2011 Rostelecom Cup: Men's Preview

This is a very hard event to predict because we have a very erratic group of skaters. About 6 of these 9 skaters have podium potential, so it will be interesting say the least to see how things shake down. The men skate their short Friday November 25th at 10:45 a.m. EST and their free Saturday November 26th at 10:25 a.m. EST.

Javier Fernandez (ESP) surprised us all when he nearly beat Patrick Chan at Skate Canada, and I for one do not think he is a one hit wonder. His technique is solid and Brian Orser has helped him to improve his components. He scored over 250 at Skate Canada and that was even with mistakes! This is certainly not the safe prediction to make, but I say he wins this event and qualifies for the Grand Prix Final. Jeremy Abbott (USA) won Cup of China, but his winning score was over 20 points below Fernandez' Silver medal score in Canada. He has beautiful programs but until he ups the technical arsenal and gets his consistent Quad back, he won't compete with Chan and the top guys in the World. Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) is a wildcard because when he is on, there are few people he can't beat. He has a great Quad and is so beautiful artistically, a rare combination these days. But he's very inconsistent and often starts out his free skates much too fast, running out of steam at the end as he did at Cup of China. Artur Gachinski (RUS) skating on home ice will certainly factor into the top group, though I'm not certain he has all the goods to skate with the best and even though he has the jumps, I don't think he can beat the likes of Fernandez, Abbot, or Hanyu if they are clean. Michal Brezina (CZE) is another wildcard because he is very inconsistent technically, but the judges usually score him high, so look for him to make the podium even with flawed skates. Then you have Brandon Mroz (RUS) who self-destructed in the free after a great short at NHK Trophy. He'll be skating with a chip on his shoulder and if he hits, he'll pull massive technical elements scores that could hold him up over skaters.

My Podium Predictions:
1) Javier Fernandez (ESP)
2) Jeremy Abbott (USA)
3) Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN)


Competitive History:


Jeremy Abbott (USA)-1st at 2011 Cup of China, 3rd at 2011 Four Continents, 3rd at 2010 Rostelecom Cup, 2nd at 2010 NHK Trophy, 4th at 2009 Grand Prix Final; PB: 237.72 at 2009 GPF


Michal Brezina (CZE)-2nd at 2011 Trophee Eric Bompard, 1st at 2011 Skate America, 2nd 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy, 4th 2011 Worlds, 8th 2011 Europeans, 1st 2011 Bavarian Open, 2nd 2010 Golden Spin of Zagreb, 7th 201 Nebelhorn Trophy; PB: 236.06 at 2010 Worlds


Javier Fernandez (ESP)-2nd at 2011 Skate Canada, 4th 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy, 10th at 2011 Worlds, 9th at 2010 Rostelecom Cup, 5th at 2010 Skate Canada, 5th at 2010 Coup de Nice; 250.33 at 2011 Skate Canada

Artur Gachinski (RUS)-5th at 2011 Cup of China, 3rd at 2011 Worlds, 5th at 2011 Europeans, 6th at 2010 Rostelecom Cup, 7th at 2010 Skate Canada, 1st 2010 Coup de Nice, 1st 2010 Finlandia Trophy; 241.86 at 2011 Worlds 


Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN)-4th at 2011 Cup of China, 1st 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy, 2nd 2011 Four Continents, 7th 2010 Rostelecom Cup, 4th 2010 NHK Trophy; 228.01 at 2011 Four Continents


Konstantin Menshov (RUS)-6th at 2011 NHK Trophy, 7th 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy, 7th 2011 Europeans, 10th 2010 Rostelecom Cup, 2nd 2010 Coup de Nice, 6th 2010 Finlandia Trophy, 2nd 2010 Nebelhorn Trophy; PB: 202.62 at 2011 Europeans


Brandon Mroz (USA)-9th at 2011 NHK Trophy, 3rd 2010 Trophee Eric Bompard, 2nd 2010 Cup of China; PB: 216.80 at 2010 Cup of China


Andrei Rogozine (CAN)-7th at 2011 Skate Canada, 1st 2011 World Juniors, 3rd 2010 JGP Final, 1st 2010 JGP Japan, 1st 2010 JGP France; PB: 200.13 at 2011 World Juniors


Sergei Voronov (RUS)-2nd 2011 Winter Universiade, 12th 2010 Cup of China; PB: 220.39 at 2009 Cup of China

2011 Skate Canada: Men's Preview

Skate America 2011 is in the books and the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series will make its second stop this weekend in Mississauga, Ontario for Skate Canada. The Men's competition will be particularly exciting as it features the past two World champions and some other key players. I'll be blogging sporadically during the events, but tweeting and re-tweeting as much as possible. The men take the ice at 7:30pm EST on Friday October 28th for the short program and 7:10pm EST on Saturday October 29th for the free.

