GP Final Analysis and Predictions | Page 11 | Golden Skate

GP Final Analysis and Predictions

russell30

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 14, 2004
Men's

1) Javi
2) Dai
3) Patrick

Pairs

1) K/S
2) V/T
3) S/S

Dance

1) D/W
2) V/M
3) W/P

Ladies

1) Mao
2) Liza
3) Akiko
 

ImaginaryPogue

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
DANCE

1. Davis/White vs Virtue/Moir. Enough pixels have been dedicated to this subject

2. After the Canton quartet, I really have no clue. The announcement of the SD theme/dance really seemed to hurt the Shibutanis (because of their relative youth and familial relationship), but we were quickly told that the Rhumba itself isn’t necessarily sexy and Latin doesn’t have to be. But it does seem to have hurt them anyway. In fairness, I think their NHK dance was impacted by the focused approach – nail the levels, clean elements, etc – so they really didn’t let loose at all (I actually enjoyed this dance a fair bit at Finlandia). I think the feeling that the Canton quartet was really a sextet, at the very least, got challenged this year (if that was truly a feeling and not mere panicky propaganda). Personally, I’ll echo what I said before: that fluke medalists tend not to repeat themselves (and by fluke, read that as races made very close by a massive error of the losing team) and that the field has upped itself in a fairly big way.

3. Meanwhile, the story in Russia got a LOT more confusing than I anticipated. I wasn’t entirely confident, heading into this season, that Bobrova/Soloviev were the true number ones. The instant meddling into Ilynikh/Katsalpov’s training struck me as proprietary from the Russian federation, at the very least. But B/S came out and earned two massive scores at CoC and at placed themselves not only as the clear number ones from Russia, but at the forefront of the European vanguard as well. Meanwhile, not one but TWO junior teams haves posted scores that beat both Rizanova/Tkachenko and Ilynikh/Katsalpov’s best score of the season (Sinitsina/Zhiganshin, Stepanova/Bukin). Tarasova has again criticized I/K’s work ethic and conditioning. Someone else mentioned it was almost as if the team was preparing to face the World of 90’s ice dance, where the non-Russian teams were often considerably weaker than their Russian competitors and where a marked difference in skating quality between the partners was more accepted. Nowadays, stuff like that leads to lower levels, GOEs and PCS. This story will play out more fully at Russian Nationals and Europeans.

4. Have Pechalat/Bourzat improved or have I just been slow on the uptake? Because, while everyone else is mocking the “Walk like an Egyptian” hands, I’m grooving on this FD. Yeah, they had lack-of-training issues at TEB, but healthy and fully trained this could be an incredible program.

5. Concurrently, Weaver/Poje have undeniably improved. When the ISU announced the SD pattern, I was actually worried for this team. While an incredibly attractive team, I’ve felt that Andrew in particular seemed to waver on the confidence front. That’s not true anymore. I love the down-and-dirty vibe he and Weaver project in their SD and the passion in their FD is jawdropping. I truly believe they could make a run at third place here and that would be phenomenal.
 
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