Figure Skating

[Sarahsmile416]

25 minutes ago, Jeddah said:

I hope Ashley is okay. I hate to see that. I feel so bad for them. Concussions are no joke.

I am thrilled an American team won! K/F aren’t my style, but I was thrilled to see them skate so well. When Chris retired I said I didn’t understand why Alexa didn’t retire either because she wasn’t going to progress any further in the sport. I’m happy I was wrong!

I’m super bummed Radford/James medaled. They were both willing to do crappy things to get where they are, so I hope that bronze medal was worth it.

I had no idea about Radford/James until I googled.  Ugh.  Both of them seem pretty hard to root for and I hate more  that it happened at the expense of Ashley and Timothy.  

[choclatechip45]

I'm so happy for Alexa and Brandon!!

Gutted for Ashley and Timothy. 

Edited March 25, 2022 by choclatechip45

[lurkerbee]

Tai Babylonia and Randy Gardner have released a statement congratulating Alexa & Brandon.

I still can’t believe I watched an American  pair win Worlds this afternoon. Truly something I wasn’t sure I’d ever see again.

 

[MaryMitch]

 

[MaryMitch]

They hardly showed her after the stretcher and medics went on the floor. Maybe that's a European thing, to be discreet about showing someone who's injured.

[annzeepark914]

Damn...it's hard to be elated re: K/F achieving a gold medal at World's while worrying about Ashley.  🙏🍀🤞 for Ashley.

[Jillibean]

Wow, that was quite the roller coaster. Ashley was so concussed you could tell just by looking at her. I wonder at what point she actually sustained that--it could have been on any of those three elements. Maybe a blessing in disguise that she went out before overhead lifts, because this could have been a lot worse. I really hope she's okay. It didn't seem like a great sign that there was no update before the coverage ended. Terrible to have that happen anytime, but especially when you're in medal position at a world championship.

Alexa and Brandon were amazing. So much pressure, plus watching Ashley get hurt right in front of them and having a disrupted experience before going out to skate, and they pulled off the best free skate I've ever seen either of them do. I am so happy for them--what an amazing achievement, and they really stepped up and earned it. Two beautiful skates and incredible composure. Their reactions were truly joyous. 

Ilia has so much potential. He definitely needs to work on his artistry because he could absolutely be a contender for the top podium spots with his technical content. Happy for Camden that he had a great skate. I'm so happy for Vincent that he got to skate and be relatively clean after his disastrous Olympics experience. But the vacuum left in USA men's skating by no Nathan and no Jason is really apparent.

 

[annzeepark914]

1 minute ago, MaryMitch said:

They hardly showed her after the stretcher and medics went on the floor. Maybe that's a European thing, to be discreet about showing someone who's injured.

I wondered about that. Meanwhile, the camera was focused on the audience and it was upsetting to see some folks mugging for the camera while medics were on the ice checking out an injured skater. 

[ShellsandCheese]

The Pairs competition was rough. And sadly it reinforced just how far ahead of the field the Russians and Chinese were….hope the Japanese men sweep and I hope the womens free skate is good! 

[AuntieDiane6]

1 hour ago, annzeepark914 said:

it was upsetting to see some folks mugging for the camera while medics were on the ice checking out an injured skater. 

I thought so too, but then I remembered that the commentators said she was sitting up.  The incident awhile ago that was so scary was that Russian pair that fell out of a lift.  Nobody mugged then! 

Just now, AuntieDiane6 said:

I thought so too, but then I remembered that the commentators said she was sitting up.  The incident awhile ago that was so scary was that Russian pair that fell out of a lift.  Nobody mugged then! 

48 minutes ago, ShellsandCheese said:

hope the Japanese men sweep

 

Why wouldn't you want Vincent or Ilia to medal? 

[honeywest]

After the gurney had just been wheeled out for Ashley, the Peacock commentator said, "She's gotten up; that's a good sign." How was that a good sign? Why wasn't she immediately strapped to a backboard? She's already had one serious concussion.

I remember Totmianina's fall. Peggy Fleming said afterward that she was sure Totmianina had been killed.

[SophiaD]

OMG, that's so sad for Ashley and Timothy.  I think whatever happened must have occurred early on, because she didn't seem to have any awareness of where she was in the air.  

I wonder if she has a concussion?  Or an inner ear infection?  Regardless, I hope she's okay.

Very, very happy for Alexa and Brandon, though.  Huge congratulations to them!

