ISU Grand Prix announced | Page 2 | Golden Skate

ISU Grand Prix announced

TtonyV7

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Key to note that not only Skate America Ladies field is jam-pack and the US ladies will have it tough. But also it is the 1st event, and expect very surprising results.

I expect some sloppy skates, so those who can be clean will achieve the best results. Type of event where even skaters like Poykio can come out, skate clean, and grab a medal. Hopefully they'll be all sharp that early in the season. Should be interesting...
 

KwanFan1212

Joey Votto Fangirl
Final Flight
Joined
Jun 24, 2003
I'm so excited that Amanda & Mark got a GP event again this year (I'm sure they're excited about going to China) and I'm very happy for Jenn & Daniil to finally be on the GP circuit! I'm attending Skate Canada this year so I'm excited that I'll have a lot of favorites to cheer for that weekend. :clap:
 

jennylovskt

Medalist
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Wow! I have never liked SA that much before. I am going to like this one. I guess that NBC network has made a deal with ISU to hype figure skating on American TV. It's great!

Has ISU changed rules on placing GP assignments? This time, more close competitors from same countries are being put together in the same GP event. The tension will be on from the beginning of the GP event rather than making the highlight at the GP final. I think it's a good thing - to focus more on the viewers, and attract more audiences. But it's not so good for the skaters. Some of the top skaters will have no chance to go to GP final.
 
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PolymerBob

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2007
It looks like there was some sort of a compromise here. If NBC had their way, Caroline, Mirai and Rachael would all be at Skate America. Now that would be an event to attract viewers. :clap:
I would like to see them spread out even more.
 

nadster

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 1, 2004
Thoughts from my Canadian point of view:

First of all it is interesting that Shawn Sawyer got an assignment for Skate America and Skate Canada did not pick him for Skate Canada leaving that position blank instead. This opens up real opportunities for the likes of Andreev and/or Jeremy Ten ( if he gets the triple axel) for that 3rd spot. Will Sawyer have to do Nebelhorn to compete for the 3rd SC spot or will Skate Canada refuse to even consider Shawn for that spot. Either way expect much lower PCS scores for Shawn at nationals because SC has signalled no faith in him ( not very surprising given his jumping troubles and bad international results). Of course others that may be considered for the Nebelhorn skateoff include Russel, Martinez and Rose ( if they get their triple axels).

The other noticeable thing is Skate Canada preferring Samson to Hawker for a Skate Canada spot. Hawker had the better score ( significantly so even considering that Samson's scores were junior ones) on the season best list but because she didn't gain any points is lower than Samson on the ISU ranking. Personally I would have thought they would make Hawker and Samson duke it out at Nebelhorn for that spot.

Pairs: The TBA slot at SC will be filled by Kirkland/Radford or the Moscovitches to be determined by Nebelhorn results. The yikes factor is that we will likely have 7 different pairs on the GP ( 6 guaranteed plus likely one of the 2 pairs mentioned) meaning only 5 pairs will make it to nationals through the challenge competition as we will have 7 byed couples and a maximum of 12 spots. If other couples competing senior nationally make it to the JGPF, it will further reduce how many pairs can make it to the nationals via the challenge competition.

Dance: The TBA slot will be filled by Girard/Dougherty or Karam/O'Keefe again based on Nebelhorn. Of course other couples could figure if they do really well in summer competition.
 

nadster

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 1, 2004
I was suprised to see that Kevin Van Der Perren was selected for Skate America (he is the #6 seed). He recently had surgery on his knee, and I would have thought he would have preferred to have later GP assignments (CoR and/or NHK) if any. I wouldn't be surprised to see him withdraw from SA.

.

I am sure KVDP would prefer that too. But seeing as he is not from one of the hosting countries , he had no protection whatsoever from the whims of the hosting nations. There was no way that Japan ( the last GP stop) was taking him ( Takahashi factor)

KVDP was a surprise 6th at worlds meaning that a federation that picked him would open up the chances for that federation's skaters to do well. That with some cross-discipline bargaining among hosting nationals probably is why he got Skate America and Cup of Russia.
 

Bennett

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
I am so sad that Nobu got only one assignment. I thought that he would get another. He was a bit short to make ISU ranking 25th, but still he is an elite skater who could win a medal at GPF.
 

hockeyfan228

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I am shocked that Skate Canada chose Samson over Hawker, who was second in the FS at Canadian Nationals last year. Samson fell apart in the FS, and I wasn't much impressed by her.Samson hasn't had great international results as a junior, and Hawker was the feel-good story of Canadian Nationals.

