Sasha Cohen - Already in the Finals, I believe.
Elena Liashenko - Already half way there.
Irina Slutskaya - Will make a fabulous comeback
Jenny Kirk - Continuing her best season to date
Carolina Costner - Landing all those jumps and racking up points
Bebe Liang - The breakthough kid
If any of the above fail to make the Finals; I put Yukina Ota in place of.
THE WINNER; Irina Slutskaya - Determination here.
Men
Evgeni Plushenko - Who can say no?
Michael Weiss - He's half way there
Brian Joubert - He'll rack up enough points
Cheng Li - He'll be there too.
Jeffrey Buttle - Hope he keeps consistency
Stephane Lambiel - If he is well enough
If any of the above fail to make the Finals: I put Timothy Goebel in place of. I believe he has only one score a la Kwan.
THE WINNER:: Brian Joubert - No mistakes and Evgeni has trouble with knee.
Has a good shot of podium at COR and can prevent others from racking up points at Lalique
"Brian Joubert - He'll rack up enough points"
Has a good shot at podium in both Lalique and NHK, plus already blocked points.
"Cheng Li - He'll be there too."
Sorry, with only 8 points scored he's DOA. Plus he's got a job of it fending off Plushy, Abt, Shubin and Weiss at COR. He's history IMO. I'm gonna go out on a limb with Abt. COR is home court and he's got a good shot at NHK podium.
"Jeffrey Buttle - Hope he keeps consistency"
He won't, but with 9 point, all he has to do is score 4 (5th place) to keep Timmy out. It's touch and go with this one.
"Stephane Lambiel - If he is well enough"
No chance in hell, poor guy. He's only got one event and he's not gonna win at COR against Plushy, Abt and Shubin with Weiss and Li in the mix. He's DOA.
I'm gonna pick Shubin as a wild card, but Honda had made the podium twice already, plus home court advantage left. Should be able to make bronze no problem.
So:
Russia (EP)
Russia (AA)
USA (MW)
Japan (TH)
France (BJ)
Russia (AS) *
I think Sasha has this one in the bag with her presentation. Irina still needs time. If she comes out gunning after being so sick it would be a miracle. It would be nice but I won't expect to much.
I say Sasha for the ladies and Plushenko for the guys.
Either Delobel & Schoenfelder or Dubreuil & Lauzon with 14 pts (whoever get 3d place in France) with 14 pts.
De&Sc or D&L (whoever will get 4th place in France) will be tied point-wise with Chait & Sakhnovsky with 12 pts. Each will have the top finishing place of 3d, so it will come down to who has a bigger actual point total.
1st Alternate De&Sc, D&L, or C&S
Paris
Shen & Zhao with 21 pts (already there)
[Color=“Crimson”]
Totmianina & Marinin with 24 pts[/color]
Pang & Tong with 18 pts
Petrova & Tikhonov with 21 pts
Zhang & Zhang with 16 pts
Zagorska & Siudek with 16 pts
Men
[Color=“Crimson”]
Plushenko with 24 pts[/color]
Weiss with 18 or 21 pts
Buttle with 14 - 18 pts
Honda with 12 - 16 pts
Joubert with 12 - 18 pts
Abt with 14 – 18 pts
Ladies
[Color=“Crimson”]
Cohen with 24 pts[/color]
Slutskaya with 24 pts
Arakawa with 18 pts
Kirk with 14-18 pts
Onda with 14-18 pts
Suguri with 12-16 pts
First Alternate, or possibly in the GPF McDonough with 14 pts.
I'd want to see Slutskaya skate before conceding 24 points to her. Last year, she was also recovering from an illness, and she just barely made the final. She finished 3rd at Cup of Russia and 2nd at NHK, in a squeaker. This year, Sokolova, Volchkova and Basova are already out of the running for the final, and Nelidina has one event. It's all on Irina's shoulders. That could motivate her to do her best, but her illness was very serious and cut into her practice time.
I think we will definitely see Arakawa, Cohen and Onda at the final. If Kirk can hold it together in her final event, perhaps she will be there, too. Liashenko got 12 points for her non-scoring event, but her total score was underwhelming. Liashenko, Suguri and Sebestyen are possibles, and McDonough and Ota are marginally possible.
Don't forget Winkler & Lohse in dance. If they get third at cup of russia and NHK, they're in. Even with a 4th and 3rd they'll be tied with D&L, D&S, or C&S with 12 points.
Well, Winkler & Lohse did lose to Dubreuil & Lauzon at Bofrost, and the reports were not too great about them. I like W&L a lot; I think they bring lightness to a field where most skaters take themselves a bit too seriously. I am just not sure that Kati has fully recovered from her injuries. We shall wait and see...
While there was a split panel on both the OD and FD at bofrost, W&L did have a fall in both portions. And although I haven't seen their dances, I'm willing to gather D&L have stronger programs this season. I just think the judges are confused as the rest of us of what to make of a world with two systems working at the same time.
At Cup of Russia, if W&L are battling for a medal, I assume it will be against C&S. Same at NHK. If they manage to beat them both weeks (and considering what we've seen of C&S's marks this season so far, this could easily happen) they'll be in the series final with two 3rd places. If not, well, this post is pointless. I do think, just like last year, there will be a couple ties that have to be broken to decide who makes it to the final.
I think that Sasha Cohen and Evgeny Plushenko have no rivals in this series. They can spot their oponents a fall, a double-foot and a traveling spin, and still win.
I'll say Navka and Kostomarov in dance and Shen and Zhou in pairs.
Sasha
Arakawa
Onda
Kirk (if she stays consistent and her short will put her in good standing with the points)
Suguri (never does well in the gp final)
Slutskaya (not should how to predict because she doesn’t skate well right after a illness)
Personally I think Irina should sit this one out.
Plushenko if he goes. I don’t think he should risk it.
Weiss (Can’t believe it but I think he’s more consistent than Takeshi this season)
Joubert
Honda
Buttle (lets hope)
Abt (Maybe but I haven’t seen him skate)
I don't follow the other three events that close to know who has points right not, so just the men
Plushenko
Weiss
Honda
Buttle
Joubert
Abt
Abt is the one that you never know.... I'm hoping he will make it this year, but Shubin can be a surprise, afterall he is the Junior GP and World Champion.