Team USA

[FlyingCamel]

Karen Chen dancing to Kill this love by Blackpink XD

[Paskud]

 

[memae]

I just watched the two IG live interviews Nathan did recently (one is with Jean-Luc and Kaitlin). He's a very chill and humble guy. Such a shame we are missing out on any pics and clips of him hanging out and performing with Yuzu at the cancelled ice show. 

[ralucutzagy]

 

 

 

[Fay]

 

[sweetwater]

 

[sweetwater]

 

[sweetwater]

Nice costume 

[KitSileya]

Does anyone know whether Timothy Leduc has retired? Someone commented on the figure skating confessions tumblr that Ashley Cain-Gribble has gone back to being a single skater because Leduc has retired, but I can't find any serious outlets reporting on it, and I don't follow the two skaters on social media. I was wondering if anyone here knows anything about it.

[river]

9 hours ago, KitSileya said:

Does anyone know whether Timothy Leduc has retired? Someone commented on the figure skating confessions tumblr that Ashley Cain-Gribble has gone back to being a single skater because Leduc has retired, but I can't find any serious outlets reporting on it, and I don't follow the two skaters on social media. I was wondering if anyone here knows anything about it.

 

I saw that. I can't find anything reputable backing it up though, and Ashley just posted a birthday message to Tim on Twitter saying "here's to many more years spent by your side" so I'm guessing it's not true. USFSA hasn't said a word about it, and you know they'd say something.

[KitSileya]

4 hours ago, river said:

 

I saw that. I can't find anything reputable backing it up though, and Ashley just posted a birthday message to Tim on Twitter saying "here's to many more years spent by your side" so I'm guessing it's not true. USFSA hasn't said a word about it, and you know they'd say something.

 

Whew! That makes me glad. With the Knierims and Denney/Frazier, the US pairs are in enough upheaval already. There's no chance Knierim/Frazier will be ready for the season whenever it may start, seeing as how they're unable to train together as yet. Calalang/Johnson seem to be on an upward trajectory, so that is nice.

[sallycinnamon]

Ashley and Tim were training together before the lockdown and after that they were learning the choreo for their new free program in the middle of April so it doesn't seem at all that he retired or they split up.

[sallycinnamon]

Rafal gave an interview, I post here the parts about Chen.

https://russian.rt.com/sport/article/745674-arutyunyan-trusova-plyuschenko-tutberidze

 

Quote

 How is your work now being built in the context of the coronavirus pandemic?

 

- We don’t have a quarantine, so Chen returned from Dallas to Los Angeles without any problems. A round-trip flight now costs $ 50, and this is actually three hours of flight. We train in the park or on the beach, which is also not prohibited, we do two workouts a day. In the morning, stretching, then physical training, strength and special training. Nathan jumps, I watch this from a distance, make adjustments. In the same way we work with Mariah Bell - the rest of my athletes are my wife Vera and Nadezhda Kanaeva. 

 

Did Chen manage to solve issues related to academic leave at Yale?

 

- Yes, he just passed the last exam the other day and said: “That's it, I graduated with studies, now I can fully focus on work.” Nathan had already returned to California, rented an apartment and started training. Now I’m trying to arrange for us to have our own, separate ice when the ice rink opens.

We have good conditions without it: five to six people on ice. But sometimes you want to be able to work separately, as they say in America, face to face (face to face. - RT). I want to do something really good, to turn Chen into an elite skater.

 

- In relation to the person who won all the top titles, except the Olympic one, it sounds interesting ...

 

I understand your irony, but many details can be improved, developed in all aspects.” Not so long ago I talked about this with Nathan and honestly said that I don’t like a lot of things in his skating.

 

And what was the reaction?

 

- He answered: "Me too." Accordingly, we plan to do a lot of things. Go to some dance schools, try new programs, come up with some new element, go to increase the total. We watched all the performances of Nathan at the last two world championships and came to the conclusion that the second of these tournaments turned out to be weaker than the first. Although, in fact, a man won. 

 

I have heard more than once that doing a large number of jumps not on ice, but on a hard surface is dangerous enough for the legs.

 

- And there is. Even high jumpers, as far as I know, jump only twice a week, the rest of the time they train muscles. When Nathan was injured two years before the Olympics, he was not allowed to go on ice for a very long time even after everything had healed. We then worked very hard to get stronger physically, to become stronger before starting to jump. And just when all this work was completed, Chen easily mastered the quadruple lutz and quadruple flip. Now we jump very carefully and do it only when I am present at the training session, that is, under strict control. The rest of the days, Nathan is involved in physical fitness, continues to work on strengthening muscles.

 

- Do you already have any perspective on resuming training on ice?

 

- In the near future it is planned to open a skating rink for those who are professionally involved in sports, and allow three or four people to ice. Actual measures seem to me to be reinsurance: figure skating is not hockey, there is no contact, especially if you follow this. With mass skating, it’s more difficult: if sessions are resumed, then very soon.

 

Are you not worried about the psychological state of your charges in connection with the pandemic?

 

- No, although the general uncertainty is a bit confusing. This is a state when you understand that you have nowhere to go and nothing to do - it greatly delays and relaxes both the athlete and the coach. On the other hand, it was only with the beginning of all the events that I suddenly realized to what extent I was tired for 45 years of work. All the while Nathan was taking exams at the university, I was lying at home and thought: how great it turned out to be doing nothing. I never even suspected that it was so cool!

 

[SitTwizzle]

1 hour ago, sallycinnamon said:

Rafal gave an interview, I post here the parts about Chen.

https://russian.rt.com/sport/article/745674-arutyunyan-trusova-plyuschenko-tutberidze

 

 

Is Nathan Chen to have a gap year, full-skating, or is he "just" free for skating because he has finished his academic year and will resume his studies in September?

Very interesting interview! If Nathan Chen could have more transitions, performance, interpretation in his programs, and better spins too, it would be so great!

[rockstaryuzu]

5 hours ago, sallycinnamon said:

I want to do something really good, to turn Chen into an elite skater.

 

- In relation to the person who won all the top titles, except the Olympic one, it sounds interesting ...

 

I understand your irony, but many details can be improved, developed in all aspects.” Not so long ago I talked about this with Nathan and honestly said that I don’t like a lot of things in his skating.

 

And what was the reaction?

 

- He answered: "Me too." Accordingly, we plan to do a lot of things. Go to some dance schools, try new programs, come up with some new element, go to increase the total. We watched all the performances of Nathan at the last two world championships and came to the conclusion that the second of these tournaments turned out to be weaker than the first.

Well isn't that interesting. 

 

I've always thought Nathan had miles of room for improvement, can't wait to see what happens while he tries to make those improvements. Also, sounds like this is the beginning of their big push for Beijing. If Yuzu is serious about trying to win there, he's got his work cut out for him.