2014 Worlds: Who is the Dark Horse for the Men's podium? | Page 4 | Golden Skate

2014 Worlds: Who is the Dark Horse for the Men's podium?

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
I would say it's Hanyu's to lose, particularly with Chan not there. I think Kozuka might surprise, but it's more likely to be Machida/Yan/Fernandez all gunning for the bronze.
 

Silvia451

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 6, 2014
Country
Romania
Denis Ten...He is real winner of 2013 world championship..(I love Chan, but it was not gold medal performance).
He also won the Olympic bronze medal throughout the injuries
He has a good skating skill, but compare to Chan and Hanyu, his PCS is very low....
Also Yan Han (low PCS) and Fernandez Javier, they both have a chance to shoot podium

Unfortunately, Denis isn't going to the worlds. (but I agree he is the real 2013 world champion)
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
Nobody would miss you, just like nobody will miss your beloved Sotnikova if she never skates again.

Oh lord. You are completely delusional. Horrible judging aside, Sotnikova put on strong performances (SP and LP), even it was overscored and propped up to a gold. To say that nobody would miss her if she never skated again is sheer nonsense. She's the reigning Olympic champion, and if the scoring were proper, still a reigning Olympic medalist. Of course, your hatred of skaters often makes you say outrageous things, so this is hardly atypical of you.

Speaking of "nobody would miss you", why are you still here? I thought you were done with this Forum the moment Pang and Tong were finished in Sochi? :rolleye: Only to be inevitably resurrected as "sotnikovachanhater" or something juvenile like that... :sarcasm:
 

Ryan O

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
Canada
If Jeremy skates the way he did at Nationals, I guarantee he will be on the podium. If everyone skates clean, he still has a shot at the podium. Point being, he's podium worthy if he can reproduce two solid performances (with quads).

I would say the dark horses are Kozuka and Reynolds. I think Reynolds, if he executes all his jumps, will probably land on the podium given his popularity in Japan and past success skating in Japan (i.e. 2013 4CC, his PCs were pretty good at 80).

That's the big 'IF'! The frustration a lot of people have (particularly Americans, I gather) is that Jeremy doesn't usually skate as well at Worlds as he does at Nationals.

And Reynolds can be inconsistent too, but it will be interesting to see how he handles being Canada's top man at Worlds for the first time. With Chan absent, the focus will be on him.

Btw, how come Verner changed his mind about retiring after Sochi?
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
That's the big 'IF'! The frustration a lot of people have (particularly Americans, I gather) is that Jeremy doesn't usually skate as well at Worlds as he does at Nationals.

And Reynolds can be inconsistent too, but it will be interesting to see how he handles being Canada's top man at Worlds for the first time. With Chan absent, the focus will be on him.

Btw, how come Verner changed his mind about retiring after Sochi?

It's even a bigger IF than Reynolds, who has at least scored 250+ during his career. Jeremy's personal best doesn't even break 240 and even if you combine his PB SP an his PB FS, still doesn't break 250.

If Jeremy can turn in 250+ overall score at Worlds with two clean performances it would be an unprecedented achievement in his international career.
 

vtgal

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
I give you the darkest of dark horses to make the podium......Mr. Jeremy Abbott. Will never happen.
 

Li'Kitsu

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 29, 2011
Lets be real though. The way the judges are scoring these days Abbotts performances from 2009 Skate Canada and the 2008 Grand Prix final would be given a score of around 270 total today. Reynolds may never skate or score any better than he did at Four Continents last year again, and even if he skates his best wont likely score any higher than that.

2008 and 2009? Could we at least focus on the actual quad? It doesn't mean anything how he might have scored with these performances today.
If he doesn't go for any quad, I don't see all of Hanyu, Fernandez and Machida skating bad enough for him to beat them.
 

HanDomi

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
If he doesn't go for any quad, I don't see all of Hanyu, Fernandez and Machida skating bad enough for him to beat them.


I think I would not count Hanyu. If he skates clean he is untouchable for anyone except Patrick. If he falls 2-3 times, only Fernandez on top of his skill may fight with Yuzuru, but I don't see it. Hanyu on the short is way, way too far in front of anyone.


I bet a silver for Fernandez. Would be great bronze for Abott, but this quad is not working for him. He is falling this quad in head and this is big problem
 

jace93

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 8, 2014
while I agree that a clean hanyu is pretty much untouchable if he falls or wors pop a jump fernandez is pretty capable to beat him, especially since their pcs aren't really that far apart... If everyone skated at the top of their game, seeing past results, I think that it would be something on the line of
1 hanyu
2 fernadez
3a race between machida, abbot (I think it would be the first time his career), han yan and kovtun...
 

Vicky458

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 8, 2003
Max needs about 6 years of ballet and dance movement, divest himself of the herky jerky movements more associated with hockey than figure skating, better music than Carmen for his style of skating and a good choreographer. Jumps alone should not win a medal. I prefer a more well-rounded skater!!

But having met him I will say that he is a very, very nice young man. I hope he does better than I think he will because he's also a hard worker.
although I agree with you about Max, some people believe that the ladies gold medalist just won based on her jumps:mad:
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
My impression was after the ladies event the low key controversy over the scoring in the other events (only not larger due to their being no hugely controversial final medals, despite some ridiculous scores and obvious signs of the pre Games fixed rumors) became larger after the ladies event. The dance event which was already talked about, became more talked about, and the scores of V&T for an imperfect LP, some of the bizarre Team Event scores. Then again maybe I am being misled by the atmosphere on this board and the focus is mostly on the ladies event as you say. Maybe I am thinking more along the lines of my own hopes which is that the focus in the post Sochi aftermath is not JUST on the ladies event, but on the entire figure skating competition as the whole competitions looks crooked to me in hindsight, and it was just fortunate and lucky the performances were such that no huge controversy blew up (although some small ones such as some thinking V&M should have won, some thinking P&B should have won bronze) despite the very skewed and somewhat unfair scores; until of course the ladies event. At the very least I would like to see the entire competition and anything that might have gone on behind the scenes investigated strongly, although I know in reality that probably wont happen.

