Smattering of U.S. Figure Skating News Following Champs Camp

Location and dates for 2018 Nationals has been announced, one lady has been announced for Skate America, and another lady has announced her short program music.

Last week, all the top skaters in the U.S. gathered in Colorado Springs for the annual Champs Camp. There they gave interviews, presented competitive programs to U.S. officials, and participated in team building. By far the most entertaining interview was the one given by 2015 National Men’s Champion Jason Brown and 2016 National pewter medalist Grant Hochstein, which remains available on Facebook.

It is also very far from unknown for news and announcements to come out of the event. Just after it also happens. The federation decides who gets the third host spots at Skate America, or skaters sometimes are then willing to announce their music. There wasn’t too much this year.  But they filled one Skate America slot, the reigning world silver medalist made an indication of her music, and today, the United States Figure Skating Association also announced details on 2018 Nationals.

2018 Nationals to be held in San Jose

The 2018 National Championships, which will be the main Olympic qualifier, will take place in San Jose, California. San Jose will host for the third time; they also did so in 1996 and 2016. It’s not that surprising a host, especially since several noted skaters train there, including 2016 National bronze medalist and 2014 Olympic Polina Edmunds.

San Jose, Aerial Shot

What is more surprising is the scheduling. The competition is currently scheduled to start on December 30, going through January 7. U.S. Nationals has traditionally been a January event. In recent years it’s happened in the middle of the month. In 2014, the last Olympic year, the competition happened a little earlier, but even then the start date wasn’t as early as December. Right now, the schedule also calls for the four lower level events to all finish on the first day of the senior competition, on January 4. Whether cramming them all in within those days is something manageable remains to be seen.

U.S. fills one spot at Skate America, but two remain TBA

As is typical, when the ISU announced the Grand Prix assignments at the end of June, the U.S. was among the countries that named only two of their three allowed host entries in each discipline at their home event. Home invites allow each country hosting a Grand Prix event to get a skater onto the circuit who wouldn’t get in otherwise. At the beginning of last week, the U.S. had already announced their choice their third men’s entry into Skate America, albeit unofficially, by listing him on the event’s website. Three berths remained TBA. What remains interesting today is that only one of those berths is now filled.

During Champs Camp, the USFSA twitter confirmed Dolensky, and announced the ladies spot as going to Angela Wang. Wang was not who anyone was expecting. Tyler Pierce, since she had only one event, had to be considered likely for it, and other girls who weren’t on the circuit at all were also candidates. Wang was probably chosen partly due to good summer competitions, and partly out of a wish to make sure she stays on the circuit. Pierce, after all, has a good chance of getting a second invite once the inevitable withdrawals start. Wang would not. It will be her second Grand Prix event. Her first was the unlucky event in France last year that was cancelled halfway through due to the bombings in Paris.

The real question, however, is who is going to get the third berths in pairs and ice dance. This decision many thought officials would make at Champs Camp. The USFSA no doubt made evaluations of the various teams who are candidates. But now, several days later, it is uncertain whether they will make any decisions from that. These are a pair of choices they must make soon, but it seems not yet.

Ashley Wagner posts a short program teaser

While the USFSA monitored programs already choreographed, including presumably her free skate, Ashley Wagner was also getting her short. This, she explained in an interview, was due to convenience; her choreographer for it, Jeff Buttle, also happened to be in Colorado Springs. Earlier in the summer, when she did her free with Shae-Lynn Bourne, who has choreographed more than one notable program for her, she announced the music by posting a clip of the choreography on Instagram.  Saturday, she did it something similar:

I don’t think anyone has yet skated to Annie Lennox. That is especially good when Wagner’s free skate music, Muse’s “Exogenesis Part III: Redemption,” has already become overused in skating. It’s also a piece of music that suits her style perfectly: powerful, imposing, and sexy. She will no doubt be all of these things in her short program.

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This week Skate Canada will hold their high-performance camp. This year there is a guarantee of at least some news there, thanks to Patrick Chan.