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Post by Admin on Jun 20, 2020 19:18:10 GMT
Liu, who will turn 15 in August, is too young to move up to the senior ranks internationally for the 2020-21 season, as are her Russian rivals Kamila Valieva and Daria Usacheva, who claimed Junior World gold and silver, respectively. Nevertheless, Liu actually doesn’t mind staying in juniors for another year.
“It’s more time to train before you go to a higher level internationally,” she pointed out. “I think it’s good that I’m still junior, because I’m one level lower than the very top and I have more time to train.”
At her rink in Oakland, Calif., Liu is currently the only high-level skater and she sees the disadvantages and the advantages of this situation.
“It’s not too competitive in my rink,” she offered, “but I like the competitiveness, because it gets me going more. I think some advantage is that there is more chill at my rink. No one is like speeding right past you.”
Competing internationally was a good experience for Liu and she hopes to build on that. She feels it is a bit more hectic, especially with the the competitive Russian skaters on the ice, as well as having more spectators than she is used to.
Currently, however, there is a big question mark on when any skater will be able to compete this upcoming season. Thus far, the first two JGP events of the season have already been canceled.
Liu, who is the oldest of four children of her family, comes across as a fun, smart kid that loves what she is doing. She does her school online and enjoys spending time with her two sisters and two brothers and her friends. Her sister Selina,12, actually even started skating as well, but not for long.
“She did skate for I think almost a year maybe, but then at her first competition she got second place and my cousin, who is a boy, beat her, so she got very mad and quit after her first competition,” Liu recalled. The youngest three siblings are triplets, aged 10, and like to skate just for fun.
The skater describes herself as “crazy” but not “annoying”.
“I’m kind of loud at home with friends,” Liu shared. “Some friends are quiet, I’m not. I talk a lot, almost too much sometimes. I like to perform in front of people. In my rink or at competitions, not many people come to watch, you don’t feel you’re at a competition. But when there are people watching you’re like, ‘this is a competition.'”
Liu not only likes to perform herself, but also enjoys watching other skaters perform. She explained that she likes being nervous for other skaters, that it’s the “worst feeling,” but also the best.
“When the person you’re supporting does really good, you’re really happy, almost like you did that program,” she said.
The skater feels a lot of support from her family, especially from her single dad Arthur, a lawyer. He normally attends her competitions.
“I know there’s a lot of skating moms, but he’s like skating dad,” the teenager shared with a laugh. “Sometimes he does (give me advice), but sometimes his suggestions are not so good. I trust myself more with that,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes. “My mom is always texting congratulations after a competition. Right after, I go on my phone and see a ‘congratulations’ text.”
Liu nurtures the hopes of figure skating fans in the U.S. for a new female skating star and there is a lot of attention on her with the Olympic Winter Games 2022 on the horizon. The American will be age eligible to compete in Beijing.
“I don’t actually feel too much pressure like being this and that,” said the athlete in regards to how she’s perceived. “I kind of just do it (skating) for myself and I always want to be my best and beat my personal best.”
“I’m definitely looking forward to it (Beijing),” Liu added. “I just hope I make it, but I do need to work on a few things. I’ve watched Sochi and then Pyeongchang and I can’t imagine the feeling of being there, it’s crazy. I feel it improved from Sochi to Pyeongchang. I think the Olympics are going to keep improving every four years. I dream about going there, but I don’t visualize what is going to happen.”
Skaters she looks up to are Michelle Kwan, the five-time World Champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist, and now, more recently, Russian Champion and European silver medalist Anna Shcherbakova.
“Michelle, because she of course she was really young when she was really good and she won a lot of championships,” Liu said. “She stayed in the sport for a long time and I admire her for work ethics. I admire Shcherbakova because of all her amazing quadruple jumps and her skating. She is like the whole package, basically.”
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Post by Admin on Jun 29, 2020 20:11:26 GMT
North Macedonia has been granted full membership of the figure skating branch of the International Skating Union (ISU).
The decision, which comes into effect immediately, was made by the ISU Council during its latest remote meeting.
North Macedonia, previously called Macedonia, is the latest country to become a full figure skating member of the ISU.
The ISU Council also confirmed the "definite allotment" of host cities for World Championships across its disciplines in 2021.
The venues had already been provisionally awarded the events, with the Council rubber-stamping them as per the organisation's regulations.
Stockholm is scheduled to host the 2021 World Figure Skating Championships from March 22 to 28.
Rotterdam is due to stage the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships from March 12 to 14, while Beijing is set to be the venue for the World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships in February.
The competition in the Chinese capital will act as a test event for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
The ISU Council also announced a revised calendar for the 2020 Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating season after the opening two events of the campaign were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic,
The Council approved the addition of an event in Riga, set to be the final leg of the circuit, and confirmed the season would start in Budapest from September 9 to 12.
Further competitions are planned in Yokohama, Ostrava, Tashkent and Ljubljana before the finale in the Latvian capital from October 14 to 17.
