Grand Prix 2017-18 News and Chat

I've updated the men's list.

And hey I'll do the men!

Men has 72 GP spots available.

Top 12 at Worlds, 2 spots guaranteed:
1-2 Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN)
3-4 Shoma Uno (JPN)
5-6 Boyang Jin (CHN)
7-8 Javier Fernandez (ESP)
9-10 Patrick Chan (CAN)
11-12 Nathan Chan (USA)
13-14 Jason Brown (USA)
15-16 Mikhail Kolyada (RUS)
17-18 Kevin Reynolds (CAN)
19-20 Alexei Bychenko (ISR)
21-22 Maxim Kovtun (RUS)
23-24 Misha Ge (UZE), if he continues; then Moris Kvitelashvili (GEO)

The following guaranteed 1 spot by Top 24 SB (but will likely get 2)
25-26 Denis Ten (KAZ)
27-28 Adam Rippon (USA)
29-30Vincent Zhou (USA)
31-32 Takahito Mura (JPN)
33-34 Keiji Tanaka (JPN)
35-36 Dmitri Aliev (RUS)
37-38 Alexander Samarin (RUS)
39-40 Sergei Voronov (RUS)
41-42 Alexander Petrov (RUS)
43-44 Max Aaron (USA)
45-46 Jorik Hendrickx (BEL)
47-48 Jun Hwan Cha (KOR)

The following are guaranteed 1 by Top 24 World's Ranking (they will likely get 2)
49-50 Daniel Samohin (ISR)
51-52 Deniss Vasiljevs (LAT)
53-54 Chafik BESSEGHIER (FRA) (He'll get a host pick)
55-56 Grant Hochstein (USA)

The following are not guaranteed spots but could get at least one or two (but not all on this list will; 14 spots left)
Moris Kvitelashvili GEO (if he doesn't get the top 12 at Worlds spot if Misha Ge decides to stay). He's close enough on SB list to get two.
Nam Nguyen CAN (He's 26 WR, he should be able to get one spot, if not two)
Michal Brezina CZE (Tied for 26th WR, should get one spot)
Brenden Kerry AUS (I think he's close enough on SB list to get 2, but not guaranteed)
Han Yan CHN (He will likely get a host pick and is close enough on SB list to get another)
Alexander Majorov SWE
Tim Dolensky USA
Paul Fentz GER
Eladj Balde CAN (host pick?)
Keegan Messing, CAN (host pick?)
Roman Sadovsky, CAN (another host pick possibility)
Kevin Aymoz, FRA (host pick for sure)
Daisuke Murakami, JPN (host pick?)
Ross Miner, USA (host pick?)
Michael Christian MARTINEZ, PHI
Julian Zhi Jie YEE, MAS
Ivan RIGHINI, ITA
Liam Firus, CAN (host pick?)
Stephanie Walker, SUI
Alexander Johnson, USA (host pick?)
Yaroslav PANIOT, UKR
Ryuju HINO, JPN
Ivan PAVLOV, UKR
Sean Rabbitt, USA (host pick?)
Joshua Farris, USA (host pick?)
Nic Nadeau (host pick?)

hyperbunny said:

Komatsubara/Koleto haven't competed internationally do to her release, but could threaten either Hirai/DLAsucion or Fukase/Tateno for a spot.

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Not necessary anymore, with Hirai & de la Asuncion retiring.

Do host picks need to earn the GP minimum score? If Komatsubara & Koleto haven't competed internationally at all & Japan wants to give them a shot, then Japan could save the third spot TBA and send K&K out somewhere this summer (Lake Placid?) or early fall to try to earn the GP minimum score.

OK, just checked. So, no, host picks don't need the GP minimum score.

If the release has gone through, then Japan could give the spot to Komatsubara & Koleto. Or, as I said, Japan could send them out somewhere & see how they fair first. Mori & Suzaki went to Lake Placid last season, but obviously did not go out on the GP. My guess is that Japanese athletes have to meet a certain criteria first within Japan in order to be offered a GP host spot. No idea what that criteria might be.

