US Nationals 2016- Men

I need to be honest here. I don't see the artistic improvement in Max Aaron that so many people seem to see. I've never really seen the appeal of his skating. Does he have good jumps? Sometimes, but not always, and when the jumps fail him, he's got nothing left. I will note that at the beginning of the season I said that I was happy he was making an attempt, and that I was starting to see the improvement. I had applauded him for working on his second mark, the reason I'm no longer saying that? It hasn't gotten better since the beginning of the season, it might have gotten worse. The thing about his choreography and transitions is that it's the skating equivalent of hairography. I've not so lovingly nicknamed this armography and poseography. There's obviously some of this in most programs, but Max has nothing else. If you're going to be the technical guy, fine, but to do that you have to do more difficult elements than your competitors, and do them better than everyone else. This isn't something Max does.

I fundamentally disagree with him beating Nathan Chen overall. Nathan Chen may have won the freeskate, but not by nearly as much as he should have. He had more technical difficulty than Max, and on top of that he also has better PCS and spins than Max. This came down to politics and skating order. Had Nathan skated last, he almost certainly would have won.

I also don't think Adam Rippon should have beaten Nathan Chen. Not only did he not have the jumps Nathan did, but the other elements of the program were not nearly that much better than Nathan's to more than make up the technical difference (even if Nathan did have an invalidated spin, and I'm still not sure why it was invalidated).

I'm really happy with some of the results of some of my favourite US men, but Sean Rabbitt, Grant Hochstein, Alexander Johnson, and Ross Miner were far overshadowed by not only all the other skating that weekend (and the following week) but also my anger with the final result of the top three.

Honestly, I'm mostly just glad they're actually going to send Nathan to worlds, because he more than deserves it. Had they named Jason Brown (who I love, don't get me wrong) instead, I would have been even more angry than I already was.

Skate America 2015- Men

The men's event was less dismal than the ladies event here, but it was still not great. Like with the dance event, I don't know that I agree with the judging.

It kind of still amazes me that Max Aaron won. He has clearly been working on improving his PCSs, but he still has a very long way to go. For a long time, I've had a lot of problems with Max Aaron and his choreography (or lack thereof). His programs have always looked like jump drills, and in the IJS that shouldn't cut it. And yet, it does. Max Aaron has always been rewarded for good jumps in the TES, which is fine, but that also bleeds over to the PCS, where the difficulty of the jumps should have zero impact. He finally has a little bit of choreography, but not a ton, and his skating skills are still nowhere near as good as they should be. The biggest problem for me is the setup of the judging system, because judges have so much to watch, they often neglect the PCS and focus entirely on the TES. This leaves the system rewarding skaters despite their poor skating skills, if only because they aren't paying close attention to it.

Shoma Uno won the freeskate, but finished in second overall here. He's still new to the senior ranks, but for me, he deserved to win here. He's got great skating skills and choreography, and he commits fully to his programs. His jumps could use a little more control but overall they were good here. He's one of my favourite skaters, and the showdown between him and Yuzuru will be interesting this year and in the next few years.

Jason Brown did not skate as well as he could have here, but lost out in the short mostly because he doesn't have the quality of quads some of the others have.

Han Yan and Konstantin Menshov have good jumps when they can manage to land them, however they are incredibly inconsistent and don't have a ton of other stuff to back them up when their jumps fail them.

US Nationals 2015- Senior Men

The US Nationals was far more dramatic than the Canadian Nationals. The US men's event was indicative of the questions following the event about scoring.

Jason Brown won his first US title, though some question the validity of the scoring. Jason Brown is a strong skater, but the consistency that everyone loved last season is not the same, and the charismatic programs of last year are gone. While still consistent and entertaining to watch, Brown's skating is not as technically difficult as many of the men he competed against, and will not stand up on the world stage as well as it did at nationals with the inflation of his score.

Adam Rippon, however is attempting the most difficult jump in figure skating, and though not fully rotating it, he is still significantly farther along in terms of technical difficulty than Brown. Like Brown, Adam Rippon has phenomenal skating skills and skillful interpretation. He doesn't have the same energetic performances that Brown does that draw the crowd in with their excitement, but rather has a quiet power and graceful expression, which, coupled with his skating skills and technical elements, should give him the advantage. In the freeskate, these things paid off with a monumental score well over Brown's.The problem arises in the scoring of the short program. With the randomized draw for skate order in the short program, Rippon, who skated 6^th was scored low when compared to the other men at nationals. His short program score of 84.71 is a very competitive score for international competitions, but the nationals inflation was not applied to him in the way it was for Brown, whose short program earned him 93.36. When analyzing the GOEs of the two programs, the judges were far more generous with Brown, who skated 13th out of 20, than with Rippon, who skated 6th. When we consider the traditional way skaters are drawn for international competitions, particularly on the Grand Prix circuit, skaters perform in a seated draw, with the top skaters skating last. This mentality plays into judging when skaters do not perform in a seated draw. Judges expect the skating to improve over time, so they leave room for the later skaters to improve on the scores of  those who skated earlier. In the end, Rippon lost the title because of bad luck in the draw. Had he skated later, he probably would have won the title, if the 6 point difference in the freeskate is any indication. Rippon lost by only 2.5 points, which would have been made up by receiving the same nationals inflation that Jason Brown did. 


Joshua Farris had a strong finish, finishing in third overall and second in the short program. He is slotted to attend both the Four Continents Championships and the World Championships. He is a consistent skater, with a style similar to that of Adam Rippon.

Max Aaron needed a new short program. It is clear his coaching staff knew that something was not quite right with the program, deciding to change the version of Footloose he skated to, but this really did not solve Max Aaron's short program problem. The freeskate he performed is much more in the realm of what Max Aaron does well. Unlike the top three men, he is not really a performer. This is a big factor in why he is not being sent to Four Continents or Worlds. He is not consistent enough, and unlike the others, he does not have the other skills necessary to make up for any technical mistakes. Next season, he needs to stick to what he does best, while also improving his skating skills and interpretation so that going forward he has the skills to make up for any technical mistakes he makes, This was probably the intention behind the Footloose short program, but it seems to be a failed experiment.

Jeremy Abbott, a former national champion did not live up to the expectations many had of him, and that he likely had of himself. He finished just outside of fourth place, but was a long way off the top of the podium. His total of 258.29 fell quite far short of Jason Brown's 274.98. He will not be attending the Four Continents  or World Championships, and people are questioning if he is returning and if it is worthwhile for him to return, It seems sometimes that Jeremy's best is not enough to compete against the top men, though he is a pleasure to watch. There is an ease to his skating between the elements that is quite beautiful, but when the jumps don't work, his programs tend to fall flat.