by chuckiem » Fri Mar 16, 2018 5:34 pm
A boot issue, no doubt. There goes any hope at all of saving 3 spots. I have no faith in Mirai and her 3A. Interesting, though---Ashley, the first alternate, declined, and both Ashley and Karen are in Stars on Ice.
At least Mariah has a high World Ranking and will be in the group of the last 12 to skate the SP. Bradie is close, but no cigar; technically, she should be in the group just before the 7-12 group to skate, but that isn't the way they do it. They put the lowest 10 skaters in World Ranking in the first two groups, then create a "middle group" of the remaining 15 skaters (including both Bradie and Konstantinova) and the skaters draw lots for their skate order. I won't be surprised to see Bradie in the first flight of the middle group and Konstantinova the last skater of the middle group. Funny how the luck of the draw seems to work out.
Also: in Pairs, Kayne/O'Shea are out and Stellato/Bartholomay are in. The problem for Deanna and Nate is that they are likely to start the SP in the first group, if not as the first pair. That won't help their score---and 13 of the 29 pairs get axed at the end of the SP. If they don't score high enough, they won't go on to the FS.