Tavi... said:

How do you figure that for Grant and Nam? Only top 12 at Worlds are guaranteed 2 spots. Neither Grant nor Nam meet this criteria. Unless I'm misreading something, Grant gets 1 guaranteed spot because he is #23 (tied with Kevin Reynolds) in World Standing. Nam is not in the top 24 for World Standing or SB score, so as far as I can see he is not guaranteed a spot.

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Am assuming that once all Guaranteed spots and Host Picks are determined that the the remaining slots are effectively filled by going down the seasons best list in order. According to Mrs P's post there's 14 slots to fill like this to reach 72, 15 I believe as Michal Brzeina is 26 in world rankings so isn't guaranteed a slot. Believe that Grant and Nam will both get a slot this way (as will Michal). Last one in assuming this is the way is Elladj Balde. Grant has 1 guaranteed so goes to 2, Nam goes to 1. Of course right at the very end it may be that the final slot or two aren't filled in in strict order but Grant and Nam should be fine.

Miller said:

Am assuming that once all Guaranteed spots and Host Picks are determined that the the remaining slots are effectively filled by going down the seasons best list in order. According to Mrs P's post there's 14 slots to fill like this to reach 72, 15 I believe as Michal Brzeina is 26 in world rankings so isn't guaranteed a slot. Believe that Grant and Nam will both get a slot this way (as will Michal). Last one in assuming this is the way is Elladj Balde. Grant has 1 guaranteed so goes to 2, Nam goes to 1. Of course right at the very end it may be that the final slot or two aren't filled in in strict order but Grant and Nam should be fine.

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I've corrected the men's list to note Brezina's changed word ranking.

Miller said:

Am assuming that once all Guaranteed spots and Host Picks are determined that the the remaining slots are effectively filled by going down the seasons best list in order. According to Mrs P's post there's 14 slots to fill like this to reach 72, 15 I believe as Michal Brzeina is 26 in world rankings so isn't guaranteed a slot. Believe that Grant and Nam will both get a slot this way (as will Michal). Last one in assuming this is the way is Elladj Balde. Grant has 1 guaranteed so goes to 2, Nam goes to 1. Of course right at the very end it may be that the final slot or two aren't filled in in strict order but Grant and Nam should be fine.

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Thanks for explaining your assumptions.

In the GS interview, V/M said they'd like to do back to back GP's to simulate the team and individual events, but they don't know if they'll get the chance. They'll have SC, so either COR or COC would fit that if they were to get it.

As World Champs, V/M have first choice, and if SC is their #1 choice, they don't have to worry about host picks at CoR (B/S are #5 seed) or CoC. But the drawback with back-to-back events with SC is the long travel time. Probably CoR to SC would be somewhat better than SC to CoC.

chuckm said:

As World Champs, V/M have first choice, and if SC is their #1 choice, they don't have to worry about host picks at CoR (B/S are #5 seed) or CoC. But the drawback with back-to-back events with SC is the long travel time. Probably CoR to SC would be somewhat better than SC to CoC.

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considering SC is in Regina, going to China is about the exact same time than going to Russia ... (roughly 13 hours, 16 when counting layovers)

If V&M really want Russia, the only impediment would be Russia not wanting V&M. I doubt China cares which top dance team it gets.

If V&M want to simulate the Olympic team event, however, the best events would actually be Cup of China and NHK, without SC.

Ice Dance said:

If V&M really want Russia, the only impediment would be Russia not wanting V&M. I doubt China cares which top dance team it gets.

If V&M want to simulate the Olympic team event, however, the best events would actually be Cup of China and NHK, without SC.

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I think they're just looking to do back-to-back events, so I don't see why it would be better if it were Cup of China and NHK versus doing Skate Canada and either Cup of Russia or Cup of China.

tennisguy said:

I think they're just looking to do back-to-back events, so I don't see why it would be better if it were Cup of China and NHK versus doing Skate Canada and either Cup of Russia or Cup of China.

