With all dramas over the TV schedule stuff, I had actually forgotten about making out Predictions!
So, later than I wanted
With the Ladies, I love Anna Pogo (in all senses of the word!
) And under normal circumstances with a skater of her ability, that would be enough for me to put her on the top. But, I am always scared to put her top, in case she has one (or more!) of her scary falls. So, I am going with Lena this time. But I’m secretly hoping Anna does it!
I am going to take a big risk here and have Julia completing the podium. I know, she hasn’t been scoring anywhere near what she used to for a few seasons due to puberty. And yes, she was second at the Nepela a month ago, but she was over 20 points behind the winner. But, I would love to see an all-Russian podium. And to see the old Julia we all know and love.
Once we got off the podium, I started deviating majorly from the absolute PB order. Murakami was next, but she was well off what she was capable of at Skate America. So, I am reluctantly going to push her down this week again.
Li Zijun was next on the absolute PB list. But, although she scored it as recently as March, I’m inclined to put the next girl ahead of her. Tursynbaeva’s absolute PB is also from 2016 Worlds, and is less than a point lower than Li’s. But, she is younger and she has been scoring in the 170’s regularly the past few seasons, whereas Li has been scoring regularly in the 160’s.
Just in case Skate America was a one-off, I put Murakami as my alternate.
I didn’t make any changes to the next 4 on the absolute PB list, because their scores were all relatively close, and I wasn’t sure how to change them. But, I did change the last 2 around. For the simple reason that I like Galustyan (she’s one of my 2015 EYOF / European Championship girls!), and I’m not a big fan of Rodeghiero.
When it came to the men, I was tempted to take a chance and put Shoma on top. Just to shake things up a bit. But, then I remembered that it was the Cup of Russia. And that I want the TV director to show lots of shots of Svetlana with her Marc Marquez fleece and Spanish flag for the third year in a row.
In a strange move for me, I am not putting any Russians onto the podium. Like with the Ladies, I’ve decided to stick to the absolute PB order for the podium positions. So, I kept Max in third (hopefully that will make things up to
karne for what I did at Skate America with Brendan)
I also kept Kolyada in 4th place. But after that, the rest of the field (apart from Deniss) was VERY close. Dmitriev Jr. had a bit of a gap to the others, so I kept him in 5th. But, I moved Bychenko up to be my alternate, as I reckon he could be a dark horse. I kept the rest in absolute PB order.
Pairs was pretty straightforward. For the Top 6 the absolute PB order was the order that I would have put them in anyway. And the only reason that there was a difference in the bottom two is that Ruest / Wolfe are a new partnership, and I whereas I had come across Andrew before (from when he was partnering Natasha Purich), Camille was a complete unknown to me. But, they got a decent score at the Autumn Classic last month, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt.
In Ice Dance, I was torn. I knew I wanted to put Weaver / Poje above Chock / Bates. But I couldn’t decide what to do with Bobrova / Soloviev. Put them on top, put them in between, or put them in 3rd. So, I went down the middle.
I was happy enough to keep Charlene and Marco in 4th, because they have been making so much progress the past few years. OK, so the high position in the World Standings and World Rankings may have a lot to do with the fact that they enter practically everything that is going, but they have also been scoring well. Hence them being 4th in the absolute PB list.
And Tiffany and Jonathan were a comfortable 5th in the absolute PB list. And they have been progressing so well that they were always going to be in my Top 5. I had been thinking about putting them 4th, but in the end decided that the 9 point difference to the Italians was too big.
Trying to decide who to have as my alternate was a problem, as the next 3 all had really close absolute PB’s. In the end, I went with the partnership that I was most familiar with and that we have been talking about the most – the Danish partnership.
However, there is a final twist. I didn’t actually put any of those 3 as my alternate. Instead, I put the couple that were in 9th in the absolute PB list. Alisa and Alper were only 4 points behind the other 3, and I absolutely love them and always want them to do well!
Caroliza_fan
CUP OF RUSSIA
Ladies
1. Elena RADIONOVA, RUS
2. Anna POGORILAYA, RUS
3. Julia LIPNITSKAIA, RUS
4. Elizabet TURSYNBAEVA, KAZ
5. Zijun LI, CHN
6. Kanako MURAKAMI, JPN
Just for fun
7. Courtney HICKS, USA
8. Yura MATSUDA, JPN
9. Nicole RAJICOVA, SVK
10. Angelina KUCHVALSKA, LAT
11. Anastasia GALUSTYAN, ARM
12. Roberta RODEGHIERO, ITA
Men
1. Javier FERNANDEZ, ESP
2. Shoma UNO, JPN
3. Max AARON, USA
4. Mikhail KOLYADA, RUS
5. Artur DMITRIEV, RUS
6. Alexei BYCHENKO, ISR
Just for fun
7. Gordei GORSHKOV, RUS
8. Chafik BESSEGHIER, FRA
9. Elladj BALDE, CAN
10. Keiji TANAKA, JPN
11. Alexander MAJOROV, SWE
12. Deniss VASILJEVS, LAT
Pairs
1. Aliona SAVCHENKO / Bruno MASSOT, GER
2. Julianne SEGUIN / Charlie BILODEAU, CAN
3. Kristina ASTAKHOVA / Alexei ROGONOV, RUS
4. Natalia ZABIIAKO / Alexander ENBERT, RUS
5. Valentina MARCHEI / Ondrej HOTAREK, ITA
6. Alisa EFIMOVA / Alexander KOROVIN, RUS
Just for fun
7. Camille RUEST / Andrew WOLFE, CAN
8. Goda BUTKUTE / Nikita ERMOLAEV, LTU
Ice Dance
1. Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE, CAN
2. Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV, RUS
3. Madison CHOCK / Evan BATES, USA
4. Charlene GUIGNARD / Marco FABBRI, ITA
5. Tiffany ZAHORSKI / Jonathan GUERREIRO, RUS
6. Alisa AGAFONOVA / Alper UCAR, TUR
Just for fun
7. Laurence FOURNIER BEAUDRY / Nikolaj SORENSEN, DEN
8. Elliana POGREBINSKY / Alex BENOIT, USA
9. Sofia EVDOKIMOVA / Egor BAZIN, RUS
10. Viktoria KAVALIOVA / Yurii BIELIAIEV, BLR
