- Joined
- Oct 27, 2004
Well, The World Championships in Sweden are about a month away so I am going to give my insight on what might happen at Worlds.
PAIRS
Well judging from what we saw this season so far, it looks like that German's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy seems to be the front runners but China's Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang as well as Qing Pang and Jian Tong also from China are considered one of the favorites.
The way it looks is that these 3 teams are going to be untouchable should they go clean but if they don't there are other teams to make their case like Canada's Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison, winners of Skate America and silver medalists of Skate Canada.
Russia looks to step up onto the podium after what has to be the most disappointing worlds ever for the former Soviet country in 2007. Two teams have not only established themselves as medal contender but they also have established themselves as rivals. Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov burst onto the scene last season where they placed 3rd at the 2006 Cup of Russia, there 1st intl. competition together which is most impressive. This season they won themselves a a spot on the Grand Prix Final for the first time. They also stood on the podium for the first time at the European Championships. Look for them to challenge for a medal at Worlds as well as rivals, Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov who are now being coached this season by 1984 Olympic Champion, Oleg Vassiliev who coached 2006 Olympic Champions, Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin. They hope that with this coach they can rise to the top. The bottom line is that we hope that these two teams can bring back what was once a dominant force in Pairs Skating.
The United States are still lacking behind the top teams but there is hope, Keauna Mclaughlin and Rockne Brubaker who won the pairs title in just their first year as seniors promises to bring what is once and still is the weakest discipline in U.S. Figure Skating back up to greatness. However, it will have to wait till next season as Keauna Mclaughlin is to young to go to Worlds. So the U.S. will have to rely on current U.S. silver medalists Rena Inoue and John Baldwin and current U.S. bronze medalists and 2007 U.S. Champions Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski. They hope to get up and at least make a top 5 finish and try to get three pairs to next year worlds. But with both being out of GP and just Four Continents being their only international competition prior to worlds, it might be quite difficult to do that. We will just have to wait and see how it is going to play out.
Also, keep your eye on the Ukrainian team of Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav
Morozov as the dark horses
MEN
The Men's event is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated disciplines to watch at Worlds. At least 8 skaters have a shot at the gold medal making it one deep competitions. Hold on to your butts because this competition will put you on the edge of your seat. Here is the list of the 8 skater that has the potential to win the gold medal.
1.) Brian Joubert (2007 World Champion)
2.) Stephane Lambiel (2005 and 2006 World Champion)
3.) Daisuke Takahashi (2007 World Silver Medalist and 2008 Four Continents champion)
4.) Jeffery Buttle (2005 World Silver Medalist and 2006 Olympic Bronze Medalist)
5.) Evan Lysacek (2005 and 2006 World Bronze Medalist)
6.) Johnny Weir ( 3-time U.S. National Champion)
7.) Tomas Verner ( 2008 European Champion)
8.) Patrick Chan (2008 Canadian National Champion)
It looks like the front runner is Daisuke Takahashi who smashed Evgeny Plushenko's WR for the best free skating score ever at the most recent Four Continents. If he did what he did at Four continents, then he will be very tough to beat.
Brian Joubert of France started off on the right foot by winning Skate Canada but a muscular virus has really hampered his training which forced him to withdraw from Grand Prix Paris and showed up not at full strength at the European Championships which he ended up with the bronze medal. It will be interesting to see how his health condition is when he shows up to worlds ready to defend his title.
Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland came into this season not so good with a bronze medal at Cup of China and a silver medal at the Cup of Russia. but with a win at the Grand Prix Final it seems that his confidance has come back. However, at the recent European Championships he struggled again threw both his programs. We don't really know what to expect from Stephane come worlds. All we know is that if he performs like he did this season, Stephane could be off the podium this year at Worlds.
Jeffrey Buttle of Canada is in the same boat as stephane, also having and up and down season culminating to him not even qualifying to the Grand Prix Final. He even lost to up-and-comer Patrick Chan for the Canadian Title. However with a silver medal at the Four Continents, you have to believe that Jeffrey has regained some of his confidance. Let's just hope he can put down to clean programs and make it back up to the podium.
Evan Lysacek of the U.S. has had a rough start at the beginning of the season but was happy when he ended up with the bronze medal at the Grand Prix Final. He was even more happy when he found out that he won his second national title despite being tied with rival Johnny Weir. Evan hopes that he can land his quad combo at worlds to help him vault himself back up to the podium.
