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My review - US Nationals Figure skating Championships 2013 ( Men & Ladies )



My impression of the US Nationals figure skating competitions is that they are for selecting the strongest international competitors for world championships.

And whoever the judges think are the potentially strongest international competitors are then selected, mostly from the results of GPS of the season and the result of last season’s worlds.

If no one was successful making the Grand Prix Finale, then they may choose from  the performance of the Nationals competition.   

And the scores are usually influenced by other country’s top winners’ scores. 
I won’t say this is the fact, but it’s my personal impression.



Ladies

 
Ashley Wagner 

I was pretty sure Ashley Wagner will get her second National title, because she won two gold medals at GPS competitions and won silver at GPF, she was very successful.

I love her skating and I thought her FP was the most interesting to watch.
Even with two falls, all the other parts she skated perfectly. IMO.

I can’t believe she had food poisoning a few weeks ago ?  I suppose she could not train for a while because of it, it’s amazing she skated as great as she did.  I think she deserved the 1st place. 

And I agreed with her PCS. Right now, she is a must have International competitor in the USA.


Mirai Nagasu

I thought she did the best in the Short program technically , and artistically.  I can’t believe she had the flu while doing it !!  wow. 

 I really loved this performance, it was very enjoyable. She has her own style of skating, so always something interesting to watch. 

For her Long program, 

I love the music very much !  It’s so wonderful this season, many skaters using Camille Saint Seans  music .   

When I first saw this program, I thought the choregraphy was kind of not so interesting but maybe it was still work in process at that time ?  I really loved this program in Nationals.

It’s so shame her three triple jumps were UR.  

Again , she had flu, it’s very understandable that she couldn’t do the best she wanted due to her illness and bad health condition. It may hard to focus well when you are not in the best condition.  

So taking care of her health may be her most important challenge for next season. I love her costume for the LP a lot.  She became really gorgeous.


Gracie Gold 

I’m pretty sure she will be one of the strongest USA competitors and a star in the future. It was amazing come back from 9th at SP to 2nd overall ( 1st at LP) skated clean program.   She has strong jumps, can do triple triple combo. 

Artistically, I wasn’t really impressed with her movements. I could see she is trying , but something unbalanced power with her hands and arms , and her arms are often straight.  

It would be great if she changes her landing pose more gracefully, instead of straight stiff look arms.   

Overall impression was she landed all the jumps cleanly but not so memorable for her performance and music. 

But she is still 17 years old (?), so surely she will improve her artistic part.  ( I hope )  I think she has charisma so hope her performance will not be only jumps .

I suppose mental  pressure is the most tough part in the competition , so this time she doesn’t go to world as a US champion, may  help a little.
I wish her all the best at 4CC and Worlds.


Samantha Cesario   
  
Her Long program is my favorite performance in this competition and one of the performances we both love to watch again and again as well as Ashley’s LP and Mirai’s Both programs.  

 Very beautiful!  
 She is new to me. Commentator said after 2 years of absence because of injury, an amazing come back.  

 She has a lot of artistic talent and potential in the future, seeing her movements and expression.   

I look forward to seeing her future performance.  Big impact.


Agnes Zawadzki

I love her costumes, both SP and LP.  She has triple triple combo and this is her strongest part as competing. Her movements are getting more naturally artistic than last season.   She was not artistic skater last season.  

So we can not judge from just one season.  There is improvement now.


Costumes 

I also would like to write about costumes in this Ladies event .

I’m impressed that nowadays a lot of skaters wear gorgeous costumes, and I’m really happy seeing this.   
Before it was only Sasha Cohen who was wearing stunning gorgeous costumes in the USA.  So it’s a great change.
 

My favorite costumes in this event 

1.  Agnes Zawadski’s  both costumes  (SP & LP)
2.  Ashley Cain’s LP costume
3.  Mirai Nagasu LP
4.  Ashley Wagner LP
5.  Gracie Gold SP
6.  Christine Gao  LP



Men

This men’s competition had a lot of surprises as well.
 
First of all,  Congratulations on all the medalists !
 


Max Aaron 

I must say, whether you like it or not,  what Max Aaron did was really amazing with clean program. Landed all the jumps including two 4S.  He does quads like triples, looked easy.

As for musicality, first time when I watched it, I wasn’t really impressed with his artistry and almost got bored,  but when I watched second time, I noticed that he does have musicality and has a lot of potential to improve. 