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The post above said they were looking to do back-to-back events because they wanted to simulate the Olympic team event held within a week of the Olympic ice dance competition.

COC and NHK simulate that much better than SC and COR or SC and COC because there is A. no flight across the ocean in the middle and B. because both are held in Asia.

I expect V&M to go to SC. I don't see any impediment--as I said--to them going to China if they want it. They might well get Rostelecom if they want that one, as I believe the World Champions requests are traditionally honored. Though you can see that Russia may not wish to invite them. (Just as you could see last year that Canada might not wish to invite Papadakis & Cizeron).

With SA most likely wanting the Shibs, SC wanting V/M, and TdF wanting P/C it will probably depend on the order which the remaining GPs get to choose. I can see Rostelecom Cup preferring the Shibs because it looks as though B/S have the best chance to win competing against them rather than V/M and P/C as of right now. I'm sure CoC may not really care which ice dance team it gets and NHK wouldn't mind getting one of V/M and P/C because they are the top 2 teams with V/M being legends and P/C having lots of fans. It'd be interesting to see if NHK wants the Shibs, and if they get to choose early to make that choice, because the Shibs have won there twice and have a dedicated Japanese fan base and ties to the country.

I think V/M would prefer Russia just out of personal preference, but I doubt RusFed is going to want them, and maybe it's better that way (let's be real scores at CoR are often weird, especially in dance). Skate America and the nameless French GP are out of the question, which means they will end up at NHK or CoC: probably they like to skate in Japan more, but if they want to try back-to-back competition I guess it will be China.

I wonder what international men will be at SA?

Skatefan15 said:

I wonder what international men will be at SA?

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I'm guessing Boyang Jin, one more time. He placed only 5th this season, which was good for US Men, GPF wise

Other than that, I have no idea, but if they will have Nathan, and that's almost sure, then no Javi or Patrick, because of seeding rules.

VIETgrlTerifa said:

With SA most likely wanting the Shibs, SC wanting V/M, and TdF wanting P/C it will probably depend on the order which the remaining GPs get to choose. I can see Rostelecom Cup preferring the Shibs because it looks as though B/S have the best chance to win competing against them rather than V/M and P/C as of right now. I'm sure CoC may not really care which ice dance team it gets and NHK wouldn't mind getting one of V/M and P/C because they are the top 2 teams with V/M being legends and P/C having lots of fans. It'd be interesting to see if NHK wants the Shibs, and if they get to choose early to make that choice, because the Shibs have won there twice and have a dedicated Japanese fan base and ties to the country.

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Rostelecom Cup is the only GP that the Shibutanis did not medaled in their entire career (they placed 4th in 2012). Incidentally, they were beat Illynkh/Katsalapov and Sinitsina/Zhighanstan that that competition.

Of course the circumstances for them that season was strange -- it was the polka year and they were told to scrap their SD and ended up with the Missing polka. It is kind of interesting look back --- I don't think anyone would have ever imagined that people are now lamenting about the spilt/re-paired teams and that the Shibs are again in medal contention.

I'd love the Shibs to break that curse and even win (again B/S, I presume). That would make 4/6 GPs they have won (SA, COC, NHK they have won already) (and they will have medals in all six GP competitions)

The other difficulty with Cup of Russia is that is the first GP event, they will be debuting programs, if Shibs get Cup of Russia (almost sure) they must be very convincing. The only positive thing I see is that Russia have very good camera work, and good attendance.

They don't have to wait until Cup of Russia to debut new programs. That is Maia & Alex's call. If they want, they can debut at the U.S. Classic or Autumn Classic or any other early Challenger event.

Ice Dance said:

They don't have to wait until Cup of Russia to debut new programs. That is Maia & Alex's call. If they want, they can debut at the U.S. Classic or Autumn Classic or any other early Challenger event.

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oh, it is right, but it is better a challenger event out of USA because Ruslena and P/C got the wrong message in that kind of events.