2018 Internationaux de France: Men's Pre-game chat

[GS Forum Staff]

Entries as of 11/15/18

Nicolas NADEAU	CAN
Boyang JIN	CHN
Kevin AYMOZ	FRA
Romain PONSART	FRA
Daniel SAMOHIN	ISR
Keiji TANAKA	JPN
Deniss VASILJEVS	LAT
Dmitri ALIEV	RUS
Alexander SAMARIN	RUS
Jason BROWN	USA
Nathan CHEN	USA

 

[AlexRus]

Men in order of Season Best of this season (got at Challenger Series and previous GP Events)
In ( ) - previous best, only for skaters who have not best of this season.

1 Nathan CHEN USA 280.57
2 Dmitri ALIEV RUS 250.55
3 Alexander SAMARIN RUS 248.78
4 Jason BROWN USA 234.97
5 Kevin AYMOZ FRA 230.09
6 Nicolas NADEAU CAN 227.76
7 Boyang JIN CHN 227.28
8 Daniel SAMOHIN ISR 225.89
9 Keiji TANAKA JPN 221.92
10 Deniss VASILJEVS LAT 197.60
11 Romain PONSART FRA 187.92

WD Chafik BESSEGHIER FRA (239.39)

 

[oatmella]

Gold for Nathan!

Will be interesting to see if he increases his technical difficulty from Skate America

Also hoping for good skates from Dima, Boyang and Romain!

 

[DSQ]

My dream would be Chen gold, Jin silver and Vasiljevs bronze. That’s the dream but who knows what will actually happen. If he’s clean I think Chen will take gold easily, but him and Honda are so unlucky to have the first and last event. Yeah more training time but you’ve got to have nerves of steel.

 

[TontoK]

I think this will be one of the more interesting competitions in terms of rising skaters.

I expect Nathan to win, of course, barring disaster - and I never dismiss that prospect entirely.

But I'm really interested in the two Russians, Dennis, Nicolas, Samohin.

I'm also a bit interested in Jason Brown - by now we'll be able to see if the coaching change has paid off or not.

I know others are interested in Jin and Ponsart, perhaps others. TBH, I'm not. Maybe they'll change my mind.

 

[Colonel Green]

My dream would be Chen gold, Jin silver and Vasiljevs bronze. That’s the dream but who knows what will actually happen. If he’s clean I think Chen will take gold easily, but him and Honda are so unlucky to have the first and last event. Yeah more training time but you’ve got to have nerves of steel.

Not a question of luck with Nathan, he picked this as his second event.

The results of Rostelecom, between Keegan and Mikhail's poor showings and Yuzuru's injury, make for some very interesting calculations here. Nathan just needs a fourth-place finish to assure himself of a spot, and realistically he's favoured to win. Alexander Samarin could also make it into the Final, bumping Junhwan down to first alternate, if he takes silver.

However, with Yuzuru's viability for the Final an open question, this makes the first alternate spot all the more important. Keegan has it currently, but both Jin Boyang and Dmitri Aliev could take it from him with a silver medal and a certain score (266.42 for Aliev, 258.65 for Jin).

 

[Jaana]

I´d believe that Chen will win this event even with some mistakes. Wondering whether Jin has been able to train his programs enough to land on the podium, after all it has been only a few weeks since Helsinki Cup.

Aliev and Samarin, it they skate really well in the sp, the freeskate might be a problem...? Anyway if Aliev skates really well and gets silver, he prevents Samarin from GPF. Samarin needs a silver to go to GPF, but that may be a huuuge pressure for him.

Besides, in this competition Brown might perform a lot better than in Skate Canada, as there has been several weeks training time.

It would be a surprise to me if Vasiljevs lands on the podium, but a pleasant one.

 

[rachno2]

Boyang silver or gold PLEASE
Though at this point I feel like my support is bad luck

Looking forward to seeing Nathan and Jason’s SPs and Nic Nadeau’s fab Depeche Mode FS again. And Deniss’ yellow pants

 

[lichi]

Boyang I think I'd be satisfied with a semi-clean skate/podium, just to know that he's training alright.

Nathan's the clear favorite for gold. No doubt about that.

I'll also be cheering for Vasiļjevs, Tanaka, and Dima

 

[Ichatdelune]

Nathan Chen is proabably going to win this, so Dmitri, please, could you not pop your beautiful jumps and get yourself a medal (if possible, a silver, then I could have two men to cheer for at finals)? Also wishing the best for Jason, and overall clean skates gentlemen. And also, no injuries please

 

[Harriet]

Chafik hasn't competed at all this season, though he's been listed for at least two other competitions including the Master's de Patinage and withdrawn late from both, and there were even some reports last season that he didn't even want to do this Olympics. I'm a bit worried about him. If he's having injury troubles again that's one thing, but if he wants to retire and isn't being allowed to, and it's leading to shenanigans instead, that's no good for anyone.

