These are, of course, the mid-Olympic cycle Worlds. Will they be predictive of Sochi success? Here's a fun fact: all of the 2004 champions went on to win OGMs, none of the 2008 champions won gold in Vancouver, and two of the Nice medalists won in SLC. In that spirit, I will pick two expected results and two upsets:
Pairs
S/S because Pina must win over the blah Black Swan. But I have a bad, bad feeling about this. Duhamel and Radford = unexpected Canadian bronze medalists.
Dance
V/M for the win, D/W second. I can't pick the bronze medalists without knowing P/B's status.
Men
I am hereby casting Jeremy Abbott in the Jeff Buttle role, Patrick Chan as Brian Joubert, whichever French guy you want as Johnny Weir, and a Japanese skater to Zayak himself out of contention (Dai, 2008; Nobu, seemingly every year). I am saying this to amuse myself, not because I see much of a chance of this outcome coming to be.
Ladies
It's an even year, so Mao Asada for the win (considering what she's been up to, this would totally be an upset). Kostner second, Suzuki gets the bronze. Wagner gets to skate in the gala.
I must amend my previous post to note that there is also a strong possibility of a Czech guy finishing 4th (2007, 2009 - Verner; 2010 & 11 - Brezina).Men
I am hereby casting Jeremy Abbott in the Jeff Buttle role, Patrick Chan as Brian Joubert, whichever French guy you want as Johnny Weir, and a Japanese skater to Zayak himself out of contention (Dai, 2008; Nobu, seemingly every year). I am saying this to amuse myself, not because I see much of a chance of this outcome coming to be.