CHILLED HOPES
Women’s figure skating: The United States could have its lowest overall placing since the 1948 Olympics
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA >> Sasha Cohen ended an American era of excellence in women’s figure skating with a silver medal at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
Cohen’s performance bookmarked a time when U.S. women won five of a possible nine Olympic singles medals from 1998 to 2006.
Those halcyon days feel ancient as the Pyeongchang Games’ competition comes to a close Friday (tonight, Pacific) with the free skate. The top American, Mirai Nagasu, hometown Arcadia, starts in ninth place after the short program followed by Fremont’s Karen Chen (10th) and U.S. champion Bradie Tennell (11th) from Carpentersville, Illinois.
The United States could have its lowest overall placing since the 1948 Olympics when Yvonne Sherman was sixth, Gretchen Merrill eighth and Eileen Seigh 11th in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
With Moscow training partners Alina Zagitova or Evgenia Medvedeva expected to win the first gold medal for Olympic athletes from Russia, the United States just hopes for respect. Nagasu, Chen and Tennell skated admirably after each fell on her first jump sequence during the short program Wednesday. But American fans expect
more from their women skaters.
It has been an embarrassment of riches since 1948. After St. Moritz along came skating greats Tenley Albright, Carol Heiss, Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill and Kristi Yamaguchi before the torch was passed to Michelle Kwan and Cohen.
When Nagasu was fourth in 2010 and Gracie Gold fourth in Sochi, Russia, four years later, U.S. skating officials faced three-alarm panic from its devotees.
Fourth looks absolutely gratifying this week as the three U.S. Olympians haven’t registered the kinds of scores that suggest they are serious medal contenders.
No American woman had qualified for the Grand Prix final in December that includes the top six from the fall season. It foretold what has unfolded inside the Gangneung Ice Arena.
Some in the U.S. skating community say the results at these games are a byproduct of American leaders being slow to adjust to a new scoring system that rewards big jumps.
“As a result, developing skaters are taught to value simple, clean skates rather than taking risks on technically more challenging programs,” said Rachael Flatt, a 2010 Olympian who teaches part time at Solar4America Ice in San Jose.
The International Judging System replaced the popular 6.0 system in 2004 in response to vote trading uncovered during the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
“For many years, our younger champions were winning without any of the skills needed to be elite skaters,” said Tom Zakrajsek, who coaches Nagasu in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
But does one disappointing day mean U.S. skating is out of it? It’s not an easy answer considering teenage men’s Olympians Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou of Palo Alto are progressing nicely through the country’s development system.
U.S. Figure Skating officials began addressing the issue in the past few years. They hired former Oakland coach Justin Dillon as director of High Performance Development. His job is to help prepare American skaters for the rigors of international competition.
U.S. officials expect the renewed attention to development to make a difference for the 2022 Beijing Games.
As seen last month in San Jose during the U.S. championships, youngsters in the lower divisions have mastered triple jumps they will need to overcome the current top skaters from Russia, Japan and Canada. U.S. officials added bonus values in the national scoring system to encourage young skaters to learn the technical components at an earlier age.
The theory is by the time they reach the senior level, triple jumps — perhaps even a triple axel — will be second nature to them.
The change has been highlighted in Oakland where Laura Lipetsky coaches current U.S. junior champion Alysa Liu.
“We want to keep up with Russians and Japanese girls who are doing triple axels and quads,” Lipetsky said.
Liu won’t turn 13 until August. But her explosive program filled with triple combination jumps underscored
how far American skating has come. The girl openly talks about wanting to compete in Beijing. She calls Medvedeva her alltime favorite skater whom she studies on YouTube videos.
“We compare to her the absolute best and hold her to the absolute best in the world,” father Arthur Liu said.
Liu has visited the University of Delaware, where biomechanics professor Jim Richards has been studying elite skaters to help their positioning when attempting jumps.
“We desperately need more research that is skating-specific in order to improve the biomechanics and technique of jumps, the construction of skating boots and blades and training regimens,” said Flatt, who graduated from Stanford three years ago with a degree in biology. “There is so little research out there that it’s hard to know if what is being done is based on scientific evidence or from anecdotes.”
Some say the country needs to train its skaters more like Russia and Japan, which rely on a central coaching system. Flatt, a junior world champion and 2010 U.S. winner, recalled training under Zakrajsek with many of the best men of her era.
“I was working on triple axels and quad toes on the harness so I could try to keep up with the men in the rink,” she said.
It’s difficult to imagine a Russian-like training center because U.S. skaters have always migrated to certain coaches, such Rafael Arutyunyan or Karen Chen’s coach, Tammy Gambill, in Riverside.
Arutyunyan has as close to a stable as any with Olympians Nathan Chen, Adam Rippon and Ashley Wagner in Lakewood.
“The United States is about the individual rising, not the group together,” Zakrajsek said. “When you’re in other cultures it is about doing the best thing about your nation and not really about me, me, me.”
“For many years, our younger champions were winning without any of the skills needed to be elite skaters.” — Tom Zakrajsek, who coaches Mirai Nagasu in Colorado Springs, Colorado