2018 Ondrej Nepela Trophy: Ladies' pre-game chat

[GS Forum Staff]

Pre-game chat and predictions for 2018 Ondrej Nepela Trophy: Ladies

Here is a link to the entries for the Ladies (Updated 9/12)
http://www.isuresults.com/events/cat03108800.htm

Alisa TURCHINA	BLR
Elizaveta UKOLOVA	CZE
Danielle HARRISON	GBR
Kristen SPOURS	GBR
Rika KIHIRA	JPN
Rin NITAYA	JPN
Elizabet TURSYNBAEVA	KAZ
Elzbieta GABRYSZAK	POL
Yujin CHOI	KOR
Hyunsoo KIM	KOR
Dabin CHOI	KOR	SUB
Eunseo LEE	KOR	SUB
JooHyun LEE	KOR	SUB
Stanislava KONSTANTINOVA	RUS
Polina TSURSKAYA	RUS
Alina ZAGITOVA	RUS
Silvia HUGEC	SVK
Nina LETENAYOVA	SVK
Maria Sofia PUCHEROVA	SVK
Katie MCBEATH	USA
Megan WESSENBERG	USA
Angela WANG	USA	SUB

Main Entries in order of Personal Best
In ( ) - best unofficial, at competitions which don't give ISU Best, only for skaters who haven't ISU Best.

1 Polina TSURSKAYA RUS 210.19
2 Elizabet TURSYNBAEVA KAZ 200.98
3 Stanislava KONSTANTINOVA RUS 199.68
4 Rika KIHIRA JPN 194.24
5 Rin NITAYA JPN 175.01
6 Yujin CHOI KOR 156.65
7 Katie MCBEATH USA (153.67)
8 Megan WESSENBERG USA 148.82
9 Silvia HUGEC SVK 147.14
10 Elizaveta UKOLOVA CZE 140.85
11 Danielle HARRISON GBR 125.89
12 Elzbieta GABRYSZAK POL 123.17
13 Maria Sofia PUCHEROVA SVK (105.44)
14 Hyunsoo KIM KOR (97.31)

Alisa TURCHINA BLR -

WD Alina ZAGITOVA RUS 239.57
WD Kristen SPOURS GBR 139.34
WD Nina LETENAYOVA SVK 113.51

 

[surimi]

I'm still baffled by Rajicova's participation here when she's withdrawn from GP. If she was injured and had surgery scheduled for Autumn, she wouldn't risk aggravating it here, right? Or could she be planning to retire in front of the home crowd?

 

[rikaquegira]

I'm excited for Rika!
I hope she has a great senior debut!

 

[Tutto]

I'm still baffled by Rajicova's participation here when she's withdrawn from GP. If she was injured and had surgery scheduled for Autumn, she wouldn't risk aggravating it here, right? Or could she be planning to retire in front of the home crowd?

I don't think it could be surgery, she posted this on her instagram 4 days ago:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnPAiHWjwAj/?hl=en&taken-by=nrajic

I think you can be right it will be a swan song in front of the home crowd. If so I am sad I always felt like Niciole was capable of so much more than she achieved but was it injuries, lack of competitive drive or something else I don't know.. oh we'll know soon enough

 

[figurefan0726]

Predictions! (I dunno if it’s allowed here) but here I go
1. Alina Zagitova
2. Polina Tsurskaya
3. Rika Kihira
4. Stanislava Konstantinova
5. Elizabet Tursynbaeva
6. Nicole Rajicova
7. Rin Nitaya
8. Megan Wessenberg
9. Katie McBeath
10. Hyunseo Lee

 

[lusk8]

My vote and cheering will be for Alina, hope she had a great season start.

Also like Polina and Rika so I hope they have a great one too.

