2018-2019 GP Assignments

[Arriba627]

well... you won't want to stay in Laval if you want to do any sightseeing.... I am not even sure there is a hotel nearby Place Bell... BUT there is a subway stop that gets you downtown Montreal in about 25 minutes from the rink... so all is possible... I could see someone staying in Laval for a couple days of intense skating schedule and then move to downtown for a couple days of sightseeing... Place Bell is brand new... the roads around it are still developing.. it has no charm or interesting things to do other than the rink...

It looked very new from online photos I saw, and I was surprised to see that the hockey team plays there. Made me wonder why I'd never heard of it. You may end up being a very valuable resource, like it or not! Thx for the info.

 

[Ice Dance]

I don’t think there’s much ambiguity there. That’s been Skate Canada’s preferred approach when viable (in four of the last seven years Canadian teams have been 1-2, and in one other year Gilles/Poirier were third), and it makes strategic sense. Especially as it’s a safeguard against one team making a mistake.

Relevant. But W&P and G&P weren't scoring as closely then as they are now. (And V&M and W&P were really #1 & #2 when they were split apart in 2016, though not #1 and #2 on paper). Generally speaking over the past couple quadrenniums, the seasons in which the results for #1 and #2 were less predictable are the seasons in which SC split its teams. Having said that, Skate Canada is short on top dance teams right now--at least until the Danes can skate and/or provided Lajoie & Lagha don't move up. It is entirely possible they will invite both top teams.

As far as what makes sense, that depends on your perspective:
It doesn't make strategic sense if you look at it from Weaver & Poje's perspective or from the perspective of a federation who wants them to stay in 4 more years. But it does make sense if you look at it from the perspective of which event is likely to be the safest for sending Gilles & Poirier and/or hedging your bets for the win in case one team makes a mistake.

 

[Colonel Green]

As far as what makes sense, that depends on your perspective:
It doesn't make strategic sense if you look at it from Weaver & Poje's perspective or from the perspective of a federation who wants them to stay in 4 more years. But it does make sense if you look at it from the perspective of which event is likely to be the safest for sending Gilles & Poirier and/or hedging your bets for the win in case one team makes a mistake.

I'm not sure I see how it doesn't make sense from W/P's perspective. Depending on retirements, not inviting G/P would mean that they'd be competing with Cappellini/Lanotte, Chock/Bates, or Stepanova/Bukin. At least based on track record, the first two are bigger threats to beat them. I don't think they've ever lost to G/P in a contest where they didn't mess up. Granted that it seems like G/P might be on the verge of a breakthrough in judging perceptions, going by the 2018 Worlds results, but still.

 

[Ice Dance]

It makes sense from the perspective of wanting to head into your season as #1 from your country. But Gilles & Poirier defeated W&P at Nationals, so G&P really have a good argument for competing at home. And, of course, W&P defeated them everywhere else so W&P have a good argument for competing at home as well.

Just as Hubbell & Donohue and the Shibs both have a great argument for competing at home. But if they both compete at home, then someone leaves their first GP event as number 2. And it's better from a Federation perspective, IMO, to go out and attack the competition. All three Canadian teams competed together last season at Autumn Classic. It didn't set either W&P or G&P up well for their season, IMO. W&P scrapped their FD. And G&P went off to Russia where things didn't go well. I don't see how it helped them to all go up against each other at the same event. I can see very clearly how it helped both the Shibs and Hubbell & Donohue not to go up against each other until the GPF. Sometimes a second or third place away from home in a deep field can be better for you than a second place at home.

 

[Colonel Green]

All three Canadian teams competed together last season at Autumn Classic. It didn't set either W&P or G&P up well for their season, IMO. W&P scrapped their FD. And G&P went off to Russia where things didn't go well. I don't see how it helped them to all go up against each other at the same event. I can see very clearly how it helped both the Shibs and Hubbell & Donohue not to go up against each other until the GPF. Sometimes a second or third place away from home in a deep field can be better for you than a second place at home.

The Autumn Classic is not a Grand Prix event, so that really doesn't make sense as a comparison. The benefit to G/P competing at home is obvious: the silver medal and 13 valuable qualification points.

