Cup of Russia- Awesome Men's Field!

Check out the men's lineup for Cup of Russia!

Shawn SAWYER
Song GAO
Frederic DAMBIER
Alban PREAUBERT
Stefan LINDEMANN
asuharu NANRI
Sergei DOBRIN
Ilia KLIMKIN
Evgeni PLUSHENK
Kristoffer BERNTSSON
Stephane LAMBIEL
Johnny WEIR

Wow. This is going to be an awesome competition to watch. Kind of a prelude to the Olympics showdown between Plush, Lambiel, Wier, and Sawyer. Ok, maybe not Sawyer. Klimkin is a wildcard for a medal IMO too. What do you think? Predictions?

No predictions from me LOL!!! But ITA this will be a comp to watch!! Hopefully we can get live internet feed through CCTV-5 or the Russian station that is supposedly broadcasting some of the GP events.

DG

WOW, that will be awesome with Lambiel, Plushenko and Weir in the same competition!!! Can hardly wait...

Yeah, this is an awesome men's field for now.

If only they could add Takhashi(sorry for the spelling).

Lambiel & Plush in the same competition is awesome. Sorry but I would hardly put Weir in their league. I could see Dambier and Lindemann coming ahead of Weir, this season. Sawyer could challenge for top three.

mzheng said:

Yeah, this is an awesome men's field for now.

If only they could add Takhashi(sorry for the spelling).

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Isn´t Takahashi´s second GP event NHK? I believe each skater has only two GP competitions this year.

Cup of Russia

I love Johnny, but if he skates the way he did at JIC and Campbells (I dearly hope not, but judging from his last journal entry, he sounds like he'll be working hard to regain his jumps) he can finish out of the top 3/4. Many of the men have more difficult jumps and combos, and Plushy (if he'll be back in tip-top shape), Lambiel, etc. have one quad or 2 as part of their arsenal. While Weir may post high PCS, his in-betweens are just not as complex as Buttle's (who obviously was not assigned CoR).

Jaana said:

Isn´t Takahashi´s second GP event NHK? I believe each skater has only two GP competitions this year.

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Yeah. I know he is not there. Just hope all the good ones skated in same event so fans can compare.

I think that Weir may be suffering this season for taking CoP too much to heart and the elusive competition quad. Last year, he came in 4th at Worlds (barely) after leaving a bunch of jump combo points on the table -- not planned even when he was healthy -- and with an injury. It doesn't matter if the caller says a spin is a 2 or a 3 -- the judges will think it's hard, and if he does it well, he'll get + GOE, plus good choreography components, because there is flow in what TT gave him. There's little that can be done about the quad bugaboo, unless he lands it a couple of times before the Olympics. (Not that he couldn't land it once when it counts -- at the Olympics -- but the doubt and pressure would be alleviated.)

His jump technique is solid. Unlike Buttle, whom I love, he usually can rely on his jumps. Joubert and Lindemann have been struggling with jumps since last year, the exception being Euros, and they and Chengjiang Li are trying to learn to spin and do the footwork that Weir can float through. Lysacek can't garner the same PCS scores, van der Perren and Takahashi are inconsistent; Takahashi also has to beat Honda and Oda for the Olympic slot. They could all shine through at Olympics, but skating consistently and leaving a good impression in the eyes of the judges over the season is more important than a L4 spin. I think inconsistency will kill him against Lambiel, Plushenko, and Buttle, but consistency would help him beat the rest of the field, if he skates "on" and not flat.

I didn't know if I was ever going to get to see Song Gao, again. I loved watching him last season.

Is it true that among those men only Takahashi is fesh and not suffered with injury?
Lambiel, Plushenko, Buttle, KLIMKIN, Wier, Evan, Tim, etc. all had suffered some kind injury, right?

It will be interesting to see how well Klimkin has healed. His programs are always interesting. Good luck, Ilia.

It's going to be a tough competition for these men. It would be great to see them all skate very well!