Main battles in skating this year

pangtongfan · Oct 30, 2010

What do you think will be the main battles for medals or titles in skating this year. Here are mine:

Pairs:

Pang & Tong vs Savchenko & Szolkowy for Pairs Gold. I think these will be the main 2 battling for the Grand Prix final and World golds in Pairs agin. Kavaguti & Smirnov could also threaten for gold if she recovers from her injury but they have been so inconsistent in their careers up to now.

Battle for Canadian Pairs title- This will be a dogfight with Dube & Davison likely out.

Battle for U.S Pairs title- Another dogfight I predict.

Battle for Russian World team spots- There are currently 4 strong teams that will be vying for only 3 spots.

Men:

Takahashi vs Chan for Mens Gold. These are really the only 2 skaters I can see contending for the World title this year. Being in Japan it will be Takahashi who has the advantage if both skate their best, and Chan seems the more likely of the two to miss jumps as well.

Ladies:

U.S title battle- Nagasu vs Flatt vs Czisny vs Wagner vs Zawadski. This will be great.

Battle for World title- Who knows who is even in this now. I am thinking by March it will be Kim, Rochette making a return to skate at Worlds and bid for the World title which appears open this year, and 1 of Asada or Nagasu recovered enough to threaten for gold.

Dance:

European title battle- I predict without Domnina & Shabalin this will be exciting although Faiella & Scali look like the early favorites.

silverlake22 · Oct 31, 2010

Gao is totally in the race for the US title.

pangtongfan · Oct 31, 2010

silverlake22 said:
Gao is totally in the race for the US title.

Has she competed in any of the summer events? How has she done. At her level of last year I dont think she is really but maybe she has improved.

silverlake22 · Oct 31, 2010

pangtongfan said:
Has she competed in any of the summer events? How has she done. At her level of last year I dont think she is really but maybe she has improved.

Her international scores so far this season:

JGP Austria - 167.14 (SP - 58.07) (FS - 109.07)

JGP Germany - 155.67 (SP - 47.66) (FS - 108.01)

She also competed at 2 summer events which she both won and landed 3f-3t in all her competitions so far.

Tonichelle · Oct 31, 2010

pangtongfan said:
Men:

Takahashi vs Chan for Mens Gold. These are really the only 2 skaters I can see contending for the World title this year. Being in Japan it will be Takahashi who has the advantage if both skate their best, and Chan seems the more likely of the two to miss jumps as well.

Take into consideration that Takahashi will be defending his title for the first time. Repeat champions have all said that the worlds after their first win was the hardest. It's not impossible to win, but it's an amazing amount of pressure. That he will be defending at HOME with the way the Japanese media goes all "fangirl" on their skaters, the pressure is going to be immense. Much like Browning defending his title in Canada.

pangtongfan · Nov 3, 2010

Tonichelle said:
Take into consideration that Takahashi will be defending his title for the first time. Repeat champions have all said that the worlds after their first win was the hardest. It's not impossible to win, but it's an amazing amount of pressure. That he will be defending at HOME with the way the Japanese media goes all "fangirl" on their skaters, the pressure is going to be immense. Much like Browning defending his title in Canada.

This is all true. However Takahashi skated very well at Worlds in 2007 at home. A very shaky combination jump in the short which he fought to hang onto but which ended up being downgraded too clearly cost him the gold medal this year, but since it wasnt a fall or outright miss it is hard to call it a choking mistake, just a mistake that was still very costly.

FlattFan · Nov 5, 2010

silverlake22 said:
Gao is totally in the race for the US title.

Gao, when skating back to back with other girls, isn't impressive. Her presence on ice is significantly less than the young girls like Vanessa Lam, Yasmin Siraj. She has the jumps, but she skates like a junior after so many years on the senior scenes. I don't see her getting higher PCS than Flatt or Czisny or Nagasu or Wagner.
Gao is totally in the race for 5th place, now that there are quite a few new girls who are better skaters overall.

Tonichelle · Nov 5, 2010

pangtongfan said:
This is all true. However Takahashi skated very well at Worlds in 2007 at home. A very shaky combination jump in the short which he fought to hang onto but which ended up being downgraded too clearly cost him the gold medal this year, but since it wasnt a fall or outright miss it is hard to call it a choking mistake, just a mistake that was still very costly.

he wasn't world champion in 2007. it's a little different this time around. Kurt Browning skated at the Olympics at home in 88 - before he was a world champion - and had no problem, just had a lot of fun. It was completely different when he was teh one being hunted as reigning world champion skating at home. He still won the event, but it was almost pure luck. pressure is going to be extreme.

oleada · Nov 5, 2010

A Nagasu/Czisny Worlds team would be divine!

