(1) Yes! Props to Max for rising to the occasion! Sorry to hear he's retiring. I'm new to FS and havent been focusing on US men so haven't seen much of Max. From backlogging, I saw your post abt his 3A and possible 4A. I'm a Hanyu fan and was looking forward to see these two (and prob others I don't know about yet??) bring the 4A to the table, it will be quite exciting! (no injuries, please T.T)... Given his accomplishment at worIds, is there any chance he could reconsider the retirement?
(Hi, spammy friend! I will answer each ask separately since to put them all together will make a really long post, haha!)
Well, the official word from Max is that he hasn’t made a final decision. He was very careful at both 4CC and Worlds not to close off the option that he could continue. But reality: he is at home in Arizona, and according to two different sources he has a job there (non-skating). So, my gut feeling is that this was his last season.
Selfishly I wish he would consider it; he is still SB13 (with three ahead that definitely won’t be continuing and at least one who probably won’t), he’s guaranteed two GP spots by virtue of his top 12 finish, WR10 (with two ahead who are retiring), he even won a GP medal this year and finished 5th at 4CC. It’s obvious to me that he is still able to be competitive on the international stage. But at the same time I would hate for him to fade away and stay too long; and he has never made any secret of his post-skating goals.
I would have liked to see him do the 4A.