It's otherwise a nice line-up for Ladies at Skate Canada, with Rochette, Pfaneuf, Korpi, Vahamaa, and Kostner, and I'm looking forward to seeing the highly-regarded Takeda.

In Dance, I'm thrilled they picked Crone/Poirier, Pechalat/Bourzat, Bobrova/Soloviev, and Davis/White, who won't be at SA. I'm looking forward to seeing Goshkova/Butikov.

In Pairs, I liked Dong/Wu very much at Worlds last year, and Dube/Davison are always a pleasure to see.

Wow for the Men: Buttle, Chan, and Lambiel, and Voronov who skated so well at Worlds last year. Too bad the TBA can't be Chipeur, who already has two.

Has ISU changed rules on placing GP assignments? This time, more close competitors from same countries are being put together in the same GP event.
The rules are the same as last year.

There may be an exception for host countries, but no one has taken it. Apart from that, restricted groups are based on last year's Worlds placements.

Each Fed chooses their up-to-three skaters. If they've chosen someone ranked 1-3, they skip the round. Otherwise, in the draw order, each Fed chooses someone from 1-3.

Same for 4-6, then any skater/team that had a PB last season higher than skaters/teams in the top six. 7-9, 10-12, then any skater/team that had a PB last season higher than skaters/teams placing 7-12. There are no other restrictions, except a max of two events per skater/team, and no more than three from one country in one event.

What may be confusing is that Miki Ando withdrew, so she could be chosen by any Fed without restriction. She would have been chosen after the top six, since her PB was fifth highest last season, higher than Nakano and Meier.

Same with Domnina/Shabalin, who had to withdraw from Worlds. They were chosen without restriction after the top six, since their PB for last season was third highest, higher than B/A, K/N, D/W, and F/S.

Caroline Zhang, Rachael Flatt, and Mirai Nagasu wer not age-eligible for Worlds, but they had the 7th, 8th, and 12th highest scores, were each guaranteed two spots, and [edited to add] the first two were selected after the 4-6 skaters, having had higher PB's than Worlds #6 Meier (9th PB) and the latter after the 10-12 skaters from last Worlds. Flatt's and Nagasu's scores were from Jr. Worlds, with one less jump element :rock: Since none were seeded, no restrictions. Same issue with McLaughlin/Brubaker, who scored 8th highest, and were selected after 10-12.

Lysacek withdrew from Worlds as well, and was 4th highest on the PB list, higher than Weir, Joubert, and Van der Perren. He would have been chosen for two spots after 4-6. Preaubert, also a late withdrawal, had a PB higher than Abbott, Davydov, and Kozuka, and would have been selected after the 10-12 group.

Verner wasn't in the top 12 at Worlds, but his PB was fifth highest, and he would have been chosen after the 4-6 group.

Oda didn't compete last year, and was chosen by his Federation.

Those from the same country, placed 1-12, and were restricted, but placed in different selection groups are:
Pang/Tong (5th) and Zhang/Zhang (3rd)-only matchup CoC,
Murkhortova/Trankov (7th) and Kawaguchi/Smirnov (4th)-no matchup
Meissner (7th) and Liang (10th)-no matchup
Dube/Davison (3rd), Duhamel/Buntin (6th), and Langlois/Hay (8th)-D/D and L/H skate in SC and NHK. D/B don't meet any Canadian team in the GP six.
Buttle (1st) and Chan (9)-meet at SC.

Davis/White (6th) and Belbin/Agosto (4th) were in the same group. They don't compete against each other in this year's GP. The only odd one was that Abbott (11th) and Carriere (10th) should not be in the same group, since no one retired bumping up Carriere to the 7-9 group, yet they were both chosen for CoC. France has no men's skater in the 10-12 group, but they got two from the 7-9 group, Chan and Kozuka (??).
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Jaana

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
The Finnish ladies got 8 assignments, including 2 assignments for Vahamaa.

