Dubreuil & Lauzon - WOW WOW WOW (spoiler)

With the two win this season at the Grand Prix events, that is two gold medal and that is in from of two dance team, that are ranked higher then theml. G&G of dance and also D&S (The Bulgarians) D&L has beaten them both and if you go and look at what is the highest score in ice dance with the new sistem, I think that it is within their reach to win a medal at the olympics...

I believe that D&D by going back to a more relaxed and more romantic piece of music, which they were known for at the begenning when they were skating to Life is Beautiful and each time they would skate something romantic, it would be so great, although I love to see them performe some kind of harder program like the two last years, it should be in exhibition. I did not like the way they changed their style, way too many tricks for me and less time to perfom.

So now that they have this long program, Boy anything is possible, it is well received at all events they won. The Last one, NHK, they won by a good margin, not close at all. The Bulgarians, do not seem to be up to their potential yet in the season. I like this ice dance team but I always figured that since the change and now the new system of COP, their lift are very ugly and vulgar, they are not nice to look at.

So if you want, feel free to share with me what you think about D&L being on the podium at the Olympics.

I am so happy, I bought an all event ticket for the Canadians in Ottawa in january, in 6 weeks, I just want wait, I believe that this is the best competition to come in Canada in an olympic year. we have great skater in each category and it is going to be thight.

So feed me your thoughts.

Long shot...

I was really impressed with this team this year and I loved their FD, but GP series is not an indication of the World's or Olympic Podium. Top teams often do not skate head to head and because of injuries and the depth of field at a particular event often times more deserving teams do not make it to GPF (just check out the ladies thread). Also, throw in potentially strong the Italians and Lithuanians into the mix who are not participating in the GPS this season.

Furthermore, GPF (where the top teams that skated in GPS often meet for the first time) podium is not a good indication for the Olympics or Worlds. IIRC, D&V placed really well in the 2001-2002 GPF, but were only 5th at the Olympics. Last season JR won silver, Eman won gold (albeit on a technicality), but both of them were far from reaching the podium.

And then there is the famous theory that ice dancing medals are decided ahead of the actual event and any GP success may be a "bone" thrown to the team that is not going to medal at Worlds or Olympics (I hope that is just a theory!).

I do believe that D&L may medal at Worlds if all top teams skip it following the Olympics.

Yana

I don't think D&L would have won at Skate Canada without the fluke fall of G&G. We shall see how they will perform at the GPF....I'm assuming 5th. They have not met up with N&K, D&S, C&S, B&A, or other top teams yet this year. I think their chances of a medal at Olympics are very very slim, whether Belbin & Agosto are there or not.

It's a mistake to project Olympic or World medals based on the GP results.

In the 2001-2002 Grand Prix, Bourne/Kraatz won two golds and a silver and won the GPF over Anissina / Peizerat and Drobiazko / Vanagas. But at SLC, Anissina/Peizerat won the OGM and B/K and D/V finished off the podium; at Worlds, B/K won silver behind Lobacheva/Averbukh, the Olympic silver medalists.

In the 2002-2003 Grand Prix, Lobacheva/Averbukh won all their GP events and the GPF, but Bourne/Kraatz, who sat out the GP with injury, beat L/A at Worlds.

Belbin/Agosto made the GPF podium in the 2003-2004 GPF, but finished 5th at Worlds.

Last season, Denkova/Staviiski won two gold medals and a silver in the GP and won bronze in the GPF behind N/K and B/A. But they finished 5th at Worlds.

Over time, the GP series has proven to be a poor predictor of late-season results.

It's nice to see judges are getting bored with painful passion and looking for real dancers.

How much credit goes to David Wilson?

Joe

Joesitz said:

How much credit goes to David Wilson?

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Some, but mainly it's Boucher-Zazoui - she is a real genius.

chuckm said:

In the 2001-2002 Grand Prix, Bourne/Kraatz won two golds and a silver and won the GPF over Anissina / Peizerat and Drobiazko / Vanagas. But at SLC, Anissina/Peizerat won the OGM and B/K and D/V finished off the podium; at Worlds, B/K won silver behind Lobacheva/Averbukh, the Olympic silver medalists.

