This year I'm trying both the USFSA fantasy that I did last year and TSL's new version. Here's hoping they go well : ) USFSA: TSL:
Men: Uno, Brown, Ten, Yan, Mura, Aaron Women: Miyahara, Gold, Medvedeva, Tursynabaeva, Lipnitskia, Imai Pairs: Sui/Han, Stolbova/Klimov, Scimeca/Knierim, Astakhova/Rogonov, Kayne/OShea, Seguin/Bilodeau Dance: Chock/Bates, Gilles/Prioir, Yanovskaya/Mosgov, Hawayek/Baker, Nazarova/Nikitin, Sinitsina/Kast. Wish me luck!
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Hello, friends! THE GRAND PRIX SEASON IS FINALLY HERE! It feels great to be back sharing podium predictions and this event will be special for me because I am attending an event live for the very first time. (Make sure you follow me on Twitter for pictures, videos, and updates!) I've previewed the dance and pairs events, and now it's time for my favorites- Mens and Ladies! MEN: Podium Predictions: Oh god, I hate picking winners in the men’s events! Considering that we haven’t seen Denis compete yet this season and that we’ve seen jump inconsistencies from Jason, I cannot pick either to win with confidence. Alright, I’m gonna take a leap of faith and pick Shoma Uno to win after his fantastic performance at the Japan Open. I think we will seen an improved Jason Brown end up in second, with Denis Ten in third. Han Yan would be my pick for fourth, with Mura and Aaron in the top six. LADIES: Podium Predictions: I’m going to play it safe and say that Satoko Miyahara will win the event. She’s been nothing if not consistent and steady- I trust her to get the job done. I would put Gracie Gold in second, because I expect a few errors from her. Based on what we saw from Julia at Finlandia, I think Evgenia Medvedeva will beat her out for third. Elizabet Tursynbaeva should round out the top five.
That's it for predictions-I'll be sharing fantasy picks tomorrow and lots of photos and video from practices on Thursday! Hello, friends! THE GRAND PRIX SEASON IS FINALLY HERE! It feels great to be back sharing podium predictions and this event will be special for me because I am attending an event live for the very first time. (Make sure you follow me on Twitter for pictures, videos, and updates!) As we get ready for this first event, let’s preview our competitors, shall we? DANCE: Podium Predictions: Chock and Bates headline this event- and barring a complete disaster- they should run away easily with this competition. Similarly, Canadians Gilles and Prioir should be safely in second. For third, I think Hawayek and Baker are ready to take a step up internationally this season. If they skate well, a bronze medal here would be wonderful for them. I’d expect Sinistina/Kastalov and Yanovskaya/Mozgov to round out the top five. PAIRS: Podium Predictions: I feel good about Sui/Han walking away with gold here. Their programs look to be the strongest of the field for me. Stolbova/Klimov proved at Nepela that they will still score high even if they don’t skate well and I think they should finish in second. It will be a battle between Scimeca/Knierim and Astakhova/Rogonov for the bronze medal. I think if they can skate clean, Scimeca/Knierim will come out on top, with a hometown boost. Kayne/OShea should safely be in the top five.