[honeywest]

Ashley was shaking her head and trying to focus her eyes.

[ChicksDigScars]

Squeeee! Tai Babilonia retweeted me! 😳😎

So, with the withdrawal Ashley and Timothy, they get credit for 13th place, right? And added to Alexa and Brandon’s first place, totaling 14 means that the US gets two spots next year? 

I just watched my USA DVR recording, and yeah, it looked scarier on my TV than it did on my lap top at work. I hope Ashley is okay. And if this is a repeat concussion, who knows what doctors will tell her. You don’t mess with multiple concussions. 
 

I got the impression that Bruno was sweating out Miura and Kihara (whom he coaches), finishing ahead of James and Radford. I don’t think he wanted to go home to his wife (Meagan Duhamel), finishing behind her former partner.

[Enero]

6 hours ago, Jeddah said:

I’m super bummed Radford/James medaled. They were both willing to do crappy things to get where they are, so I hope that bronze medal was worth it.

Their off ice antics aside, I actually think they were robbed here. They should've taken silver. The Japanese skate was disastrous. I don't think they hit one jumping pass save for the twist. I don't even think they should've been on the podium with that skate, much less silver. Once again, this type of result with that type of skate reinforces why this sport has no credibility with many.

Brandon/Alexa skated well and deserved their win though. Congrats to them!

21 minutes ago, SophiaD said:

OMG, that's so sad for Ashley and Timothy.  I think whatever happened must have occurred early on, because she didn't seem to have any awareness of where she was in the air.  

I feel terrible for Ashley. I too wonder if something happened early on, specifically before they stepped onto the ice. She missed each jump, having a fall, with her hitting her head on that last fall. She looked really out of it when she sat up after Timothy skated over to help her. I hope she will be okay.

[Jeddah]

36 minutes ago, ChicksDigScars said:

So, with the withdrawal Ashley and Timothy, they get credit for 13th place, right? And added to Alexa and Brandon’s first place, totaling 14 means that the US gets two spots next year? 

Do Cain/Leduc count as having competed? If a country only has one competitor and they place top 2, then they get 3 spots.

It’s funny because when they were with their old partners, Knierim/Frazier were the reason the US only had one spot for 2018. So it’s come full circle if they earned 3 spots.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Jeddah

[CheshireCat]

7 minutes ago, Jeddah said:

Do Cain/Leduc count as having competed? If a country only has one competitor and they place top 2, then they get 3 spots.

I read elsewhere that the US does have 3 spots next year (someone had looked up the rule).

[Enero]

Watching the men's SP. This is the first time I've seen Vincent skate in a very long time. He has improved tremendously with his artistry. I thought his skate was strong.  Unfortunately he received downgrades on the 4Ltz and 4Sal. The other U.S. men...Camden had a great skate, lots of potential there. Same with Ilia, but he has no presence. The song he skated to was great. He could've done so much with that, but not much happened. However, he does have quads. So that'll get him far if he consistently skates clean. 

Disappointed Carrillo withdrew. This would've been a great opportunity for him to potentially move up in the ranks. Hopefully he'll have a strong season next year and get more visibility and move up in rankings. 

The Japanese has some great talent to follow Hanyu. Tomono is very impressive. Yuma is definitely head and shoulders above those behind him, but his skate was a little muted. Not as dynamic as his Olympic SP skate. Shoma is just mesmerizing to watch. Such quality in his performance. Again, head and shoulders above the competition.

I'm definitely rooting for the Japanese to sweep. Fingers crossed that Shoma can take gold, but if Yuma is on, Shoma has no chance of winning.

 

Edited March 25, 2022 by Enero

[CeeBeeGee]

5 hours ago, MaryMitch said:

They hardly showed her after the stretcher and medics went on the floor. Maybe that's a European thing, to be discreet about showing someone who's injured.

I did notice that the NBC cameras (or were they? Maybe it's a general feed?) which are often quite intrusive, gave Ashley some privacy.

 

5 hours ago, Jillibean said:

Alexa and Brandon were amazing. So much pressure, plus watching Ashley get hurt right in front of them and having a disrupted experience before going out to skate, and they pulled off the best free skate I've ever seen either of them do. I am so happy for them--what an amazing achievement, and they really stepped up and earned it. Two beautiful skates and incredible composure. Their reactions were truly joyous. 

Ilia has so much potential. He definitely needs to work on his artistry because he could absolutely be a contender for the top podium spots with his technical content. Happy for Camden that he had a great skate. 

