U.S. World Team Selections

U.S. team selections following the National Championships roughly followed order of finish, though with a few interesting exceptions.  The guiding principle for selections is to choose those skaters who are most likely to gain the U.S. the largest number of entries for the various 2018 ISU Championships and the Olympic Winter Games.

For the men, silver medalist Vincent Zhou was bypassed for Jason Brown for the World Championships.  Zhou was assigned to World Juniors instead, and also is an alternate for Worlds.  Junior Champion Aleksei Krasnozhon was the only medalist from the Junior event assigned to World Juniors.  The remaining U.S. entries and alternates for World Juniors were all age eligible men who competed instead in the U.S. senior event.  Had Zhou been assigned to Worlds he could have also been assigned to Four Continents to gain additional ISU exposure prior to Worlds, but not being so assigned, pewter medalist (fourth place) Grant Hochstein was assigned to Four Continents instead.

The ladies team was selected in order of finish for Worlds, but for Four Continents Ashley Wagner, who did not want to compete there (and for which there is no compelling need), was replaced by Mirai Nagasu.  Four Continents will afford "the youngsters" Mariah Bell and Karen Chen one additional opportunity for exposure before the international judges, and the chance to make a positive impression there on ISU judges to carry into the World Championships.

Selections for pairs appear to have strategic gamesmanship written all over them.  Champions Haven Denney & Brandon Frazier were selected, and will be joined by former National Champions Alexa Scimeca Knierim & Chris Knierim to compete at Worlds.  Sciemec Knierim & Knierim have not competed most of this season due to Sciemec Knierim recovering from an unspecified medical condition first announced in September 2016.  The team placed ninth at 2016 Worlds.

Selection of Sciemec Knierim & Knierim bumped silver medalists Marissa Castelli & Mervin Tran from competing at Worlds (were it based on order of finish).  Further, Castelli & Tran were only made second alternates behind bronze medalists Ashley Cain & Timothy LeDuc for Worlds.  Castelli & Tran were also not assigned to compete at Four Continents, but were made first alternates, while Cain & LeDuc were assigned to compete instead.  Leaving the arena following the Sunday evening exhibition, Castelli looked despondent as she was consoled by a friend.

Speculation at Nationals was rampant that Castelli & Tran were not assigned to compete at Worlds and Four Continents because Tran will not have U.S. citizenship in time to be eligible to compete for the U.S. at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, with further speculation that competition experience has been reserved for teams that will be citizenship eligible for the 2018 Games.  If this is true, don't expect Castelli & Tran to see much love in international assignments next season.

Nica Digerness & Danny Neudecker, the Junior Pair Champions were selected for World Juniors and they will be joined by Chelsea Liu & Brian Johnson, who placed sixth in senior pairs and were the highest scoring World-Junior-eligible skaters in the senior event.

For dance, the team selections went in order of finish for both the senior and junior teams for Worlds, Four Continents and World Juniors.

MEN

2017 World Championships

Jason Brown
Nathan Chen

Alternate 1 – Vincent Zhou
Alternate 2 – Grant Hochstein
Alternate 3 – Max Aaron

2017 Four Continents Championships

Jason Brown
Nathan Chen
Grant Hochstein

Alternate 1 – Ross Miner
Alternate 2 – Max Aaron
Alternate 3 – Alexander Johnson

2017 World Junior Championships

Alex Krasnozhon
Andrew Torgashev
Vincent Zhou

Alternate 1 – Camden Pulkinen
Alternate 2 – Kevin Shum
Alternate 3 – Tomoki Hiwatashi

LADIES

2017 World Championships

Mariah Bell
Karen Chen
Ashley Wagner

Alternate 1 – Mirai Nagasu
Alternate 2 – Gracie Gold
Alternate 3 – Caroline Zhang

2017 Four Continents Championships

Mariah Bell
Karen Chen
Mirai Nagasu

Alternate 1 – Gracie Gold
Alternate 2 – Courtney Hicks
Alternate 3 – Angela Wang

2017 World Junior Championships

Amber Glenn
Bradie Tennell

Alternate 1 – Starr Andrews
Alternate 2 – Ashley Lin
Alternate 3 – Megan Wessenberg

PAIRS

2017 World Championships

Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier
Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim

Alternate 1 – Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc
Alternate 2 – Marissa Castelli and Mervin Tran
Alternate 3 – Deanna Stellato and Nathan Bartholomay

2017 Four Continents Championships

Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc
Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier
Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim

Alternate 1 – Marissa Castelli and Mervin Tran
Alternate 2 – Deanna Stellato and Nathan Bartholomay
Alternate 3 – Jessica Pfund and Joshua Santillan

2017 World Junior Championships

Chelsea Liu and Brian Johnson
Nica Digerness and Danny Neudecker

Alternate 1 – Alexandria Yao and Austin Hale
Alternate 2 – Gabriella Marvaldi and Daniel Villeneuve
Alternate 3 – Laiken Lockley and Keenan Prochnow

ICE DANCE

2017 World Championships

Madison Chock and Evan Bates
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue
Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani

Alternate 1 – Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker
Alternate 2 – Elliana Pogrebinsky and Alex Benoit
Alternate 3 – Julia Biechler and Damian Dodge

2017 Four Continents Championships

Madison Chock and Evan Bates
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue
Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani

Alternate 1 – Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker
Alternate 2 – Elliana Pogrebinsky and Alex Benoit
Alternate 3 – Anastasia Cannuscio and Colin McManus

2017 World Junior Championships

Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko
Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Carpenter
Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons

Alternate 1 – Chloe Lewis and Logan Bye
Alternate 2 – Eliana Gropman and Ian Somerville
Alternate 3 – Emma Gunter and Caleb Wein