2018 Rostelecom Cup: Ice Dance Pre-game chat

[GS Forum Staff]

Entries as of 11/7/18

Anna YANOVSKAYA / Adam LUKACS	HUN
Misato KOMATSUBARA / Tim KOLETO	JPN
Allison REED / Saulius AMBRULEVICIUS	LTU
Natalia KALISZEK / Maksym SPODYRIEV	POL
Sofia EVDOKIMOVA / Egor BAZIN	RUS
Annabelle MOROZOV / Andrei BAGIN	RUS
Alexandra STEPANOVA / Ivan BUKIN	RUS
Sara HURTADO / Kirill KHALIAVIN	ESP
Christina CARREIRA / Anthony PONOMARENKO	USA

 

[danse]

Chock and Bates are off the entries list for Rostelecom.

 

[AlexRus]

Dance in order of Season Best of this season (got at Challenger Series and previous GP Events)
In ( ) - previous best, only for skaters who have not best of this season.

1 Alexandra STEPANOVA / Ivan BUKIN RUS 200.78
WD Madison CHOCK / Evan BATES USA (189.01)
2 Christina CARREIRA / Anthony PONOMARENKO USA 177.49
3 Sara HURTADO / Kirill KHALIAVIN ESP 172.09
4 Natalia KALISZEK / Maksym SPODYRIEV POL 163.05
5 Sofia EVDOKIMOVA / Egor BAZIN RUS 159.67
6 Misato KOMATSUBARA / Tim KOLETO JPN 154.75
7 Annabelle MOROZOV / Andrei BAGIN RUS (154.52 Event of Russian Cup)
8 Allison REED / Saulius AMBRULEVICIUS LTU (148.30)
9 Anna YANOVSKAYA / Adam LUKACS HUN 140.25

 

[Lamente Ariane]

I think S/B will absolutely dominate here but I do hope Christina and Anthony make their first Grand Prix podium in their first senior season

 

[WeakAnkles]

Interesting poll choices...is the assumption that no one else has a chance for gold, so why bother listing them?

It' s a pretty good assumption.

 

[Hyena]

Stepanova/Bukin would probably have to fall a few times not to win gold here. It's an exciting opportunity for C/P and H/K. We're guaranteed that at least two teams will win their first GP medal.

And compare this event with IdF next week, where there will four teams that have medaled on this GP series, in addition to Papadakis/Cizeron if he's cleared to travel and compete.

 

[thewaltzgoeson]

I'm not optimistic about Carreira/Ponomarenko after their GP debut. They have a lot of work to do, but they're both talented skaters and a joy to watch, so I'm hoping they can pull it together and podium. Especially for Christina's sake. I know she's had immigration difficulties, and I'd hate for their ultimate Olympic dreams to be dashed due to a failure to make the podium so early in their careers.

 

[WeakAnkles]

I'm not optimistic about Carreira/Ponomarenko after their GP debut. They have a lot of work to do, but they're both talented skaters and a joy to watch, so I'm hoping they can pull it together and podium. Especially for Christina's sake. I know she's had immigration difficulties, and I'd hate for their ultimate Olympic dreams to be dashed due to a failure to make the podium so early in their careers.

I think it's safe to say that two GP events in their first year as Seniors in the first year of the new Olympic cycle is in no way going to dash their Olympic dreams. They also have an excellent chance for the bronze here. Things are looking up!

 

[composer]

Stepanova/Bukin would probably have to fall a few times not to win gold here. It's an exciting opportunity for C/P and H/K. We're guaranteed that at least two teams will win their first GP medal.

And compare this event with IdF next week, where there will four teams that have medaled on this GP series, in addition to Papadakis/Cizeron if he's cleared to travel and compete.

I really wish the withdrawals have not happened so unevenly across the events. Some events are stacked and some are ... not so stacked. I just hope the right pairs make it to the GPF.

 

[1795]

Can someone explain why this dance competition is so "open" compared to how stacked skate canada was? (not counting the withdrawals in other events) How are the top seeded teams/skaters distributed with their invites?

 

[WeakAnkles]

Can someone explain why this dance competition is so "open" compared to how stacked skate canada was? (not counting the withdrawals in other events) How are the top seeded teams/skaters distributed with their invites?