The comparison between H/D and the Shibs is not really apt, as both of those are teams that could plausibly expect to finish first if they get an assignment with no Papadakis/Cizeron (or, in previous years, Virtue/Moir). It's thus beneficial to keep them apart. In top form, W/P could absolutely expect to win at Rostelecom over S/B.

Piper and Paul (and I say this as somebody who prefers them to W/P and, really, most other active ice dance teams) are not yet in that league. They have never won a Grand Prix event, and their last silver medal finish was in France three years ago. They cannot bank on winning elsewhere barring major mistakes from competitors. Banking the silver medal at Skate Canada and then trying their luck in their second event is their best bet to make the Final again for the first time since four years ago. This is particularly the case because we have no idea where the Shibs are going to end up getting their invites, so Piper and Paul could easily find themselves skating at the same event with the Shibs and Papadakis/Cizeron, where a third-place finish would be virtually certain.

 

[Andrea82]

MEN

top 12 Worlds x 2 spots

Chen
Uno
Kolyada
Bychenko
Tomono
Vasiljevs
Aliev
Messing
Ge
Brezina
Aaron
Majorov

Not top 12 at Worlds but Top 24 Season Best list x 1

Hanyu
Boyang
Fernandez
Zhou
Voronov
Brown
Rippon
Chan
Tanaka
Yan
Samarin
Hendrickx
Samohin
Kvitelashvili

That's 24+14=38


LADIES

2 spots from Worlds

Osmond
Higuchi
Miyhara
Kostner
Zagitova
Tennell
Daleman
Sotskova
Hendrickx
Nagasu
Tursynbaeva
Bell

Not top 12 at Worlds but top 24 Season Best

Medvedeva
Sakamoto
Mihara
Tsurskaya
Radionova
Konstantinova
Choi
Honda
Tuktamysheva
Panenkova
Matsuda
Yamashita
(Trusova, Kostornaia and Tarakanova are still age ineligible)

36 spots filled


PAIRS

top 10 at Worlds x 2

Savchenko/Massot
Tarasova/Morozov
James/Cipres
Zabiiako/Enbert
Della Monica/Guarise
Moore Towers/Marinaro
Yu/Zhang
Astakhova/Rogonov
Peng/Jin
Marchei/Hotarek

Not top 12 at Worlds but top 24 season best x 1

Sui/Han
Duhamel/Radford
Stolbova/Klimov
Seguin/Bilodeau
Kayne/O'Shea
Ryom/Kim
Ilyushekina/Moscovitch
Knierim/Knierim
Boikova/Kozlovskii
Cain/leDuc
Alexandrovskaya/Windsor
Duskova/Bidar
Hocke/Blommaert
Ziegler/Kiefer

20+14=34 out of 48 spots

DANCE

top 10 Worlds

Papadakis/Cizeron
Hubbell/Donohue
Weaver/Poje
Cappellini/Lanotte
Chock/Bates
Gilles/Poirier
Stepanova/Bukin
Zagorski/Guerreiro
Guignard/Fabbri
Hawayek/Baker

Not top 12 at Worlds but top 24 SB

Virtue/Moir
Shibutani/Shibutani
Bobrova/Soloviev
Sinistina/Katslapov
Coomes/Buckland
Kaliszek/Spodyriev
Hurtado/Khaliavin
Soucisse/Firus
Fournier/Sorensen
Muramoto/Reed
Popova/Mozgov
Parsons/Parsons
Agafonova/Ucar
Smart/Diaz

20+14=34 out of 60 spots


Plus those in the updated World Standing top 24 who have not been listed yet

The updated World Standings have been published.

After a rapid check (so I may have omitted someone) those in World Standings top 24 who were not top 12 at Worlds and/or top 24 in the Season Best list are

MEN

Matteo Rizzo
Roman Sovosin
Alexei Krasnozhon

LADIES


Karen Chen
Hongo
Schott
Lecavelier
Rajicova

PAIRS

Denney/Frazier
Gao/Xie
Esbrat/Novoselov

ICE DANCE

McNamara/Carpenter
Lauriault/Legac
Nazarova/Nikitin
Wang/Liu
Carreira/Ponomarenko
Skoptcova/Aleshin
Pogrebinski/Benoit (split)

 

[Giselle]

The updated World Standings have been published.