 

[Jeanie19]

I love all the men competing here. So top 3 get gold, next 3 get silver and final 4 get bronze. I don't want to choose.

 

[Mrs. P]

Chafik hasn't competed at all this season, though he's been listed for at least two other competitions including the Master's de Patinage and withdrawn late from both, and there were even some reports last season that he didn't even want to do this Olympics. I'm a bit worried about him. If he's having injury troubles again that's one thing, but if he wants to retire and isn't being allowed to, and it's leading to shenanigans instead, that's no good for anyone.

Ugh, I hope he's OK! Why are they so hung up on Chafik staying on. There's quite a few promising French skaters including Kevin and Adam. Romain's improving.

There's generally something fun to watch with every skater!
* Nic Nadeau - Depeche Mode program!
* Boyang Jin - Hoping for improvement from Helsinki. Love his SP!
* Kevin Aymoz - One of my SCI faves. Love his FS!
* Romain Ponsart - As I said he's improving quite a bit!
* Keiji Tanaka - One of my Class of 2012 JGPF babies (with Jason and Boyang!) --
* Deniss Vasiljevs - Looking forward to see his super extra programs, especially his club samurai program.
* Dmitri Aliev - Take your axel with you! I enjoy his skating flow, especially in his free skate.
*.Alexander Samarin - Really enjoy his big jumps live at ACI. And I love to see how much he enjoys performing his Greatest Showman program
* Jason Brown - Clean SP, cause it's so good -- and more evolution with his FS. Hope to see improvement from SCI
* Nathan Chen - I like his SP a lot and hope to see it clean! Hope he enjoys his break from Yale, lol.

Everyone gets a (plastic) star!

 

[Hollymolly]

Go Nathan!
He is a clear favorite of GOLD. I have no doubt. :clapper:
Plz, Nathan, Performs your fantastic SP cleanly! Because I want to watch it and watch it again.. lol


And i wish good luck for Samohin and Aliev too.

 

[chuckm]

Not a question of luck with Nathan, he picked this as his second event.

The results of Rostelecom, between Keegan and Mikhail's poor showings and Yuzuru's injury, make for some very interesting calculations here. Nathan just needs a fourth-place finish to assure himself of a spot, and realistically he's favoured to win. Alexander Samarin could also make it into the Final, bumping Junhwan down to first alternate, if he takes silver.

If Yuzu withdraws and Samarin wins silver, assuming Nathan wins gold, that only helps Junhwan:

NATHAN 30
SHOMA 30
BREZINA 26
VORONOV 24
SAMARIN 22
CHA 22

However, with Yuzuru's viability for the Final an open question, this makes the first alternate spot all the more important. Keegan has it currently, but both Jin Boyang and Dmitri Aliev could take it from him with a silver medal and a certain score (266.42 for Aliev, 258.65 for Jin).

Aren't you forgetting Samarin? In that scenario, what if he won bronze---he'd also be part of the tiebreaker, and he'd only need 237.15 points, 11.63 less than he scored in his first event. Or if he won gold---he'd be in, Nathan would be in, Cha would be in, and there would be no room for the tiebreaker anyway.

BTW, Nathan would still make the final if he finished 5th.

 

[Harriet]

Ugh, I hope he's OK! Why are they so hung up on Chafik staying on. There's quite a few promising French skaters including Kevin and Adam. Romain's improving.

1) As of last season he was still their most reliable quad jumper.
2) DG's a controlling bully.

Good luck to Kevin and Romain here though, hope they do well on home soil!

 

[jersey1302]

In theory Boyang or Nathan should win.. in reality.. who knows... this season has been so insane with the results its getting hard to guess the results. Cliche but whoever stays on their feet the most is winning.

 

[Mrs. P]

1) As of last season he was still their most reliable quad jumper.
2) DG's a controlling bully.

Good luck to Kevin and Romain here though, hope they do well on home soil!

You are right on both counts. Still, it's disappointing if he is being forced to stay when he doesn't want to.

 

[SnowWhite]

If Yuzu withdraws and Samarin wins silver, assuming Nathan wins gold, that only helps Junhwan:

NATHAN 30
SHOMA 30
BREZINA 26
VORONOV 24
SAMARIN 22
CHA 22



Aren't you forgetting Samarin? In that scenario, what if he won bronze---he'd also be part of the tiebreaker, and he'd only need 237.15 points, 11.63 less than he scored in his first event. Or if he won gold---he'd be in, Nathan would be in, Cha would be in, and there would be no room for the tiebreaker anyway.

BTW, Nathan would still make the final if he finished 5th.

No, he wouldn't. 2nd/5th beats 3rd/4th, regardless of score.

 

[DSQ]

Not a question of luck with Nathan, he picked this as his second event.

Oh I didn’t know you could do that. I really don’t understand the GP - as you’ve seen twice now lol