Umm so if you don’t know (which is fair because time has been really confusing lately) - the winter olympics are coming up NEXT MONTH and this is the one time every 4 years that more than 10 people care about the sport of figure skating.
they all care a lot for like 1 week every four years, and have very strong opinions, and then suddenly forget.
Figure skating is FULL of drama, injuries, and covid this year.
Some drama this season:
Russian Nationals was low-key a blood bath
Japanese Nationals was really nice and calming after all that and heartwarming
Yuzuru Hanyu continues to be jaw-droppingly good at an old-ass age for a skater
my spidey senses are telling me there will be a russian judging/scoring scandal again
as of today, 3/5 of the top Olympic prospects at US Nationals have pulled out due to covid
(feel free to put other winter sports in another thread if you have opinions about them. I have none and I only know about this sport)
I haven’t really been following the who’s who of figure skating over the past 4 years, but I am super excited to be a pretend mega fan for a week! Yay olympics!
Watched the video and I have a question @anomalily . So I get the whole prepub = lightweight = super dynamic. But why does this woman not coach them to do the quads and all that but then also have them do more conditioning? Is she just trying to avoid them gaining any weight at all? I’d think even 3-5 lbs. additional muscle would do a lot, would that slow them down that much? Or does she just have no interest in working with older skaters because it’s so easy to make the tiny ones fly?
They’re all quite conditioned and do lots of strength training but usually what breaks is your hips, knees, or back- all have to do with mobility vs strength. You need a lot of flexibility in skating but also a TON of power. It’s 10X your weight on your knee of impact every time you land a quad. Lighter skaters are more likely to land but also do less impact when they do
The age is actually just a sport wide thing but exaggerated in Russia where the talent pool is so deep that as you age, 10 younger skaters are coming up. It’s said to be harder to get on the podium at Russian nationals than at worlds. Bodies can’t do quads much past 22.
I thought the issue was not building enough muscle to compensate for when their weight begins to increase due to puberty?
ETA: Oh I think I understand what you’re saying, that to land what they’re landing at a higher weight just does more damage to the joints/hips/back. So instead of coaching for longevity she just has dozens of 14 year olds waiting in the wings.
Major olympics fan here. The real reason I’m not looking for a job yet is because I need to be unemployed in February to follow the Olympics at full capacity. Originally I wanted to go and volunteer or even just visit but oh well, COVID…
I’m more into the speed skating disciplines than the figure skating ones, but I am happy to put time in learning as my country has someone qualified for the first time in my lifetime.
The video reviews so far sound good, so will watch later.
Mariah Bell won, and at 25 years old is the oldest champion we’ve had in the US since the 1920’s (back when they didn’t even do double jumps!)
She did a great performance (her choreographer is Adam Rippon) but she most likely got the top spot because the favorite to win - Alysa Liu - tested postive for covid at the competition and had to withdrawal, as did another possible podium contender, Amber Glenn.
2nd place with Karen Chen, who’s currently the highest internationally ranked US ladies skater.
The third place was Isabeau Levito, a brand-new senior lady who is 14 years old - who I believe is too young to be named to the olympic team (there’s a loophole based on how you’ve done in previous Junior international competition and I can’t be arsed to look up the rules).
The US Nationals is not an olympic trial, the USFSA olympic committee will decide who gets put on the team based on a portfolio of competitions. Alysa Liu and Amber Glenn can both petitions for “byes” - it’s likely that Alysa will get it, not sure about Amber. The USA has 3 spots for ladies (finally again).
The US ladies are not considered contenders for the Olympic gold, but there’s a possibility that Alysa Liu or Karen Chen gets a medal and we don’t get a Russian podium sweep - but it’s more likely that spot will be taken by Kaori Sakamoto from Japan or You Young from China.
But with all the injuries in the Russian camp and a new person getting covid every day - and the Russian vaccine not being recognized by several countries - ANYTHING is possible at this olympics.
Gosh what a beautiful skater. I love her body and her expressiveness. She’s so elegant and it feels like she’s actually using/feeling the music whereas sometimes I feel like it’s just being used by skaters (esp Americans?) for timing, moreso than them feeling anything. Like sometimes it feels like the skater would be just as happy with no music at all. She reminds me the tiniest bit of Kristi Y in her articulation/style.
I really see the influence of her choreographer/one of her coaches, Adam Rippon. Here’s his Olympic medal winning program (with no commentary) that I watch about once a week and it still makes me cry.
. But I’m pro drama as a spectator