 

[mau]

Go Alina

 

[surimi]

I'll be cheering for Rin the most, eventhough she doesn't have a real chance for the podium. And I'm curious to see Rika Kihira for the first time. And Elizabet, I'm looking forward to seeing how she does under Eteri. :hap85:

 

[rikaquegira]

Still rooting for my fave Kihira! Her FS is the best Free Skate of this season, believe me! I need her to skate that program clean at least once! [emoji24]
I hope she can control her nerves and that her blades are perfectly adjusted. [emoji23]

 

[yoloaxel]

I think Alina will win this safely. Good luck to Rika as well in her first senior competition!

Very very curious to see Lilbet after the Eteri training!

 

[rikaquegira]

I think Alina will win this safely. Good luck to Rika as well in her first senior competition!

Very very curious to see Lilbet after the Eteri training!

Elizabet can snatch a medal maybe? I think this event is very interesting.
Zagitova is expected to win gold but ice is slippery... I feel like she takes a while to grow into her programs so the very beginning of the season won’t be her best. And I’d say she might have a competition if not clean. If Polina skates clean for instance or Kihira with two 3A. Although Kihira’s GOE won’t be huge and her PCS(I hope) will be just a little above her Junior highest if she skates clean so I doubt she could win here.
I also wonder if Kihira is going for two 3A in the free and one in the SP or if it’s one in the Free and one in the SP.
From the last interview I read Kihira will just go for them 3As and Hamada won’t take any excuses. [emoji23]

 

[Ziotic]

I would love to see Rika attempt and nail three 3A and take the gold.

 

[MalAssada]

Overall, I'm just very curious to see how the competition goes. Will Alina be able to handle her post-Olympic nerves? How's Polina doing under Buyanova? What about Lillbet under Eteri? I'm hoping for an exciting competition, the sort everyone does well.

 

[rikaquegira]

I would love to see Rika attempt and nail three 3A and take the gold.

If Zagitova skates both programs clean that won’t be enough.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

I would love to see Rika attempt and nail three 3A and take the gold.

I feel like Rika's problem isn't the 3A, it's the rest of the program. Maybe she gets too excited when she lands the 3A

 

[TheBallerina]

Hoping to see a first win for Alinka this season! She starts as a clear favourite here (and anyway I am excited just to watch her compete again after the looong off-season :luv17 :thumbsup:

I am looking forward to see Polina too, I hope to see some great performances for her and a good season start. :luv17:

Other questions: Did Elizabet improve under Eteri? How will Stanislava perform, will she be able to control her nerves? Will Rika go for a 3A and can she medal here?

It's gonna be a very interesting competition :thumbsup:

 

[rikaquegira]

I feel like Rika's problem isn't the 3A, it's the rest of the program. Maybe she gets too excited when she lands the 3A

I'd say Kihira is the kind of skater you can always expect at least one mistake from.
Her best performance last season was at Nationals. She landed the 3A in the SP but then doubled the Lz.
In the FS she landed a 3A, a 3A3T combination(both beautiful) and then her only mistake was a step out in a freaking 3Lo...

I think last season she was adapting to her new body and trying to make the 3A consistent while gaining more experience to go Senior. It was a lot!
Hopefully this season she will be more confident and more consistent overall.

 

[Ziotic]

If Zagitova skates both programs clean that won’t be enough.

Which is very unfortunate as I find Rika skating much more polished, but she will get first year PCS for sure.

 

[rikaquegira]

Which is very unfortunate as I find Rika skating much more polished, but she will get first year PCS for sure.

I'm just glad Rika is clearly evolving. She has not been the same skater from her first Junior year to now, each season she gets better and better. :luv17:

 

[lusk8]

I’m for Alina all the way and the content on her FS is insanely hard, I want her to have two clean skates and let the chips fall where they may.

It’ll be a nice prep for the GPs, seeing what’s working and what needs to be worked on.

For the younger skaters like Alina, Rika and probably Polina too the CS is a great opportunity to show yourself before an ISU judging panel and see how you are positioned for the upcoming season.