2018 GP Helsinki: Ice Dance Pre-game Chat

[GS Forum Staff]

Entries as of 10/19/18

Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS	FIN
Shari KOCH / Christian NÜCHTERN	GER
Charlene GUIGNARD / Marco FABBRI	ITA
Jasmine TESSARI / Francesco FIORETTI	ITA
Betina POPOVA / Sergey MOZGOV	RUS
Alexandra STEPANOVA / Ivan BUKIN	RUS
Sara HURTADO / Kirill KHALIAVIN	ESP
Christina CARREIRA / Anthony PONOMARENKO	USA
Lorraine MCNAMARA / Quinn CARPENTER	USA
Katharina MÜLLER / Tim DIECK	GER

 

[AlexRus]

Dance in order of season best of this season.

1 Alexandra STEPANOVA / Ivan BUKIN RUS 200.78
2 Charlene GUIGNARD / Marco FABBRI ITA 193.28
3 Lorraine MCNAMARA / Quinn CARPENTER USA 180.57
4 Christina CARREIRA / Anthony PONOMARENKO USA 177.49
5 Betina POPOVA / Sergey MOZGOV RUS 170.47
6 Sara HURTADO / Kirill KHALIAVIN ESP 169.47
7 Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS FIN 163.49
8 Jasmine TESSARI / Francesco FIORETTI ITA 159.21
9 Katharina MÜLLER / Tim DIECK GER 158.11
10 Shari KOCH / Christian NÜCHTERN GER 152.68

 

[La Rhumba]

Will be interesting to see if Sara & Kirill have improved their programs since earlier in the season. I was not impressed with their FD, not a patch on last year, and the music is a mishmash. Once again it will be a battle for the World's place for Spain with Smart & Diaz. But 2 for Europeans.

 

[Lester]

There's a very good chance G/F will make it to the GPF.

 

[elbkup]

I will miss Madison and Evan.. so sorry they withdrew. Still happy to see Lorraine and Quinn's beautiful performanes again... all the best!!

 

[oly2018]

I am VERY excited to see the head to head between the Americans

 

[Ice Dance]

I am excited to see the battle between McNamara & Carpenter, Hurtado & Khaliavin, Popova & Mozgov, and Carreira & Ponomarenko. So much quality young talent, plus H&K who are still developing as a team. Almost all the young teams I like the most are here in the same competition. I think one of the deepest & most interesting fields on the GP this season (along with France).

 

[BillNeal]

Gold and silver are likely set. Stepanova/Bukin are the favourites but Guignard/Fabbri are not far behind. At SA, G/F finished a respectable second, not too far behind Hubbell/Donohue (although H/D did have a fall and costume deduction). Bronze is wide open here.

Also, excited for Turkkila/Versluis as they will be making their GP debut here on home ice. They skated so well at Finlandia and I'm hoping they can top that performance once again, as they have been steadily improving upon their Challengers this season.

 

[cheerknithanson]

I hope Lorraine and Quinn medal this time around.

 

[LadyB]

Like the men's, this will be a pretty strong event to watch. Hope I can see as much as I can live (I'm abroad on family duties). Should be exciting!

 

[lurkz2]

Bukin v. Ponomarenko part 2 with Bukin winning again

 

[NoNameFace]

This is Stepanova/Bukin's to lose, for sure and Guinard/Fabbri to lose for the 2nd place, looking at the scores. The rest is up in the air - I'm very interested to see Lorraine/Quinn vs Cristina/Anthony; myself, I prefer Lorraine/Quinn's material this season, but Carreira/Ponomarenko proved at Nebelhorn that they are solid and cannot be counted out. It will be also interesting to see how Popova/Mozgov and Hurtado/Khaliavin will improve their programs.

But if I was there in person, I would be all over Barbara vs Maurizio game of avoidance by the boards like it was at Nepela