Johnny Weir of the U.S. has made quite a comeback after a dismal 2006-2007 season. With a coaching change to Galina Zmievskaya and Victor Petrenko, Johnny has gotten back to his old self after winning both his GP events and the silver medal at Nationals and he hopes to win himself his first world medal here in Sweden.
Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic has made a name for himself. Since jumping up to 4th place at last year's world championships, he has established himself as one of the contenders in 2010, even now since he defeated both Brian and Stephane at the most recent European Championships. Now he hopes to get himself on the podium here at worlds.
ICE DANCING
The Ice Dancing competition is shaping up to be a most interesting competition with nobody being a front runner. It will come down to four dance teams to see who will win the gold
Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the U.S. has been a rising force since they burst on the scene in 2002. They have won multiple world medals and even the 2006 Olympic Silver Medal. They have not however won a World Championship. With Denkova and Staviski retired and Dubreuil and Lauzon taking time off, it is now or never for Belbin and Agosto to step up to the top of the podium. Can the 5-time National Champions do it?
Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia is hoping to carry on that Russian Legacy in ice dancing. They have won quite a few GP Titles. However, this season they have been most successful. They have won the Grand Prix Final as well as the European Championships and they hope to win their first world title here in Sweden.
Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France has been a favorite to win the world title for a long time but never seeming to get on top of the podium much less get on the podium at all. 4th place is what this team had to endure since 2005 finishing 4th at the 2005, 2006, and 2007 World Championships as well as the 2006 Olympic Games but this year they have the utmost confidance that will not only win a medal but they wil win the gold.
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada has established themselves as the up-and-comers as well as serious medal contenders here at worlds. With a 6th place finish at their first world championships to an easy victory at the recent Four Continents. This team has established themselves as contenders for the Gold Medal at the 2010 Olympic Games
LADIES
The Ladies competition looks to be a battle once again among the countries of Asia with Yu-Na Kim, Mao Asada, and Miki Ando being the top runners here. U.S. and Canada might sneek up and spoil the dominant trio.
Yu-Na Kim of Korea burst onto the scene back in 2005 challenging Mao Asada in the Junior Competition. Yu-Na Kim first defeated Mao at the 2006 World Junior Championships which sparked their rivalry. Yu-Na competed as a senior last season winning the bronze medal at 2007 World Championships despite a bad back. She came back this season being undefeated so far and hoping to close out her perfect season with a win here at Worlds.
Mao Asada of Japan caught everybody eyes as a junior but it was the 2006 Grand Prix Final where she defeated 2-time World champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia that everybody took noticed. Known as the Japanese Phenom, Mao Asada skated last season as a senior culminating up to the world championships in Tokyo. However, she lost the world title to Miki Ando by one teeny mistake when she botched her double axel-triple toe combination. She entered this season not to her liking. At Skate Canada she botched her combination in SP and struggled with wrong-edge takeoff with the triple lutz. She has struggled all season long with those 2 problems which brings a question mark to see what will happen at worlds.
Miki Ando of Japan hopes to win her 2nd straight world title here in Sweden but she cannot have a performance she had at the 2007 NHK Trophy if she hopes to win. not to worry since it looks like she has regained her confidance and won herself a bronze medal in a close race at the 2008 Four Continents. She is hoping to rely on her triple-triple combination to win her 2nd world title.
Kimmie Meissner of the U.S. right now is in the same boat with Mao Asada with Kimmie's case being more erradic. Kimmie burst onto to the scene in 2006 when she finished 6th at the 2006 Olympic Games and ultimately winning the 2006 World Championships a month later. Since then, she been in a downward spiral although she won the 2007 U.S. National championships. She went on to the 2007 World Championships finishing in 4th place. Then she hit an all-time low when she fell 3 times in her free skate at the 2008 Grand Prix Final and finishing a very disappointing 7th place at the most recent U.S. National championships. She however was named to the World Team considering the top 2 finishers are under-age. She left her long-time coach Pam Gregory to train with Richard Callaghan in hopes of improving her skating and regain her confidance. Will this coaching change help her regain her confidance and challeng for a spot on the podium?
Joannie Rochette of Canada has always been an underdog, never getting up there on the podium at Worlds. However, there is hope when she defeated World Champion Miki Ando at the Four Continents. Joannie is hoping to land her triple-triple combination at worlds in order to get up on that podium for the first time.
