2014-15 Grand Prix assignments | Page 6 | Golden Skate

2014-15 Grand Prix assignments

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
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Jan 1, 2013
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Australia
Why would he get no assignments? Kovtun, Voronov, and Menshov have two assignments. Who else would they send in Artur's stead? It's not like they have a huge pipeline in men the way they do in ladies. ;) And c'mon, what's the point of getting TAT as a coach if she can't even politik you into one spot? :popcorn:

I'm not sure if the Skate America field will be easy though. True, Nam and Pitkeev are likely too young and inexperienced, and we can probably count on Abbott to bomb (*sigh*). But Machida and Ten likely will place 1-2. Artur can get bronze if he fends off Jason--I dunno what kind of shape Jason will show up in next season, jumps-wise--will he attempt the quad, or will try to do a clean all-triple performance? Anyway, it'll be really exciting.

Artur's World Ranking and Season's Bests are so low, I wasn't sure. Plus he still seems to be persona non grata with the fed for the Nice fiasco. Hopefully Tat's politiking works well for both his head and his performances!

If Artur can skate clean, he can do - and routinely does - a two-quad long and a one-quad short. Even during his "worst" period last year he still did a two-quad two-3A long two weeks before Nationals. That is always going to help, and we know TAT has been working on his SS...yes, I think SkAm can be a good launchpad for him. He's away from the other powerhouse Russians, he doesn't have to face Max...I have everything crossed for him.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

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Joined
Jan 25, 2013
Hmm, I have a feeling Gracie won't win Skate America after all. Radionova and an on-form Liza can both seriously challenge her. Seems like a great field in Skate America for all the disciplines.

I'm not hedging my bets on Liza, but Radionova has the potential to beat her (and indeed, she did so last season). I actually think that other than Radionova, it's a bit of a cake walk for Gold to at least place 2nd at SA (even with Radionova being more consistent than her, Gold still has a huuuuge PCS advantage over Radionova and all the other competitors in the field). It's an ideal field for her, at least to get any early season jitters out of the way. NHK however is where we'll see what she's really made of.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
I'm not hedging my bets on Liza, but Radionova has the potential to beat her (and indeed, she did so last season). I actually think that other than Radionova, it's a bit of a cake walk for Gold to at least place 2nd at SA (even with Radionova being more consistent than her, Gold still has a huuuuge PCS advantage over Radionova and all the other competitors in the field). It's an ideal field for her, at least to get any early season jitters out of the way. NHK however is where we'll see what she's really made of.

not really if you compare to say other GP events, Skate Canada entries list anyone ? :rolleye:
will agree though no GP isn't that deep with the many retirements, off season breaks from veterans, NHK seems the most highest average depth
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Thrilled with the assigments for Weaver & Poje.

I'm not. I don't think any athlete wants to win by default. I don't know Weaver and Poje personally, but I bet they would rather skate against somebody than just to be passed on through to the finals without competition.
 

hanca

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Joined
Sep 23, 2008
I'm not. I don't think any athlete wants to win by default. I don't know Weaver and Poje personally, but I bet they would rather skate against somebody than just to be passed on through to the finals without competition.

So against whom from the current field would you have them compete? Maybe Bobrova-Soloview otherwise there is no one they would have to be worried about. (we still don't know how the newly formed pairs will turn out, and Capellini-Lanotte have to skate in different events as seeded couple.)
 

LittleLotte29

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 3, 2014
SA. Gold should win this one on paper, however, I won't be surprised with a Radionova win. Bronze seems to be a tossup.

I agree that a battle for gold should be beetween Gracie and Elena. I'd say that bronze seems to go to Tuktamysheva or So Youn Park. Or maybe Meite.

SC. Pogorilaya looks good to win. Wagner should finish 2nd at least. Bronze tossup between Miyahara, Leonova, Marchei, Osmond. Hicks is a dark horse.

Ashley is mentally stronger than Anna but Anna has more difficult elements. It can be a situation like on 2013 TEB when Ashley was distincly better than both Sotnikova and Pogorilaya. I'm not sure if Osmond has a feasible chance for bronze.

CoC. Lipnitskaia for the win, though Murakami can give a run for her money. Edmunds, Li and Tuktamysheva battle for bronze. Gao is a dark horse.

Do you think Kanako will win so easily with Polina? I hope that Liza Tuktamysheva will "wake up" at last and try to get medal.

CoR.Sotnikova looks good for a win on paper, but won't be surprised with a Pogorilaya win. Park, Nagasu and Marchei for bronze. Weinzierl is a dark horse.

Yes, Nathalie has some chance to show her abilities. I hope that she will add any transitions beetween elements because this season her programs were just boring. However, she has rather strong nerves, I suppose that she's able to show what she can.

