The Olympic Forecast: Small Chance of Men

In 2010, there were no American ladies on the Olympic podium.  The same year, American Evan Lysacek took the gold medal in the men's event.  How will it play out in 2014?  For today, we'll tackle the rather sad state of men's skating.

Men

            Despite having the reigning Olympic champion in the men’s discipline, the US hasn’t had a single man on the podium in the last four World Championships.  After Evan Lysacek won in 2010, he appeared in Dancing with the Stars and enjoyed some time off.  He’s been working on a comeback, and his coach, Frank Carroll, recently confirmed on an interview by The Skating Lesson that they’ve been working together twice a week.  He had hoped to compete during the 2012-2013 season, but was sidelined by an injury and surgery to address it.  Frank Carroll report that he has all of his triple jumps back except the triple axel (which actually has three and a half rotations, not just three).  Comebacks in figure skating are hard to find success in—when the likes of Brian Boitano, Katarina Witt, Elaine Zayak, and Gordeeva and Grinkov all competed in the 1994 Olympics, only one entity (Gordeeva and Grinkov) managed to win.  If Lysacek can pull it off, however, he’ll be America’s best bet for a medal.

            So what about those other guys?  The ones who have been, you know, competing for the last four years instead of winning mirrorball trophies?  Well, Jeremy Abbott, 3-time National Champion, has struggled immensely since the 2010 Olympics.  Despite his National record, he’s never placed above 5^th at a World Championships, and he didn’t even make it to Worlds this year.  While Abbott has fantastic skating skills and gorgeous jump technique, inconsistency has plagued him.  2013 champion Max Aaron won in only his second year at the senior level, and though he shows lots of promise, he placed only 7^th at Worlds and will be more likely to factor into the 2018 Olympics.  The national champion in 2011, Ryan Bradley, has shifted his focus to show skating, which he is extremely well suited for.  Unless Lysacek successfully completes his return, American hopes for a medal—much less a gold one—do not seem likely to be fulfilled.