Though Four Continents can sometimes be so-so in terms of competitors, this year’s event is actually packed with World medal contenders in mens and dance, two big returns in pairs and a ladies field with North American women looking to make a statement. I am genuinely really excited about this event! See my predictions below. Links: ISU event page IN Streaming Schedule Practice Video LADIES: Numbers-wise, Kaetlyn Osmond is the clear favorite after the withdrawal of Satoko Miyahara. The only lady in this field to break 200 total points this year, the strength of her short programs have lead her to a breakthrough season after injury. Her free skates, though, have been messy, including her last outing at Canadians. Those mistakes can leave the door open. My dark horse pick for the gold medal is actually Mirai Nagasu, coming off a rough Nationals free skate of her own. I think Nationals will give her the motivation to skate well here and we may see finally see the debut of that 3A in competition. Osmond will have to make mistakes and Nagasu will have to skate perfectly for Mirai to win, but that’s my gut instinct. Bronze is 100 percent a toss up as most of these ladies have been extremely inconsistent. My not--too-confident pick is on Wakaba Higuchi; I love the quality of her skating and she’s a brilliant performer if she can pull the jumps together. Unfortunately, I don’t see two clean skates coming out of Karen Chen or Mariah Bell. As much as I want to be wrong about that (for the sake of our Olympic spots), my confidence in their consistency is low. They are in a tough spot coming off Nationals. Gabrielle Daleman also has brilliant potential, but her big jumps can get away from her. I’m not at all confident about these picks, but I will say Chen, Bell, Daleman for 4th-6th. Your guess is as good as mine : ) I’ll be keeping my eyes on Osmond’s consistency as she heads to Worlds with the possibility of good skates here setting her up for a World medal, as well as the U.S. ladies on the World team. It’s hard not to think that Bell and Chen need good skates here to have a prayer at three U.S. ladies Olympic spots. *PRAYS*
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November 2017
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