Thursday, October 24, 2013

2012 Skate Canada: Mens Preview

Patrick Chan (CAN) looks to take back his Skate Canada title after Javier Fernandez won last season. He is going with Rachmaninov for the short and Vivaldi for the free...trying to win over those Europeans eh? Patrick is literally on thin ice with the skating fans this season for multiple reasons. Aside from his many off-color comments in the press, many people believe that he was undeserving of the World title over Denis Ten last season. He needs to clean up his skating this season and put together perfect programs in order for skating fans to believe that he is deserving of Gold in Sochi.

Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) is one of our favorite skaters. He has the artistic soul of Johnny Weir and Sasha Cohen, but unfortunately he also has their competitive mentality. He does well on the Grand Prix, however, and luckily for him, he earns extremely high PCS marks and levels so he can absorb a few small mistakes and still earn high scores overall. I want to see him put together a full season this year and earn the Olympic medal that he truly deserves. I cannot wait to see his interpretation of Rota's Romeo & Juliet and Parisian Walkways made famous by our own Lang & Tchernyshev.




Jeremy Abbott (USA) is a sentimental favorite for me to make the Sochi team. His Vancouver trip was disappointing and unfortunately, the last quad has been a roller coaster for him. He only went to Worlds 2 of the last 4 seasons, finishing 5th in 2010 and 8th in 2012. He has everything he needs to make an Olympic podium, but he has to catch lightning in a bottle and put them all together in 2 programs. I'm so thrilled that he is revisiting Muse, because his previous Muse program was fantastic and his best of the quad. He will face competition at home, but I strongly believe that if he goes clean, he will make it to Sochi. That road starts here and there's no reason he can't medal here. I actually think it will be good for him to face two of the best in the world here. Why not meet the competition face to face early on?


My Podium Predictions:
Gold: Patrick Chan (CAN)
Silver: Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN)
Bronze: Jeremy Abbott (USA)

The Rest of the Field:
Elladj Balde (CAN)
Andrei Rogozine (CAN)
Michal Brezina (CZE)
Takahito Mura (JPN)
Nobunari Oda (JPN)
Joshua Farris (USA)
Ross Miner (USA)

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