2017 Skate America: Review + Final Grand Prix Standings

I don't think I'd be out of line in saying that this event was cursed by the skating gods.  Thankfully, some good came out of it for a few people.

Tiny Queen back on top!

The final results:

Satoko Miyahara (JPN): 70.72 (SP) + 143.31 (FS) = 214.03 - 1st
Satoko struggled through her first GP event so I wasn't sure what to expect at this event.  Everyone knew she was still Japan's favorite for #1, but she seriously needed to prove it.

The SP was much improved over her first outing.  I love this "Memoirs of a Geisha" SP.  Wiki states Lori Nichol did her choreography and has done quite a bit of choreography for Satoko over the years.  I always felt Mao and Lori had a great connection and that Mao was a muse for Lori's work; I feel the same way about Satoko.  The elegance and strength of the choreography is just gorgeous and Satoko delivers it with grace and fluidity.  The jumps were solid here but not perfect.  There was a bit of trouble on the combo (step out) which cost her points (-1.40) but everything else was beautiful and full of Tiny Queen magic.  Even with the error Satoko was able to finish 1st in the segment with a 1.22 point lead.

She's back in the mix

A lot happened in the final group of skating and Satoko had the pressure of closing out the competition.  She was only up by a little over a point and there had been a number of strong skates which meant she'd have to been very close to perfect if she wanted to retain her spot at the top.  Can I say how nice it was to have Tiny Queen back and on form?  Satoko was able to throw down a flawless 7 triple skate with that same ease and confidence that she had prior to her injury.  I love her "Madame Butterfly" FS and she performed it so beautifully here.  Satoko came out under pressure and reminded everyone that she is still the top woman in Japan and one of the top women in the sport.  Satoko won the FS and won the gold medal.

This was a much needed win for Satoko.  She's the 1st alternate for the Final and with news of Evgenia Medvedeva possibly having to withdraw, she may end up competing this year.  If not Satoko can continue to practice and get herself ready for nationals in a few weeks.  It's going to be a battle but she's proven she's still the Tiny Queen and she has no plans to give up her crown any time soon.




Kaori Sakamoto (JPN): 69.40 (SP) + 141.19 (FS) = 210.59 - 2nd
At the beginning of the season I had Kaori on my list of newbie seniors to watch out for.  Her first event didn't go well but she had an opportunity to make something happen here ahead of nationals.

I am such a fan of strong jumpers.  Not just difficult jumps (which are cool by the way) but big, ice covering jumps that have as much speed going out as they do coming in.  Kaori is that kind of jumper and she finally put her very impressive jumping skills on display here.  Like Mevedeva and Zagitova, Kaori put all of her jumps in the bonus section of the program and it paid off.  Her 3F-3T earned +1.40 in GOE and her 3L earned +1.30 which helped to boost her score and earn her the highest TES of the segment.  I like Kaori's "Moonlight Sonata" SP as a program but she's not quite there yet in terms of performance.  However, I've been watching her for the past few seasons and she's clearly making progress in that area.  Kaori scored a season's best and went into the FS in 2nd place.

Now that's how you do it

I'm a huge fan of this "Amelie" music and I think it's a great vehicle for figure skating.  I'm not too crazy about Kaori's program though.  There's something distinctly Russian about it with all of the miming and weird gestures.  Hokey choreography aside, I really enjoyed her performance...oh and it didn't hurt that her jumps were amazeballs!  5 out of 7 of Kaori's jumping passes earned +1.20 or more in GOE and that is a major accomplishment.  Then again, they'd have been crazy not to give her props for her jumps which are truly amazing.  She skates with a lot of speed, launches into the air, covers so much ice and fast and steady exiting edge.  Kaori's reaction after her program as well as her reaction to her scores were highlights of the event for me.  She was so excited and happy--it was adorable!  Kaori scored a monster 141+ in the FS to finish 2nd in the FS and 2nd overall earning her first GP medal.

This was the kind of momentum Kaori wants heading into nationals next month.  She won't make the Final but winning a medal here with that kind of score gives her a big boost in making a case for one of those two spots to Pyeongchang.