TEB. Comments: Lipnitskaia should win easily here, with Wagner and Radionova on the podium. Meite, Cesario, Osmond and Hicks are dark horses.

I won't be very surprised with Elena being the winner. I'd indicate Brezinova as a possible dark horse.

NHK. On paper, Sotnikova, Gold and Murakami look good for the podium, but I see Miyahara, Edmunds and Li crashing the party.

Maybe Leonova will be a dark horse? I wish her so :p
 

aschiutza

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
The choice of Voronov, Kolyada, and unannounced slot in CoR (probably won't go to Plush--he confirmed he's not competing next season), with no Kovtun in sight, is the most baffling one to me. Apology to Voronov for missing both Olympics and Worlds? Kovtun no longer their best hope? Or, conversely, they're so confident in Kovtun now that they're certain he'll make GPF without CoR? Glad to see Majorov there. The Sochi crowd seemed to totally adore him, like he's one of their own! I hope he skates well, good ol' Russian split and all.
.

The Moor has done his duty, the Moor can go.

I was so expecting this when I heard that Tarasova took Gachinski. She was not genuine in her overhype towards Kovtun, she just used him for her agenda. If Gachinski delivers, Kovtun will lost much support from her and from federation. Look, there are loads of skaters who didn't make to the top 4 of the world who still have loads of support here on these skating forums. Kovtun got support only when it went against Plushenko. If i didn't miss it, there is no fan-thread for him, there is no gushing over his qualities. All recognise that he is in the game for the top spots, but very few seems to be charmed.

I tend to root for the underdogs and if the overhype of Tarasova (which always put me down for liking her skaters , i really hope she won't ruin Gachinski for me) will slow down, i hope he can show what he is able to do and and i will cheer for him to remain in the game. He got the silly part that Leonova got too. As long as the young generation was behind, she was enough good, after that the federation let her down and she was not in the game anymore. I have the feeling that the youngters that come, Pitkeev and the others, could be very very good, which is bad news for Kovtun (but he still have 2-3 years to establish himself and clean his techniques and become more exciting)...
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
not really if you compare to say other GP events, Skate Canada entries list anyone ? :rolleye:
will agree though no GP isn't that deep with the many retirements, off season breaks from veterans, NHK seems the most highest average depth

Uh, it's pretty apparent that Skate Canada and Skate America are pretty evenly matched in terms of difficulty. In fact, SA has 2 skaters who placed in the top 12 at Worlds last year and Skate Canada has 4.

I'd actually say TEB has pretty good depth too, having the World #2, 4, 8.
 

hanca

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
I think people here may be reading too much into Kovtun not doing Rostelecom Cup. It could have been his own choice - he may like travelling and may have decided that he wants to see China and France. Maybe he competed there in the past and loved it, or maybe he has not competed there yet and wanted to go there ...there may be a number of reasons why he doesn't do GP event in Russia.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
The Moor has done his duty, the Moor can go.

I was so expecting this when I heard that Tarasova took Gachinski. She was not genuine in her overhype towards Kovtun, she just used him for her agenda. If Gachinski delivers, Kovtun will lost much support from her and from federation. Look, there are loads of skaters who didn't make to the top 4 of the world who still have loads of support here on these skating forums. Kovtun got support only when it went against Plushenko. If i didn't miss it, there is no fan-thread for him, there is no gushing over his qualities. All recognise that he is in the game for the top spots, but very few seems to be charmed.

I tend to root for the underdogs and if the overhype of Tarasova (which always put me down for liking her skaters , i really hope she won't ruin Gachinski for me) will slow down, i hope he can show what he is able to do and and i will cheer for him to remain in the game. He got the silly part that Leonova got too. As long as the young generation was behind, she was enough good, after that the federation let her down and she was not in the game anymore. I have the feeling that the youngters that come, Pitkeev and the others, could be very very good, which is bad news for Kovtun (but he still have 2-3 years to establish himself and clean his techniques and become more exciting)...

I don't think it's a bad thing that Kovtun didn't get CoR. It's less pressure on him. It's nice to see Voronov headlining for Russia at CoR, after missing it the past 2 years. He'll have a tough time against Fernandez though, and possibly Brown too -- although it's Cup of Russia, so expect him to get PCS higher than Kozuka and maybe even as high as Fernandez. :sarcasm:

Gachinski on the other hand doesn't really stand a chance at Skate America. Machida/Ten should beat him, although he could sneak in for bronze with a strong skate and if Brown/Abbott completely bombs. I'm predicting even Pitkeev defeats him there, though.

