Skate Canada: Ladies Preview

Friday October 26th at 2:05 pm-Short Program
Saturday October 27th at 10:45 am-Free Skate
I should be available to live blog part of the Short Program and all of the Free Skate!

Watch out skating fans because there's a new girl in town and she's about to bust this sport wide open. The Skate Canada Ladies Event was won by a rookie last year and Gracie Gold (USA) is going to continue that tradition. She has talent beyond her years and has the goods to win pretty much any major skating event that she enters. I'm praying that she is the skater we have been waiting for and that she and Ashley Wagner battle for the top 2 spots in the US for years to come. I cannot wait to see her Hernando's Hideaway and Life Is Beautiful programs!

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS) is about to go into a little bit of a sophomore slump, but what I mean by that is perhaps she won't win both of her Grand Prix events. She still has a lot to prove in terms of maturity, but she'll get there.

Kanako Murakami (JPN) experienced her own sophomore slump last year but she came out of it beautifully. She was a little jumping caterpillar in her first season as a senior who turned into a beautiful butterfly by the end of the second. I love her new lyrical quality and I hope that this is the year she will combine that with the springy jumping combinations she once had.

Akiko Suzuki (JPN) is a grandma by figure skating standards. However, she did defy the odds and won her first world medal last year at age 27. If I were her, I would've hung up the skates at the top of my game, but if she still loves the daily grind of training and competing then more power to her. It is refreshing to see a woman on the ice in a sea of tiny girls.

My Podium Predictions:
Gold: Gracie Gold (USA)
Silver: Elizaveta Tuktamisheva (RUS)
Bronze: Kanako Murakami (JPN)

The Rest of the Field
Amelie Lacoste (CAN)
Kaetlyn Osmond (CAN)
Elene Gedevanishvili (GEO)
Ksenia Makarova (RUS)
Polina Shelepen (RUS)
Caroline Zhang (USA)

Skate Canada: Mens Preview

If (and that's a big if) we happen to get a feed for this event, I will be live blogging all of the Skate Canada events this weekend!

Competition Schedule:
Friday October 26th at 7:30 pm-Short Program
Saturday October 27th at 7:10 pm-Free Skate



Hi, anybody who knows anything knows that Patrick Chan (CAN) is going to win this event. He is at home, he is the love child of IJS and the judging panels. He is working with a new coaching team this year because he fired the people who created him so we'll see if that takes a toll on his emotional status. It's a big year for P-Chiddy because he has two, count 'em two, new programs this year. Good times! In all seriousness, this guy can skate and it's great to see the quads, but let's hope he holds back some of the goods to make it a fair fight for the rest of the field.

Javier Fernandez (ESP) is my new skating boyfriend. I am just smitten with him! He is a lovely performer and I love how he was hot on Chan's heels at last year's skate Canada. I cannot wait to see his Zorro short program and especially his Charlie Chaplin free skate. Both should be endearing and jam-packed technically. I really want him to win, but it will take a lot to beat Chan on home ice.

Ross Miner (USA) has a chance to make the podium on the Grand Prix this season, but until he gets the quad nobody will take him seriously. He is usually pretty consistent so considering that the first 2 or 3 Grand Prix events are a hot mess, he has a really good shot at the podium.

Speaking of hot messes, Florent Amodio (FRA) has been all over the place in the past two years. I no longer take him seriously as a competitor, but I do look forward to seeing the costumes that he borrows from the disco animals in Lady Gaga's bathhouse. I'm looking at his free skate music, which looks like a hot disaster on blades, and I couldn't be more excited about it!.

Our dear Artur Gachinski (RUS) is a hot mess of an entirely different variety. We love that he is Evgeni's mini-me and how he flails about like Boy George in 1980s London, but it really has no place on the ice in 2012 under IJS. Perhaps he should've been born in another generation so he could pit his "style" against the likes of Rudy Galindo and Philipe Candeloro. He does have a World medal under his belt, but he has not risen to the occasion since he accomplished that feat in 2010.