It will be interesting to see how the Worlds start and how the first Russians are scored but even if they are scored fairly (and I hope they are) they would still get lower scores than Sochi, except for possibly V&T if they skate. Even I&K I dont think can expect the sky high scores they got in Sochi, despite that they are the ones I named as most immune to any anti Russian backlash. Even if the judges attempted to be fair I am sure the energy of the crowd exagerrated their performance in the judges minds. I would also love to see P&B end their careers with a World title so hope the scores of I&K are in line with reality, although even if they are if I&K skate like Sochi they will be hard to beat for the gold. If P&B can skate as well as Sochi, and I&K make even a small mistake though, it could be a gold finale for P&B.

I know it is a different era but I really really really hope P and B do NOT win a WGM. I almost would rather no one get gold. They are good and somewhat innovative but clearly second tier compared to Belbin and Agosto and Dubreil and Lauzon who I believe never won WGM. I would put them behind Albveruk and Lobacheva too though I can't remember if they won a world title or not.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
I think it depends on Plushenko's tour being postponed/cancelled.

the field opened up so like P and B undoubtedly - no one will admit it though I am sure they want a world medal and no silver, bronze medallist and perenial medal favourite Takahashi the silver and bronze is wide open. Ferennadez has not developed as well or become more consistent so this is Aaron, Abbot, Brezina, Verner, Machida, Kozuka, kovotun and maybe even Reynolds though doubtful as he hasn't skated a lot chance to get a medal.
 

Jaana

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
I don't think Kovtun has a good chance. He will face some backlash from Sochi Olymputin.

I think that all Russian skaters have been favoured by the judges in this season. And now at Worlds I hope that Russian skaters will be judged fairly and not "helped" any more.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
Lets be real though. The way the judges are scoring these days Abbotts performances from 2009 Skate Canada and the 2008 Grand Prix final would be given a score of around 270 total today. Reynolds may never skate or score any better than he did at Four Continents last year again, and even if he skates his best wont likely score any higher than that.

Reynolds scored 167 points in his FS in the team event, and landed 3 quads (which were all ratified). If not for the axel error and not having a 3-jump combo, he would have quite possibly matched or surpassed his FS from 4CC last year. Also bear in mind that Reynolds had a bad SP at 4CC, and if he skates an SP similar to Worlds (85 points then, probably 83 outside of Canada), he could clear 250 and contend for bronze. Of course, he has had inconsistencies, but there's no denying he had an excellent skate in the team FS, so you never know.
 

Victura

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 8, 2012
My true wish was both Brian and Daisuke to have two great skates and get on the world podium with BIG smiles, together and one last time before they close their wonderful competitive career, though I now know it won't happen... :cry:

Here goes MY picks :) :
-Takahiko winning the worlds title. finally. in front of his home fans! :yes:
I have been waiting and waiting the last TH-R-EEEE seasons for Taka to become the second Japanese World Champ after Dai. If you ever watch him skate LIVE, you can't deny that his blade touches to the ice are simply out of this world.

-Tomas and Jeremy on the world podium. finally!! :rock:
Such fabulous skaters they truly are, and just like Patrick and Dai, these two are the closest as most complete skaters, so to speak, currently competing, I believe. Thus should be a shame really, if they never get on the world podium during their competitive career which is soon coming to its end (sadly;;;; ). Hope they somehow can deal with their nerves this time, have two great skates and close their competitive career on high note.

-As for the likes of Yuzuru, Javi, Max, Kevin or Jason, there are some areas/rooms to be desired to improve, before being called as the complete skaters and/or becoming the worthy/deserving world champ, just yet. I don't want them to be criticized by some of skating fans, either. ;) Besides, they are very young they can wait a year, until the next Olympic cycle begins next season.

Deedee1, I absolutely agree with everything you said here. In fact, even one of the above coming to fruition would make me very, very happy. Unfortunately I'm not sure what the odds are, but certainly hope to be proven wrong.
 

Esopian

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
I think I would not count Hanyu. If he skates clean he is untouchable for anyone except Patrick. If he falls 2-3 times, only Fernandez on top of his skill may fight with Yuzuru, but I don't see it. Hanyu on the short is way, way too far in front of anyone.

Wow, what a great comment! :clap: This comment probably sums up entirely what I hope for Hanyu to achieve in the 2014 Worlds (being far, far in front of every other competitor).

My picks for the number 1&2 spots for the podium would definitely be Hanyu and Fernandez respectively. As for the 3rd spot, it could be anyone (too many possible contenders).
 

Becki

Medalist
Joined
Nov 28, 2011
I think I would not count Hanyu. If he skates clean he is untouchable for anyone except Patrick. If he falls 2-3 times, only Fernandez on top of his skill may fight with Yuzuru, but I don't see it. Hanyu on the short is way, way too far in front of anyone.


I bet a silver for Fernandez. Would be great bronze for Abott, but this quad is not working for him. He is falling this quad in head and this is big problem

Let's put it this way. If Yuzuru falls 2-3 times but fully rotates his jumps, he will still win UNLESS someone like Javier Fernandez delivers a clean 3 quad program with no doubling. The World's are in Japan, and the title is Yuzuru's to lose.
 
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