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Even though Bourne/Kraatz did beat Anissina/Peizerat at the 2001-2002 Grand Prix final, Anissina/Peizerat clearly had the best overall record of any team that season leading into the Olympics. Anissina/Peizerat easily beat Bourne/
Kraatz in their other meeting, at Trophee De France; and at the Grand Prix final they easily defeated Bourne/Kraatz in the first two phases of the competition, and only narrowly lost the final stage, but the format was such that lost them the gold medal. They also won the Europeans against the Italians, Russians, and Lithunians.

D&L typcially do better in the GP than in the late season. G&G and D&S both had error filled programs when D&L beat them. D&L got 189 point something here at NHK, and 179 point something at Skate Canada. G&G got 190 point something at their second GPF.

I love D&L, but I think an Olympic medal is not waiting for them. Wolrds may be more likely. The GPF is not out of the question, since B&A won't be there, and I don't think D&S will be either. Didn't they onyl do one GP event? I am really interested to see where FP&M and D&V figure into the Olympic mix.

Kasey said:

I don't think D&L would have won at Skate Canada without the fluke fall of G&G. We shall see how they will perform at the GPF....I'm assuming 5th. They have not met up with N&K, D&S, C&S, B&A, or other top teams yet this year. I think their chances of a medal at Olympics are very very slim, whether Belbin & Agosto are there or not.

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While I agree that their chances to win an Oly medal are very slim, I disagree that G & G lost only because of the fall at Skate Canada. They had other problems too, Elena put her free foot down twice in a twizzle sequence, and the judges penalized all those errors heavily. The margin between D & L and G & G was almost 10 points, significant....
Now, about the GP results and chances at the Oly's. Let's keep in mind, D & L are 7th in the World, and some very good teams will be the "X: factor like the Italians and Lithuanians...hell knows what they will be capable of.
But the final classification of D & L will depend on them as well, they will have to skate well...last year they sort of did it to themselves, with the major error in the OD, when they entered 5th (higher than ever after the CD) then they pulled the 8th results in OD.

In any case, I think they will place higher than before in all the competitions this year, because their FD is just awesome and the judges will have to react to the public response. You cannot give to that dance anything but a Standing O!
So their previous bests:

5th in GPF
11th in Oly
7th at Worlds

I predict:
3rd at GPF
5th in Oly's
4th at Worlds

Anything better than this will be just a bonus!

Herios _ Joseph

G&G skated much, much better when they beat Delobel / Schoenfelder at TEB than when they lost to D&L. And Denkova &Staviyski looked like they are not completely recovered from injury, havng many errors including a fall. I expect both teams to be stronger at Olympics than they were in the Grand Prix. And Delobel /Schoenfelder always improve as the season gets later (consider their last year's performances).

And there are the other teams that they haven't faced yet - Navka for the gold is pretty much a given. For the remaining 2 spots, we have not only Grushina/Goncharov and Delobel/Schoenfelder. Chait and Sakhonovky are looking very good this year and have a really good OD. Drobiazko and Vanagas looked better than I expected them to this summer at Nebelhorn, beating B&A in the FD (granted B&A fell, but still) and one should never discount the fact that FP/M will be skating at home in Turin. I haven't seen them skate this year, though. And B&A may still overcome the citizenship issue.

While I like D/L's FD very much, I do not care for D/L's OD at all-very little Latin feel, and much too much of Marie Patrice whipping her head straight back and forth like a Pez dispenser, presumably to embody Latin passion, but mostly just looking very odd.

And it always depends on what CD is competed at Olympics-teams that do well at the Tango Romantica may not excel at the Yankee Polka or the Ravensburger Waltz, for example. That can have a definite effect on the overall scores.

The question is whether the hole D/L have dug for themselves in the CD's and the OD's can be overcome by a great FD performance.

Does anyone know whether the CD for the Olympics has been selected yet?