GP final predictions

[Kykyryza]

I just hope GPF won't be a splatfest
Considering Stéphan's and other perfomances...

 

[bekalc]

My new predictions. I totally believe that Kostner would medal if she was clean. But here's the thing Kostner is never clean.

1.Yu-na Kim. She's putting up huge numbers....And she has all the jumps..

2.Mao Asada- She's putting up good numbers. But no triple axel. And well without that really only can do 5 triples. Lovely skater though.

3.Yukari Nakano- Her scores throughout the GP have been a lot higher than those I have below her.

4.Kimmie Meissner- I'm not sure about her because she's so inconsistent. Based on scores, I'll give it to her though because the others haven't been consistent either.

5.Caroline Zhang-may move ahead of Meissner but hasn't had a clean long yet this season.
6. Carolina Kostner- She's extremely inconsistent.

Men-I have no idea who is going to win the Men's. This field is sooo unpredicatable. The only predictions I'm sure of is fifth/sixth place: So

1. Daisuke-I'm not sure about him because he's inconsistent. But his overall numbers are still higher than the others.
2. Evan Lyseck. I think he will finish ahead of Johnny this time, because I'm willing to bet that either he'll hit his quad, or he'll rotate his triple axel.
3. Stephane Lambiel-his skating has improved a lot in the time between Cup of China and Cup of Russia. I think he'll continue to make strides.
4. Johnny Weir- I think the others will hit their more difficult jumps.
5. Patrick Chan-Jumping wise, he's not up there with the rest of the panel.. Maybe if he adds the other triple axel, things will be better for him.
6. Kevin Van Der Parren-He's a good jumper. But that's all there is to his programs.

Pairs
1. Zhangs-they are more consistent then S/S.
2. S/S- they are better than the Zhangs but they are inconsistent.
3. Pang/Tong
4. Dubé and Davison
5. Kawaguchi and Smirnov
6. McLaughlin and Brubaker

Dance-Another event I'm not sure off because of the judging
1. Tanith and Belbin
2. Domnina and Shabalin
3. Virtue and Moir
4. Delobel and Scheonfelder
5. K&N
6. P&B

 

[carol45]

Anybody who thinks Lambiel's skating has improved needs to know what happened last weekend at Swiss Nationals. It was a disaster. He fell 4 times - once in the short program and 3 times in the free. Even fell on the 3 flip.

He is supposed to travel to Torino tomorrow, but I am really wondering if he will, in fact, turn up.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Anybody who thinks Lambiel's skating has improved needs to know what happened last weekend at Swiss Nationals. It was a disaster. He fell 4 times - once in the short program and 3 times in the free. Even fell on the 3 flip.

He is supposed to travel to Torino tomorrow, but I am really wondering if he will, in fact, turn up.

Is this the permanent state of his competing now? When at his Nationals, was anything bothering him? phsyical? health? personal?

If he withdraws, will Carriere replace him? and is there time for Carriere to get there?

Joe

 

[Sackie]

For those predicting Chan to win a medal is this just wishful thinking? Do you really think he can place ahead of the Top 4 here even with 2 clean skates? I think he will be battling it out for 5th with Kevin. If he skates clean he should get it over Kevin but it's hard to say since the judges still give hign PCS marks to anyone who can land a Quad regardless of how they skate. Just look at SC where Kevin should have been 4th!
I love Chan but I really don't expect the judges to place him ahead of Weir, Takasahi, Lambiel, or Lysacek no matter what. Not in his first GPF. And for him to medal he'd have to beat one of these guys.

 

[carol45]

Is this the permanent state of his competing now? When at his Nationals, was anything bothering him? phsyical? health? personal?

If he withdraws, will Carriere replace him? and is there time for Carriere to get there?

Joe

I don't know if this is permanent but from what I am reading he seems rather lost, not knowing what is wrong but clearly something is. The problem does not seem to be physical and he is in good health. There seems to be a loss of confidence and some angry frustration at not being able to do the jumps.

 

[BelleFilleYuna]

Is this the permanent state of his competing now? When at his Nationals, was anything bothering him? phsyical? health? personal?

If he withdraws, will Carriere replace him? and is there time for Carriere to get there?

Joe

Well, I watched his interview after his disastrous FS,which was done in French, and it seems there's nothing really bothering him, menatally or physically. He said he also had problems with his Flip and Lutz and he's been asking himself what went wrong but he can't find a clue. He seemed really dejected though.
Poor Lambiel. I hope he does well at the Final.

 

[chuckm]

If Lambiel withdraws, he probably won't be replaced. The skaters are due to arrive Wednesday and practice starts on Thursday.

That means it's too late for Carriere and Buttle, having to come from North America, and Verner can't be invited until first Carriere and then Buttle decline.

 

[Bennett]

For those predicting Chan to win a medal is this just wishful thinking? Do you really think he can place ahead of the Top 4 here even with 2 clean skates? I think he will be battling it out for 5th with Kevin. If he skates clean he should get it over Kevin but it's hard to say since the judges still give hign PCS marks to anyone who can land a Quad regardless of how they skate. Just look at SC where Kevin should have been 4th!
I love Chan but I really don't expect the judges to place him ahead of Weir, Takasahi, Lambiel, or Lysacek no matter what. Not in his first GPF. And for him to medal he'd have to beat one of these guys.

