Owner of a GP, and competing at WTT, despite disappointing results at the previous Winter Games and one of the most criticized Fed/president, France still belongs to the big countries in figure skating.
While Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron perpetuate the tradition of French Ice Dancing, hoping to conquer the Olympic Title in a tight duel with Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Vanessa James and Morgan Ciprès finally had the breakthrough season they were waiting for, after moving to John Zimmerman, putting themselves in the league of the serious contenders.
The individual skaters struggled more this season. Maé-Bérénice Meité going through injury had to gave her French crown to Laurine Lecavelier who proved herself at European Championships with a fifth place and a very convincing technical arsenal, plus a revealing SP. Chafik Besseghier also lost his French title to the youngster Kevin Aymoz leading the latter to his first selection at EC. Besseghier and Lecavelier who competed at Worlds brought back 1 Olympic quota for each category.
Men (1 OG quota): A serious fight is expected between Aymoz and Besseghier. The first could be building a strong PCS advantage but still has no quad, while the second plans 3 in the FP. Romain Ponsart who trains under Arutunian could be a wild card if he stops bombing and shows his real potential.
Ladies (1 OG quota):This will be up to Meité, and how she can rebuild herself after a rough season.
Pairs (2 OG quotas): James/Ciprès are in a perfect ascending spiral (no pun intended) with Pyeongchang in sight. Behind them, it's still a bit unclear. Mendoza/Kovalev and Esbrat/Novoselov could both have nationality issues, and Mendoza was seriously injured.
Dance (2 OG quotas): Behind the leaders, another foggy zone. The binational couples with Lorenza Alessandrini and Marie-Jade Lauriault are in the same trouble. Another wild card is Angélique Abachkina, going into seniors with Louis Thauron, as she could get her french passport in time.
Next generation coming up:
The ice dance field is still the more crowded in France when it comes to Juniors, with a lot of promising couples, as the Junior National Champions Natacha Lagouge and Corentin Rahier trained under Muriel Zazoui and Olivier Schoenfelder.
The pairs desert no longer exists as a young couple Cleo Hamon and Denis Strekalin just participated to the WJC showing a lot of promise, but definitely an under-developped category.
Some boys will be heading to the JGP with lot of hopes, 3A and quads in the making, I'm talking about Adam Siao Him Fa and Luc Economides, while the club of Nice is feeding the ladies field. Both boys and girls are still struggling to stabilize their jumps and assert themselves in competition. I think the development is now up to Gailhaguet and how he'll decide to help the upcoming generation :sarcasm:
What are your thoughts about French Skating entering the Olympic season ?
While Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron perpetuate the tradition of French Ice Dancing, hoping to conquer the Olympic Title in a tight duel with Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Vanessa James and Morgan Ciprès finally had the breakthrough season they were waiting for, after moving to John Zimmerman, putting themselves in the league of the serious contenders.
The individual skaters struggled more this season. Maé-Bérénice Meité going through injury had to gave her French crown to Laurine Lecavelier who proved herself at European Championships with a fifth place and a very convincing technical arsenal, plus a revealing SP. Chafik Besseghier also lost his French title to the youngster Kevin Aymoz leading the latter to his first selection at EC. Besseghier and Lecavelier who competed at Worlds brought back 1 Olympic quota for each category.
Men (1 OG quota): A serious fight is expected between Aymoz and Besseghier. The first could be building a strong PCS advantage but still has no quad, while the second plans 3 in the FP. Romain Ponsart who trains under Arutunian could be a wild card if he stops bombing and shows his real potential.
Ladies (1 OG quota):This will be up to Meité, and how she can rebuild herself after a rough season.
Pairs (2 OG quotas): James/Ciprès are in a perfect ascending spiral (no pun intended) with Pyeongchang in sight. Behind them, it's still a bit unclear. Mendoza/Kovalev and Esbrat/Novoselov could both have nationality issues, and Mendoza was seriously injured.
Dance (2 OG quotas): Behind the leaders, another foggy zone. The binational couples with Lorenza Alessandrini and Marie-Jade Lauriault are in the same trouble. Another wild card is Angélique Abachkina, going into seniors with Louis Thauron, as she could get her french passport in time.
Next generation coming up:
The ice dance field is still the more crowded in France when it comes to Juniors, with a lot of promising couples, as the Junior National Champions Natacha Lagouge and Corentin Rahier trained under Muriel Zazoui and Olivier Schoenfelder.
The pairs desert no longer exists as a young couple Cleo Hamon and Denis Strekalin just participated to the WJC showing a lot of promise, but definitely an under-developped category.
Some boys will be heading to the JGP with lot of hopes, 3A and quads in the making, I'm talking about Adam Siao Him Fa and Luc Economides, while the club of Nice is feeding the ladies field. Both boys and girls are still struggling to stabilize their jumps and assert themselves in competition. I think the development is now up to Gailhaguet and how he'll decide to help the upcoming generation :sarcasm:
What are your thoughts about French Skating entering the Olympic season ?
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I don't like that only one of them is going so it depends on performances, injuries and things like that. May the best win.
... depending on their results they will participate or not
