GP Final Predictions

[mpal2]

Who wants to start?

 

[rena&john4gold2005]

Men

1. Weir- this is his year he will defend his US title and grab the silver at Worlds.
2. Joubert
3. Jahnke- this will also be his year, he will finishe second at nationals and top ten in the world.
4. Buttle
5. Shandu- will either have and outstanding short or long and bomb the other
6. Li

Ladies

1. Slutskaya- she has something special about her this year
2. Arakawa -
3. Rochette- her long is great and has the triple-triple
4. Ando - will go for the quad and miss it and it ruins the rest of the program
5. Phaneuf- will pop a few jumps in the long
6. Onda - her component scores will hurt her

Pairs

1. Shen & Zhao- will win everything this year and the olympics
2. Petrova & Tikonov
3. Obertas & Slanov- the next B & S
4. Pang & Tong - this isn't going to be a good year for them
5. Zhang & Zhang
6. Inoue & Bladwin- as much as i would like them to finish higher this is where their going to be placed, but they will finish in the top 8 at worlds

Dance

1. Navka & Kostomarov
2. Denkova & Stavinski
3. Belbin & Agosto- will win bronze here and at worlds
4/5. Chait & Sakhnovski
4/5. Delobel & Schoenfelder
6. Dubreuil & Lauzon

 

[SailorGalaxia518]

Pairs:

1. Shen/Zhao - Enough said
2. Petrova/Tikhonov - Have been very good
3. Pang/Tong - could possibly place 2nd if they have clean programs
4. Zhang/Zhang - Just that the other Chinese are better???
5. Obertas/Slavnov - Inconsistency will be their problem
6. Inoue/Baldwin - Same with this team

Men:

1. Johnny Weir - One word: artistry
2. Brian Joubert - If he skates clean program
3. Jeffrey Buttle - will fight Joubert for second
4. Emanuel Sandhu - He will have a couple of falls
5. Ryan Jahnke - Inconsistency will be a problem
6. Chengjiang Li - little to no artistry

Ice Dancing:

1. Navka/Kostomarov - Enough said
2. Belbin/Agosto - Been racking up very high totals during GP
3. Denkova/Staviski - will fight with B/A for 2nd (should be the most interesting competiton in the GPF)
4. Chait/Sakhnovsky - They are finally skating as one
5. Delobel and Schoenfelder - will battle C/S for 4th
6. Dubreuil/Lauzon - Errors

Ladies:

1. Irina Slutskaya - Enough said. Should win with ease
2. Shizuka Arakawa - will have problems with her flip jump
3. Cynthia Phaneuf - rising canadian star
4. Joannie Rochette - clean programs
5. Miki Ando - will have problems with jumps. underrotating some of them
6. Yoshie Onda - needs to improve artistry

 

[nicole_l]

Pairs
1. Shen & Zhao
2. Petrova & Tikhonov or Pang & Tong
4. Zhang & Zhang
5. Obertas & Slavanov or Inoue & Baldwin

Men
1. Johnny Weir's to lose.
2. Brian Joubert or Jeffrey Buttle
4. Emanuel Sandhu
5. Chengjiang Li or Ryan Jahnke

Ladies
1. Irina Slutskaya or Shizuka Arakawa
3. Miki Ando
4. Cynthia Phaneuf or Joannie Rochette
6. Yoshie Onda

Dance
1. Navka & Kostomarov or Denkova & Staviski
3. Belbin & Agosto
4. Delobel & Shoenfelder or Chait & Sakhnovsky
6. Dubreil & Lauzon

 

[dewet]

Pairs
1. Shen & Zhao
2. Petrova & Tikhonov
3. Pang & Tong
4. Zhang & Zhang
5. Obertas & Slavnov
6. Inoue & Baldwin

Men
1. Johnny Weir
2. Brian Joubert
3. Jeffrey Buttle
4. Emanuel Sandhu
5. Chengjiang Li
6. Ryan Jahnke

Ladies
1. Irina Slutskaya
2. Shizuka Arakawa
3. Joannie Rochette
4. Cynthia Phaneuf
5. Miki Ando
6. Yoshie Onda

Dance
1. Navka & Kostomarov
2. Belbin & Agosto
3. Denkova & Staviski
4. Chait & Sakhnovsky
5. Delobel & Shoenfelder
6. Dubreil & Lauzon

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Brian - He owes me one because I picked him for Paris
Weir - get the quad out, but I doubt it.
3rd place is wide open. I think Buttle

Irina - She's on a roll, and no one has as much technical.
Shizuka - lots of technical but has not been up to par this season.
Joannie - That Firebird is the best program of anyone in any competition this season.

