Worlds podium?

[skateluvr]

Well, you are right, this is Caro's year and only Asada lights out with the sympathy vote can take Caro's away. It does matter, and I'm glad you said it, this is Europe and the European judges will hold up Caro. This would be her first gold and Mao has two already, so we know how these things go. As reasoned as every other statement is, you seem intent on really infuriating Patrick's ubers though they are now officially ignoring you. Since I started the thread, it is crazy to think Chan can have 6 falls and you really should edit your post as it is offensive. Not about the falls but the gross, inappropriate bathroom humor. Please show some manners and do so. We are gentle men and gentle women here. Thank you.

[drivingmissdaisy]

I still think Caro is very much a wildcard and she will have to skate reallllllly well to beat Mao. The problem with Caro is she can fall or pop literally any jump at any time, and Mao is usually somewhat steady and peaks at Worlds. Being in Europe can also be a factor that hurts Caro if it adds more pressure.

[gmyers]

With Kostner not pushing herself technically at all anymore so much of the pressure has just vanished and she has been so clean consistently. I don't think there is meltdown potential with her now.

[Serious Business]

I really wish people would make it clear whether their lists are what they hope for, or what they predict will happen. Welp, my predictions:

Almost guaranteed to be on the podium:
Men:
Chan (probably gold)
Takahashi (probably silver)
Bronze is wide open

Women:
Carolina Kostner (probably gold)
Mao Asada (probably will podium, but silver or bronze seems equally likely)
Akiko Suzuki (probably will podium, but silver or bronze seems equally likely)

Ice Dance:
Davis/White (almost certainly gold)
Virtue/Moir (almost certainly silver)
Péchalat/Bourzat (almost certainly bronze)

Pairs:
Volosozhar/Trankov (probably gold or silver, but I'll give them a slight edge with the momentum from the EC and because I think they have better technique)
Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy (probably gold or silver)
Kavaguti/Smirnov

Things I'm hoping for:

That Yuzuru Hanyu gets on the podium. Which he has a reasonable shot at. He's certainly one of the contenders for bronze.

That Akiko Suzuki wins gold. This is also pretty reasonable, considering Akiko's technical content and her relative consistency in this and past seasons.

That Alissa Czisny wins gold. This is almost impossible, and may require the rest of the field to have a total meltdown. Barring that, for Alissa to podium. That's achievable, but would require Alissa to skate great and for either Caro, Akiko or Mao to meltdown.

That Péchalat/Bourzat doesn't get on the podium. This would require some major mistakes from them. It happened last year at worlds, but it's very unlikely to repeat. Still, I loathe their free skate this season, and dislike their SD. And the move where Bouzat does a flip with an assist from Péchalat results in some hideous positions. I would really rather not see this rewarded.

That the Shibutanis win bronze, again, just to throw it in the faces of all the haters. This would require quite a few teams to make major mistakes, though, like last year. Extremely unlikely.

[blue_idealist]

For ladies, I think it will be Mao, Carolina and Akiko, in that order. I can't really see anyone else up there at this point. Alissa and Kiira are too inconsistent, and I'm not sure if Ashley W's consistency is here to stay. Viktoria Helgesson is skating well but I don't think she's world podium material yet. The Canadian ladies are not skating clean. Leonova is injured, Makarova hasn't been at her best.. actually Korobeynikova is an outside shot, but a very outside shot.

For men, Chan's going to win for sure unless he has a TOTAL meltdown in both the SP and the LP. I think Takahashi and Gachinski will take the other two spots on the podium, probably in that order. The dark horse is Abbott, maybe Fernandez and Amodio too. There's Nan Song also to watch. If Plushenko was going to skate, I would probably predict him in second place, behind Chan, but from what I hear he's still not coming..

Pairs is going to be a fight between V/T and S/S, if S/S don't compete or are hampered too much by injury to skate well then it will go to V/T. I think K/S will be on the podium and Bazarova/Larionov as well if S/S don't skate. I know K/S are injured too but there hasn't been talk of them not skating at Worlds that I've heard while there have been worries about S/S not skating. Outside shots: Duhamel/Radford, Denney/Coughlin, Zhangs.

For dance I think Davis/White will take it with Virtue/Moir in second. The bronze is probably going to go to Pechalat/Bourzat if they don't fall, but Weaver/Poje, the Shibs, and to a lesser extent Bobrova/Soloviev and Ilinykh/Katsalapov will be in the mix.

[evangeline]

What I WANT to happen at Worlds:

Daisuke Takahashi to win gold...for obvious reasons, as well as to witness pangtongfan's reaction if this happens

[Becki]

What I WANT to happen at Worlds:

Daisuke Takahashi to win gold...for obvious reasons, as well as to witness pangtongfan's reaction if this happens

If this happens, I suspect Daisuke might decide to retire and past on the throne to Yuzuru :D

[sweetskates1]

My DREAM podium:

GOLD: Jeremy Abbott
SILVER: Daisuke Takahashi
BRONZE: Javier Fernandez

The Probable Podium:

GOLD: Patrick Chan
SILVER: Jeremy Abbott
BRONZE: Daisuke Takahashi

My DREAM podium:

GOLD: Akiko Suzuki
SILVER: Mao Asada
BRONZE: Alissa Czisney

The Probable Podium:

GOLD: Mao Asada
SILVER: Akiko Suzuki
BRONZE: Carolina Costner

My DREAM podium:

GOLD: Davis/White
SILVER: Shibutani/Shibutani
BRONZE: Virtue/Moir

The Probable Podium:

GOLD: Davis/White
SILVER: Virtue/Moir
BRONZE: Pechalat/Bourzat

My DREAM podium:

GOLD: V/T
SILVER: S/S
BRONZE: M/B

The Probable Podium:
GOLD: V/T
SILVER: S/S
BRONZE: D/R

[CassAgain]

If neither of the top two teams in ice dance make a mistake, I think Davis and White will win. They have had the momentum this year. Not having an American judge on the panel will be difficult, but I think Die Fledermaus has an epic quality that will carry the day. Also barring major mistakes, I think P and B will win and deserve to win third. I won't cry too much, though, if the Shibs sneak up into the third spot again.

