Ladies Standings as at Paris

[Ptichka]

Everyone is forgetting Elena Liashenko at NHK. She was 4th at that incredibly tough CoC and NHK is a sleeper competition by comparison. Her "West Side Story" program is a winner, and she looks fabulous in her unitard.

ITA. I loved Elena at CoC, she is very CoP friendly, and she could very well win NHK (a point I made on another thread).

[gezando]

I think the Japanese Federation took a page from the usfsa play book. In COR 2000, USA sent the 2 young guns Sarah and Sasha deep into Russian territory to compete with Russia's best. In 00- 01 season Irina and Maria were the reigning world silver and bronze medalists, plus there were Cupcake and VV both doing well in the GP circuit. Irina also came off a win against Michelle Kwan in Skate Canada that year. Representing Russia in COR 2000 were Irina, Cupcake, and Victoria. Hughes and Cohen almost pulled it off in terms of podium placement by placing 3 and 4th. Unfortunately by 4:3 margin Hughes took Cohen off the podium, very similar to what happened between Mao, and Shizuka this year.