US Nationals - Ladies Free

I know that I am now over a week behind the times, but the little OCD part of me insists that I write up my thoughts on the ladies free.

First off, I really felt for Kayla Howey, having to withdraw, and then for Christina-Maria Sperduto, unexpectedly having to skate first, and almost ten minutes before she would have been planning to. She did a good job, though, and she managed to pull up to 19th (and 14th in the free!), so I was happy for her. Rebecca Stern basically bombed the entire thing but she had the biggest smile at the end of her program, which was nice to see. Ellie Kawamura also definitely did not have the first senior Nationals performance that she probably would have wanted. I thought she was going to stop after her first fall, but she kept fighting, and her steps and double axel were really nice. There was a cute moment when she got off the ice, Laney Diggs came over to give her a hug and a stuffed toy. I really like Diggs, she seems to have a great personality and I like her skating style.

The third group looked great in practice, throwing off triples left right and centre, but most of them kind of fell apart when it came to it. Chelsea Morrow, Becky Bereswill and especially Kristiene Gong had a particularly rough time of it, but I still think that Gong has a lot of potential. I loved her choreography. Blake Rosenthal also didn't really bring her jumps, but I just love her skating. I could have watched her step sequence forever, and her spins and spirals are pretty nice, too. Apparently she's competed in dance before, I'd like to see her in that discipline. Melissa Bulanhagui and Samantha Cesario had good skates, both with nice power and attack, although I found Bulanhagui a little clunky in her steps and choreography, and Cesario must have been hit with downgrades, but again, I'm definitely going to watch out for her.

Caroline Zhang didn't have a particularly catastrophic skate, she held it together pretty well in the end. She just looks so miserable all the time, like she doesn't even want to be out there. I wonder if she's going to continue for the next quad. She's young enough to, definitely, but she'd need to figure out how to like skating again, and she'd have to fix that technique on the flip and the lutz, too. It's kind of weird because she had a lot of charisma and seemed like she had a cute personality in the KnC but that doesn't seem to translate out onto the ice very well. She needs to take lessons from Alissa Czisny on how to smile after a bad skate, because Alissa's skate was hard to watch. It's such a mental thing for her, and it's such a shame, because her spins and spirals are basically second to none. Bebe Liang, on the other hand, was definitely on form. She has so much power and attack and her jumps, if they're clean, are beautiful. I loved her first triple lutz and her double axel. She finished up seventh, which is definitely a decent placing for her. Emily Hughes didn't really do anything for me, but she's definitely a fighter, those two falls looked hard. I also loved how completely unimpressed Sarah looked when they cut to her after Emily's skate. I thought Alexe Gilles was gonna save her group and actually skate clean, because her first few jumps were lovely, but then she lost them about halfway through. I also felt like she didn't really connect with her music. She has a lot of charisma and perkiness in the KnC though, so maybe she can bring more of that to the ice next season.

Given that I already knew Amanda Dobbs' placement, I was kind of expecting her to have a perfect skate. It wasn't, but still, great for her that she managed to place sixth. There is definitely something I really like about her, I love her style and she looks like she has a really great time out there. I'm interested to see if she picks pairs or singles, I guess it depends on whether she can get all her jumps or not. The ones that she landed were gorgeous. I just love her in the KnC, too, it seems like she has a really good attitude. Christina Gao is definitely another one to watch and I'm excited to see what she does at Junior Worlds. She has pretty much perfect jumps, I hope she doesn't lose them as she gets older. Brian Orser is definitely the coach to have right now!

It seems completely unfair to me that Ashley Wagner does not get to go to the Olympics. I know that they have to put some kind of restriction on how many skaters the countries can send, but really, it seems kind of redundant not to send the best skaters in the world to the Olympics. Her program here was absolutely gorgeous, I loved it, and I loved her in the KnC and I love her, in general. What a fight.

Sasha Cohen looked beautiful, I actually liked her dress for the FS more than I did her short, and I loved the sparkles in her hair. She definitely wasn't 'on', but I'm just gonna echo what seems to be the general consensus of everything else I've read since the competition finished, and that is that, you know, good for her. It wasn't an embarrassing showing at all for her, the short was beautiful and the free was not exactly bad, considering. Plus, Sasha is just so watchable. Her face at the end said it all, it was like 'okay, I tried', and I think that's probably the best attitude she could have right now. I thought she was really graceful during the medal ceremony, too. I don't really know what I was expecting from her, she was hardly going to snatch the medal from Rachael's neck, but anyway, I thought she handled the whole thing really well.

I know that a lot of people find Rachael Flatt boring but I kind of like her. She's not the most exciting skater in the world a lot of the time, but I thought that she had really nice step sequences in both programs, she sold it. I kind of wonder, if she does well at the Olympics, if she won't retire and just go to college and carry on with her 'normal' life. I also think that it must be really, really hard for her, knowing that she is widely considered 'dull' and uninspiring, and I feel like her win has gotten kind of overshadowed by negativity, which is a real shame. Loved her in the KnC, too. I think that she really does have a cute and bubbly personality and for some reason, the media doesn't often let us see that, which I also think is a shame. Have to admit that I liked Ashley's program better, though.

As much as I wanted Ashley to get the Olympic spot, I can't deny that Mirai Nagasu seriously performed on the night. That girl was practically flying across the ice. I just wish so, so much that the US had three spots. But hopefully Ashley will get her turn, and I do love Mirai's skating and I like how much personality she has. I wish both her and Rachael the best of luck in Vancouver!

I really liked Tara Lipinski's commentating. And I love Frank Carroll. That is all.

xxx