2014-15 Season Preview | Golden Skate

2014-15 Season Preview

BRASILwmr

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 21, 2013
What will happen in 2014-15 season in figure skating at junior and senior levels (in all categories)? Musical choices, style changes and technical refinement? What are your expectations on the basis that happened in the last quad? Give your opinions! Since now, thank you!:popcorn:
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
I predict 2014-15 as breakout year for Sui/Han
and we could be seeing a total domination by Gracie in the Grand Prix series, World silver or World gold leading to Boston 2016
Elena will be the top Russian in 2015, a World medal
 

hanca

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
I predict 2014-15 as breakout year for Sui/Han
and we could be seeing a total domination by Gracie in the Grand Prix series, World silver or World gold leading to Boston 2016
Elena will be the top Russian in 2015, a World medal

Not going to happen!
 

hanca

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
My prediction - Gold will make a mess of her program at worlds and Russians will have the podium sweep (Lipnitskaya - gold, Sotnikova- silver and Radionova-bronze). Poor Pogorilaya won't be sent to worlds because she will place fourth at the nationals.
 

pamela

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 27, 2014
My prediction - Gold will make a mess of her program at worlds and Russians will have the podium sweep (Lipnitskaya - gold, Sotnikova- silver and Radionova-bronze). Poor Pogorilaya won't be sent to worlds because she will place fourth at the nationals.

That if Sotnikova returns. But I can see those standings shuffling depending to who the judges give the skating with passion bonus hahaha
 

uhh

Medalist
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
I wanna see Gracie Gold go for the 3A.....c'mon Frank....she could do it!

I think if any woman adds a 3a next season it will be Mae Berenice Meite, she lands them in training, but the challenge is to incorporate it into a program rather than do it in isolation. I haven't heard of anyone else even seriously training it.
 

hanca

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
I can't see any lady having 3A next season; it is not as easy to just do one. But someone may have it before the next Olympics.
 

BRASILwmr

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 21, 2013
:agree:
Actually there are still some elements that Gracie should work. With a clean program, and greater dedication on the artistic increased their score without the 3 axel.
 

Barb

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
But to do a triple axel the skaters must to practice for years, right?, Mao practices 3a since she was a kid.
 

BRASILwmr

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 21, 2013
Sui / Han has large Chinese competitors. Really do not know if they can sustain.
Gracie has many positive points, but need to work to show a great skate. What about Radionova, I have hopes that it grows more, but I fear the dreaded puberty on her:agree:
 

CarneAsada

Medalist
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
I think if any woman adds a 3a next season it will be Mae Berenice Meite, she lands them in training, but the challenge is to incorporate it into a program rather than do it in isolation. I haven't heard of anyone else even seriously training it.
Is there footage of Meite landing her 3A?
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Some general things I could see happening:

Pairs- Volosozhar & Trankov return strong and are team to beat, win worlds again. Stolbova & Klimov struggle to live up to their 2014 standards, although still might medal at worlds. Sui & Han, I really have no idea on them, could see them finally taking the next step up, or struggle to even stay above water and their future being in jeapordy. Of all the teams they are ones I am on the fence on most. The battle for Canadian #1 status will continue, and hopefully Moore-Towers & Moscovitch can finally get on top, and maybe finally get that first world medal.

Men- Hanyu and Fernandez to dominate and battle hard for next years world title. Reynolds to have a stronger season than 2013-2014. Aaron to come back strong and make world team. Abbott to possibly infuriate people with his 5th U.S title. Machida to continue being a contender, but his challenge of Hanyu at worlds to be a bit of a one off.

Dance- Weaver & Poje and Capellini & Lanotte to dominate next sason and battle for #1 all season long, with W&P ultimately triumphing with the world title. Chock & Bates to firmly take over as new #1 and contend for medal at worlds. Paul & Islam to jump back ahead of Gilles & Poirier in the ongoing battle between the two which could continue back and forth years longer. Virtue & Moir to officialy announce retirement from amateur competition, while D&W continue to "leave door open" while never having any real intentions to ever return.

Ladies- Lipnitskaya and Asada to battle for gold and titles all year, if Mao skates that is. If Mao doesnt skate Julia L dominance. Osmond to have a much stronger season and move up to medal contender status at the world level. Edmunds to challenge to take over as new #1 U.S. Li to also make strong comeback this year.
 

BRASILwmr

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 21, 2013
I'll be honest with you and tell everyone what I think:
For men, Hanyu has great advantage over everyone. Chan, Fernandez, Ten and Machida could not stop him and I think next season remains the same. I hope more musicality and less disasters with quads.
For women, American Russian rule (Lipnitskaya, Sotnikova, Pogorilaya, Sotskova, Proklova and many others) (Gold and Edmunds). Japanese girls are trying to enter the fray but it will be difficult. Perhaps Murakami and Miyahara. For Russian domain pairs (S & K) and Canadian (TM & M) and Chinese. Russian in ice dance may also dominate.
But overall I hope to skate clean, good music (lots of rock, epic music and classical), better footwork, among others.
 

Totentanz

Ursula Gumennik
Medalist
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
I can't decide now who should be in the ladies team of Russia. I need to see the new choreographies and potential developments during the summertime sadness of no competitions :cry: But deep in my heart, I want to see Pogorilaya competing at Euros and Worlds. Nobody would guess Machida would be the no.2 of Japanese men team this season, why not Pogorilaya next season?

