Dance Prospects After Two Events | Golden Skate

Dance Prospects After Two Events

MissIzzy

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
With sixteen teams competing in two events, so far the dance has been the most predictable of the four events, and with no contenders eliminated yet either:

Skate America:

1. Madison Chock & Evan Bates: Need only medal in China, where it's possible Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte, or Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin might beat them, but after that there's really noone left to knock them off the podium unless they have some crazy disaster.

2. Victoria Sinitsina & Nikita Katsalapov: To seal it would need to win Russia, where it'll be hard for them to beat Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Pojé. The way ice dance usually goes silver would be almost as good, but they have to beat Cappellini & Lanotte and Ilinykh & Zhiganshin for it. Skate America was a good sign, but they could very easily be knocked off the Russian podium and out of contention if they don't prove ready to truly shift upward.

3. Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier: Would need to win France to seal it. Crazily, they'll be the favorites to do so if Gabriela Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron don't recover from her concussion in time, although they'd still have to fend off Penny Coomes & Nicholas Buckland, or possibly Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue. That means even if the French team is ready to win, they'll still be favored for silver and a chance.

4. Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker: To have a chance would have to win China, where the three top teams there make even silver unlikely.

Skate Canada:

1. Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Pojé: Need only medal in Russia, where they'll be favored to win. Although the field there is stacked enough that if they mess up enough they actually could conceivably be knocked off the podium, but even then they'd probably still hold onto fourth and a chance!

2. Maia & Alex Shibutani: To seal it would need to win in Japan, which they actually might do, again if Papadakis & Cizeron are out that long, though they'd have to beat Ekaterina Bobrova & Dmitri Soloviev again, which isn't guaranteed for them. Even so, if the French are out they look very good indeed for at least silver, and even if they aren't they look equally good for bronze and a chance.

3. Ekaterina Bobrova & Dmitri Soloviev: Would also need to win Japan, which is harder but not impossible, at least, again, if the French don't make it there. Also if they don't still have a good chance at silver then it's as the chips fall, or could even get it even if they do.

4. Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri: To have a chance need to win Russia, where even silver isn't going to happen.

Out of contention but could be a factor at other events:

Penny Coomes & Nicholas Buckland: Only assigned to Trophée Eric Bompard, where the field is such they should definitely be a factor, especially if Papadakis & Cizeron withdraw.

Contenders yet to skate:

Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron(may not make one or both events)
Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte
Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin
 

Ice Dance

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
Contenders yet to skate:

Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron(may not make one or both events)
Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte
Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin

And perhaps not to be written completely out of the race . . .

Hubbell & Donahue
Stepanova & Bukin

Highly unlikely to be in contention for the GPF, but they are both scheduled for the two events with Papadakis & Cizeron. And it isn't entirely out of the question that one of these two teams could defeat Gilles & Poirier and/or Coomes & Buckland.
 
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