Not totally wishful thinking, even though I am having some hopeful thinking. Remember Yukari medaled in 2005 and Sarah did so in 2006. A lot of things can happen in GPF. :agree: Lambiel seems to be struggling really a lot and that Evan is not that consistent. If Evan falls on his quads and Chan could put two clean programs, it would give him a good chance over Evan. I am afraid I feel it is likely that Lambiel unfortunately misses a medal this time. Not because the others are stronger, but because he has been so inconsistent.

 

[chuckm]

The reality is that owning a World medal or finishing in the top 6 at Worlds influences the judges, even though it is not supposed to. Lambiel, Lysacek and Takahashi are all World medalwinners, and Weir finished in the top 5 at Worlds (2004 and 2005) and Olympics. Chan has yet to appear at a World Championship, and Van Der Perren has missed the last two with injuries.

Ice is slippery, and it is not completely impossible for Chan to make the podium, but it isn't probable.

 

[Bennett]

Mao and nerves

I was thinking about the last season. Then I feel that Mao might be in a long-term learning process of managing her nerves during the performance. Yes, she does seem to have more pressures due to the repeatedly missed combination jump, inconsistent 3A, and flutz. In Canada, missing her combo affected the rest of the program in her SP. But in France, she stayed focused in her SP even after missing the same jump. In her LP, she didn't give up at all after falling her 3A so that the audience almost forget that mistake.

Although steps may be little by little, it seems that she is learning something in each competition. I suppose that having these ups and downs would certainly help her become a stronger competitor in the next seasons.

I wish her the best of luck:agree:

 

[Bennett]

The reality is that owning a World medal or finishing in the top 6 at Worlds influences the judges, even though it is not supposed to.

Yeah, I agree. I felt that Chan would deserve higher PCSs than what he has gotten so far. He seems to have strong foundation in his skating skills. He has classical, old-fashioned style of skating and every move of him is very precise. And he can also dance. He has brilliant musicality and beautiful posture and line.

Even though he may be undermarked this season, he would get great PCS marks in the next season :agree:

Honestly, I have been a bit surprised that Lambiel is still getting very high PCSs despite the lack of clean programs for a long time.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Chan is having a super season and I would not be surprised if he hits the podium but it would have to be because the 'predicted 3' had a bad skate.

I wouldn't rush him since he will definitely be on the podium next season and maybe a gold in Vancouver in 2009. We must wait though.

Joe

 

[Ximena]

I read just a couple of articles, it says that nothing worked on the practice. Lambiel said that the practices were awful, that he is right now asking himself questions that he has no answers for.
He said that up to Nationals he felt good, he was progressing.
And finally when the article talks about the GPF, Stephane just says "before thinking about it, I have to forget what happened here".

Considering he is not injured, I don't think he is going to withdraw.

 

[chuckm]

Lambiel probably won't withdraw, but in his frame of mind, I doubt he is going to have a great competition.

 

[*Sniper*]

Lambiel probably won't withdraw, but in his frame of mind, I doubt he is going to have a great competition.

So did Stephane win the Swiss Nationals???
WHAT HAPPENED?
Thank you to whoever answers my question.

It is so sad and depressing to hear about his continued poor form.
For goodness' sakes, SNAP OUT OF IT!!! :scowl::scowl::scowl:

 

[cassieandcheetah]

So did Stephane win the Swiss Nationals???
WHAT HAPPENED?
Thank you to whoever answers my question.

It is so sad and depressing to hear about his continued poor form.
For goodness' sakes, SNAP OUT OF IT!!! :scowl::scowl::scowl:

yes he won, but he won quite poorly, with a score barely above 200. and I think he missed a few jumps, not to mention the missing triple axel....somebody had posted a pdf file of the protocol so if I find it I'll try and post that too.

 

[chuckm]

yes he won, but he won quite poorly, with a score barely above 200. and I think he missed a few jumps, not to mention the missing triple axel....somebody had posted a pdf file of the protocol so if I find it I'll try and post that too.

SP: 2A, 4T(fall, no combo), 3Z. Score: 76.84 (37.34 TES + 40.50 PCS) ded -1.00
FS: 2A, 4T(underrotated, fall), 3L, 2A, 4T+SEQ(fall), 3Z(-1.5GOE), 3S+2T, 3F(fall) Score: 132.71 (56.19 TES + 79.52 TES) ded -3.00.

This performance was very similar to what he did at Cup of China, but he got much lower marks (70.20 for the SP and 122.02 for the FS, because the PCS was only 37.1 in the SP and 71.8 in the FS).

Here is the link to the results:

http://www.smelite08.ch/cmsimple/result/index.htm

 

[luvsasha]

I read just a couple of articles, it says that nothing worked on the practice. Lambiel said that the practices were awful, that he is right now asking himself questions that he has no answers for.
He said that up to Nationals he felt good, he was progressing.
And finally when the article talks about the GPF, Stephane just says "before thinking about it, I have to forget what happened here".

Considering he is not injured, I don't think he is going to withdraw.

he doesn't really have an excuse not to go..you know what i mean? he can't say my skating is terrible right now so i can't compete, because he is physically able to compete. Mentally, i have no idea what's going on there. But i hope he can skate okay at GPF, or at least a little better than COC. When he's on, he's soo amazing to watch.
I wish he would snap out of it too. I do feel sorry that he's going through a hard time...but there are so many other worse things in the world.

 

[OldSkaterMom]

No prediction but I don't care what color medal Johnny and Evan wind up with as long as they are both on the podium. The two of them have had the worse luck with the grand prix final, in 2005 Johnny was injured, in 2006 Evan was injured and in 2007 they were both injured. Fingers crossed that this year both stay healthy.

This is a good point. I hope they both make it all the way through too.