Analyzing GPs: France, Russia, Japan

Eric Bompard: MAO and who else? Rochette or Zhang for Silver. Hanging in there: Korpi, Hughes and BEBE


Cup of Russia: Presume Kostner = gold; then there is Meier, Flatt and Meissner One of them will lose out entirely. Skaters to watch: Vahamaa and a rekindling of Suguri.


NHK: Easy golden MAO with Nakano and Nagasu for either gold or silver. Skaters to watch closely: Lepisto, Suzuki, Gerboldt. Maybe Wagner to make up for Gotenborg.

My gut predictions for the ladies are:

TEB:
1. Mao Asada
2. Joannie Rochette
3. Caroline Zhang
4. Emily Hughes
5. Kiira Korpi
6. Beatrisa Liang
7. Valentina Marchei

COR:
1. Carolina Kostner
2. Rachael Flatt
3. Sarah Meier
4. Kimmie Meissner
5. Fumie Suguri
6. Nana Takeda
7. Julia Sebestyen

NHK:
1. Mao Asada
2. Yukari Nakano
3. Mirai Nagasu
4. Laura Lepisto
5. Na-Young Kim
6. Katrina Hacker
7. Cynthia Phaneuf

It is so hard to predict these without any idea of how skaters will be next season, but here goes.


France: Mao
Joannie
Caroline
Bebe?

Russia: Carolina
Racheal
Kimmie

Japan: interesting one here

Mao
Marai
Yukuri

I hope this thread is not limited to the ladies, because I'm going to go out on a limb and try to forecast the men's events:

TEB
1.+2. Lambiel/Joubert; I couldn't decide the order; will have to wait until after Skate Canada to see what form Stephane is in.
3. Preaubert
4. Chan

COR
1. Joubert
2. Verner
3. Voronov
4. Van der Perren
5. Berntsson

NHK
1. Takahashi
2. Weir
3. Oda

COR, Ladies:
1. Kostner
2. Meier
3. Meissner
4. Suguri

NHK, Ladies
1. Asada
2. Nakano
3. Lepisto

Try not to think of them as exacting predictions except for the few obvious. All of them are wait and sees and many are being checked for needed improvements which may be there this year.

Joesitz said:

Cup of Russia: Presume Kostner = gold; then there is Meier, Flatt and Meissner One of them will lose out entirely. Skaters to watch: Vahamaa and a rekindling of Suguri.

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I wouldn't presume Kostner=Gold quite yet. Both Meier and Flatt have a good chance of beating Kostner. Europeans this year saw a very close battle for Gold between Kostner and Meier. Unless Meissner really improves during this off-season, I think she may be the one to lose out. She doesn't have the consistency of the other three she's up against.

I'll be looking forward to the mens event in CoR. They have two of the top Jr. World competitors competing : Rippon & Borodulin. I'd love to see one of them on the podium.

I think Flatt will win Russia with a 7 triple program.

My predictions... The list in the winners overall (SP and LP combined), the paragraph is a detailed prediction with predictions for the placements of the competitors in the SP and LP individually.

TEB:
1. Mao Asada
2. Caroline Zhang
3. Kiira Korpi
4. Joannie Rochette
5. Beatrisa Liang
6. Emily Hughes
7. Valentina Marchei

Detailed predictions: Mao shines, 1st in both SP and LP. Caroline skates a stellar SP and is right on Mao's heels going into the LP. Joannie Rochette skates consistently with a 4th place in the SP and another 4th place in the long. Kiira Korpi skates a shaky 5th place in the SP, but has a great LP with improved artistry outscoring Caroline, who had a fall and several shaky jumps, but it is not enough to take 2nd overall.. Bebe has a great SP, coming in 3rd, but falls apart in the long dropping to 5th. Emily Hughes has disastrous performances in both the SP and LP with 6th in both. Valentina is so far behind that she barely counts. (Prediction after just SP: Mao, Caroline, Bebe, Joannie, Kiira, Emily, Valentina; Prediction for LP: Mao, Kiira, Caroline, Joannie, Bebe, Emily, Valentina.)

COR:
1. Rachael Flatt
2. Fumie Suguri
3. Sarah Meier
4. Carolina Kostner
5. Julia Sebestyen
6. Kimmie Meissner
7. Nana Takeda

Rachael Flatt, landing her triple-triple combination, puts her in first place after the SP, despite a fall in the LP, she still takes gold. Carolina Kostner has a great SP putting her in 2nd, but disappointing long not completing any triple-triple combos and falling on solo jumps, dropping her to 4th. Fumie Suguri skates consistently, 3rd in the SP and 2nd in the long to take 2nd overall, she makes no mistakes but her program just isn't technically demanding enough to overcome Rachael. Sarah Meier also skates consistently (4th in short), with several slip ups but the lack of technical demand in her program (like Suguri) but missing Suguri's grace lands her in 3rd in the LP and 3rd overall. Julia Sebestyen, similar to Sarah Meier, but more mistakes and even still less demand... 5th in both. Kimmie Meissner still can't overcome her nerves from last season, she has a disastrous SP, landing her in 7th, but with more technical difficulty in the long, she places in 6th (despite many many nervous mistakes) over Nana, landing Nana in 7th overall. (Prediction after just the SP: Rachael, Carolina, Fumie, Sarah, Julia, Nana, Kimmie; Prediction for LP: Rachael, Fumie, Sarah, Carolina, Julia, Kimmie, Nana.)

NHK:
1. Mirai Nagasu
2. Mao Asada
3. Yukari Nakano
4. Katrina Hacker
5. Laura Lepisto
6. Na-Young Kim
7. Cynthia Phaneuf

After her initial win, Mao slacks off a bit as she is still working on correcting her edges before the GPF and plans to skate just well enough to secure herself a spot. She lands 1st in the SP, but after failing her 3A and flutzing in the long, she finds herself in 2nd overall. Mirai trails Mao after the short due to her lower PCS, but skates a clean LP to put her in 1st overall. Yukari's PCS are higher than usual due to better artistry this season, but her failure to do a triple-triple in the SP puts her in 3rd and under-rotation of her 3A in the LP keeps her in 3rd. Laura Lepisto outscores Katrina in the short giving her a 4th place SP, but Katrina's consistency ultimately prevails over Lepisto in the LP putting Katrina in 4th and Laura in 5th. Na-Young and Cynthia are a toss up for last and second-to-last place with no one really caring :-/ (Prediction just after the SP: Mao, Mirai, Yukari, Laura, Katrina, Na-Young/Cynthia, Prediction for LP: Mirai, Mao, Yukari, Katrina, Laura, Na-Young/Cynthia)

merrywidow said:

I'll be looking forward to the mens event in CoR. They have two of the top Jr. World competitors competing : Rippon & Borodulin. I'd love to see one of them on the podium.

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Agree :thumbsup: I think CoR will be quite a Men's competition. While i kind of discovered Adam in a small club competition, he has improved so much since then that I am accepting the possiblility that he may push one of the top US Nats off the podium given the same possiblity of Jeremy.

Borodulin, on the other hand, was a big surprise to me when watching Junior Worlds last year. He's got it all, and in his hometown WoW.

Of course there is my favorite Stephane, somewhat past his prime, I still think somehow he will make the finals.

bethissoawesome said:

My predictions... The list in the winners overall (SP and LP combined), the paragraph is a detailed prediction with predictions for the placements of the competitors in the SP and LP individually...

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Your whole post was a great read! Thank you.