Shen and Zhao - Unless there is an error, they will win
Petrovo and Tikhonov - Some improvements this season and skating well
Pang and Tong - They're good.

Navka and Kostomarov
Denkova and Staviski
Delobel and Schoenfelder

NOTE: The above listings are not necessarily coming from my heart.

 

[itofan]

Ladies

1. Irina Slutskaya- She's awsome this year!
2. Shizuka Arakawa- I'm not too impressed with her free program, she could finish lower.
3. Joannie Rochette- Love her Firebird!
4. Miki Ando-
5. Yoshie Onda- I really hope she makes the World team this year.
6. Cynthia Phaneuf

Men

1. Johnny Weir
2. Brian Joubert
3. Jeff Buttle- If his jumps are on, he should win. He easily has the best free skate IMO.
4. Emanuel Sandhu
5. Chenjiang Li
6. Ryan Jahnke

Pairs

1. Shen & Zhao- In a league of their own here.
2. Zhang & Zhang
3. Petrova & Tikhonov- not as consistent as Zhangs
4. Pang & Tong- I'd like them to medal but they've been a bit sloppy so far this year.
5. Obertas & Slavnov
6. Inoue & Baldwin, jr- After shen & Zhao, they have my favorite program of the pairs.

Dance

1. Navka & Kostamarov
2. Denkova & Staviski
3. Belbin & Agosto- Best free skate this year anf if it were up to me they'd be first since the top two are a bit :disapp:
4. Chait & Sakhnovsky- Second best this year, IMO
5. Delobel & Shoenfelder
6. Dubreil & Lauzon

 

[glow_girl85]

awww, i hope Dubreuil and Lauzon do better than all of your predictions.

 

[jan]

I predict

1. Arakawa- very difficult program...innovative entries and exits into elements.

2. Irina Slutskaya-Although I am not a fan of her skating...scoring higher than she should under the new system;telegraphed jumps;laboured stroking;just do not see the quality there.

3. Joannie Rochette- I really believe she has the program to win but whether or not she is given the PCS is another question...head and shoulders above Slutskaya....IMO.

 

[Mathman]

Jan, welcome to Golden Skate!

Also, Rene&JohnGold. I see you've been around for a while, but I am glad to see you post!

Mathman!

 

[ArtisticDirector]

I notice how everyone has Eman in fourth or lower which I can understand considering how unpredictable he seems to be but if I was a betting man and Eman skates a clean and solid s/p and l/p he will repeat as Grand Prix Final Champion. Weir and Buttle would be duking it out for second and third. After watching Joannie Rochette ( WOW !!!!! Im impressed ) at Cup of China and Grand Prix Paris I think she could realistically take second or third or if Arakawa and Slutskaya falter badly could win it all. I think Rochette is going to give Phaneuf a run for her money at Canadians this year and IMO she is the best womens skater to come out of Canada since Elizabeth Manley and Josee Chouinard.

 

[rain]

I'm usually totally off in my predictions, but here goes:

Pairs
1. Shen & Zhao - this is the closest bet to a sure thing in all the disciplines
2. Petrova & Tikhonov
3. Pang & Tong
4. Obertas & Slavnov
5. Zhang & Zhang
6. Inoue & Baldwin

Men
1. Emanuel Sandhu - yes, he often has a disaster, but I have a feeling about this one - and he has the quad
2. Johnny Weir
3. Brian Joubert
4. Jeffrey Buttle
5. Chengjiang Li
6. Ryan Jahnke

Ladies
1. Irina Slutskaya - the judges at her events seem to have set her up to win
2. Joannie Rochette - out on a limb here to think she'll beat the world champion, but she's looking really strong
3. Shizuka Arakawa
4. Cynthia Phaneuf
5. Miki Ando
6. Yoshie Onda

Dance
1. Navka & Kostomarov - whether they actually deserve it or not, I think things haven't changed that much in dance
2. Belbin & Agosto
3. Denkova & Staviski
4. Dubreil & Lauzon - I hope - I'd love to see them on the podium
5. Delobel & Shoenfelder
6. Chait & Sahknovsky

 

[RealtorGal]

Irina
Johnny
S&Z
N&K (not that they may really deserve it--they bore me to tears!)

 

[JonnyCoop]

MEN

1. Brian Joubert -- Tho he's not as convincingly strong as last year, but for some reason I just can't see Johnny winning the whole shebang.
2. Johnny Weir -- But then again, I could be wrong. He's definitely had the strongest GP of anyone here.
3. Emanuel Sandhu -- Yeah, he's going to make a mistake or two. Maybe more. The question is, how many and when? If he makes one in the short, he's more likely IMO to skate better in the long since he seems to skate better when the pressure is off. Then again, he could put it together and win the thing again.
4. Chienjiang Li -- He tends to be all over the map, too, so he could be higher or could be lower.
5. Jeffrey Buttle -- He's certainly CAPABLE of higher, but is also capable of mild inconsistency.
6. Ryan Jahnke -- On paper, anyway, he's outclassed here. Then again, the same thing was said of Matt Savoie in 2000 and Matt ended up winning the bronze. Ryan could well do the same thing. He does seem to be more consistent this season than the previous 3.

