- Joined
- Mar 26, 2014
I like the idea to rank the power pre-season and then to watch how these rankings go down the drain. Just to remind what was discussed a year ago.
The key thing for everyone was to agree on who would be at the top, Mao or Liza Tuk. Well, we know how it went.
No one had a cristal ball to see the rise of Evgeniya....but Andyjo24 who placed her just after Liza: "I will give Evgenia second due to her consistency recently as well as unique style. I have a feeling she will do extremely well despite it being her first season. I am not a fan of hers yet, but I gotta give it to her. This girl knows how to compete".
No one placed the bronze medalist Anna Pogo into top three. The rest was quite chaotic.
So, let's try it again with hopes that this time the future will be the way we want it to be.
#1 Evgeniya Medvedeva, Russia Who would argue at this point of time? She crushed everyone everywhere last season (CoR was not important). She showed she can not only easily do 3s-3t toward the end of her FP - she can keep her cool after going just 4th after SP to break the WR in FP. What will she be up to this season? There were concerns that she gained weight, that she was not that impressive in Japan. I think, this season might not be an easy breeze for her. And with 2018 around the corner the task will be to stay healthy and to adjust to her body changes. So I think she might not be as dominant as the last season. But her margin over everybody else was so big (it was especially visible in Spokane) that it will be enough for her to win both Europe and the Worlds.
#2 Satoko Miyahara, Japan I am not a fan of her skating. But boy, this girl is consistent. Last season she achieved a good pcs increase although I cannot say that she improved a lot vs. the previous season. So she ended up as a 205-210 skater. If she keeps her consistency she will become a 210-215 skater which will be enough for any podium may be except the worlds.
#3 Anna Pogorilaya, Russia I would give her world silver in the last championship. She had 2 clean excellent programs. Masterpieces, I would say. I saw her live during the nationals. It was just mesmerising. She had 3 fabulous skates: Mordovia, Nationals, and the worlds. And she had disaster skates during GP and Europe. That's why I cannot put her above Satoko yet.
#4 Gracie Gold, USA Well, she was the fourth in the words - I would give her fourth power rank. She is fast and confident while skating. She has good edges. She used to have gigantic jumps - not anymore, though. And judges like her no matter what. But she is inconsistent. She had her best shot at the worlds - I am sure with a clean FP she would have received more than 150 and would have breaked all the records. This would have started lengthy discussions how unfair it had been....but it never happened. Will it happen again? I doubt, because if Medvedeva does not collapse like Tuk last season, her pcs will be equal to Gracy's and Gracy will never beat Medvedeva on tech.
#5 Mao Asada, Japan Mao is Mao - a triple world champion. But in the current field she should try something different from the last season to get podiums once again. With clean 3As and completed combos even with wrong lutz edge and a couple of <s she can be competitive with Medvedeva. If she aims at 2018, she may play it safe. But then the question is what Rika and Wakaba can show (the place of Satoko is firm, I guess)
#6 Ashley Wagner, USA I like her on ice much more than Gracie. But realistically, can she keep the momentum she gained in the Worlds? I am not sure. She is going to be 26 and her main goal is 2018 medal. I think she will try different things this season and play it safe. I don't think she will get big podiums this time.
#7 Elena Radionova, Russa She may get closer to top 3 if she gets back her landings. I understand the growth spurt had its toll on her and she fiercely fought for her place in the team despite all odds. But so far it is not clear if her troubles are over.
#8 Yulia Lipnitskaya, Russia Lakernik went to Sochi and reported that Yulia got her all jumps back. If it is true she will be back in the game. It does not matter that many other girls now try similar I-spins, that Lozko's spins are unparallel in creativity. Yulia is Yulia - a little girl with a tremendous charisma and brand equity. So if only her jumps are back.
#9 Rika Hongo, Japan She lost somehow very good momentum she gained during 2014-2015 season. She started to have consistency issues and her posture is not perfect. Still she has a lot of good values like big jumps and emotional skating. Her Lord of the Dance SS was a treat. I am sure she has not said her last word yet.
#10 Elizabeth Tursunbaeva, Kazakhstan Many expected a breakthrough from her last season. It did not happen. But is difficult to argue that there are a lot of good qualities about her. And being Orser's top lady she might have her redemption this year. The question is though if she is going to stay as tiny as she is. Because if she starts to grow she may lose it all.
That's my power ranking with some early forecasts. Will I laugh at myself at the end of the season?
Some other thoughts:
Tuk and Sotnikova. Somehow, I lost faith in them. There are no news that they are ready, willing, and able. May be I will change my mind after test skates.
Sotskova. She changed the coach. But it will be very very difficult to break into senior ranks as she could not win juniors after all these years. Although I like her style a lot.
Caro. I don't know. She was never the queen of consistency. And you cannot get to the top if you are not consistent now. It will be a miracle if she comes back stronger than she used to be. Let's believe in miracles!
Kuchvalska. Some people think she was robbed not getting a Spokane license. But frankly speaking I don't see much potential for her to get way above her 15th place in the last worlds.
Edmunds. There is a discussion if this season is going to be hers. Let's see - she has very good potential, indeed. But to get into 2018 team she should fix a lot of bugs.
The key thing for everyone was to agree on who would be at the top, Mao or Liza Tuk. Well, we know how it went.
