I've been able to catch some Nationals livestreams on Icenetwork in the last few days, and I have to say I'm largely impressed with the skating at all levels.
A few thoughts on the ladies short program last night:
1. Gracie Gold was way over-scored. The scoring logic says that her grades of execution (GOE) on the technical elements she completed were high enough to justify her second placement, but I think that's a boost she didn't deserve based on her actual performance. She does have great presentation, I will give her that, but she got zero credit for an entire element (the popped lutz), and her combination was only a triple-double, and a shaky one at best. If you look at the detailed scores, Ashley Wagner actually scored higher on both technical and presentation marks, but not by much, and the 1.00 deduction for Ashley's fall on the triple-triple was enough to keep Gracie ahead. Ashley should have been given higher GOEs, and should have been ahead - the way I saw it playing out, Gracie was 4th or 5th in the short, Ashley was 3rd.
2. I still do not like Polina Edmunds' skating. She's still amateurish and gawky on the ice. Her extensions are terrible - please girl, for the love of Mike, STRAIGHTEN YOUR LEG. The judges do reflect that in her presentation scores (she was well below Gracie and Ashley on that) but she did have the technical merit last night so I will give her that. But if Polina is the best the US has to offer in world competition, then we don't stand much chance of holding up against international skaters with far more polish and technical consistency.
3. There was a lot of falling last night. I chalk that up to the system encouraging skaters to try elements that are too difficult for them.
4. I was super impressed with the spin quality. Skaters are paying more attention to spins these days because the system rewards them for it. If you compare spinning now to spinning even 10 years ago, it's remarkable how much the quality and difficulty has improved.
A few thoughts on other events:
1. The quality of skating at the Novice and Junior level was higher than I remember seeing it in prior years. There are some good skaters making their way up the ranks, and I think we have something to look forward to in future years. I was particularly impressed with the winners of the Novice Ladies and the Junior Men.
2. Pairs - Between Tarah Kayne & Danny O'Shea and Knierem and Scimeca, is the US finally gonna have a really competitive pairs team??? I hope so. The last time we had a world champion pairs team, I wasn't even born yet.
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