And for the junior ladies team of Russia: I want Sotskova to get well and dominate next season while Radionova going senior. Sotskova-Sakhanovich-Proklova trio to potentially sweep of Junior ladies podium!!

And for the US ladies: I hope we will see a real battle between Ashley and Gracie that we can't decide which one is better! Third spot for Edmunds, Nagasu or Cesario.
 

TwinnerA

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 20, 2004
Country
United-States
They should improve her 2A first.

Agreed. Just saw her miss it twice on NBC's Worlds broadcast. Bronze was hers for the taking if she had completed those jumps. She looked like she was about to cry during the interview. A bronze at Worlds after her 1st National title and a 4th at the Olympics would have been a great way to end the season!
 

flutzy13

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
I'll play

Ladies:

-Sotnikova will either not return or return and have a rough GP, then opting out of Russian Nats and Worlds.
- Mao will take this season off but not retire officially. Carolina will not be back.
-Julia will be plagued by growth or injury and have a difficult season but rally for Worlds. Conversely, Radionova will have a fabulous season and medal at Worlds, possibly winning.
- GPF will be 3 Russians and 3 Americans with Osmond as a wildcard possibility
-The US World team will again be Gracie, Ashley and Polina. Mirai will have a good Nationals but the judges will not let her into the top 3 and the tech caller will give her no breaks. Zawadski will stay in but get nowhere near the podium in Greensboro. Gao will retire.
-Ashley will have a really good fall season and a much better Nationals. Polina's PCS will magically rise now that judges know her name. She will win one of her 2 GPs. Gracie will eeek into the GPF with a 1st place win (although she will have 2 errors in the FS) arranged by USFS who will try to ensure SA has an exceedingly weak ladies field and a bronze at Bompard but buckle at Nationals, losing her title to a hungry Polina or Ashley. Gracie will then rally to win a silver at Worlds.

Men's
-Hanyu will continue to be the favorite but he'll end up losing the GPF to Javier who starts training with a new intensity w/ GPF in Spain.
-Chan does not return this season.
-Ten ends up on the World podium again.
-Brown wins US Nationals and makes the GPF possibly even without a quad. He finishes top 5 at Worlds with spectacular Chan esque PCS. Rippon channels his disappointment into something great and is second at Nats. Farris beats Abbott for the third spot at Worlds. Abbott gets criticiZed when he complains to the media that he deserves the World spot as he earned it for the US. Max has a rough season and then retires.

Pairs
-V&T do a GP but opt out of Worlds, citing nagging injury. They say they'll be back though. S&K are the new World champions.
-Without Olympic pressure, D&R have a much better GP, medal at the GPF and win Canadians. They miss the podium at Worlds however and MT/M end up with their first Worlds medal.
-The Chinese pairs continue to have great SPs and issues in the free skates that keep them from being true threats. Sui outgrows Han.
-Barazo and her new partner will be a non factor. Berton and Hotarek retire.
-Denney & Coughlin do not return. C&S have an up and down fall and people start saying they won't make the World team. They end up winning their third US title comfortably and take 6th at Worlds. Z&B take second again by being more consistent than the other teams. S&K have a good GP and even medal at one of their events but crack once again under pressure at Nationals after they're deemed favorites. K&O take third.

Dance
-W&P have their banner year, winning the GPF and Worlds. B&S get back on the World podium. Chock & Bates, the new US champions, are fourth, setting them up for a podium placement in Boston.
-The new Russian pairings are not insta-successes.
-GPF is C/L, W/P, C/B, B/S, Shibs and surprise Paul and Islam who start their ascent w/ a silver at Skate Canada
-V&M retire. D&W take the season off to finish school and continue with their Olympic champion opportunities but leave the door open for a return.
-Hawayek & Baker are somewhat surprise silver medalists at Worlds. The Shibs remain 3rd as Hubbell & Donohue struggle a bit in the fall, which hurts their perception with the judges.

Finally a lot of Frozen show programs.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
All this talk and implying that V&T are worried about S&K is so crazy it makes me break into an uncontrollable fit of laughter each time I read it. V&T fell three times at Europeans and easily beat a 2 clean program S&K last year, even nearly winning the LP a well. S&K would have lost to Duhamel & Radford at worlds had D&R gone, and a cautious S&S easily crushed them.
 
Joined
Apr 1, 2014
That if Sotnikova returns. But I can see those standings shuffling depending to who the judges give the skating with passion bonus hahaha

I don't think that Sotnikova is going to return. The Russian bench is so deep now, and I don't think that she will ever be able to replicate the success that she had in Sochi. With the exception of Yuna in 2010, every lady since 1992 has retired after winning the OGM.

My prediction - Gold will make a mess of her program at worlds and Russians will have the podium sweep (Lipnitskaya - gold, Sotnikova- silver and Radionova-bronze). Poor Pogorilaya won't be sent to worlds because she will place fourth at the nationals.

I think that Gold is starting to feel the pressure of being the US #1. But I think that Frank will get her head together before Worlds next year. She also needs to work on her 2A (as another poster has already said), and skate to music that is more powerful and less princess-y.

Other predictions for next year: Ashley continues to stay on her feet, but is not rewarded by the judges. She places third at Nationals, then decides to retire shortly after an 8th place finish at Worlds. Pogo has an artistic breakthrough and overtakes Yulia in the pecking order.
 
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