2021 Skate America (ISU GP #1) - Las Vegas, NV - 22-24 Oct.

[Elizabeth]

The current entries, by discipline: http://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00110976.htm

[Elizabeth]

The Russian skaters, coaches & officials wishing to travel to the US for Skate America have had to travel to Tashkent, Uzbekistan to obtain US Visas. Here's a photo of some of them enjoying some special local cuisine (Uzbek pilaf) posted by Maxim Trankov. They are scheduled to receive their visas on Oct. 7th.

[Elizabeth]

The current entries, by discipline: http://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00110976.htm
Canada has 1 man, 1 pair, and two ice dance couples competing.

The time & practice schedule: http://results.isu.org/schedules/gpusa2 ... hedule.pdf

There will be no CBC (or Canadian) TV coverage.
Only one part of the competition will be available on the main NBC network and accessible in Canada:

• Sunday, Oct. 24 Guaranteed Rate Skate America 3 – 6 p.m. NBC (Live)

CBC live streaming schedule:

• Friday, October 22 - 7:48 PM - Championship Figure Skating: Skate America
• Saturday, October 23 - 3:35 PM - Championship Figure Skating: Skate America
• Sunday, October 24 - 1:00 PM - Championship Figure Skating: Skate America
• Sunday, October 24 - 8:30 PM - Championship Figure Skating: Skate America - Gala

[Elizabeth]

Skate Canada's press release on our team at Skate America: https://skatecanada.ca/2021/10/seven-ca ... las-vegas/

[Elizabeth]

Announced today, Starr Andrews will replace Bradie Tennell at Skate America representing the USA: https://www.usfigureskating.org/news/pr ... te-america



Bradie's statement as posted on Instagram:

With sadness, I've withdrawn from Skate America. I've been working hard to beat an ongoing injury with my foot. While I'm very happy to be making a LOT of progress in overcoming this and now getting back to full training, competing right away doesn't make sense. Energy and persistence conquer all things, and I'm full of both! I can't wait to compete again soon

[Elizabeth]

Jackie Wong (RockerSkating) has posted a preview of the Women's event: https://www.rockerskating.com/news/2021 ... ses-abound

And his preview of the Men's event: https://www.rockerskating.com/news/2021 ... al-grounds

[Elizabeth]

All the event times in PDT (local to Las Vegas) which is 3 hours behind EDT are shown below -




There had been some indication that the times on the CBC live stream links might be "out of whack". They now seem to have been updated but there seems to still be an "issue" with the listings for the Sunday: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/wint ... /broadcast

• Fri Oct 22 9:00 PM Championship Figure Skating: Pairs Short Program - Skate America
  10:25 PM Championship Figure Skating: Men's Short Program - Skate America
• Sat Oct 23 4:50 PM Championship Figure Skating: Ice Dance Rhythm Dance - Skate America
  6:19 PM Championship Figure Skating: Women's Short Program - Skate America
  9:37 PM Championship Figure Skating: Pairs Free Program - Skate America
  11:10 PM Championship Figure Skating: Men's Free Program - Skate America
• Sun Oct 24 1:00 PM Championship Figure Skating: Ice Dance Free Dance - Skate America
  1:00 PM Championship Figure Skating: Women's Free Program - Skate America
  1:00 PM Championship Figure Skating: Skate America - Gala
  8:30 PM Championship Figure Skating: Skate America - Gala

It appears that the streaming will also be available to us in Canada on the ISU Skating YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SkatingISU

[Elizabeth]

The Entries/Schedule/Start Orders/Results link is now live: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season2122/gpusa2021/
FRIDAY:

• Pairs SP start order: http://www.isuresults.com/results/seaso ... SEG005.htm
  
  Detailed time schedule: http://www.isuresults.com/results/seaso ... hTimes.pdf
• Men SP start order: http://www.isuresults.com/results/seaso ... SEG001.htm
  
  Detailed time schedule: http://www.isuresults.com/results/seaso ... hTimes.pdf

SATURDAY:

• Rhythm Dance start order: http://www.isuresults.com/results/seaso ... SEG007.htm
  
  Detailed time schedule: http://www.isuresults.com/results/seaso ... hTimes.pdf
• Women SP start order: http://www.isuresults.com/results/seaso ... SEG003.htm
  
  Detailed time schedule: http://www.isuresults.com/results/seaso ... hTimes.pdf

[Elizabeth]

A digital version of the Skate America program: https://online.flippingbook.com/view/1001955535/

[Elizabeth]

Ice Academy Montreal (I.AM) is well represented at Skate America:

• Hubbell/Donohue USA
• Chock/Bates USA
• Fournier-Beaudry/Sørensen CAN
• Smart/Diaz Bronchud ESP
• Komatsubara/Koleto JPN

[Elizabeth]

The ISU stream on YouTube is now live for the Pairs SP at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x6bMeMyTdM

The CBC is set to begin as well: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/wint ... -1.6214431

The commentator on the ISU feed is Mark Hanretty

[Elizabeth]

There were some really good skates but a number of disappointing skates last evening. I'm hoping for better skates for everyone today!

It will be a late night of watching skating again tonight but it is good to have something like a normal start to the GP series

In "mixed zone" post competition interviews Nam Nguyen mentioned that this will be his last competitive season and talked about some of his challenges earlier this year. He said he is seeing a mental health coach to help him to make the season as good as possible. Here are some quotes from a couple of the interviews as posted on Twitter:

“It’s probably been the roughest off-season I’ve gone through so far in my career. A lot of personal issues I’ve gone through that's been affecting my mental health.” After WTT he dealt with injuries and didn’t train for 3 months.
“I started seeing a mental health coach over a month ago, and it's been helping me so much. I’m still not where I was before Covid but I’m definitely in a better mental state than around Autumn Classic [which he withdrew from].”

“Looking towards [the Olympic] goal has backfired on me because it's put so much pressure, so much anxiety on me that it really started to affect my life outside the rink.
Now we've started the approach of taking it day by day, focusing on the immediate things in front of us, and just doing the best that we can. I’ll be honest with you guys, this is my last run at it.
This is gonna be my last season so I’d really like to make this process special by keeping it the same as I’ve always been in the past few years by enjoying the moment and enjoying every single second of this journey till I’m done.”

There's a full transcription of his comments as posted by Absolute Skating on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CVYg_58IJjR/

Meanwhile, in Alaska Keegan and his son were cheering Nam on:

[Elizabeth]

An update from Skate Canada : https://skatecanada.ca/2021/10/canadian ... rand-prix/

[Elizabeth]

Skate Canada's article after today's final day of competition: https://skatecanada.ca/2021/10/fournier ... e-america/

[Elizabeth]

The coaching staff of Ice Academy Montreal (I.AM) might not have been in Las Vegas but they were "represented", thanks to the "cutout section" that filled part of the arena



Their coaching & choreography efforts are among the highlights of the competition from the folks at "Europe on Ice": https://europeonice.com/2021/10/25/five ... e-america/

[Elizabeth]

In case anyone is interested, the Gala from Skate America is available on the ISU YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avay9PKiiMw

[Elizabeth]

The CBC article on Skate America: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/wint ... -1.6223390

It includes embedded video - an episode of Asher & Dylan's "That Figure Skating Show" along with some other videos from the competition. The episode is also on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmXANayi4i8