Wanted to share this article about my daughter Laura Lipetsky

Liu leads after impressive novice ladies short

Huang on Liu's heels entering free skate; Cui, Rich round out top four

Posted 1/16/17 by Lynn Rutherford

Alysa Liu won the U.S. intermediate title last season, and she's in position to top the novice ladies field in Kansas City. The Oakland-based skater took first place in the short program Monday, netting 48.89 points for her "Puttin' on the Ritz" routine. -Jay Adeff

Triple-triple combinations, triple flips and triple lutzes were flying during the novice ladies short program at the 2017 U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Monday, with most of the 12 entrants attempting one or more of the difficult elements.

"I think this is the best group of novices I've seen, ever," veteran coach Tammy Gambill said. "They are so strong, and they are really fierce. It's great for the U.S. to have so many young kids coming up with so much potential."

Coaches credited this overall increase in technical difficulty to U.S. Figure Skating's decision in May 2015 to award bonus points for novice skaters' triple-triple combinations as well as for each different triple jump. The bonus system, which was designed to help U.S. skaters better compete with Russian and Japanese athletes on the Junior Grand Prix circuit. "The practices for these novice girls were amazing; there were five or six girls with triple-triples, and all five triples," Chicago-area coach Alex Ouriashev said. "It's a really big improvement. The American girls are getting very strong."

Alysa Liu, a diminutive 11-year-old powerhouse, led the talented pack after hitting a triple lutz-triple toe combination out of a split jump as well as a triple flip in her energetic "Puttin' on the Ritz" short. Her 48.89 points gave her a 1.22-point lead, but the top five skaters stand only about a point and a half apart entering the free skate.

Laura Lipetsky, who coaches Liu in Oakland, California, thinks triple-triple combinations are required to win a novice medal this season.

"She went out there and did what we've been practicing all season," Lipetsky said. "You have to be competitive, so we went for the triple-triple. She has two triple-triples, including a triple flip-half loop-triple salchow, planned for the free skate."