Grand Prix Assignments!

So the Grand Prix assignments just came out today and I decided to share my thoughts on each event.

The series is back to starting with Skate America, and makes its way through Asia to Europe as the weeks go on.  This makes a lot more sense than the past couple of seasons where it jumped from continent to continent every weekend, making it extremely difficult if anyone happened to be unlucky enough to have back-to-back assignments.  It also makes it difficult for the coaches, whose students may not (most likely do not) have the same assignments, leaving skaters without their main coach for weeks at a time.

The mens event should be the most exciting event at Skate America, as Evan Lysacek is listed as an entry.  Whether or not he will actually compete is a whole other story, but it does add interest to have the reigning Olympic Champion competing.  Takahiko Kozuka should win if he skates as he did all 2010-2011 season. I'd like to see Brezina break out and land on the podium here.  He has placed 4th at worlds twice, but hasn't had much success on the GP, so I hope he can pull it together this early in the season.  There is a TBD spot, and I hope it goes to Armin.  He proved himself at SA last season, and with only one assignment and a realistic chance to podium, it should go to him.

The dance event is very empty at SA, an effect of all of the break-ups this season.  Davis and White should win and P/B will be in second.  With the exception of those two teams, it looks to be a very boring event.  Pairs could be interesting even though S/S are pretty much a lock for a gold, with the return of Zhang and Zhang.  Although they seem to have fizzled in the past couple of years, I enjoy their skating and admire their determination.  Bazarova/Larionov will medal.

The ladies event looks to be full of many triple sals, toes and loops.  The only Asian skater their is Imai, who is so inconsistent she could be 3rd or 10th.  The field is all pretty much equal, and filled with pretty Euro skaters, most of which do not posses the full set of triples.  It's between Czisny and Kostner for the gold.  Lepisto is also returning, but after a year full of injuries, she is a question mark.  Makarova will probably claim the bronze.  I wonder who the USFSA is saving the TBD for.  Gong?  Cesario?  I guess we won't know until the JGP assignments are released.

Skate Canada brings us slightly more excitement across all events (meh...ladies, not so much).  In the ladies event we see the senior debut of Liza, who I think is a better senior skater than a junior skater.  She could very well win it all.  Hopefully Nagasu will bring her A-game, especially to the SP where Liza usually falters, and win her first GP.  This may be her best chance this season.  Suzuki and Leonova will be there too, as will the tranny Canadians.

Pairs should be exciting with V/T leading the field - just imagine how good they will be this year if they were already that good last year!!  We will also see the Canadians teams battle it out for podium spots alongside Sui/Han, who will also be challenged by my favorite team, Takahashi/Tran.  If T/T get their jumps consistent, they can be a really good pairs team - I think they can be better than Bazarova/Larionov who placed very highly at every competition they entered last season.

The dance field is also exciting with V/M, W/P, P/B, and C/L.  I really hope W/P make the podium here because they are such a lovely team to watch.  In mens, we see a battle between Chan and Takahashi.  Takahashi would need to completely blow Chan out of the water in Chanada, but I hope he does.  Someone needs to beat Chan, but I doubt it will happen here.

Next we move to Asia for Cup of China.  In the men's event, Brian Joubert will try to win CoC - the only GP event he hasn't won yet.  I really hope he wins it this year, as it would be such an accomplishment to say you've won every grand prix.  He will face competition from Hanyu and Oda from Japan, as well as Jeremy Abbott and maybe even Richard Dornbush.  Ice dance is a boring field, highlighted by the Shibutanis.  B/S will also be there, but besides them, the field is fairly weak.  This may be a chance for Lichtman and Copely to establish themselves.

The ladies field actually looks interesting here, as any of Kostner, Murukami, Sotnikova, and Nagasu are contenders for gold.  This is Sotnikova's debut on the senior circuit, and if she skates anything like she did at her debut on the JGP last season, she will do very well.  Gao also makes her senior debut.  She is still a question mark on how much of an impact she will have on this field - it all depends on her improvement this off-season.  The pairs event has Pang/Tong, Zhang/Zhang, and Kavaguti/Smirnov, but I'm still not too excited about it.

More to come tomorrow!!

Skategasm

June 12

Hai Dai.

Sorry!

Sorry I haven't been posting lately, but I am really busy right now, and waiting for a lot of good news before I put all of my energy into one big post.  I will be going on vacation later this month, but will be back just in time for skaters to announce their music.  The one thing I will comment on is Agnes' switch from Tom Z.  IDK how it's gonna work with Santee being in Chicago and Agnes being in CO Springs, but it has to be an improvement if Christy Krall is helping her.  Agnes has all the goods, she just needs to be packaged correctly (LOLWUT was her SP dress) and hold it together in the LP.
TTFN.