Events Year Location Dates 2020 Hungary Hungary - Budapest 9 - 12 September 2020 2020 Japan Japan - Shinyokohama 16 - 19 September 2020 2020 Czech Republic Czech Republic - Ostrava 23 - 26 September 2020 2020 Uzbekistan Uzbekistan - Tashkent 30 September - 3 October 2020 2020 Slovenia Slovenia - Ljubljana 7 - 10 October 2020
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Post by Admin on Jun 30, 2020 20:14:50 GMT
Alysa Liu of Richmond needed all of her big jumps Saturday to contend against the mighty Russians at the figure skating Junior World Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. Even then, it might not have been enough to catch the stars-in-waiting as Russia continues to dominate the women’s figure skating scene heading into the Beijing Games in 2022. Liu, 14, is America’s big hope after winning her second consecutive U.S. senior title in January. But even with a solid show in the free skate Saturday, the Bay Area teenager could not overcome two artistic, luminous Russian athletes as she finished third. Liu was less-than-perfect on her first two big jumps but then rebounded beautifully to win the bronze medal behind Kamila Valieva and Daria Usacheva as Russian skaters finished first, second and fourth. Russians have now won 10 of the past 12 junior women’s titles. Liu, 14, lost points on two under-rotated jumps but still had a big performance in the free skate. (Photo by Joosep Martinson – International Skating Union/via Getty Images) “I was happy with my placement but my program was ‘meh’ — it wasn’t too good,” Liu said via a U.S. Figure Skating official. “But I learned a lot from this competition. Hopefully, it will improve my mental and physical strength.” Two years is an eternity in skating but the three medalists Saturday are expected to get more international attention leading into the Beijing Winter Olympics when they will be eligible to compete on the senior level.
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Post by Admin on Jun 30, 2020 23:25:14 GMT
While the attention shifts to the senior World Championships next weekend in Montreal, the top skaters there will be watching closely as the youngsters progress. Valieva seems most likely to become the next big Russian star after her season-best 158.38 points in the arresting free skate that included two quadruple toe jumps to “Exogenesis Symphony” by Muse. Valieva, 13, was downgraded 2.44 points in a grade of execution for stepping out of her first quad. But she more than made up for the error with a performance that combined grace and elegance with technically challenging jumping. “There was a little mistake on the toeloop, but basically I am pleased with my performance,” Valieva told reporters. Valieva easily won the title with a total of 227.30 points while Usacheva was second with 207.74 points. Usacheva scored almost 3.5 points better than Liu in the free skate presentation marks, a big enough margin to win the silver medal. Liu was one of few competitors to attempt a quadruple jump and a triple axel. She needs to land her big-points jumps to compensate for a less dazzling presentation than her Russian rivals. On Saturday, it started poorly for Liu, just like it did the day before in the short program when she under-rotated a triple toe loop jump. This time, Liu lost 4.87 points in the grade of execution for under-rotating her triple axel and her quadruple lutz. She also was deducted a point for falling on the quad. But the East Bay teen looked good after that. Liu landed a second triple axel and six additional triple jumps. She also received Level 4 marks for all of her non-jumping elements for a free skate score of 137.31 points, just off her best of 138.99 points. Liu had a two-day total of 204.83 points and even without the deductions from her jumps she was not going to catch Valieva, who also won the Junior Grand Prix final in December. Liu, who has long talked about improving her skating elements to match the Russians, did a quick spin before starting the 4-minute program skated to “Illumination” by Jennifer Thomas. Overall, Liu said she enjoyed her world championships debut. “I didn’t get sick this week,” she said. “Everything went well. I was happy this whole week.” In the ice dance competition, Katarina Wolfkostin and Jeffrey Chen of Fremont scored 159.20 total points to place seventh. The new team that trains in Michigan scored 94.43 points in the free dance to music by Sam Smith, earning Level 4 marks for their stationary lift, twizzles, curve lift and combination spin. Their performance helped the United States earn three ice dance spots at the 2021 Junior World Championships.
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Post by Admin on Jul 1, 2020 19:01:08 GMT
Figure skating Grand Prix event fields, usually published in June ahead of the autumn season, are not expected to be released before August for a potential 2020 campaign.
The International Skating Union will wait for a report from a group of skating officials to determine the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the 2020-21 season.
Any proposals would be submitted to the ISU Council to make a final decision.
An ISU spokesperson said Tuesday that there will not be information on Grand Prix fields before a Grand Prix group meeting that’s expected to be in August.
The ISU previously announced it set a deadline to decide on possible event cancellations: 12 weeks before an event starts. For the first Grand Prix Series competition, Skate America in late October, the decision deadline is Aug. 1.
The senior figure skating season begins one month before Skate America with lower-level Challenger Series competitions.
The first two events on that level have been postponed (China) and canceled (Slovakia). The next scheduled event is the Autumn Classic in Ontario from Sept. 17-19.
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