Interesting how Kovtun and Gachinski both face off against Machida/Ten in different GPs.
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
The Ladies depth has certainly took a hit with all the veterans retired or off this season. No Yuna of course or Mao, Carolina or Suzuki. But this is how it usually is the year after after an Olympics but after 2010 most of the veterans stayed in and the new girls really weren't even old enough to start challenging until 2013.
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
More GP stuff from the ISU as of Jun 28:

(1) The ISU's text overview of the GP series and assignments:

Caveat: Oddly, it is riddled with errors, such as, "The number of entries for each event is twelve Ladies, ten Men, eight Pairs and eight Ice Dance couples." Nepela and Kelowna are misspelled, etc.​

(2)
The US gets 17 ladies spots, thanks in part to the increase to 12 entrants. But the supposedly dominant for 2014-15 Russian ladies only have 15 spots!

Also, the Japanese ladies get but nine slots, only 6 in the five events besides NHK. The loss of Asada and Suzuki is killing them.

To further compare/contrast assignments in this way, the ISU's GP standings charts for the four disciplines are helpful.
Because everyone has zero points so far, the skaters for now appear grouped by country, with their assignments marked next to each entry's name.


(3) FYI, today the ISU filled in the assignments on its Skate America event pages for the four disciplines.
(I haven't checked all the other event pages, but I assume that the same is true for the other GPs.)
http://www.isuresults.com/events/fsevent00051556.htm (links to Skate America entries/results, for example)
http://www.isu.org/en/single-and-pair-skating-and-ice-dance/series/isu-grand-prix-of-figure-skating (the list at the bottom of the general ISU GP page has links to each event)​

[I have added all of these links to the OP.]
 

silverfoxes

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
I think people here may be reading too much into Kovtun not doing Rostelecom Cup. It could have been his own choice - he may like travelling and may have decided that he wants to see China and France. Maybe he competed there in the past and loved it, or maybe he has not competed there yet and wanted to go there ...there may be a number of reasons why he doesn't do GP event in Russia.

A couple days he caused a bit of an uproar by tweeting (in Russian) "All Russian fans are much the same as prostitutes, in any sports" so maybe that gives some insight into his attitude.

I'm not one to completely write off a teenager, but I'd rather see any of the other Russians eclipse him at this point.
 

Sandpiper

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
@Karne
Machida and Ten are tougher adversaries than Max or any of the Russians though (except maybe a returning Plush for the "blow to Artur's confidence factor" :laugh:). So I wouldn't say it's a good field for Artur. That being said, Artur can potentially beat the sloppy Machida of Sochi, or an underwhelming Ten. I expect Machida and Ten to skate relatively well with their new confidence boosts and momentum, but who knows, maybe it's just more pressure. I pegged Carolina to deliver at Worlds after the momentum she got from the Olympics (while Mao was under a lot more pressure, having had a disastrous Olympics and now skating at home), and we all know how that turned out...

@Gallavich
He tweeted that? Goodness, who is he learning his Twitter habits from? Well, for all I know, it could be about something totally different (World Cup exit :laugh:), but the likely possibility is that he is not happy about no CoR. I'm kinda with Aschiutza: I can see Kovtun being passed by others once it seems like he's not the only talent left in Russia.

I'm so happy for Voronov though, getting the CoR spot.
 

Jammers

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Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
I don't see what Jeremy hopes to accomplish at almost 30 that he didn't accomplish at 25. :confused:
 

Jammers

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Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
To be honest i don't see why Christina Gao got 2 GP events since not only is she going back to college but she had a mediocre year last season. Samantha Cesario really had the better year and should have gotten 2 assignments.
 

Crystallize

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
A couple days he caused a bit of an uproar by tweeting (in Russian) "All Russian fans are much the same as prostitutes, in any sports" so maybe that gives some insight into his attitude.

I'm not one to completely write off a teenager, but I'd rather see any of the other Russians eclipse him at this point.

Ugh. Although I'm not really sure what he was trying to say in that tweet (like what kind of insult is that??), I'm not so surprised by how problematic he can be. A while back he posted a photo on instagram using the N word, thinking he was cool. :disapp: I, for one, will be happy to see him get passed up.
 

Crystallize

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
To be honest i don't see why Christina Gao got 2 GP events since not only is she going back to college but she had a mediocre year last season. Samantha Cesario really had the better year and should have gotten 2 assignments.

I think someone else on here pointed out that Christina seemed to do better when she was balancing both skating and school, which I agree with. She did poorly when she just focused on skating. Certain people are like that. I actually do better when I'm working part-time and going to school, than just going to school. It's weird, but it works. But I also agree that Samantha deserved two assignments considering how well she did. I think it could've gone either way.
 
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