No one had a cristal ball to see the rise of Evgeniya....but Andyjo24 who placed her just after Liza: "I will give Evgenia second due to her consistency recently as well as unique style. I have a feeling she will do extremely well despite it being her first season. I am not a fan of hers yet, but I gotta give it to her. This girl knows how to compete".
No one placed the bronze medalist Anna Pogo into top three. The rest was quite chaotic.
So, let's try it again with hopes that this time the future will be the way we want it to be.
#1 Evgeniya Medvedeva, Russia Who would argue at this point of time? She crushed everyone everywhere last season (CoR was not important). She showed she can not only easily do 3s-3t toward the end of her FP - she can keep her cool after going just 4th after SP to break the WR in FP. What will she be up to this season? There were concerns that she gained weight, that she was not that impressive in Japan. I think, this season might not be an easy breeze for her. And with 2018 around the corner the task will be to stay healthy and to adjust to her body changes. So I think she might not be as dominant as the last season. But her margin over everybody else was so big (it was especially visible in Spokane) that it will be enough for her to win both Europe and the Worlds.
#2 Satoko Miyahara, Japan I am not a fan of her skating. But boy, this girl is consistent. Last season she achieved a good pcs increase although I cannot say that she improved a lot vs. the previous season. So she ended up as a 205-210 skater. If she keeps her consistency she will become a 210-215 skater which will be enough for any podium may be except the worlds.
#3 Anna Pogorilaya, Russia I would give her world silver in the last championship. She had 2 clean excellent programs. Masterpieces, I would say. I saw her live during the nationals. It was just mesmerising. She had 3 fabulous skates: Mordovia, Nationals, and the worlds. And she had disaster skates during GP and Europe. That's why I cannot put her above Satoko yet.
#4 Gracie Gold, USA Well, she was the fourth in the words - I would give her fourth power rank. She is fast and confident while skating. She has good edges. She used to have gigantic jumps - not anymore, though. And judges like her no matter what. But she is inconsistent. She had her best shot at the worlds - I am sure with a clean FP she would have received more than 150 and would have breaked all the records. This would have started lengthy discussions how unfair it had been....but it never happened. Will it happen again? I doubt, because if Medvedeva does not collapse like Tuk last season, her pcs will be equal to Gracy's and Gracy will never beat Medvedeva on tech.
#5 Mao Asada, Japan Mao is Mao - a triple world champion. But in the current field she should try something different from the last season to get podiums once again. With clean 3As and completed combos even with wrong lutz edge and a couple of <s she can be competitive with Medvedeva. If she aims at 2018, she may play it safe. But then the question is what Rika and Wakaba can show (the place of Satoko is firm, I guess)
#6 Ashley Wagner, USA I like her on ice much more than Gracie. But realistically, can she keep the momentum she gained in the Worlds? I am not sure. She is going to be 26 and her main goal is 2018 medal. I think she will try different things this season and play it safe. I don't think she will get big podiums this time.
#7 Elena Radionova, Russa She may get closer to top 3 if she gets back her landings. I understand the growth spurt had its toll on her and she fiercely fought for her place in the team despite all odds. But so far it is not clear if her troubles are over.
#8 Yulia Lipnitskaya, Russia Lakernik went to Sochi and reported that Yulia got her all jumps back. If it is true she will be back in the game. It does not matter that many other girls now try similar I-spins, that Lozko's spins are unparallel in creativity. Yulia is Yulia - a little girl with a tremendous charisma and brand equity. So if only her jumps are back.
#9 Rika Hongo, Japan She lost somehow very good momentum she gained during 2014-2015 season. She started to have consistency issues and her posture is not perfect. Still she has a lot of good values like big jumps and emotional skating. Her Lord of the Dance SS was a treat. I am sure she has not said her last word yet.
#10 Elizabeth Tursunbaeva, Kazakhstan Many expected a breakthrough from her last season. It did not happen. But is difficult to argue that there are a lot of good qualities about her. And being Orser's top lady she might have her redemption this year. The question is though if she is going to stay as tiny as she is. Because if she starts to grow she may lose it all.
That's my power ranking with some early forecasts. Will I laugh at myself at the end of the season?
Some other thoughts:
Tuk and Sotnikova. Somehow, I lost faith in them. There are no news that they are ready, willing, and able. May be I will change my mind after test skates.
Sotskova. She changed the coach. But it will be very very difficult to break into senior ranks as she could not win juniors after all these years. Although I like her style a lot.
Caro. I don't know. She was never the queen of consistency. And you cannot get to the top if you are not consistent now. It will be a miracle if she comes back stronger than she used to be. Let's believe in miracles!
Kuchvalska. Some people think she was robbed not getting a Spokane license. But frankly speaking I don't see much potential for her to get way above her 15th place in the last worlds.
Edmunds. There is a discussion if this season is going to be hers. Let's see - she has very good potential, indeed. But to get into 2018 team she should fix a lot of bugs.
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But they're still fun to do.
), which is her strongest asset, but she's got an impressive list of strengths to go with it: her spins, interpretation, and SS are all top-of-the-line. I like her new FS, and her jumps look to have improved. Barring anything crazy, she will be a force to be reckoned with again this season. 