[sweetskates1]

Davis/White Die Fliedermaus program is a classic... seriously already... they deserve to win

[ivy]

OK I'll try:

Men:

Patrick
Jeremy
Daisuke

Patrick seems a shoe in, Dai will beat Jeremy in PCS but Jeremy will squeak ahead in TES and GoE

Ladies:

Truthfully I find most of the top contenders so boring I wish they could all get gold, be happy and go retire so we can get a fresh batch in.

Mao
Allissa
Akiko

Carolyn will probably get Gold, but I just can't get into her skating so I'm not going to put her on my list.

Dance

D/W
V/M
P/B

I'm looking forward to this for sure. Will be interesting to see what happens at 4CC.

No idea for pairs - sorry to say - I used to love this discipline, but not moved by the season so far


Sort sound like a bit of an old curmudgeon, don't I?

GO SKATERS!!! Ready to be dazzled!

[bekalc]

actually Korobeynikova is an outside shot, but a very outside shot.

I don't know. If her federation supports her; and Polina skates well; it might not be such an outside shot. Polina's two great free skates at Euros got her some attention; because it was far above what anyone else did jump wise. And lets be real that unless Asada gets her 3 axels back; that content will be far above what anyone at Worlds is going to do jump wise. The Russians want to maintain their 3 spots too; so I wouldn't be surprised if Polina gets a push heading into worlds. (Although hopefully quietly away from Polina's ears.) The key for her will be to have a clean short. If she does that with a 3flip/3toe she should score very very well. And I wouldn't be surprised if the PCS jump to the mid 7s.

If she skates like she did at Euros in qualfication. Polina will easily win qualifying too which will give the judges more room to notice her.

[sweetskates1]

Hi Ivy, agreed. The ladies field is so uninspiring but Mao is truly gifted and Akiko truly special. I wish them all luck. I do not enjoy Carolina's skating at all. Every time I see the adjectives "elegant", "beautiful" and/or "artistic" attached to her name, I die a little inside.

I really believe that D/W are the better team and should win; if V/M do I will be even more upset than I was after the 2010 Olympics season. The Shibutanis and W/P should be able to be P/B but since Worlds are in Europe this year I highly doubt they will.

[ImaginaryPogue]

My dream podiums (is the plural of podium podiums or podia?)

MEN
1. Daisuke Takahashi: Because he's an awesome enough skater to have two world titles to his credit.
2. Patrick Chan: Because I want to see pangtongfan's face if this happens. Plus I think Dai has the better two program (or more accurately, Chan's LP > Dai's LP, Dai's SP >>>>> Chan's SP)
3. Brian Joubert: Because it would be awesome to see him medal at home with The Matrix
4. Javier Fernandez: A top five position would be an indicator he improved from Euros and set him up quite nicely for the next two seasons.
5. Nan Song: Highest Chinese single skater since Chen Lu? It's been a remarkable year for the Chinese single skaters, and this would be an awesome climax.

LADIES
1. Carolina Kostner: Elegant programs, true artistic maturity, gorgeous skating skills... lets celebrate the astonishingly beautiful talent.
2. Mao Asada: Perhaps the Michelle Kwan of our time, a skater that both transcends and is conjoined to the sport.
3. Alissa Czisny and Akiko Suzuki: Yeah, I want a tie.
5. Ashley Wagner: Because I think she's clearly going for it, and it's nice to have an American skater not afraid of winning
Also, if Canada's entrant is Cynthia Phaneuf, I want her outside the top ten because of SC's monkeying around. If it's LaCoste, I want her to be in the top ten as a very assured "So there!". Yes, I'm being petty.

PAIRS
1. Savchenko/Szolkowy AND Kavaguti/Smirnov: Yeah, another tie. The two best long programs of the season in any discipline.
3. Volosozhar/Trankov: Before they enter the realm of domination.
4. Pang/Tong: Why not?
5. Duhamel/Radford: Would be awesome.

DANCE
1. Virtue/Moir: Simply the best ice dancers in the world for me. I'd love to see their programs win them a second gold medal.
2. Davis/White: Any lower would suggest they made multiple, major errors, and I don't want that, but I wouldn't mind seeing other teams beat them.
3. Pechalat/Bourzat AND Weaver/Poje: Because it'd make a nice story for P/B to medal at home. Because W/P need to medal this season or else SC will do their damndest to politick G/P above them next season.
5. Cappellinni/Lanotte: They have two terrific programs.
6. Riazanova/Tkachenko: Because I would love it if they were the top Russian team
7-9. ShibutaniShibutani/BobrovaSoloviev/IlynikhKatsalpov: Eh, whatevs - don't enjoy them much this season. Look forward to next.

[Bluebonnet]

What I WANT to happen at Worlds:

Daisuke Takahashi to win gold...for obvious reasons, as well as to witness pangtongfan's reaction if this happens

He'd fall 6 times like this: And if Takahashi or anyone other then Chan won Olympics gold, he'd fall 10 times of this