Our focus is moves from Paris to Russia as we prepare for the second stop on the Grand Prix, Rostelecom Cup in Moscow. Who are the players?
The ladies event looks to be dominated by the top two Japanese heavy hitters.
Mao Asada will look to improve her performance from last week in Paris and move to the top of the podium while reigning World Bronze Medalist
Miki Ando will make her season debut in Moscow. Reigning American Champ
Alissa Czisny is in the field so we'll keep an eye on her. American
Ashley Wagner is also getting her season underway in Moscow. The surprise of the competition, however, may end up being young upstart
Alena Leonova who'll be competing in front of a home crowd and has shown an ability to feed off of crowd energy...she loves a spotlight.
Medal Predictions: GOLD (Mao Asada), SILVER (Miki Ando), BRONZE (Ashley Wagner)
The Ice Dance field will be clearly dominated by Americans
Davis and White. With the withdrawal of Domnina and Shabalin (apparently Maxim began training too soon after knee surgery which has complicated his recovery) it's clear sailing for the Americans barring some unforeseen disaster. I see a fun race for the silver and bronze shaping up. Three teams will be in the battle including Crone and Poirier of Canada who delighted on last season's Grand Prix. I expect the Italian team of Cappellini and Lanotte to skate well. Also, the Russian team on Rubleva and Shefer looked very strong at Trophy Eric Bompard and may have a shot at the podium.
Medal Predictions: GOLD (Davis & White), SILVER (Cappellini & Lanotte), BRONZE (Crone & Poirier)
Rostelecom marks the return to competition for
Evgeny Plushenko. Reports suggest that he's fit and ready for the competition. Shame we will not see
Patrick Chan in this competition as he has decided to let an injury heal and will push his season debut back to the final event in the Grand Prix series, Skate Canada. It remains, nontheless, an exciting event. American
Johnny Weir gets his season underway. He's very comfortable competing in Russia (he has tons of fans there) and tends to skate well at this event. Another American,
Brandon Mroz, is also competing here in Russia. Japan's
Takahiko Kozuka will also get his season started in Moscow. A couple of other skaters to watch out for; Belgium's
Kevin Van der Perren (who is coming off of a terrible outing at the Finlandia Trophy) and France's Florent Amodio.
Medal Predictions: GOLD (Johnny Weir), SILVER (Evgeny Plushenko), BRONZE (Takahiko Kozuka)
In the pairs competition three teams have my eye. The Chinese team of
Pang and Tong have their season opener here in Moscow. They are one of three teams in an incredibly deep Chinese pairs field this season (with the return of Shen and Zhao). Americans
McLaughlin and Brubaker also have their season opener in Moscow. It'll be interesting to see how they've progressed under the watchful eye of John Nicks. Russian's
Kavaguti and Smirnov, reigning World Bronze Medalists, will attempt to match their teammates success in Paris with a win of their own here in Moscow. I'm going to keep a careful eye on the other two young Russian teams competing here, one of them may very well be the third team the Russian Federation chooses to send to Vancouver. Medal Predictions: GOLD
(Kavaguti & Smirnov), SILVER (Pang & Tong), BRONZE (McLaughlin and Brubaker)
The ladies event looks to be dominated by the top two Japanese heavy hitters. Mao Asada will look to improve her performance from last week in Paris and move to the top of the podium while reigning World Bronze Medalist Miki Ando will make her season debut in Moscow. Reigning American Champ Alissa Czisny is in the field so we'll keep an eye on her. American Ashley Wagner is also getting her season underway in Moscow. The surprise of the competition, however, may end up being young upstart Alena Leonova who'll be competing in front of a home crowd and has shown an ability to feed off of crowd energy...she loves a spotlight. Medal Predictions: GOLD (Mao Asada), SILVER (Miki Ando), BRONZE (Ashley Wagner)
