2007 Season Without Kwan/Cohen

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Who will keep your interest?

Will Kimmie, Mao and Rochette?

Will Evan, Johnny, Stephane, Brian, Jeffrey and Takehashi?

Will lesser Russian skaters keep you interested in Pairs and Dance?

Is there anything special you are looking forward to in the upcoming season?

Joe

 

[rjulie510]

Have NNNTL improved technically? How will they received by international judges in Skate America?

How would Yu-Na Kim do in Senior Circuit? Would she be able to hold her own and challenge for top spots? How would she score compare to Mao and Kimmie, for example?

Will Johnny Weir finally put it together when it counts?

 

[iluvtodd]

I hope Chris Mabee has a great season. I loved his free skate at 4CC.

Dube & Davison were so impressive at last season's Skate America & beyond. I'm pulling for them too.

 

[demarinis5]

I will be watching the men this season. With no Michelle, Sasha or Irina IMO the men's field will be much more exciting and interesting than the ladies. Right now I do not have any favorites among the current crop of lady newbies but that may change at the end of next season.

 

[dancindiva03]

I'm looking foward to watching the ladies without Kwan and Cohen this year! Don't get me wrong, I love Kwan, but with these two out, we will get to see more of skaters that we wouldn't have otherwise. But, somehow I think we'll have to sit through a bit of Kwan/Cohen fluff anyway. Still, I'm excited to see the other US ladies. I hope without Cohen we won't have to hear Dick and Peggy trying to tell us that no ones layback and spirals can compare to Sasha's, and that they realize that they are all individual skaters, not a colony of Cohen clones, that they don't all have to be just like her to be good.

 

[Misplaced Gymnast]

I love Kimmie, and will be interested in watching her progress.

 

[Jhar55]

We all knew the time would come and now it's going to be very different with Michelle and Sasha, almost all newbies in ladies and not sure whom I'll be watching for. In the mens I'll surley be looking for Evan and hope he wins Nationals this year and moves up on the World podium.

 

[just wondering]

I'm with you DancinDiva03.

I LOVE those pivotal moments in life when the field is wide open and we are bunched up at the starting line. The gun goes off and we see who can put together a winning race filled with creativity, determination, stamina, credibility, competency, moments of excellence, moments of despair, moments of brilliance -- moments of life!

Bring on the '07 skating season!

 

[Arianne]

Michelle and Sasha may not do the Grand Prix circuit, but have either one stated that they will not do worlds or nationals??? You never know...

 

[dizzydi7]

Season without Kwan/Cohen

I will miss both Kwan and Cohen tremendously. They both added something so special and unique to competitions.

I will be interesed to watch Kimmie defend her World title this year. It will be very telling about her future and whether she can handle being the chased. I'm also very interested to see how Asada and Kim will perform.

I would love to see Ben and Tanith's new programs and it will be fun to see how they perform this year.

Will Johnny Weir finally live up to his ability? If only he would concentrate more on skating and less on his personal dramas. An improvement in costumes would also help but that's probably too much to hope for at this point.

Dizzy

 

[euterpe]

Michelle and Sasha may not do the Grand Prix circuit, but have either one stated that they will not do worlds or nationals??? You never know...

Sasha has said she's taking a year off, so I think that includes Nationals and Worlds. Michelle is still injured and I do not see her returning to competitive skating until and if she is fully recovered from her injuries. I am sure we will not see either of these ladies at Nationals, so they won't be at Worlds for sure.

Will Johnny Weir finally live up to his ability? If only he would concentrate more on skating and less on his personal dramas. An improvement in costumes would also help but that's probably too much to hope for at this point.

In his recent Q&A session, Johnny said his intent this year is to win every competition he enters. He also said his FS costume for the original music "Jerusalem" is gong to be very plain.

 

[Lonewolf]

I am going to be following the ladies. With a new crop of contenders this year, it will be interesting to see who emerges and performs well. I also have to agree with Arianne, we really do not know whether Michelle or Sasha will compete at Nationals and Worlds yet.

Michelle and Sasha may not do the Grand Prix circuit, but have either one stated that they will not do worlds or nationals??? You never know...

 

[Tonichelle]

I have never been a huge ladies fanatic... it's always been the more technically exciting disiplines of pairs and mens... I think with Tanith and Ben and certainly Melissa and Denis still duking it out in dance I won't miss the big names in ladies this season

what I will miss is hanging with you all there in Spokane

 

[Lanie]

I'll miss Sasha so I won't pay much attention to US skating, except for maybe Evan vs Johnny at Nats. I'm excited about Vlassov/Meekins and NNN/Themi.

