2017 Worlds Predictions 3 months out!

[Pamigena]

The rink size at Hartwall Arena should be 28 x 60 m which is comfortably inside the olympic standard for ice hockey as well as for figure skating. This was trickier to find out than what I thought as the official site apparently does not feature such a minor detail.

I found an info thingy for Euros 2009 and it says on page 9 "The size of the main ice rink is 30 x 60 m. The size of the practice ice rink is 28 x 58 m." So unless the info is false or they changed that since then.....

 

[mysticice]

The official announcement of WC2017 says that:

2. TECHNICAL DATA
All Championship events as well as some official practices will take place at the Hartwall ArenaMain Rink–with an ice surface of 60 m x 30 m.

http://static.isu.org/media/384373/wc2017_announcement_final.pdf

 

[Pamigena]

^
In retrospect that seems like a really obvious place to look for the info thanks

 

[QuadThrow]

Sui and Han's new SP looks amazing, even better than last season. It is the same style as the Spanish Romance and it is so hot! The Russian pairs are boring in comparison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvcRMfMj9Yg&t=95s

Oh this good indeed. The style is very calm and relaxed. I like it. But if they make mistakes this can really damage the program.

I can see a showdown at worlds in pairs even if the season was disappointing so far.

S/M's SP is the best. But the are not consistent.

Many users seem to prefer S/K. I think their SP do not really fit with their style and the FP is an remake of last season. In addtion their twist is still bad. I cannot see them winning worlds.

 

[TGee]

Not another World with a non-Olympic size rink

Not sure what the exact size is, but recall comments from the pairs at Finlandia that it was towards the maximum allowed size, but that they weren't given the opportunity for a practice on that ice that would enable them to adjust.

Even "Olympic sized" while officially 60 metres long by 30 metres wide can have a fairly large range of tolerance.

For international hockey, the IIHF says that rinks can be anywhere from 56 to 61 m long and 26 to 30 m wide. (61 m by 26 m is NHL sized) However, for officially sanctioned IIHF events the requirement is 60-61 m long and 29-30 m wide.

For pairs and ice dance one metre larger or smaller in either dimension can be significant for those pushing to maximize ice coverage.

And that also goes for ice surfaces effectively reduced by soft patches and puddles in the corners and along the boards st the midline as they were at ToF and to a lesser extent at the GPF.

 

[eppen]

Finlandia was at Espoo, not at Hartwall Arena. I think they can adjust the size of the rink - I could only find the 28 m width related to hockey. They probably will have use a different practice rink for part of the sessions, but surely in a week's comp they will be able to get to the main ice before the comp begins. The rotations are usually planned in such a way.

e

 

[Winnie_20]

Finlandia was at Espoo, not at Hartwall Arena. I think they can adjust the size of the rink - I could only find the 28 m width related to hockey. They probably will have use a different practice rink for part of the sessions, but surely in a week's comp they will be able to get to the main ice before the comp begins. The rotations are usually planned in such a way

:thumbsup:
Exactly, Hartwall arena is not the same venue as at Espoo. Also, basic practice schedule is already up:
http://www.helsinki2017.com/event/practices
and shows that everybody will get the chance to practice in the main rink. (The practice rink is somewhere below it, IIRC?)

 

[desertskates]

Men:
1. Hanyu
2. Fenandez
3. Uno

Dance:
1. Virtue / Moir
2. Papdakis / Cizeron
3. Shibutani / Shibutani

Pairs:
1. Duhamel / Radofrd
After that, I really haven't the foggiest

Ladies:
1. Medvedeva
2. Miyahara
3. Pogorilaya
4. Wagner
5. Sotskova
6. Osmond
7. Higuchi
8. Mihara
9. Gold
10. Kostner

 

[theskatingbutterfly]

I think you're all underestimating the power of a pissed off Ashley Wagner... just sayin

 

[christinaskater]

I think you're all underestimating the power of a pissed off Ashley Wagner... just sayin

The problem for Ashley this year IMO is the music for her LP.
It's not feisty enough, it's not her style

 

[Osmond4gold]

I think you're all underestimating the power of a pissed off Ashley Wagner... just sayin

As you may know, to underestimate is the rule of Golden Skate! However, if Ashley is PO-ed, it usually means that she has not done well in the SP. With such a deep field it would be hard to recover from an error in the short. For the record, I would still bet on an injury free Osmond, over a pissed-offed Ashley, any day.

I hope both do well, BTW.