Bradie Tennell (USA): 67.01 (SP) + 137.09 (FS) = 204.10 - 3rd
You know, I tweeted a question a few days before this event pondering what might happen if Bradie Tennell was able to beat out both Ashley and Karen...I don't have to wonder anymore.

Bradie's debut performance on the Grand Prix was pretty awesome.  To put it plainly, she nailed it.  When you're given a spot at an event full of well-known competitors and you're the newbie on the block, your job is to go out and force the judges to notice you...and that's exactly what Bradie did. The SP didn't go well for the majority of the headliners which left the door open for someone else to step up.  Bradie was one of  those who stepped up and seized the moment and I was so happy to see her do it.  Her program was clean, easy and a breath of fresh air for an American audience that is not used to seeing skaters deliver.  It's the truth...all of our top women struggle in some way or another.  Bradie made it look easy for a change.  She finished in 4th place just 1.07 points off of the podium.

Welcome to the senior level newbie!

I was excited to see Bradie do so well in the SP but I kept my expectations low for the FS.  After all, the U.S. women are not known for having steely competitors who deliver under pressure.  Well at least for this competition we had one...  Bradie came out and once again nailed everything.  All 7 triples including a 3Lz-3T and 2A-3T in the bonus.  Her technique is strong and she's solid across the board in other areas as well.  Bradie's presentation is nice albeit a little generic and princessy which is fine for now.  Her FS is juniorish ("Cinderella) but it's a pleasant program.  The good news is I can tell that with the right packaging (music, choreography and styling) she could be gorgeous to watch and that's a major plus in my book.  Bradie shattered all expectations and U.S. scores for the season earning 137+ in the FS and finishing 3rd in the FS which was enough to move her up to 3rd overall and the bronze medal...more than 21 points ahead of the U.S. national champion.

Very few people knew who Bradie Tennell was prior to this event but you can bet she will be one of the main focuses at nationals.  It will be a lot of attention and pressure...I just hope she can maintain her focus.  If she does, she'll definitely make the U.S. team.  That podium just got a bit smaller...



As for the rest...

Eteri's stepchild student

Polina Tsurskaya (RUS; 195.56, 4th):  This was a pretty disappointing outing for Polina.  I'll be honest, I was expecting her to win this competition.  Unfortunately she made some mistakes in the SP that put her in a hole too deep to climb out of.  I'm not sure what happened to her here.  She was so strong at her first event; then again, she's never really been the model of consistency.  There are moments of greatness but she also has times where she struggles to get it done.  To Polina's credit she came back with a pretty much flawless effort in the FS.  Unfortunately with the amount of strong skating at the top, she didn't have enough to move up to the podium.

This pic sums up Gabby's season so far...

Gabrielle Daleman (CAN; 189.14, 6th):  This has not been a great season for Gabby.  That consistency and focus she had at the beginning of the year has been MIA so far.  She struggled with bad landings on her lutz and axel in the SP but finished 3rd in the SP, only 2.64 points out of 1st. Gabby's first three jumping passes of her FS were great.  She looked easy and relaxed...but things started falling apart in the second half.  Bad landings and a popped triple lost her too many points. She finished 8th in the FS and 6th overall, which is where she finished at her first GP.  Gabby's Olympic spot is secure but she's not looking like she has a chance of challenging Kaetlyn for that national title this year...unless she's able to pull off a quad toe.  During the NBC broadcast Tara Lipinski revealed that Gabby has been working on a quad toe for the past several weeks and that she may unveil it at nationals.  If she manages it, that could be a major game changer...

Make a plan and stick to it please

Karen Chen (USA; 182.80, 8th):  It's still not coming together for Karen.  At this point I'm beginning to think the reason nothing has come together is because she doesn't give anything enough time to come together before she changes her mind and does something else.  Karen has changed her programs YET AGAIN, this time going back to both programs from last year.  Her SP was horrible. She under-rotated her combo and had a PogoSplat-esque fall on her 3L.  Her FS was a better effort but it's still so far under what you'd expect from someone with her level of talent.  Karen and her team's scatterbrained approach to this season is very worrying.  I feel like the indecision and disorganization in her team is reflected in her skating.  Karen is a phenomenal talent...but I do not feel as though she's being managed well at all.

