My 4CC preview
Men: Keegan Messing, Nam Nguyen, Nicolas Nadeau
Shoma should be the likely winner here. His scoring potential is above the rest, mainly due to his BV, so he has some leeway for errors.
Silver and bronze seem like they will be between Keegan, Junhwan, Jason, and Boyang. If Keegan skates clean, he will have a veryyy good shot at the podium, but it'll be close if these 4 are all clean. I don't actually know how Boyang will score this season though since he hasn't competed yet.
Nam might have a very outside shot for the podium, but I think it's very unlikely. But he could place top 6 or so with a clean skate. His main competition will be Kazuki and Vincent.
Nicolas has been struggling with some inconsistency, we'll see which Nic shows up, but he'll be around 9th with a clean skate.
My prediction: Shoma, Junhwan, Jason - though I won't be surprised if Boyang or Keegan podium (my biased opinion wants Keegan)
Ladies: Alaine Chartrand, Veronik Mallet, Larkyn Austman
I won't be surprised to see a Japanese sweep of the podium here.
Many ladies can be quite inconsistent, so this is quite hard to predict.
Looking at ISU SB, there are 9 ladies that have scored high 196+ this season. Alaine's SB is 172, and she scored 186 at nationals. Rotation will be key for her, but it will still be difficult to score that high. However, some of those ladies can be inconsistent and may score lower. I think Alaine has a shot for top 10. Her main competition will be Christy. Likely she'll end up around 11th.
Veronik's SB is only a bit lower than Alaine's, but as she's still recovering from injury and not doing the harder jumps, she doesn't have as high of a scoring potential.
I have no idea where to put Larkyn since she hasn't competed internationally this season. She did quite well at nationals, but she did the same last year and couldn't match that internationally. We will see what happens here.
My prediction: Rika, Kaori, Mai - won't be surprised if the order is different
Pairs: Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro, Camille Ruest / Andrew Wolfe, Evelyn Walsh / Trennt Michaud
If Sui/Han are anywhere near form, they're going to win this no problem.
Silver and bronze should go to Peng/Jin and MT/M. I'd give P/J the edge here, but Kirsten and Michael can give them a run for their money. Regardless, these two teams should be on the podium.
Evelyn and Trennt should place somewhere around 8th. The American teams + Ryom/Kim will likely place above them. They've improved a lot since the GP, but I think the gap is too big to close barring mistakes. However, they might be able to move up if the others make mistakes.
Camille and Drew will likely place one or two spots below W/M. Their main competition will be Alexandrovskaya/Windsor.
My prediction: Sui/Han, Peng/Jin, Moore-Towers/Marinaro - I'd love for Kirsten and Michael to place second
Dance: Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Nikolaj Sorensen, Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier, Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje
This field is hard to predict. Based on how scoring has been going so far, I'd say Hubbell / Donohue are the favourites, but it is by no means a lock.
I think Kaitlyn and Andrew have a shot for gold, but at least silver. They scored very well at ACI, but that was at the beginning of the season, and they've improved since. We will see how this goes.
Piper and Paul also have a shot at a medal. Which one, will depend on if they can hit those RD levels (this has always been their nemesis, but it's especially obvious this year with their improvements in other areas). At the very least, they can fight with Chock/Bates for the bronze. But if they nail their RD, they might have a shot at gold or silver, though it won't be easy.
Laurence and Nikolaj aren't quite as good as the top 4, but they should place 5th or 6th, Their main competition will be Hawayek/Baker. It'll be interesting to see how judges score them, since we haven't seen them internationally yet this year.
My prediction: Hubbell/Donohue, Weaver/Poje, Gilles/Poirier - won't be surprised if Chock/Bates podium instead
Men: Keegan Messing, Nam Nguyen, Nicolas Nadeau
Shoma should be the likely winner here. His scoring potential is above the rest, mainly due to his BV, so he has some leeway for errors.
Silver and bronze seem like they will be between Keegan, Junhwan, Jason, and Boyang. If Keegan skates clean, he will have a veryyy good shot at the podium, but it'll be close if these 4 are all clean. I don't actually know how Boyang will score this season though since he hasn't competed yet.
Nam might have a very outside shot for the podium, but I think it's very unlikely. But he could place top 6 or so with a clean skate. His main competition will be Kazuki and Vincent.
Nicolas has been struggling with some inconsistency, we'll see which Nic shows up, but he'll be around 9th with a clean skate.
My prediction: Shoma, Junhwan, Jason - though I won't be surprised if Boyang or Keegan podium (my biased opinion wants Keegan)
Ladies: Alaine Chartrand, Veronik Mallet, Larkyn Austman
I won't be surprised to see a Japanese sweep of the podium here.
Many ladies can be quite inconsistent, so this is quite hard to predict.
Looking at ISU SB, there are 9 ladies that have scored high 196+ this season. Alaine's SB is 172, and she scored 186 at nationals. Rotation will be key for her, but it will still be difficult to score that high. However, some of those ladies can be inconsistent and may score lower. I think Alaine has a shot for top 10. Her main competition will be Christy. Likely she'll end up around 11th.
Veronik's SB is only a bit lower than Alaine's, but as she's still recovering from injury and not doing the harder jumps, she doesn't have as high of a scoring potential.
I have no idea where to put Larkyn since she hasn't competed internationally this season. She did quite well at nationals, but she did the same last year and couldn't match that internationally. We will see what happens here.
My prediction: Rika, Kaori, Mai - won't be surprised if the order is different
Pairs: Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro, Camille Ruest / Andrew Wolfe, Evelyn Walsh / Trennt Michaud
If Sui/Han are anywhere near form, they're going to win this no problem.
Silver and bronze should go to Peng/Jin and MT/M. I'd give P/J the edge here, but Kirsten and Michael can give them a run for their money. Regardless, these two teams should be on the podium.
Evelyn and Trennt should place somewhere around 8th. The American teams + Ryom/Kim will likely place above them. They've improved a lot since the GP, but I think the gap is too big to close barring mistakes. However, they might be able to move up if the others make mistakes.
Camille and Drew will likely place one or two spots below W/M. Their main competition will be Alexandrovskaya/Windsor.
My prediction: Sui/Han, Peng/Jin, Moore-Towers/Marinaro - I'd love for Kirsten and Michael to place second
Dance: Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Nikolaj Sorensen, Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier, Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje
This field is hard to predict. Based on how scoring has been going so far, I'd say Hubbell / Donohue are the favourites, but it is by no means a lock.
I think Kaitlyn and Andrew have a shot for gold, but at least silver. They scored very well at ACI, but that was at the beginning of the season, and they've improved since. We will see how this goes.
Piper and Paul also have a shot at a medal. Which one, will depend on if they can hit those RD levels (this has always been their nemesis, but it's especially obvious this year with their improvements in other areas). At the very least, they can fight with Chock/Bates for the bronze. But if they nail their RD, they might have a shot at gold or silver, though it won't be easy.
Laurence and Nikolaj aren't quite as good as the top 4, but they should place 5th or 6th, Their main competition will be Hawayek/Baker. It'll be interesting to see how judges score them, since we haven't seen them internationally yet this year.
My prediction: Hubbell/Donohue, Weaver/Poje, Gilles/Poirier - won't be surprised if Chock/Bates podium instead