ICE DANCE
I find this competition perhaps the easiest to choose the three medallists because their scores over the course of the season really stand above the rest of the field. Truly, it would be a big surprise to me if these three teams WEREN’T the podium finishers. Gold- I am going to pick an upset here and say that Papadakis and Cizeron will be crowned new World champs. I know Weaver and Poje have had a great season, but Papadakis and Cizeron’s free skate is truly something special. I look for them to be in second or third after the short dance, but come back to win gold after a fantastic free skate. Silver- This leaves Weaver and Poje with the silver medal, repeating their second place performance from last year. Bronze- Chock and Bates are a lock for bronze in my opinion. They have also had good seasons and I think they will perform well here to claim their first World medal. PAIRS For Pairs, I feel like the battle for the bronze medal is actually more of a toss up than the top two. The three Chinese teams are very close together in terms of scores and they all have their own strengths that could put them on the podium. I could really see ANY of the Chinese teams end up with a medal. Gold- I think Duhamel/Radford will easily walk away with their first World title. The seem to be a in a field of their own this season and no one has scored close to them. They have looked so strong and consistent that I would be surprised if they made a big mistake here. Silver- With their Russian teammates not competing here, new European champions Kavaguti/Smirnoff have a great opportunity to win a medal. I think they will be riding high from their Europeans win and will claim the silver medal. If they were to make a mistake here, any one of the Chinese teams could take their podium spot. Bronze- Ugh, it’s a tough call. I’m gonna go with Peng/Zheng. I know that Sui/Han have had a better season numbers-wise but I have a soft spot for these two and think that they will be riding high after beating their teammates at Four Continents. MEN When choosing the men’s podium, I’m going to adopt a “best worst-case-scenario” approach. The truth of the matter is that I don’t really trust any of the top men to not falter, so I’m deciding to go with the one I think will still score the highest with mistakes. Gold- I think Hanyu has been the most consistent of the top three overall, and I hope some rest after his Japanese National Championships will have him competition ready. He’s always getting good scores from the judges and even when he falters, they hold him up. I think he’s a safe bet for a chance at gold. Silver- Denis Ten- I debated giving him the gold, but he is so up and down I feel like I can’t. He had a great performance at Four Continents and if he’s clean, he is the only man that can challenge a clean Hanyu pointwise. I feel like he will make a mistake in one of his two programs and that will have him taking the silver medal. Bronze- Javier Fernandez- I would like to see Javi do better here than 3rd as he’s won two bronzes before, but I don’t think he’s had the consistency or performance quality this season to contend at Hanyu and Ten’s level. I will put ladies predictions in another post.. this one was too long!
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November 2017
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