GP Showdowns to Watch, 2009 Style (Part 2)

Predicting the SHOWDOWNS for the second half of the ISU season seemed quite a bit more difficult than predicting the same for the first half. Blame it on the non-ranked “returnees”, each of whom is slated to have their own event as a sort of homecoming… creating an automatic showdown in many cases. But those collective ships will have sailed by weeks 4, 5, and 6, and one of them (Plushenko) isn’t even scheduled for a 2nd GP event. So let’s break out the magnifying glass and take a closer look…

For NHK Trophy: Joubert (ISU ranked #2) vs. Abbott (#4) vs. Takahashi (#6). Here’s a combination we haven’t yet been treated to: the consistently well-ranked Frenchman pitted against the newest US champion pitted against a much-missed Japanese champ. Did I mention this event is to be Abbott’s GP debut for the season—in other words, our first time seeing him in a major even since pairing up with new coach Yuka Sato? And did I also mention this is to be Takahashi’s first major event (in his home country, no less) since his knee surgery?

Oh, and by the way, Johnny Weir (#7) is scheduled for this event as well.
With so much interesting competition, will this be a showdown or a smackdown? Can’t wait to see.

For Skate America: While pointing out that this is scheduled to be Delobel & Schoenfelder (#2)’s first appearance of the season (and, of course, would be Delobel’s first appearance since giving birth only two months earlier)… methinks this will be yet another dance event eclipsed by the ladies. Sasha Cohen (NR)’s first event on home soil will be terribly hard for the media to resist, even if it’s her second matchup in a row with Yu-Na Kim (#1) rather than her first. Throw in Rachael Flatt (#8), in her first-ever matchup with Cohen, and we might see a showdown-within-a-showdown. And yes, I’ve noticed the “TBA” slot on the USA roster for this event too… it will undoubtedly be interesting to see if the Player To Be Named Later has anything else to contribute.

Finally, for Skate Canada: First, another Dance would-be showdown of note, as D & S are slated to follow up SKAM with this one—and while the former will show how they are stacking up against Belbin & Agosto (#3), the latter will pit them against Virtue/Moir (#6). But while I suppose Delobel will turn out to be one of those superwomen who bounce back from pregnancy like a quarter off an army-made bed… sigh… I’m still hedging my bets as to whether or not they will even show up, much less be in medal-winning form.

So instead, I turn to the mens event again. Patrick Chan (#1) vs. Abbott vs. Takahashi… cool. So despite the fact that we won’t be treated to another Chan/Joubert event until, perhaps, the GP Final… we’ll get to see how JeremEEE and Dice-K fare with the #1 and #2 scenario individually, which should be interesting in its own right. By the way, Denis Ten (of Kazakhstan) is scheduled to be at Skate Canada as well; as well as he did at Worlds this year, what might it mean to see him in the mix come free skate time?

Speaking of which, here’s Ten’s FS at Worlds as the Clip of the Day. Not such a far-fetched idea, him “mixing” with the big boys… is it?