Predictions

[blue_idealist]

Yes sorry, I meant Alissa, dumb mistake on my part.

I haven't seen any vids of her training or run throughs, so who knows? The coaching change may help, Yuka was a solid jumper so perhaps she can pass that on to Alissa, but who knows...I am totally psyched to see her programs though, she has some beautiful music lined up (Korngold's violin romance is a favourite!)

I think Phaneuf already had a minor breakthrough at the 2010 worlds, she finished much higher than I was expecting, she could have even taken the bronze. I strongly suspect she'll take this one if Alissa can't pull it together. She'll probably also make the final. She's not a particular favourite of mine, and she seems to go for the same 80s drag-queen hair and makeup style Joannie favoured (totally worth a deduction in the program components score IMO!!), but she's getting better as a competitor, I think.

Marchei??? That would be a BIG upset to me. She's fun to watch (sassiest lady skater I've seen in a while), but her jumps are small and unreliable. Where did she finnish at Euros last year, 8th or something? And Euros 2010 had a field probably weaker than this one (I exaggerate, but only slightly...)

Actually, that's true about Cynthia and Joannie's makeup/hair. I never noticed that before, but now that you mention it.. something always bothered me about Joannie's look and I think that's what it was.

[museksk8r]

I don't know about predictions, but my hopes are that Nobunari Oda comes back from his Worlds disaster and really challenges for the gold medal spot. I also really want Jeremy Ten to skate his best! I also want Koffe, Javi, and Adam to do their best too! For the ladies, I want either Alissa or Ksenia to win! I also want Cynthia to do her best! Pairs looks kind of like a sleeper, but I'd love for them to prove me wrong. Dance, Crone/Poirier vs. Kerr/Kerr could be interesting. Bring on the skating!

[blue_idealist]

I think the Kerrs must have WD. In Pj Kwong's blog, she doesn't mention them at all as podium picks, and I don't think she'd just forget about them.

[dorispulaski]

colleen o'neill described them skating their FD in the practice, as seen on Skatebuzz, (so I guess they are there), and said that they really liked the program.

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sho...l=1#post523287

PJ is perhaps getting a little too Canadiocentric or she just wasn't at the practice when they skated. Kerrs also just skated at Michael Weiss' show, and did their SD, so I'm assuming they are still skating until told otherwise.

[colleen o'neill]

Oh, doris, I was hoping you had seen this practice . I'll be interested to see what you have to say tomorrow.I don't have the detailed technical knowledge to give a definitive report.( but I know what I like) I thought the Kerrs had some really lovely details, and they seemed maybe faster/ closer ? just more together than I usually think of them being.
Very favourably impressed with T/B. They're a very attractive couple. I don't think they did a complete run through, but I think it was all their FD.
C/P did seem to have some pretty knockout footwork sequences as well ( FD ).. G/B were not as good as I thought they might be ( SD )..but also well-matched and attractive..P/I had a slip up in their footwork sequence (SD) but later did it perfectly..I just don't know the level of difficulty.
What I find so interesting about this competition is that ,apart from the Kerrs, these couples are roughly all the same age , so barring injuries, they could all be around vying with each other for years...Fun !

[pangtongfan]

I think the Kerrs must have WD. In Pj Kwong's blog, she doesn't mention them at all as podium picks, and I don't think she'd just forget about them.

PJ Kwong has alot of strange opinions in her blog so I expect she just assumed they werent a podium threat in this field of mostly junior or young senior teams even though they were 5th at Worlds last year. She actually called Weaver & Poje the biggest threat to Virtue & Moir at Skate Canada in 2007.