 

[Cherryy]

Ladies
1. Anna Pogorilaya
2. Evgenia Medvedeva
3. Satoko Miyahara
just cause Evgenia decides she doesn't want to have the pressure of reigning world champ going into the games while Anna will be motivated to show she's had enough of people not appreciating her enough.

Men
1. Javier Fernandez
2. Yuzuru Hanyu
3. Nathan Chen
Javier on the other hand is not afraid to be a three time world champion heading into the olympics and not having as much pressure as Hanyu, performs his best on the night. Nathan performs all quads just as planned, messes up one of his spins cause he's so tired, still scores the highest TES and sneaks in just in front of Shoma.

Ice Dance
1. Papadakis/Cizeron
2. Virtue/Moir
3. Bobrova/Soloviev
Papadakis/Cizeron seem to know how to distribute their energy throughout the season.

Pairs
1. Sui/Han (if they even compete?)
2. Stolbova/Klimov
3. Savchenko/Massot
4. Tarasova/Morozov
Ok, no idea here... I think it'll be more of a mental game, possible splat fest just cause everyone will realise how deep the field is and so everyone will try to do the tricks that are just too difficult.

 

[QuadThrow]

Men:
1. Yuzuru Hanyu
2. Javier Fernandez
3. Nathan Chen

Sorry Patrick. I would prefer Jin or Uno on third place. But the judges like Nathan

Women:
1. Medvedewa
2. Pogorilaya
3. Osmond

I like huguchi and mihara but I do want to see miyahara on the podium.

Pairs:
1. Savchenko/Massot
2. Stolbova/Klimov
3. Yu/Zhang

Really hard to predict! Never underestimate Aljona. She has never missed a world medal when she competed since 2007.I think S/H do not have enough time for a good comeback. Their natural strengh are the throws and they could not practice these. D/R's skating is just not good enough. Sorry T/M.

Dance:
1. Virtue/Moir
2. Papadakies/Cizeron
3. Shibutanis

IMO it should be very close between the Top two pairs. But the judges will make it close between second and third.

 

[TGee]

:thumbsup:
Exactly, Hartwall arena is not the same venue as at Espoo. Also, basic practice schedule is already up:
http://www.helsinki2017.com/event/practices
and shows that everybody will get the chance to practice in the main rink. (The practice rink is somewhere below it, IIRC?)

Sorry to have created a muddle about the ice size. Two sources that I'd looked at said that Hartwall had the same size rink as Espoo. And in other places that the Finnish standard had a 28m width..which is in between the NHL and the Olympic/IHHF standard.

But I see now that Hartwall definitely meets the IHHF standard as it has held the World Championships...and in other places is cited as being a 60 by 30 m rink...

http://www.eurohockey.com/arena/466-hartwall-areena-helsinki.html

In terms of ice quality, Finland is one of the countries that I would expect to have good conditions in principle.

Question is more around whether Hartwall will be able to raise the temperature just enough to have good figure skating conditions [hockey ice is harder] without going too far....we've seen in North American events that arenas, that are used to producing good conditions for hockey, may not get it right for figure skating. I tried to see if any syncho events have been run there, but am not finding anything coming up in English...

And yes, the conditions really are that different. It's hard to cut deep edges or pick a jump if the ice is too hard. I once skated on ice at an American university that had been used for an NCAA hockey championship the previous day. It was super hard, most of us were struggling, and one skater who also had hockey skates gave up and just used those.

So, if anyone has information about major figure skating events held at Hartwall, it would be very welcome.

 

[Pamigena]

So, if anyone has information about major figure skating events held at Hartwall, it would be very welcome.

Europeans 2009 count?

 

[Yatagarasu]

Worlds 1999

 

[TGee]

Europeans 2009 count?

Helpful...but does anyone recall the ice conditions?

 

[Pamigena]

Helpful...but does anyone recall the ice conditions?

Yes:

I sat through the Europeans in 2009 and cannot remember that there would have been any problems with ice back then.

 

[TGee]

Yes:

Too much dropping in and out over the holidays....Missed the second half of eppen's comments noting that the ice conditions at Europeans 2009 seemed fine...

Well, hope whoever got it right in 2009 is still around....After Worlds and GPF in 2016 with puddles, it would be wonderful to have a Worlds where we don't have to second guess whether ice conditions were favouring those who skated earlier or who have smaller jumps.

 

[christinaskater]

Medvedeva
Osmond
Miyahara
Pogorilaya

Medvedeva is the overwhelming favourite to win
But Katelyn or Miyahara may get medals or win if a. Major meltdown occurs