Yes, that is really great:

Poykio: SA & CHN
Korpi: CAN & FRA
Vahamaa: CAN & RUS
Lepisto: CHN & JPN

Oh my, the men´s list for Skate Canada looks soooo awesome...
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Compulsory Dances are assigned this way:
Skate America Viennese Waltz (B&A,Delschoes,C&J,Kerrs,S&B)
Skate Canada Paso Doble (V&M, D&W, P&B,Crone&Poirier,Bobrova&Soloviev)
Cup of China Viennese Waltz (B&A,DomShabs,K&N
TEB Paso Doble (Delschoes,F&S,Kerrs,Crone&Poirier
Cup of Russia Viennese Waltz (DomShabs,K&N,D&W,
NHK Paso Doble (V&M,F&S,S&B,S&B,Bobrova&Soloviev)

I rather think the Viennese favors DomShabs over K&N (and for that matter B&A). They are lovely waltzers.
 

yelyoh

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Interesting that the USA chose Adam Rippon for Skate America. I guess since he did so well on the Junior last year.... It will be interesting to see how he stacks up against JW and EL. Also can't wait to see how JA does. I loved his programs last year. He was my fav among the US men.
 

fara

Spectator
Joined
Nov 28, 2006
I am sure KVDP would prefer that too. But seeing as he is not from one of the hosting countries , he had no protection whatsoever from the whims of the hosting nations. There was no way that Japan ( the last GP stop) was taking him ( Takahashi factor)

KVDP was a surprise 6th at worlds meaning that a federation that picked him would open up the chances for that federation's skaters to do well. That with some cross-discipline bargaining among hosting nationals probably is why he got Skate America and Cup of Russia.


Kevin had hipsurgery not kneesurgery, and indeed he would have prefered the later GP's. Last news is that he will be back on full training mid July (earlier than first thought).
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Do National Federations try to stack the deck to give their own skaters the best chance to win? Or are they more interested in putting on a good show? Would an event prefer to invite Mao Asada on the basis of -- wow, look everybody, we got Mao Asada to headline our event! Or if they chose last and Asada was the only one left, would they say, oh no, we've got to take Asada -- so much for our girl's chances.

At Skate America, in the men's division, USSF got to have their cake and eat it, too. Since Johnny Weir was third at worlds they didn't have to invite Buttle or Joubert, and by grabbing Van der Perren at 6th, they didn't have to deal with Takahashi or Lambiel. This sets up Weir against Lysacek as the big draw, with a pretty good chance that they will finish 1-2 and both still have a good chance of making the finals.
Bennett said:
I am so sad that Nobu got only one assignment. I thought that he would get another. He was a bit short to make ISU ranking 25th, but still he is an elite skater who could win a medal at GPF.
That's a shame. I hope he has a super season at NHK, Japanese nationals and Worlds.
 
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mycelticblessing

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 9, 2007
:clap: Yay for pairs though. It looks so much more evenly spread out as compared to last season.
Langlois and Hay have a good chance to make it to the GPF this season:yes:

And of course, still no sign of Plushenko.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
:clap: Yay for pairs though. It looks so much more evenly spread out as compared to last season.
Langlois and Hay have a good chance to make it to the GPF this season:yes:

There are only 14 teams that have two assignments and can theoretically make the GPF. Here they are with their SB scores from last season:

202.86 SAVCHENKO / SZOLKOWY GER
197.82 ZHANG / ZHANG CHN
192.78 DUBE / DAVISON CAN
191.33 KAWAGUCHI / SMIRNOV RUS
187.33 PANG / TONG CHN
179.82 MUKHORTOVA / TRANKOV RUS
169.41 DUHAMEL / BUNTIN CAN
166.48 McLAUGHLIN / BRUBAKER USA
164.67 LANGLOIS / HAY CAN
163.43 VOLOSOZHAR / MOROZOV UKR
159.99 CASTILE / OKOLSKI USA
157.20 INOUE / BALDWIN USA
142.83 DONG / WU CHN
112.96 PIATKOWSKA / KHROMIN POL

How do you figure L/H have a good chance to make the GPF?
 

ae9177

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 28, 2006
OMG SA Ladies lineup IS INSANE! :bow:

Men's field in SC will be a HECK of competition too! :love:

Surprised to see CoR didn't have a TBD for Plush... :confused:

VM got real easy assignments this year, they'll gaurantee a spot in GPF.

Caroline probably will have better chance to qualify for GPF than Rachael and Mirai. :yes:

Interesting that several skaters got back-to-back assignments. :think:
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
OMG SA Ladies lineup IS INSANE! :bow:
I wonder if U.S. televsion will hype it as the invincible Asian Juggernaut (Kim, Nakano and Ando) against the plucky U.S. underdogs, the valient Meissner and plucky Rachael and Mirai. :biggrin:
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I wonder if U.S. televsion will hype it as the invincible Asian Juggernaut (Kim, Nakano and Ando) against the plucky U.S. underdogs, the valient Meissner and plucky Rachael and Mirai. :biggrin:

I think we get ahead of ourselves here. US TV typically does not hype nor promote SA. You might see a newspaper article here and there though.
 
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