PAIRS
Well judging from what we saw this season so far, it looks like that German's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy seems to be the front runners but China's Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang as well as Qing Pang and Jian Tong also from China are considered one of the favorites.
The way it looks is that these 3 teams are going to be untouchable should they go clean but if they don't there are other teams to make their case like Canada's Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison, winners of Skate America and silver medalists of Skate Canada.
Russia looks to step up onto the podium after what has to be the most disappointing worlds ever for the former Soviet country in 2007. Two teams have not only established themselves as medal contender but they also have established themselves as rivals. Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov burst onto the scene last season where they placed 3rd at the 2006 Cup of Russia, there 1st intl. competition together which is most impressive. This season they won themselves a a spot on the Grand Prix Final for the first time. They also stood on the podium for the first time at the European Championships. Look for them to challenge for a medal at Worlds as well as rivals, Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov who are now being coached this season by 1984 Olympic Champion, Oleg Vassiliev who coached 2006 Olympic Champions, Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin. They hope that with this coach they can rise to the top. The bottom line is that we hope that these two teams can bring back what was once a dominant force in Pairs Skating.
The United States are still lacking behind the top teams but there is hope, Keauna Mclaughlin and Rockne Brubaker who won the pairs title in just their first year as seniors promises to bring what is once and still is the weakest discipline in U.S. Figure Skating back up to greatness. However, it will have to wait till next season as Keauna Mclaughlin is to young to go to Worlds. So the U.S. will have to rely on current U.S. silver medalists Rena Inoue and John Baldwin and current U.S. bronze medalists and 2007 U.S. Champions Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski. They hope to get up and at least make a top 5 finish and try to get three pairs to next year worlds. But with both being out of GP and just Four Continents being their only international competition prior to worlds, it might be quite difficult to do that. We will just have to wait and see how it is going to play out.
Also, keep your eye on the Ukrainian team of Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav
Morozov as the dark horses
MEN
The Men's event is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated disciplines to watch at Worlds. At least 8 skaters have a shot at the gold medal making it one deep competitions. Hold on to your butts because this competition will put you on the edge of your seat. Here is the list of the 8 skater that has the potential to win the gold medal.
1.) Brian Joubert (2007 World Champion)
2.) Stephane Lambiel (2005 and 2006 World Champion)
3.) Daisuke Takahashi (2007 World Silver Medalist and 2008 Four Continents champion)
4.) Jeffery Buttle (2005 World Silver Medalist and 2006 Olympic Bronze Medalist)
5.) Evan Lysacek (2005 and 2006 World Bronze Medalist)
6.) Johnny Weir ( 3-time U.S. National Champion)
7.) Tomas Verner ( 2008 European Champion)
8.) Patrick Chan (2008 Canadian National Champion)
It looks like the front runner is Daisuke Takahashi who smashed Evgeny Plushenko's WR for the best free skating score ever at the most recent Four Continents. If he did what he did at Four continents, then he will be very tough to beat.
Brian Joubert of France started off on the right foot by winning Skate Canada but a muscular virus has really hampered his training which forced him to withdraw from Grand Prix Paris and showed up not at full strength at the European Championships which he ended up with the bronze medal. It will be interesting to see how his health condition is when he shows up to worlds ready to defend his title.
Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland came into this season not so good with a bronze medal at Cup of China and a silver medal at the Cup of Russia. but with a win at the Grand Prix Final it seems that his confidance has come back. However, at the recent European Championships he struggled again threw both his programs. We don't really know what to expect from Stephane come worlds. All we know is that if he performs like he did this season, Stephane could be off the podium this year at Worlds.
Jeffrey Buttle of Canada is in the same boat as stephane, also having and up and down season culminating to him not even qualifying to the Grand Prix Final. He even lost to up-and-comer Patrick Chan for the Canadian Title. However with a silver medal at the Four Continents, you have to believe that Jeffrey has regained some of his confidance. Let's just hope he can put down to clean programs and make it back up to the podium.
Evan Lysacek of the U.S. has had a rough start at the beginning of the season but was happy when he ended up with the bronze medal at the Grand Prix Final. He was even more happy when he found out that he won his second national title despite being tied with rival Johnny Weir. Evan hopes that he can land his quad combo at worlds to help him vault himself back up to the podium.