 

I was super impressed that Alexa and Brandon had the presence of mind, when they stepped out onto the ice, to take their time. To process how things had changed, come to terms with it, accept that they were going to have to skate earlier, and place their understandable worry about their teammate aside and concentrate on the task at hand. (I kept thinking of Tonya Harding's lace incident in the '94 Games and how that rattled poor Josee Chouinard, who suddenly had to skate much sooner than she'd anticipated.) They took their sweet time just pacing around the arena, and they needed that. They didn't hit their starting positions until they were ready to, audience clapping aside.

Ilia is a little coltish out there, all long legs and no artistry. It'll be fun to see his artistry grow. I did like Camden's performance.

Chris Knierim tweeted "My wife is a World champion!"

 

[redpencil]

 

 

3 hours ago, Enero said:

Watching the men's SP. This is the first time I've seen Vincent skate in a very long time. He has improved tremendously with his artistry. I thought his skate was strong.  Unfortunately he received downgrades on the 4Ltz and 4Sal. The other U.S. men...Camden had a great skate, lots of potential there. Same with Ilia, but he has no presence. The song he skated to was great. He could've done so much with that, but not much happened. However, he does have quads. So that'll get him far if he consistently skates clean.

 

Vincent actually got a q on the 4Lz and an underrotation on the 4Sal, no downgrades. Still cost him points. I thought the 4Lz looked okay, though the 4Sal looked at least q in real time. So they went one step further on each of them from what they looked like in real time for me. But regardless, I'm so glad Vincent had a good skate after his terrible Olympics experience (and his SP at Worlds last year).

2 hours ago, CeeBeeGee said:

Ilia is a little coltish out there, all long legs and no artistry. It'll be fun to see his artistry grow. I did like Camden's performance.

Ilia definitely has a lot of room to grow, but I see the potential there. I caught him singing along a couple times during his skate, which was cute; I think it's a program he enjoys. And also says that he is listening to the music, and hopefully that means he has the musical awareness to really improve there. There are definitely skaters out there who don't even seem to really notice their music, so at least he's got that going for him. And he's so young! I'm excited to see where he goes the next few years.

[absnow54]

5 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

I read elsewhere that the US does have 3 spots next year (someone had looked up the rule).

When Nathan won World’s last year, and Vincent Zhou WD, they had to earn the third spot at a challenge cup event, because they technically only had 2 entries. So I wonder if US only qualify for 1, with the opportunity to earn 2 slots, or, because there were so few entries this year, they’ll get the three slots, because there weren’t any countries with 3 entries this year to begin with. 

[Snow Apple]

I'm confused by the schedule. Are the women skating both the short and long the same day?

NM. I figured out USA is just showing both on the same day and the short is not live.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Snow Apple

[BlackberryJam]

Announcers suspended.

 It's really nice to see something happen to those people so quickly.

[ChicksDigScars]

How weird is this? The likelihood that the U.S. lone World Championship gold medal is going to be in....PAIRS. With P/C competing, the U.S. could finish 2nd and/or 3rd in Dance, and who knows how the ladies and men shake out, but I see Japan winning both those titles.

[healthnut]

2 hours ago, absnow54 said:

When Nathan won World’s last year, and Vincent Zhou WD, they had to earn the third spot at a challenge cup event, because they technically only had 2 entries. So I wonder if US only qualify for 1, with the opportunity to earn 2 slots, or, because there were so few entries this year, they’ll get the three slots, because there weren’t any countries with 3 entries this year to begin with. 

Those were unique rules for Olympic qualification. 

Not much of an update but at least she’s been released. 

[Jeddah]

8 minutes ago, healthnut said:

Not much of an update but at least she’s been released. 

I was getting worried because there hadn’t been any kind of update. I’m glad she’s out of the hospital at least. Have they said officially that it’s a concussion?

[ML89]

It's crazy when you think that the last time the US won pairs gold was 1979 - Terry Gannon was a high school sophomore and I think hadn't even met Valvano yet. Tara and Johnny weren't even born. Let alone Knierim and Frazier!

So happy for Alexa and Brandon and I hope Ashley is okay. Good she's out of the hospital.

[Good Queen Jane]

Ashley seemed very tense from the beginning of the skate. I don't know if it was nerves, but I am wondering if something happened in warm-ups or even backstage before they went on. If it was nerves and not a physical injury before they started, I'm sure each missed jump just made her body tighten up more. But I really think something was wrong before she went out on the ice.

