- Joined
- Apr 26, 2018
That's what I would like to know too. Is it the organizer's thing? When I look at the last year, it seems to me that for all three teams there was one strong man/lady and one - now I'm out of definitions, because how to put skaters like Oda, Vasiljevs, Abbott and Masha Sotskova and Mariah Bell in one box (I see there an exception of Japan ladies, because at that time Kaori and Satoko could heve been seen as equal to me).
I get what you‘re trying to say. But last season they invited Zhenya and Alina, didn‘t they? Zhenya only declined because she‘d had a stressful offseason and wasn‘t ready. And Masha, though not as strong as someone like Alina or Zhenya, is still an Olympian. She made the top 10 there. So, last year, she could still be called a very strong lady. She declined last season, unfortunately, but still... at this point, an Olympian is still very much a well known competitor, not only the medalists.
In the Olympic season, they sent Zhenya and Alina, which was essentially what made me think it will be Alina + Sasha this year. But I‘d very much like to know what the criteria is.
Team Japan is sending Rika and Satoko this year, so again, I feel like they‘re equal as far as star power is concerned. Satoko is Olympian, World medalist and carried the Japanese teams for years. Rika is a rising star.
So, I guess a combination of either Alina/Sasha, Alina/Zhenya or Alina/Liza makes the most sense. My bet is on the first option, though.