Johnny Weir of the U.S. has made quite a comeback after a dismal 2006-2007 season. With a coaching change to Galina Zmievskaya and Victor Petrenko, Johnny has gotten back to his old self after winning both his GP events and the silver medal at Nationals and he hopes to win himself his first world medal here in Sweden.
Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic has made a name for himself. Since jumping up to 4th place at last year's world championships, he has established himself as one of the contenders in 2010, even now since he defeated both Brian and Stephane at the most recent European Championships. Now he hopes to get himself on the podium here at worlds.
ICE DANCING
The Ice Dancing competition is shaping up to be a most interesting competition with nobody being a front runner. It will come down to four dance teams to see who will win the gold
Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the U.S. has been a rising force since they burst on the scene in 2002. They have won multiple world medals and even the 2006 Olympic Silver Medal. They have not however won a World Championship. With Denkova and Staviski retired and Dubreuil and Lauzon taking time off, it is now or never for Belbin and Agosto to step up to the top of the podium. Can the 5-time National Champions do it?
Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia is hoping to carry on that Russian Legacy in ice dancing. They have won quite a few GP Titles. However, this season they have been most successful. They have won the Grand Prix Final as well as the European Championships and they hope to win their first world title here in Sweden.
Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France has been a favorite to win the world title for a long time but never seeming to get on top of the podium much less get on the podium at all. 4th place is what this team had to endure since 2005 finishing 4th at the 2005, 2006, and 2007 World Championships as well as the 2006 Olympic Games but this year they have the utmost confidance that will not only win a medal but they wil win the gold.
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada has established themselves as the up-and-comers as well as serious medal contenders here at worlds. With a 6th place finish at their first world championships to an easy victory at the recent Four Continents. This team has established themselves as contenders for the Gold Medal at the 2010 Olympic Games
LADIES
The Ladies competition looks to be a battle once again among the countries of Asia with Yu-Na Kim, Mao Asada, and Miki Ando being the top runners here. U.S. and Canada might sneek up and spoil the dominant trio.
Yu-Na Kim of Korea burst onto the scene back in 2005 challenging Mao Asada in the Junior Competition. Yu-Na Kim first defeated Mao at the 2006 World Junior Championships which sparked their rivalry. Yu-Na competed as a senior last season winning the bronze medal at 2007 World Championships despite a bad back. She came back this season being undefeated so far and hoping to close out her perfect season with a win here at Worlds.
Mao Asada of Japan caught everybody eyes as a junior but it was the 2006 Grand Prix Final where she defeated 2-time World champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia that everybody took noticed. Known as the Japanese Phenom, Mao Asada skated last season as a senior culminating up to the world championships in Tokyo. However, she lost the world title to Miki Ando by one teeny mistake when she botched her double axel-triple toe combination. She entered this season not to her liking. At Skate Canada she botched her combination in SP and struggled with wrong-edge takeoff with the triple lutz. She has struggled all season long with those 2 problems which brings a question mark to see what will happen at worlds.
Miki Ando of Japan hopes to win her 2nd straight world title here in Sweden but she cannot have a performance she had at the 2007 NHK Trophy if she hopes to win. not to worry since it looks like she has regained her confidance and won herself a bronze medal in a close race at the 2008 Four Continents. She is hoping to rely on her triple-triple combination to win her 2nd world title.
Kimmie Meissner of the U.S. right now is in the same boat with Mao Asada with Kimmie's case being more erradic. Kimmie burst onto to the scene in 2006 when she finished 6th at the 2006 Olympic Games and ultimately winning the 2006 World Championships a month later. Since then, she been in a downward spiral although she won the 2007 U.S. National championships. She went on to the 2007 World Championships finishing in 4th place. Then she hit an all-time low when she fell 3 times in her free skate at the 2008 Grand Prix Final and finishing a very disappointing 7th place at the most recent U.S. National championships. She however was named to the World Team considering the top 2 finishers are under-age. She left her long-time coach Pam Gregory to train with Richard Callaghan in hopes of improving her skating and regain her confidance. Will this coaching change help her regain her confidance and challeng for a spot on the podium?
Joannie Rochette of Canada has always been an underdog, never getting up there on the podium at Worlds. However, there is hope when she defeated World Champion Miki Ando at the Four Continents. Joannie is hoping to land her triple-triple combination at worlds in order to get up on that podium for the first time.
I can't wait to see how it all plays out.