How terrifying for her parents, who are also her coaches, to see her out down on the ice. But how wonderful for Ashley that they could be right there for her.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Good Queen Jane

[annzeepark914]

*One sentence* about a US team winning gold at World's, in today's Washington Post, page 2, (in a small section that covers multiple sports). An article above that puny sentence was two paragraphs about the two jerks caught on a hot mic making misogynistic comments re: coach Meaghan Duhamel. 

[Bessiesue]

I agree with you Good Queen Jane.  Something happened beforehand.  We watched the throw jump frame by frame, and she had a very weird askewed look on her face.  Afterwards the other jumps she went down, and I told my husband that something weird happened beforehand.  The look from her parents, I cannot imagine what was going through their mind, as well as, LeDuc's boyfriend's mind.  Alas, we are reminded that figure skating can be a dangerous yet beautiful sport.

Chris Knierim bowed out due to mental health correct.  This was the catalyst for Brandon Frazer looking for a partner.

Okay ladies and gents, fill me in on Radford/James.  We loved them with their eariier partners, learned to hate Cipres and Zimmerman, and why should we not love them now?

 

[GeminiDancer]

10 minutes ago, Bessiesue said:

Okay ladies and gents, fill me in on Radford/James.  We loved them with their eariier partners, learned to hate Cipres and Zimmerman, and why should we not love them now?

A number of reasons (please correct me if I'm wrong):

1. Rumor has it that James knew what Cipres was doing and kept quiet because *winning!*. She says she didn't know, but who knows the truth about it.

2. This is not 100% clear, but I hope this is the gist of it. Radford and Duhamel talked about doing skating shows after retirement, and I believe the conversation was that Radford was retiring from skating all together. Then came the announcement of the J/R pairing and Radford never told Duhamel about it beforehand. He messed with her ability to earn money from skating because it's not like she can just up and skate with another retired partner like that.

3. J/R were terrible at Canadian Nationals, but they knew that no matter what happened, they were going to the Olympics anyway (because the Canadian Federation are morons). I believe James even bragged about it after the short program. And they finished 5th or 6th.

[healthnut]

16 minutes ago, Bessiesue said:

The look from her parents, I cannot imagine what was going through their mind, as well as, LeDuc's boyfriend's mind.  Alas, we are reminded that figure skating can be a dangerous yet beautiful sport.

Chris Knierim bowed out due to mental health correct.  This was the catalyst for Brandon Frazer looking for a partner.

Okay ladies and gents, fill me in on Radford/James.  We loved them with their eariier partners, learned to hate Cipres and Zimmerman, and why should we not love them now?

1. Maybe I misunderstood but Ashley and Timothy are definitely not dating. She’s married and he’s gay (and non-binary). 
2. Chris Knierim bowed out due to injury. Bad back and lack of motivation. 
3. I don’t hate James/Radford. I don’t blame Vanessa for Morgan Cipres being an idiot. Yes, she could’ve and should’ve condemned his behavior but I’m really not sure what else she could’ve done or how much she knew. I don’t hate Radford, Meaghan was on TSL and gave her side of the story and we never heard Eric’s. I definitely think it could’ve been handled better but Meaghan is pregnant now, so Eric was kind of right…I also thought they were absolutely the right choice to send over Evelyn/Trent.  

[Mirabelle]

Concussion symptoms can take a few days to manifest so Ashley could have hit her head prior to the free skate. 

[healthnut]

3 minutes ago, GeminiDancer said:

3. J/R were terrible at Canadian Nationals, but they knew that no matter what happened, they were going to the Olympics anyway (because the Canadian Federation are morons). I believe James even bragged about it after the short program. And they finished 5th or 6th.

That was here say that I’m pretty sure has been disproven at this point and they were 4th (admittedly still not great but they’ve been better long program skaters all year). 

[GeminiDancer]

Quote

1. Maybe I misunderstood but Ashley and Timothy are definitely not dating. She’s married and he’s gay (and non-binary). 

Timothy uses they/them pronouns.

[honeywest]

15 minutes ago, healthnut said:

2. Chris Knierim bowed out due to injury. Bad back and lack of motivation. 
 

He said afterward that in addition to his physical injuries, he had been suffering from depression.