UP NEXT: Men and Ladies! Here we are for another week of great skating! We're almost to the Grand Prix series, but this week's Skate Canada Autumn Classic gives us a chance to see a few more of the big names before they hit the circuit. Luckily for us fans, there is a live stream http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x38z4ee_aci-stinger-english_sport. Check out all of the competition info at http://skatecanada.ca/event/2015-autumn-classic-international/
Yzuru Hanyu highlights the men's event, along with Nam Ngyuen. Unfortunately, Denis Ten will not compete here as scheduled. I wish we would've been able to see Denis at least once before Skate America, but I wish him the best. Elizabet Tursynbaeva will be a medal favorite in the ladies event. I am also looking to see Haruka Imai before Skate America, as well as Americans Angela Wang, Amber Glenn and Bradie Tennell. Hometown kids and World Champs Megan Duhamel and Eric Radford should win the pairs event, and I'm excited to see a good feed of their new programs. Also interested to see Mervin Tran and Marissa Castelli compete again and hoping to see improvement in their programs before their Grand Prix assignments. Cheers to a good competition this week, and an even bigger cheers to Skate America next week! Several top competitors took the ice this past weekend at the Finlandia Trophy, and I had a great time watching several of them compete for the first time this season. It's always good to get a look at these skaters before their Grand Prix events. Here's my comments on the top skaters: LADIES: Rika Hongo: Congrats to Rika on such a strong season debut! Her overall skating looks much better to me. She has upgraded some of her jumps, which was a necessary step up technically. Artistically, I felt she gave more in her performances than last season. I liked her short program music and costuming, but I think she needs more performance skills to truly pull off her Riverdance free skate. She was incredibly consistent here, though, and a great start to her season. With Mao back in the Japanese ladies ranks, Rika is going to have to be great all season to grab that third World spot for Japan. Julia Lipnitskya: I was really hoping for a Julia comeback this season, but after this competition, I'm not sure that's going to happen. Her jump technique is THE KEY to success this season and it is still giving her major problems. You can tell that she's taller and more filled out and it is such a shame that her technique doesn't support her through these change. Her SP costume needs to be changed-STAT. (Please, I do not want to see that at Skate America!) and the music-to me- was a poor choice. The costume/music in the long is much better, but she seems to not connect with it at all. This makes Skate America so interesting... Hannah Miller: First of all- God bless her for ditching Big Spender. Wise choice. I really liked her new SP music and her dress game in both programs was ON POINT. Hannah has a huge challenge in front of her this season, with getting two somewhat surprising Grand Prix assignments. She won't be a medal contender, but it's important for her career that she show two strong performances at Rostelecom and Cup of China. So Youn Park- I was watching So Youn here in preparation to see her live at Skate America, and I really like what she's putting on the ice this season. Her dresses are gorgeous and I think both of her music choices were well selected for her. She's truly a beautiful skater and I hope I get to see solid performances from her at Skate America. She's one of the ones I'm really looking forward to seeing there. MEN: Adam Rippon debuted his new programs here at Finlandia, on his way to a second place finish overall. I really like the direction that they've taken his skating this season. Both music choices are pushing him towards being a more expressive performer. He looked slow to me, and I think he was skating very cautious. I would love to see him GIVE these programs full out expression and energy. I truly think he can contend for the US title this season, but he has to get jump cleanliness down before then. He needs two strong GP events- he doesn't have to win or medal, but have two events where he jumps well to give him the confidence he'll need at Nationals. DANCE:
Weaver/Poje: They won this event easily, with such a weak field, but Andrew made twizzle mistakes in both programs. I have to say that I think the Elvis music in the short is not the best selection- I feel they are far above that music and the whole program fell flat for me. Their free has some good potential and her dress was fabulous. Ice dance is certainly going to be interesting this season. I can tell that Kaitlyn *really* wants to win, but overall I feel like other teams have a stronger set of programs. Hawayek/Baker: Another performance I am really looking forward to seeing at Skate America is their "Theory of Everything" free dance. I truly like the music and I think they do a great job of expressing it on the ice. They had some technical difficulties here, but these programs can build over the season. I like this team so much! Ultimately, you know that they want a spot on that US World team, but they have a tough road ahead to either beat Madi/Zach or Shibs out for a spot. Being a smaller team size-wise, I think they have to work extra hard on performing BIG. One more preseason competition is left and that is the Skate Canada Autumn Classic. My next post will preview that event so stay tuned! Skating friends! We are now officially in the month of October, which means we have already seen the debuts of most of our favorite skaters and that Grand Prix are right around the corner!