Our dear little Nobunari Oda (JPN) is a sad case. Ever since he became a father his career has gone down hill. 2011-2012 was a disaster for him and this is a do or die year. Takahashi is still fabulous, Hanyu and Kozuka are world medalists, and Machida is on his way up the ranks. If Oda does not prove this season that he can still do it, I say the Japanese federation washes their hands of him as they did with Fumie Suguri.

My Podium Predictions:
Gold: Patrick Chan
Silver: Javier Fernandez
Bronze: Ross Miner

The Rest of the Field:
Elladj Balde (CAN)
Liam Firus (CAN)
Takahito Mura (JPN)
Denis Ten (KAZ)

Skate America: Mens Preview

Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) is the lovechild of Daisuke Takahashi & Johnny Weir and this is going to be his breakout season. He is really the only person on the scene who has the big technical elements and actual unique artistry. I hope he sweeps every event this year.

Jeremy Abbott (USA) is one of my great loves of figure skating but he makes me too nervous when he competes. I want so badly for him not to be scared anymore and to light it up on the ice. He should do us all a favor and let his inner diva shine because that Patrick Chan-esque attempt at keeping all the emotion inside ain't working for me.

I had such high hopes for Takahiko Kozuka (JPN) after his World medal in 2011. His confidence took a nosedive last season, but maybe now that Hanyu is coming into his own as on one of the favorites, maybe Taka won't feel so much pressure. I love his clean style and I hope he makes a comeback.

Michal Brezina (CZE) is an oddball whom I've never particularly enjoyed. I'm sure he is a lovely young man, but I don't particularly enjoy his skating. He always looks rushed and never finishes his movements. I'd like to see some attempt at style before I give him my "Barbie Seal of Approval."

Douglas Razzano (USA) could be the surprise medalist of the bunch. He is a beautiful lyrical skater who also has a good quad. If he does his best, I sincerely believe he will be on the podium. I believe that he has a beautiful spirit and I am pulling for him to have a breakout season.

Podium Predictions:
Gold: Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN)
Silver: Jeremy Abbott (USA)
Bronze: Douglas Razzano (USA)

The Rest of the Field:
Tomas Verner (CZE)
Tatsuki Machida (JPN)
Konstantin Menshov (RUS)
Alexander Majorov (SWE)
Armin Mahbanoozadeh (USA)

Skate America: Ladies Preview

This should be Ashley Wagner's (USA) event to lose. She has the home ice advantage, and all the confidence in the world. Black Swan was such a statement piece for her last year and I'm very much looking forward to this year's programs. She's looking for her first Grand Prix gold medal.

Though Alena Leonova (RUS) medaled at the 2012 Worlds, I feel like she's a one-year-wonder. Her clunky, masculine approach cannot sit well with international judges much longer. She is usually quite clean, but a number of other ladies could pass her if they skate cleanly.

Adelina Sotnikova (RUS) was a highly publicized "Russian Baby" just a year ago. Though she didn't make the debut we had all hoped, she still did quite well on the 2011 Grand Prix, but she looked scared and timid. I pray that she unleashes her inner diva and swipes the silver.

Viktoria Helgesson (SWE) was the surprise bronze medalist at this event last year and even though she only medaled because other ladies failed spectacularly, she still has a legitimate shot this year if some of the "fragile competitors" meltdown. She has a very mature look on the ice that we do not see from the babies.

Rachael Flatt (USA) was once the darling of US Figure Skating. Last year we wondered if she could balance school and skating and the answer was clearly no. Has she gotten her insane schedule under control and stayed in good enough shape to return to a high level of competition? I've always had a soft spot for her so I hope so!

Will Christina Gao (USA) ever get it together and live up to her potential? She was once a lovely junior lady that we thought would be the future of US figure skating. Alas, her fragile competitive psyche would not allow that to happen and now that she is a Harvard student, will she become Rachael Flatt 2.0? She had a rough 2011 Grand Prix, so at least she has nowhere to go but up!


Podium Predictions
Gold: Ashley Wagner (USA)
Silver: Adelina Sotnikova (RUS)
Bronze: Alena Leonova (RUS)


The Rest of the Field:
Mae Berenice Meite (FRA)
Sarah Hecken (GER)
Valentina Marchei (ITA)
Haruka Imai (JPN)

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Actress Jessica Chastain received an Academy Award nomination for which movie?

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