The Ice Dance field will be clearly dominated by Americans Davis and White. With the withdrawal of Domnina and Shabalin (apparently Maxim began training too soon after knee surgery which has complicated his recovery) it's clear sailing for the Americans barring some unforeseen disaster. I see a fun race for the silver and bronze shaping up. Three teams will be in the battle including Crone and Poirier of Canada who delighted on last season's Grand Prix. I expect the Italian team of Cappellini and Lanotte to skate well. Also, the Russian team on Rubleva and Shefer looked very strong at Trophy Eric Bompard and may have a shot at the podium. Medal Predictions: GOLD (Davis & White), SILVER (Cappellini & Lanotte), BRONZE (Crone & Poirier)
Rostelecom marks the return to competition for Evgeny Plushenko. Reports suggest that he's fit and ready for the competition. Shame we will not see Patrick Chan in this competition as he has decided to let an injury heal and will push his season debut back to the final event in the Grand Prix series, Skate Canada. It remains, nontheless, an exciting event. American Johnny Weir gets his season underway. He's very comfortable competing in Russia (he has tons of fans there) and tends to skate well at this event. Another American, Brandon Mroz, is also competing here in Russia. Japan's Takahiko Kozuka will also get his season started in Moscow. A couple of other skaters to watch out for; Belgium's Kevin Van der Perren (who is coming off of a terrible outing at the Finlandia Trophy) and France's Florent Amodio. Medal Predictions: GOLD (Johnny Weir), SILVER (Evgeny Plushenko), BRONZE (Takahiko Kozuka)
In the pairs competition three teams have my eye. The Chinese team of Pang and Tong have their season opener here in Moscow. They are one of three teams in an incredibly deep Chinese pairs field this season (with the return of Shen and Zhao). Americans McLaughlin and Brubaker also have their season opener in Moscow. It'll be interesting to see how they've progressed under the watchful eye of John Nicks. Russian's Kavaguti and Smirnov, reigning World Bronze Medalists, will attempt to match their teammates success in Paris with a win of their own here in Moscow. I'm going to keep a careful eye on the other two young Russian teams competing here, one of them may very well be the third team the Russian Federation chooses to send to Vancouver. Medal Predictions: GOLD (Kavaguti & Smirnov), SILVER (Pang & Tong), BRONZE (McLaughlin and Brubaker)
6 comments:
You think Evgeny is going to place under Johnny? and Pang And Tong aren't going to win? Interesting!
I'm concerned that Plushenko might be rusty after being away. However, my head tells me that he will probably win. Johnny tends to skate well in Russia.
Kavaguti and Smirnov beat Pang and Tong at Worlds even with a big mistake in their program. I think they may be the surprise this season. See...http://loopaxles.blogspot.com/2009/07/op-ed-how-dangerous-are-russians.html
I love that you gave Johnny that nod for the gold. I too would love to see him knock 'em dead this season!!! This will surely be the most exciting moment to me, in the GP...to see how Plushenko falls into place with the other skaters, at this point.
I too would LOVE to see Ashley medal...although like you feel Leonova will probably better her (at least in the judges eyes!).
Pluhy will win unless he falls. It'll be embarrassing for him to loose in front of the home crowd. Hopefully Ashley will do well. We shall c.
I can't believe how many are predicting Weir over Plushenko...in Russia. I'm all for it (never have liked Plushenko) but still, I surprised that so many think so.
Interesting that you said Rubleva/Shefer might end up on the podium. I've been thinking that since TEB, they have improved a lot and now they are the #1 Russian team competing here. I have this feeling they will be on the podium, too. Can't wait to see D/W's programs again and I'm hoping it will be clear sailing!
Well, well, well, looks like Plushy is back and everyone will be chasing for silver and bronze at the Olympic. Even with the amazing clean jumps and style from Chan and Lysacek alike, no quad isn't going to cut it. Period. Thank god the real men's figure skating has come back instead of those anemic skatings we had to suffer through the past couple years. Bring it on! I think a quad will be a standard for the Olympics and to win, I say two quads. Plus everything else of course.
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