We do have a good lineup at Finlandia Trophy this week- I am excited to see Adam Rippon's two new programs in the men's competition and very excited to see Julia Lipnitskya back in competitive action before Skate America. Other ladies entries: Elena Radionova, SoYoun Park, Joshi Helgesson, Rika Hongo, and American Hannah Miller. In men's, you will also see Tim Dolensky and Russians Meneshov, Vornov and Majorov. Weaver/Poje headline the dance event, and I am looking forward to seeing Hawayek/Baker's new programs as well. There is a live stream available (so many live streams this preseason!) at http://www.finlandiatrophy.com Also- JGP Zagreb is happening this week and they are live streaming as well. Check out the event page here. After this week, we do have the Skate Canada Autumn Classic before we finally get the Grand Prix season underway with Skate America! It's so close, I can almost taste it, guys! Hi y'all! It was such a busy weekend that I did not have time to watch all of the Japan Open videos, yet but I had to check out the ladies, because it was such a great lineup for this event. I will share my thoughts on their performances, but not too much on the scoring, as I think the scoring here will differ from what these skaters will see on the Grand Prix circuit.
If you would've asked me to predict a result here, I would've said- Asada, Tuktamysheva, Gold, Miyahara, Wagner, Sotnikova. Clearly, I was wrong on a few counts. Gracie Gold- There's obviously still a mental issue here because she looked very strong at Glacier Falls and in TSL's training videos; she's in good shape and is well trained. If she wants to make it onto a GPF or World podium, she needs to get a handle on this issue. She truly could win a medal every time she competes- she has the talent and she is always scored well. I am interested to see how she responds at Skate America- will she be more confident against a field without Asada and Tuktamysheva? Or will she buckle again under the pressure of being the "headliner" and a medal favorite? Ashley Wagner- All in all, this was not a bad debut for Ashley. She suffered from jump calls, as is always her nemesis, but I did notice the subtle additions to the choreography and footwork that they're working on to increase her element levels. I really like her new combination spin -it's a needed upgrade. I am concerned about the new jump layout, though?? I'm no mathematician, but I feel like she needs that 3lz-3t to be at her most competitive- as well as to have a chance to make the GPF. Because she's keeping this program, I think she needs to give it its own identity, with a new costume and harder choreo/transitions. Adelina Sotnikova- Her performance here was a definite improvement from the videos we saw at the Russain test skates. She needs a lot of technical improvement before she could really be competitive, but she has a lot of time before Rostelecom Cup to work on that. The true test for her will come over Christmas when she competes at Russian nationals against the toughest ladies field. It will be be really interesting to see who comes out on top there. Even if this isn't Sotnikova's year to make it back onto the Russian World team, she's making the necessary steps to attempt get back there before Pyeongchang. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva- I like this long program for her and I think it will score well this season. The dress is a massive improvement from her mumus of last year and I think she can carry this music. She fell on her triple axel attempt, which makes for interesting competition now that Asada is back on the scene with a 3A of her own. Perhaps it was just early season lag, because last year Liza was ON when she needed to be. We shall see how she responds to the pressure of being the reigning World champ this season. Satoko Miyahara- Satoko did what she does best here- she was consistent, subtle and beautiful. Her long program is incredibly well suited for her balletic, graceful style and her clean performance stood out amongst a tough field. Her consistency could truly pay off this season; she may not be an explosive jumper or performer, but she gets her job done and looks beautiful while doing it. Don't count her out! I still do wish the hot pink dress would be traded in for a more mature color, though. Mao Asada- What a beautiful return to competition it was for the three time World-champ. She skated beautifully in front of an excited home crowd and really handled the pressure of a comeback here. Her performance was not perfect, but considering she's been off for a year, she looks good. I am glad to see her going for that triple axel and really look forward to seeing her compete with it on the Grand Prix. I like her long program- the music and her dress are gorgeous. I hope she connects to this music and can interpret it with joy this season. I have to say, it was good to have her back. Also worth noting- it was cool to have a delayed broadcast available for this event! Though not live, it was the next best thing and I hope they keep it for next year! |
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