She's got a ton to prove at nationals this year

Ashley Wagner (USA; 64.12, WD):  Things are not looking good for Ashley.  Despite how fierce and amazing she looked in the SP (and she did--the dress, hair and makeup...flawless!), the skating was not good at all.  An under-rotation on the combo and solo loop left her in 6th place.  Ashley took the ice after Bradie Tennell's flawless skate.  She made it through her first 3 jumping passes (2A, 3F-2T and 2A-2T) and two spins before stopping her program and withdrawing from the competition.  Ashley has been dealing with a topical infection in her ankle and was off of the ice for a while.  In addition to the pain, Ashley herself said she was unprepared for the event stating "I felt like I had no training underneath my belt..."  In order to make it to the Final Ashley would have had to win this event.  Let's just be honest: that definitely was not happening here.  However, pre-Olympic nationals have never been Ashley's forte so a strong performance at this event would have given her some much needed momentum and confidence heading into the competition.

Ankle injury or not, Ashley has not managed to rotate her jumps for two Grand Prix seasons now.  It's beyond just a bad performance or two...she's seriously struggling to get it done.  Her goal is to be the national champion again and her mind is made up: "You guys will see me on top of that podium at nationals.  You can bet your money on it."  I would not bet money on Ashley winning this year.  I really don't see it happening and depending on how others skate, she may be in danger of not making the team.  Having said that, Ashley is definitely a fighter and I expect her to put up one hell of a battle in January.  Win or lose, I love her and appreciate and respect what she's accomplished in her career thus far.


Other Competition Notes:  Serafima Sakhanovich (RUS; 189.75, 5th) is making improvements.  I still find her skating to be clunky and unrefined but working with Evgeny Plushenko seems to be doing good things for her confidence.  She turned in two very strong skates and placed top 5.  Good for her!...  Alena Leonova (RUS; 185.93, 7th) is having a comeback season in terms of her skating.  She's hitting her jumps, playing to the crowd and proving that she still has some fight left in her.  I'm very happy to see her have yet another strong competition.

That's it for the 2017-2018 Grand Prix Series.  Time to see who is heading to the Final...

2017-2018 Grand Prix Final Standings

No shocker here.  The undisputed Queen of the Ice Evgenia Medvedeva (RUS) won both of her events.  She qualifies in 1st place with 30 points.

Alina Zagitova (RUS) came in and set the TES box ablaze.  She also won both of her events which gave her 30 points.  However, she loses the scoring tiebreaker to Evgenia, so Alina qualifies in 2nd place.

Kaetlyn Osmond (CAN) earned a gold and bronze medal at her events which gave her a total of 26 points.  She qualifies in 3rd place.

Carolina Kostner (ITA) proved she's still a contender in this field.  She earned silver medals at both of her events which gave her a total of 26 points as well.  Kaetlyn's gold medal is weighted heavier than Carolina's two silvers so Carolina qualifies in 4th place.

Maria Sotskova (RUS) also earned two silver medals at her events for a total of 26 points.  She loses the tiebreaker to Carolina which means she qualifies in 5th place.

Wakaba Higuchi (JPN) earned silver and bronze in her two events.  With a total of 24 points she qualifies in that 6th and final spot.

Satoko Miyahara (JPN) earned 22 points and is the 1st alternate.  Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) and Polina Tsurskaya (RUS) both earned 20 points and are the 2nd and 3rd alternates respectively.


The 2017-2018 Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix Final will take place on December 7-10 in Nagoya, Japan.  Refresh your memory here if you don't remember which juniors will battle for gold.  I love the Final and I can't wait to see who wins.  Unfortunately, this is the time of the year I set sail on my annual cruise so I will not be around next week when all of the action goes down.  Not to worry! I will be posting my review for both events once I return as well as my End of the Grand Prix Power Rankings.

Bon Voyage peeps!