Internationally I want to see what the Kerrs are doing. They got shafted big time IMO last season and I hope they can get a medal at one of their GP events this time around, it'd be nice!

 

[riverflows]

I came into Figure Skating very late (think... after the latest World Championship), so Michelle isn't a very big factor for me. Sasha, I will miss, but I've always paid more attention to the Men's and Pairs. Plus, in the Ladies, there are all the newcomers (Mao Asada and Yu-Na Kim, the former in particular) who will hold my interest for years to come.

So, in short, their absence won't affect me at all. :yes:

 

[CzarinaAnya]

I like all the fields, so I won't be too sad about Sasha not being there. I just hope she comes back.

For the ladies, I'll be rooting for Alissa Czisny, the most this season. I'll still be pulling for Stephane Lambiel. Hoping for the up and coming pairs will be fun. And whoever brings IT in Ice Dance, will have my "vote". :thumbsup:

 

[Jaana]

I have watched figure skating years before Kwan (or Cohen) came onto the scene, and hope to watch it years after Kwan eventually leaves the eligible skating.... There always are plenty of skaters to keep me interested. Besides, for years the men´s skating has been a lot more interesting than that of ladies, generally speaking. There are some really interesting newcomers in ladies discipline though.

From male skaters Lysacek, Lambiel, Buttle, Oda, Weir, Sandhu and Takahashi (among many, many others) will keep me really interested. I hope that Sandhu will conquer his demons one day and that Weir will speak less and deliver more.

 

[hockeyfan228]

Some of my favorite Ladies, like Rochette and Poykio are still competiting, and I want to see how Meissner and Korpi develop this year, if Ando can regain her form and confidence, and if Martinova will improve. I'm curious to see what will happen to Leung, who appears to be coachless, at least one with credentials, and if Kim blossoms in the senior ranks.

Most of the usual suspects are competing among the men. I can't wait to see the programs. Among the pairs, I will miss T&M, but I look forward to seeing Dube/Davidson and Nari Nam/Leftheris develop, and I hope Morozov heals and is in shape, because I think that Volosozhar is one of the best women in pairs today. This is the last year that Zagorska/Siudek will skate, and I hope to be in Warsaw to see them in their home town. I hope they're both healthy and in great form this year, their second season under Gaulthier. For dance, I think US Nationals are going to be tough. I'm getting depressed in advance of Delobel/Schoenfelder not getting respect, again. (It's hard being a fan of Del/Sch's and Pet/Tik's.)

 

[Eeyora]

I will miss Michelle dearly but she has given me many moments to keep me proud. I am excited to see if Kimmie and Mao can keep the momentum going and if Katy and Yu-na live up to the hype.

I want to see if Belbin and Agosto can continue to shine or have they already peaked.Can Denkova and Stayviski stay on top? Will the sentimental favorites Drobiazko and Vanagas finally get the marks they deserve?

Is Evan ready for the big time? Can Johnny fulfill his potential? Will Joubert finally come up with a good program? Will Oda mature? Can Takahashi and Buttle hold it together?

Can Shen/Zhao reach the top again? Will the judges appreciate Pang and Tong? Can the Zhangs develop artistically? Will we finally see an American team on the world podium again? Will we ever see the throw triple axel again? Can Nam and Letheris live up to our hopes?

 

[JonnyCoop]

You know, I remember back in the Olden Days (hold on, let me move my cane out of the way so I can type correctly ), when EVERY post-Olympic year was missing MOST of the top people in ALL categories, thus leaving the podiums open to the also-rans of the previous couple of years. And I for one miss those days, it made the Post-Olympic year so much more exciting. But since no-one seems to move on after the Olys anymore, I guess it is a big deal that we're actually going to be missing not just one, but two, of the top ladies next year. (Tho Kwan was hardly around much LAST season, so we kind of got warmed up for that, I suppose.)

As to what I'm looking forward to in the coming season -- well, nothing specific. I just want to see it unfold. I would, however, like to see Beatrisa Liang finally get her due. IMHO, with both Michelle and Sasha out, we are going to see a real depth problem among the US ladies, unless a few people have gotten better since last season. Kimmie gets better all the time, I think Beatrisa is terrific, and I like Alissa (tho her jumping skills scare me). Beyond that -- I hate to say it, but I find all the other US ladies dull. I mean DULL. (Except for Rosenthal, but I don't think she has a realistic chance of really getting anywhere unless her jump repertoire increases tremendously.). I'd love to see Angela make a comeback, but I'm afraid she's gone through way too much and it's way too late. I hope I'm WAY WAY WRONG about that, but I just have a feeling it's not gonna happen.