I doubt that Gao will get the PCS necessary to beat them - and that's totally justified. Mirai and Alissa will also score very highly in the spins and steps, and Gao won't. Gao is a good skater, but she hasn't even won a JGP event.

pangtongfan · Nov 5, 2010

Tonichelle said:
he wasn't world champion in 2007. it's a little different this time around. Kurt Browning skated at the Olympics at home in 88 - before he was a world champion - and had no problem, just had a lot of fun. It was completely different when he was teh one being hunted as reigning world champion skating at home. He still won the event, but it was almost pure luck. pressure is going to be extreme.

Kurt skated wonderfully at the 1990 Worlds to win! I dont see how you can say that was
luck. He was still lucky Petrenko didnt skate that well in the LP I guess, but it wasnt like Kurt struggled and lucky Petrenko and others did too, he himself skated excellently to win.

Tonichelle · Nov 5, 2010

pangtongfan said:
Kurt skated wonderfully at the 1990 Worlds to win! I dont see how you can say that was
luck.

Because he himself said it. And his short program had a huge mistake where he doubled the 3Axel. He threw one in at the very end of the program and held onto it. That's luck.

silverlake22 · Nov 5, 2010

oleada said:
A Nagasu/Czisny Worlds team would be divine!

I doubt that Gao will get the PCS necessary to beat them - and that's totally justified. Mirai and Alissa will also score very highly in the spins and steps, and Gao won't. Gao is a good skater, but she hasn't even won a JGP event.

At least Gao rotates her jumps

oleada · Nov 5, 2010

silverlake22 said:
At least Gao rotates her jumps

So did Mirai today. And at the Olympics. And Alissa's jump technique in Canada.
Gao might be a strong jumper, but as for the rest of the skating, there is absolutely no comparison.

Alissa has one of the highest LPs so far this season, and she didn't even need to be clean to get it. She's been consistently outscoring the competition in spins and GOE for years now. It's a big asset.

janetfan · Nov 6, 2010

silverlake22 said:
At least Gao rotates her jumps

Just curious since you seem to know alot about Christina........

Why do you think Orser kept her on the Jr circuit for another season? Isn't she old enough for seniors?

I think you know I like Christina alot - but there must be reasons she stayed down with the juniors this season.

ImaginaryPogue · Nov 6, 2010

pangtongfan said:
European title battle- I predict without Domnina & Shabalin this will be exciting although Faiella & Scali look like the early favorites.

Round one went to Pechalat and Bourzat with barely a fight. Will be interesting to see if the Kerrs can threaten F/S in Russia.

blue_idealist · Nov 6, 2010

ImaginaryPogue said:
Round one went to Pechalat and Bourzat with barely a fight. Will be interesting to see if the Kerrs can threaten F/S in Russia.

You'd have to think after CoC, Bobrova and Soloviev will be in the mix too. The Kerrs seem to be faltering lately, but same with Faiella and Scali, compared to last year, anyway. Ilinykh and Katsalapov and Hoffman and Zavozin may be dark horses.

Nadine · Nov 6, 2010

To answer the thread topic question:

Jeremy Abbott vs. Adam Rippon for gold at US Nationals

Rachael Flatt vs. Mirai Nagasu for gold at US Nationals

Brian Joubert vs. Amodio for gold at French Nationals

Patrick Chan vs. Kevin Reynolds for gold at Canadian Nationals (gooooooooooo Kev!!!!!)

Verner vs. Brezina for gold at Czech Republic Nationals

Daisuke Takahashi vs. Kozuka for gold at Japan Nationals

Miki Ando vs. Mao Asada for gold at Japan Nationals

Kiira Korpi vs. Laura Lepisto for gold at Finland Nationals

That's all I can think of for now.

silverlake22 · Nov 6, 2010

janetfan said:
Just curious since you seem to know alot about Christina........

Why do you think Orser kept her on the Jr circuit for another season? Isn't she old enough for seniors?

I think you know I like Christina alot - but there must be reasons she stayed down with the juniors this season.

Christina's goal is to go to the 2014 Olympics, so she and Brian decided there was no need to rush things, and after her result at Junior Worlds, they decided together to stay on the JGP for another season. She has grown a few inches (she's now around 5'3"-5'4") since last season and has worked a lot on her choreography and presentation and they decided together that staying on the JGP for another year would allow her work these aspects, try her 3f-3t with less at stake, and adjust to her new body while staying away from the limelight. I think it was a good call.

Her goal this season is to go to Senior Worlds, so she is working hard on making her programs and image less juniorish, and IMO is doing a good job at it. Also, where she is competing as a senior at nationals her decision to stay on the JGP doesn't affect her chances of making the World Team.

YunaBliss · Nov 7, 2010

From what i have seen so far, there is no "battle" in the Ladies field - or the battle is for the 2nd place only.

It will be Yuna taking her throne at the Worlds again

pangtongfan · Nov 7, 2010

Yeah if Ya Na simply shows up at Worlds she will win easily.

Main battles in skating this year

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