- Joined
- Feb 24, 2012
I think for Canada Patrick Chan, Duhamel & Radford, and Virtue & Moir are pretty obvious. Weaver & Poje arent obvious, but perhaps likely. Kevin Reynolds seems likely to me, I havent heard him say anything either way, I dont see what more he has to give at this point. Liubov Ilyushechkina & Dylan Moscovitch have indicated more than once this is their last season. Liam Firus seems likely to me. Not sure if any of the women are retiring. Still a lot of retirement at the top of the Canadian skating, which isnt surprising considering many of their were surprising comebacks (Chan, Virtue & Moir, Moscovitch) to begin with.
For the U.S I think Caroline Zhang is confirmed. Ashley Wagner will either retire or retire soon. I am not sure on Nagasu, has anyone heard one way or the other on her. I am not sure if we will ever see Gold back, but I dont know if she will ever officialy retire, perhaps just quietly slip away. Edmunds might retire, especialy seeing how much ground she has lots while injured and away. I think Miner is definitely done after this blow, probably was anyway. I think Rippon is probably done after fulfilling his Olympic dream. Grant Hochstein is quite likely done IMO. I could see Denney & Frazier possibly retiring, although I hope not. I think they were undermarked at the Nationals and given a message of sorts. I am also not sure if Castelli & Tran will continue. They dont have a lot of support from the USFSA or U.S judges, and both have been through numerous partners, and have the citizenship obstacle too. I could see Chock & Bates retiring after this season, in fact I think the likelihood is atleast 50%. I dont see all 3 top U.S dance teams retiring, and any of the 3 could but IMO Hubbell & Donohue are the least likely of the trio and Chock & Bates the most likely.
For Russia I think Bobrova & Soloviev are done as a team, but Soloviev might continue with someone new. I think Bobrova is retiring from all I have heard. I think Radionova and Anna P. both might be done. I am not sure if Tuktamysheva will continue. IMO Soldatova has basically been retired for awhile so I dont know if she even counts, but I dont think we see her outside of Russia again (as we havent since 2014). Volosozhar & Trankov are already retired IMO, they might have officialy announced it already and I just never heard. I could see Kovtun retiring after his absolutely disaesters this season, especialy as he is being surpased in Russia now even on his good days. Surely this is the end for Leonova too.
I will give my thoughts on some of the other countries later.
Who is Soldatova? Julia who retired years ago and I think after switching to another country? Or do you mean Adelina Sotnikova. Or is this another Russian teenage great who can't make it out of Russia to compete.