His movements are not robotic, and many parts looked natural .   
Just the program was kind of boring and need more impact I think.
 
Really well deserved gold medal !   



Alexander Johnson

 He is my favorite skater in this competition.  Wow,  since Johnny Weir, in the USA skaters, he is the first person who I felt has such an amazing natural artistic talent, from the first time I saw him.  I can’t believe why I didn’t know about him until now ?  
 
His skating is wonderful !! 

Looking at his movements, how naturally artistic and well balanced for strength and grace. 
And his triple axel is awesome, flowing and smooth ! I really hope this kind of wonderful artistic skater will succeed.  Best wishes !!! 

 
USC2013 Alexander JOHNSON FS




Jeremy Abbott 

Oh, my goodness . I didn’t expect he would be out for Worlds even though he wasn’t successful this season at GPS. 

I thought USA needs him as an international competitor.  Because he has been giving good impression to judges for his Presentation part , so he can earn from it even if he doesn’t have quad.

He was landing single quads until 2009 – 2010 season and was receiving full credit from it but after that, I’ve heard he had  shoes  issue and since then he has been struggling landing quad.  What happened to his quad ? It’s because of his age ?  or has injury? 

Anyway,  in present situation, seems like he doesn’t have quad.   
He may not be one of the strongest contenders for Olympics podium, but he could be placed in the top 6 in worlds. Because Kozuka and Oda are not in worlds team.

I’m not sure how International judges sees Max Aaron ‘s presentation part. He is a very speedy skater and his quad salcow jumps look amazing. 

International  judges usually didn’t give high PCS for newbies, so he will need to earn from his jumps and speed and energy and make a big impact .  

I also understand USFS wants to send skaters who can land more than two quads in long program. Because right now three quads , two quads combo are required in Long program to win world title. 

I think USFS is still testing skaters before Sochi Olympics.  And they will decide based on the result of this year’s worlds and next season’s GPS.

It looks to me , art score is not really real art scores , because except for Daisuke Takahashi , I feel all the other present top skaters’s PCS are incredibly overly scored if it’s scored based on art.    

There are skaters who are just doing choreography ,and careless for how they are using their body and expression, but receiving really high scores.  but what judges value for presentation parts are definitely different from my views.

For Jeremy’s programs, my husband and I both feel Jeremy is more match with  upbeat, fun, dancing programs rather than this kind of sentimental/ Lyrical  type of program. Because his slower programs always look  the same kind of choreography.

I thought his movements for this performance LP was much better than GPS’s  performances. More natural and well balanced  moves. But I need more impact, like his Masquerade program.  Tom Dixon’s choreography was really good for him. IMO.   



Jason Brown 

We remember him from last year’s Nationals competition. 
Wonderful music selection!  
 
I loooove this music Liebestraum by Franz Liszt !!!   and of course he skated great with it.  We both think he has his original style of skating and has big impact.  
Very smooth and musical. His artistry is wonderful. We watched his Liebestraum performance so many times already.  
 
I don't know why, the more I watch his performance, the more interesting. I'm getting addition of his skating now.  
 
We really enjoy his performance almost everyday.  We look forward to seeing his skating  in Junior world championships.    
Alexander Johnson and Jason Brown are my new favorite men's skaters. 
 



 Jonathan Cassar

I also liked Jonathan Cassar’s skating.  His form of skating is beautiful to watch, and his jumps error didn’t bother me much. Some part of his movements , spread eagle from outside to inside and ina baur reminds me of Jeffrey Buttle’s movements. 
 


Ross Miner 

I was predicting he might  possibly win the Nationals title this year seeing the result of GPS or at least he will make the world team unless he skated really badly.

And it’s great he made silver. He seems like really a nice friendly person with good sportsmanship. He is more of technical skater and his quad jump looks stable. I would love to see performance which has more impact in artistry.  Wishing he cares more his movements and expression, by taking dance class.


Artistry is really subjective, and I wish Alexander Johnson type of skaters will be more valued and will get higher PCS in future men’s skating.  I look forward to seeing 4CC and World Championships.

I think Yuzuru, Daisuke, Javier, Patrick,  are the strongest contenders to be on the world podium this season.

Then, Florent, Kevin.R, Michal,  Brian,  …    If Max skated like this, he may be possibly in the top 6 .  Miner also will be in the top 10.  

Just my guess.


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