Some skaters have a hard time winning, but 2011 World Champion Patrick Chan (CAN) has a hard time losing. If you like to predict winners, he is a good bet because he racks up so many points on Grade of Execution (GOE) and Program Components that he's been known to win even with falls. He is a superstar and he should have an extra edge on home ice. His major competition will come from Daisuke Takahashi (JPN) who is also a World Champion, from 2010. He is probably the most stylish male skater on the scene today and is a crowd favorite, even away from Japan. He struggled technically last season and suffered a freak blade problem that kept him off the World podium. He'll be looking for redemption here and signs of whether or not to continue to 2014. Adam Rippon (USA) is another major player looking for redemption. He started 2010 well with a Skate Canada bronze and gradually fell off resulting in a disaster at US Nationals. He is claiming to have a solid Quad Lutz and if he can successfully land that, he could topple Takahashi. Javier Fernandez (ESP) sparked interest with a solid 2010 Grand Prix and blew us away with 2 quads and a top-ten finish at 2011 Worlds. Ross Miner (USA) was also a shocker late last season, taking bronze at US Nationals and 11th at Worlds and either of these up-and-comers could sneak onto the podium. Don't forget perennial favorite Kevin Van Der Perren (BEL) who has killer quads and is back for another season after contemplating retirement. He pulled off a silver at Skate America last weekend, but this seems to be a much tougher field. We'll see if he threatens for the podium again. Denis Ten (KAZ), though he wasn't perfect, surprised us at Skate America with a 5th place finished and will hope to build upon that this week. Reigning World Junior Champion Andrei Rogozine (CAN) will hope to make a splash as well.

My Podium Predictions:
1) Patrick Chan (CAN)
2) Daisuke Takahshi (JPN)
3) Adam Rippon (USA)


Competitive History:


Elladj Balde (CAN)-10th 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy, 7th 2008 JGP Final, 3rd 2008 JGP South Africa, 2nd 2010 JGP Mexico City; PB: 184.89 at 2010 JGP South Africa


Patrick Chan (CAN)-1st at 2011 Worlds, 1st at 2011 Grand Prix Final, 2nd at 2010 Rostelecom Cup, 1st at 2010 Skate Canada; PB 280.98 at 2011 Worlds


Javier Fernandez (ESP)-4th 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy, 10th at 2011 Worlds, 9th at 2010 Rostelecom Cup, 5th at 2010 Skate Canada, 5th at 2010 Coup de Nice; 218.26 at 2011 Worlds


Alexander Majorov (SWE)-4th 2011 Finlandia Trophy, 28th at 2011 Worlds, 1st at 2011 Nordics, 1st at 2010 NRW Trophy, 1st at 2010 Ice Challenge; PB: 195.71 at 2011 Worlds


Ross Miner (USA)-11th at 2011 Worlds, 7th at 2010 Cup of China, 9th at 2010 NHK Trophy; PB: 217.93 at 2011 Worlds


Adam Rippon (USA)-4th at 2010 America, 3rd at 2010 Skate Canada; PB: 233.04 at 2010 Skate Canada


Andrei Rogozine (CAN)-1st 2011 World Juniors, 3rd 2010 JGP Final, 1st 2010 JGP Japan, 1st 2010 JGP France; PB: 200.13 at 2011 World Juniors 


Daisuke Takahashi (JPN)-5th at 2011 Worlds, 1st at 2011 Four Continents, 4th at 2010 Grand Prix Final, 1st at 2010 Skate America, 1st at 2010 NHK Trophy; PB: 264.41 at 2008 Four Continents


Denis Ten (KAZ)-5th at 2011 Skate America, 9th 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy, 14th at 2011 Worlds, 1st at 2011 Winter Asian Games, 11th at 2010 Skate America, 12th at 2010 NHK Trophy; PB: 211.43 at 2009 Worlds


Kevin Van Der Perren (BEL)-2nd at 2011 Skate America, 2nd 2011 O Nepela, 17th at 2011 Worlds, 4th at 2011 Europeans, 6th at 2010 Skate America, 8th at 2010 NHK Trophy, 5th at 2010 Nebelhorn Trophy; PB: 219.36 at 2009 Europeans