Well "stacked" is such a flexible word... Things can be stacked for you or against you.

But it's certainly the right word to describe this Senior GP Dance Season...

 

[1795]

Well "stacked" is such a flexible word... Things can be stacked for you or against you.

But it's certainly the right word to describe this Senior GP Dance Season...

True. Based on PB scores and standings from previous seasons - assignments can feel pretty regimented.
I never understood football world cup group placements either - it's clearly quasi-influenced.
Maybe im just sounding naive and ignorant.

 

[cathlen]

I don't remember ID field looking so bad... It's kind of sad. Well, good for Poles I guess.

 

[lauravvv]

Can someone explain why this dance competition is so "open" compared to how stacked skate canada was? (not counting the withdrawals in other events) How are the top seeded teams/skaters distributed with their irnvites?

Well, for a start, according to the rules, there can be only one Worlds medalist (from the last Worlds) in each GP event, but Weaver/Poje are not doing the GPs this season, so only four of the six events could have Worlds medalists in them, and Rostelecom Cup happened to be one of the events with no Worlds ice dance medalists in it. The fourth team at Worlds - Cappellini/Lanotte - have apparently retired from competitive skating, so the fifth team at Worlds was invited instead. That was Chock/Bates who witdrew. The next highest rated skater/team should or can be from the top six at Worlds, but, again, considering that W/P and C/L are not competing and Gilles/Poirier were invited to other events, the seventh team at Worlds - Stepanova/Bukin - got the invite to this event. Which is also natural as they are the top Russian team now when Bobrova/Soloviev are not competing anymore.

Further than that, it gets more difficult to explain, and I am not going to go deeper into that here. Somehow also all the remaining teams from the Worlds top ten and even top fifteen were invited to other events instead of Rostelecom. Instead, they have Hurtado/Khaliavin who did not compete at Worlds, but were twelfth at Olympics, Kaliszek/Spodyriev who were only seventeenth at Worlds, but are actually higher ranked (I am using this word loosely here) than their placement there indicates, and, well, last season's Junior Worlds silver medalists. Plus, the other highest ranked Russian teams could get two invites to other events, so the two remaining host spots were used for lower ranked Russian teams.

 

[litenkyckling]

Despite the lack of top teams, I'm looking forward to this. Fingers crossed for C/P because they proved at earlier events that they are well capable. I also love what S/B are doing this season! Also - Eurosport looks like it'll be running some commentary which is always very much appreciated :agree: Oh how I wish Piper and Paul got this instead of France...

 

[chameleon]

CoR was always one of the weaker fields, but the late split of Muramoto/Reed, Chock/Bates' injury, and the...interesting choice in host pick has made the field pretty wispy for a GP event. In a world where M/R stayed together, C/B were ready to compete , and the Fed had picked Shpilevaya/Smirnov as the host pick, it still wouldn't be the most stacked field of the series but it would be considerably more solid.

 

[1795]

Well, for a start, according to the rules, there can be only one Worlds medalist (from the last Worlds) in each GP event, but Weaver/Poje are not doing the GPs this season, so only four of the six events could have Worlds medalists in them, and Rostelecom Cup happened to be one of the events with no Worlds ice dance medalists in it. The fourth team at Worlds - Cappellini/Lanotte - have apparently retired from competitive skating, so the fifth team at Worlds was invited instead. That was Chock/Bates who witdrew. The next highest rated skater/team should or can be from the top six at Worlds, but, again, considering that W/P and C/L are not competing and Gilles/Poirier were invited to other events, the seventh team at Worlds - Stepanova/Bukin - got the invite to this event. Which is also natural as they are the top Russian team now when Bobrova/Soloviev are not competing anymore..........

Only natural post-olympics to get retirements and splits. Thanks for writing it all out but I definitely see the indirect/direct reason for the lack of density (particularly in this competition). It is also a game of seeing who really surges through into the "A-list"....(B-list)...and (apologies in advanced) for me to familiarize myself with teams that were 1. never really televised or 2. I never got into but still are growing and improving.

...but the late split of Muramoto/Reed...

whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

 

[nocturnalis]

Looking forward to seeing Morozov's daughter. Based on what I've seen on Instagram, she may be quite the prodigy.