[Men's is a very difficult category to predict here. I could see the competition going any number of ways]

LADIES

1. Irina Slutskaya -- Won 2 events consistently, which is more than the others did. Plus the GPF tends to be Irina's competition, anyway, tho sometimes it's due to the fact that the judges tend to overmark her here if she's a little off.
2. Shizuka Arakawa -- She's not having the season I would have expected, but I can't see her placing any lower.
3. Joannie Rochette -- This lady is on a roll and I don't see it stopping anytime soon.
4. Miki Ando -- This is assuming she lands everything, or pretty close to it. If she doesn't, she doesn't have much to fall back on, so could be lower.
5. Cynthia Phaneuf -- Gets the nod from me over Onda simply because she's a fresh young talent and the judges seem to really like her.
6. Yoshie Onda -- Given her erratic results the last couple of seasons, I'm not sure where to place her, actually. Could be higher.

PAIRS

1. Shen/Zhao -- Without Totmiannina & Maranin here, they're pretty much going to have to miss about 50% of their programs to lose.
2. Petrova/Tikhinov -- These two are definitely having some sort of resurgance and have been excellent this season.
3. Pang/Tong -- Kind of a shaky season for them, but assuming they skate clean, IMO at this point they're better than the next 3.
4. Zhang/Zhang -- High-flying technical skills give them the nod over
5. Obertas/Slavnov -- almost there, very close to there, but not quite there yet for a big move.
6. Inoue/Baldwin -- I like these two a lot, but let's face it -- they're a little outclassed here at this point, and only got in due to the misfortunes of T/M and Z/S. However -- the fact that they were even in a position to LUCK into this thing is a big step forward for them.

DANCE
1. Navka/Kostamorov
2. Denkova/Staviyisky
3. Belbin/Agosto
4. Chait/Sakhnovsky -- These two are really skating beautifully this year, but aren't up to the first 3.
5. Deloebel/Schoenfelder
6. Dubreil/Lauzon -- I'd love to see them finish higher, but they've got to something about the quality of their basic footwork. Still, when you consider that these two seem to qualify every year (even while Bourne & Kraatz were still around), that alone is pretty darn good!

 

[Ravyn Rant]

N&K (not that they may really deserve it--they bore me to tears!)

You mean it's not just me? Thanks, RG, I feel better now.
Rave

 

[RealtorGal]

You mean it's not just me? Thanks, RG, I feel better now.
Rave

No, my dear, it's definitely not just you! She's got as much personality as a totem pole, which is what she looks like out there.

 

[JonnyCoop]

She's got as much personality as a totem pole, which is what she looks like out there.

It's probably the makeup.....

 

[BronzeisGolden]

MEN
1. Johnny Weir - COP favors him and deservedly so. Both of his programs are much stronger than Joubert's in almost every respect. I do think he'll need to be clean in both phases, though. Joubert has the quad and is always a threat.
2. Brian Joubert - I enjoyed his LP much more at the TEB, but it still isn't all that fantastic. I thought "The Matrix" was better. He would need to hit everything to win and perhaps even have Johnny mess up a bit. I don't see him finishing lower than 2nd unless Sandhu rises to the occassion.
3. Emmanuel Sandhu - A great talent, but I don't think he will win. I could be completely wrong. He did win last year!

LADIES
1. Irina Slutskaya - She was incredible at COC and COR, and I don't think there is any reason to believe she will be any less spectacular at the GPF (hopefully her health will not be a factor). She has the difficulty in spins, spirals, footwork and jumps. A clean Irina (especially with a 3/3) will be extremely difficult to beat.
2. Shizuka Arakawa - I find her presentation more pleasing than Irina's when she is on, but she hasn't skated with the same intensity as last year. I think she will be ready for Moscow, but I don't think she'll be in Dortmund form for the GPF.
3. Joannie Rochette - This is a tough one. Phaneuf, Ando and Onda also have equal chances of medaling. But, I enjoy Rochette the most of all those ladies. She is the most well rounded of the four, IMO. She also seems to be becoming quite consistent. Hopefully, the trend continues!

 

[RealtorGal]

It's probably the makeup.....

Nope. It's that wooden demeanor in her presentation AND the look on her face.

 

[Mathman]

But there's something sort of English Tango about her, don't you think?

MM