[Sarahsmile416]

1 hour ago, Bessiesue said:

I agree with you Good Queen Jane.  Something happened beforehand.  We watched the throw jump frame by frame, and she had a very weird askewed look on her face.  Afterwards the other jumps she went down, and I told my husband that something weird happened beforehand.  The look from her parents, I cannot imagine what was going through their mind, as well as, LeDuc's boyfriend's mind.  Alas, we are reminded that figure skating can be a dangerous yet beautiful sport.

Chris Knierim bowed out due to mental health correct.  This was the catalyst for Brandon Frazer looking for a partner.

Okay ladies and gents, fill me in on Radford/James.  We loved them with their eariier partners, learned to hate Cipres and Zimmerman, and why should we not love them now?

 

I found this article on Radford/James…told me all I needed to know

https://www.thestar.com/amp/sports/skating/opinion/2021/10/28/as-skate-canada-starts-this-weekend-a-cloud-hangs-over-new-team-of-vanessa-james-and-eric-radford.html

[CeeBeeGee]

19 minutes ago, Sarahsmile416 said:

I found this article on Radford/James…told me all I needed to know

https://www.thestar.com/amp/sports/skating/opinion/2021/10/28/as-skate-canada-starts-this-weekend-a-cloud-hangs-over-new-team-of-vanessa-james-and-eric-radford.html

 

...yikes.

[Sarahsmile416]

26 minutes ago, CeeBeeGee said:

 

...yikes.

That was my precise reaction…

[NUguy514]

2 hours ago, healthnut said:

I don’t blame Vanessa for Morgan Cipres being an idiot.

Morgan Ciprès is not an idiot; he's a predator.

[Sarahsmile416]

1 minute ago, NUguy514 said:

Morgan Ciprès is not an idiot; he's a predator.

I’ll take it one step forward…he’s a damned pedophile 

[Jeddah]

This is way less than a lot of the other things mentioned, but I think Eric did a crappy thing to Walsh/Michaud. He choreographed for them. I’m sure they weren’t happy they paid for a choreographer who then decided to directly compete against them. They got second at Nationals, and didn’t get to go to the Olympics because of Eric. That has to be so infuriating.

 

[annzeepark914]

Did anyone watch the RD?  No surprise that the French are in 1st place. But any comments re: the placement of others?

[Sarahsmile416]

17 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

Did anyone watch the RD?  No surprise that the French are in 1st place. But any comments re: the placement of others?

I don’t know anything about Ice Dance but I am continually bored by the French even though I know how good they are…and wish Smart/Diaz could come up a little in the Long.  I absolutely love Smart/Diaz! 

[absnow54]

Wow, are the US ladies guaranteed a medal? I thought Higuchi or Young would make a comeback, but Alysa is sitting at 3rd place, and there are only 3 skaters left, including Mariah!

[CeeBeeGee]

5 minutes ago, absnow54 said:

Wow, are the US ladies guaranteed a medal? I thought Higuchi or Young would make a comeback, but Alysa is sitting at 3rd place, and there are only 3 skaters left, including Mariah!

Yes, Alysa is now guaranteed a medal!

[Good Queen Jane]

And the US is guaranteed 3 spots at next year's Worlds. 

Not bad for Alysa to medal at her first senior Worlds.

[ChicksDigScars]

I have to say that I preferred Leona to Kaori. I think it was the music. I really don't care for the spoken word song. But her skating was great, in spite of that. 

Nice to see a US lady on the podium again. Although I kinda wish it was Mariah. Alyssa is great, but still young. Mariah did beat her on component scores, but it was the technical marks that gave Alysa the medal. 

How pleasant. No temper tantrums in the kiss and cry, no evil  Noodle Head burning holes into the backs of other skaters with her Glare of Death. No berating young girls for not performing to said Noodle Head's expectations. It was a relaxed atmosphere. Sorry Russia. Didn't miss you!

 

 

Edited March 25, 2022 by ChicksDigScars

[Jeddah]

I’m so happy for Alysa! I’m disappointed for Mariah though. 
World Champion Kaori Sakamoto! I’m thrilled for her. What a great season she’s had!

[justmehere]

Mariah seemed to struggle on every jump, not to mention that opening combo. It's a shame. Alyssa is good, but she still looks "new" to me. Mariah was in her own way though. She wasn't alone - lots of nerves today. 

*Edit - Or what ChicksDigScars said.

Both Loena and Kaori were great. Am really happy for them both. 

 

Edited March 25, 2022 by justmehere