event and they definitely deserved the win. My heart broke for Alexa, she had a rough day and was so disappointed with herself. It's clear the international judges do seem to like them though. They would've been close to bronze if they had been clean in both programs. Tim & Ashley had a good skate for them but too many Level 3 elements along with their SBS jump troubles. I don't think the international judges love them as much. Looking forward to the rhythm dances tomorrow, after three shaky events in a row, I really hope Ice Dance brings the magic.

Yes. Meaning it could be Vincent. And whomever it was would probably need to be top 6 (or in the top 6 among countries trying to get another spot). Definitely doable. Need Jason to hold it together Saturday and be no worse than 10-12 (assuming Nathan is 1-3).

There are additional implications to Vincent not making the free skate. Even if Jason and Nathan get placements high enough to qualify for three spots, only two spots are guaranteed. They will have to qualify for the additional spot at Nebelhorn. They changed the rule after last Olympics. Really bad break for US Men potentially.

Both Ashley & Tim and Alexa & Brandon made mistakes but somehow they are in 6th and 7th after the short program and we have a prayer to get three pair teams at the Olympics next year. The pairs SP overall was messy with almost no one skating clean (only M/G and B/K). Brandon doubled their SBS triple toes and Ashley fell on her triple salchow although she finally landed the throw lutz. I AM SO EXCITED FOR KAREN!! Overall, total shenanigans in PCS for the ladies event has me worried for Ice Dance in a couple of days. Total crime that Rika is not in first.

Worlds 2021 ISU Results Starting order for ladies and pairs is up. Jackie Wong had some good previews for each event on his Instagram @rockerskating and The Skating Lesson had on Megan Duhamel Sunday for their worlds preview (a rare episode without a bunch of fluff).

NBC Sports & Peacock schedule!

In their defense, I think the schedule literally came out officially today. They've been putting the schedule on Peacock up a few days ahead of the event. Hopefully, they will keep Peacock with no commentary.

She’s trying to go back to Eteri. It’s been very dramatic in the Russian figure skating world this week. She’s definitely left Plushenko. Sadly, I think her competitive career is probably over. Even if she got the triple axel back, there she doesn’t have a quad, she can’t compete with the other wizards at Sambo 70.

Wang & Liu were 4th at Four Continents last year behind C/B, G/P, and H/D, so while not podium contenders they are definitely stronger than Japan and you know that home team wants to get a team medal.

Kamila Valieva landed a clean triple axel at this competition today. Very nice short program.

They literally just reported the tech minimum ruling this morning, I checked last night before I posted. I’m glad they’re giving people options, it was the right thing to do.

You need a minimum technical score to compete at Worlds and Olympics. It's different for each discipline and you need one every two years in order to compete at these comps. This never really affects US skaters, but can be a real issue for some federations, like last year for the Canadian women. However, this year it does affect Vincent Zhou and Knierim/Frazier. Knierim/Frazier are a new team so their scores with previous partners do not count. Vincent's issue is that his only international competition last year was US Classic where he got tech minimums for the short program but not the long program. Domestic competitions i.e Nationals do not count because they have domestic panels and inflated scoring. Skate America had a domestic panel therefore it did not count as it would in a normal season. US skaters have been unable to travel to Europe to attend challengers like Nebelhorn. There is a competition in the Netherlands called Challenge Cup but I don't think they are sending any skaters there but instead hoping for an exemption. I believe Evgeny Plushenko received an exemption to skate at Sochi in 2014. I don't think exemptions are very common, I'm not sure what the ISU will decide. I hope that helps.

ISU ruled today to go ahead with World Championships. Papadakis & Cizeron have said they’re not going and as far as I know Canada hasn’t changed their stance on not sending their s athletes (although that’s not an official ruling, more of a threat). I don’t believe anyone else has said they’re not going, although they were probably waiting on a ruling. They are supposed to be having a bubble in Sweden where they are to be held two months from now. No word on tech minimum rulings for skaters like Vincent Zhou and Knierim/Frazier.

Yes, they were fourth in juniors last year and got the nod to skate at Skate America and they were fifth. Their tech score was higher than both Green/Parsons and Carriera/Ponomarenko at SA. I love them. They have great chemistry.

Evan fell out of his last twizzle so he got a level 3 instead of a level 4, so C/B twizzle score was 7.78. H/D got level 4 on both of theirs, so their score was 10.04. A difference of 2.26, they lost by 2.07. H/D did lose a level on their dance spin but the base level difference between a level 4 and a level 3 is only .75 pts, so the twizzle error was the killer. Madison Chock messed up her twizzle in the rhythm dance but they got a level 4 in their finnstep vs H/D’s level 3 so it made up for the error. H/D didn’t make a big enough error here so C/B couldn’t overcome the error, had they been clean, they would’ve won.

I was coming to say the same thing! So bummed 😬 Oh well, at least Alexa & Brandon skated awesome, so I’ll still go to bed happy.

They couldn’t pick Amber, this is literally her first clean free skate like ever. Alysa is still too young. That leaves Karen or Mariah. Mariah is probably the correct choice due to body of work but placing fifth here put USFS in a tough spot. All things considered, I understand their choice. I have zero issue with Karen getting the nod over Amber. To me, the issue is whether Mariah should’ve been given the spot. I’d say no after a fifth place finish. Had she been fourth, I’d say yes, but fifth? Hard to justify.

So apparently she’s dating Balazs Nagy, who’s also a pair skater and recently split with his partner also. Certainly seems like they may be teaming up... I feel bad for Danny, who could’ve tried out with Alexa, although I really like her pairing with Brandon.

So apparently Danny O’Shea isn’t retiring, they are breaking up....interesting. In other news, ISU has cancelled Europeans

If you want to be a one of the cutout fans at Nationals in January, here’s the info: Cutout Crowd at US Nationals