After a rapid check (so I may have omitted someone) those in World Standings top 24 who were not top 12 at Worlds and/or top 24 in the Season Best list are

ICE DANCE

McNamara/Carpenter
Lauriault/Legac
Nazarova/Nikitin
Wang/Liu
Carreira/Ponomarenko
Skoptcova/Aleshin
Pogrebinski/Benoit (split)

I think Wang/Liu have split...(or maybe it was just an unconfirmed rumor?)

 

[Anyasnake]

I think Wang/Liu have split...(or maybe it was just an unconfirmed rumor?)

There was a rumor (not rumors anymore) about splitting Chinese dance and pair teams to create more partnerships but I haven't seen anything about a proper split from them, at least not yet. Plus he appeared on her instagram story very recently.
(That would be a waste).

 

[Ice Dance]

I think Wang/Liu have split...(or maybe it was just an unconfirmed rumor?)

Unconfirmed rumor. And I'm not even sure it is a rumor that ever reached the point of saying they had split, but rather a rumor saying they might be split if ______.

 

[Colonel Green]

Savchenko/Massot’s sitting the season out makes Zabiiako/Enbert the third seeds.

If I were the Canadian fed, I’d be hoping for a high enough draw to be able to invite them.

 

[Miriam090]

The updated World Standings have been published.

After a rapid check (so I may have omitted someone) those in World Standings top 24 who were not top 12 at Worlds and/or top 24 in the Season Best list are

Skoptcova/Aleshin

I'm really pleased they will get a GP (possibly 2 if they get a host spot at Rostelecom as well..) I definitely feel they are the future of Russian ice dance.

 

[Tahuu]

For the top men, Nathan may get SA and IdF, Shoma may be NHK and CoC (back to back but only a couple of hours of travel), Mikhail RC and SC. Yuzuru is a favorite at any stop and it's up to him to choose where to compete. SA and SC are back to back but have least travel. NHK and SC may be more desirable than SC/RC or SC/IdF.

 

[blackey]

I think Wang/Liu have split...(or maybe it was just an unconfirmed rumor?)

the newest rumor is they're not splitting anymore

 

[lovaticcanada]

I have a question about Anna Pogo, since she is ranked WS26. If she takes 1 entire season off (2018-19), then she could return for 2019-20 with 2 spots on the grand prix because she would fall under "come back skater" and she was previously top 6 at worlds in the last 10 years.

However, if she tries to return this upcoming season 2018-19, she is not guaranteed any events on the grand prix, and may get 0~2 depending on the Russian fed, and how the draw plays out?

This is only complicated by the fact that she did skate at Skate Canada last season.

 

[princessalica]

I have a question about Anna Pogo, since she is ranked WS26. If she takes 1 entire season off (2018-19), then she could return for 2019-20 with 2 spots on the grand prix because she would fall under "come back skater" and she was previously top 6 at worlds in the last 10 years.

However, if she tries to return this upcoming season 2018-19, she is not guaranteed any events on the grand prix, and may get 0~2 depending on the Russian fed, and how the draw plays out?

This is only complicated by the fact that she did skate at Skate Canada last season.

I was actually wondering if Gracie comes back if this would possibly be the case for her.

 

[IndiaP12]

When do we know what assignments they have got? Do we have to wait until the season starts [emoji23] I can’t wait that long [emoji24] (I’m new to this e.g after last season started so I don’t know how all of it works)

 

[riminin]

Just a point of clarification, it was the Japanese Olympic Committee that hired the security guards for Yuzuru when he landed in Incheon, and not the JSF. Judging by the size of the crowd that was at the airport when he arrived it was probably a good idea.

I know I'm very late and it's totally off-topic but for record's sake: JOC organized those security guards by the request of JSF.

 

[Bluediamonds09]

When do we know what assignments they have got? Do we have to wait until the season starts [emoji23] I can’t wait that long [emoji24] (I’m new to this e.g after last season started so I don’t know how all of it works)

The list usually comes out in late June.

 

[IndiaP12]

The list usually comes out in late June.

Thank you so much! Ugh it’s going to be a long 7-8 weeks wait [emoji23]

 

[frida80]

Thank you so much! Ugh it’s going to be a long 7-8 weeks wait [emoji23]

It came out in late may last year.