As you may have heard, there have been cancellations
a-plenty at this event: Johnny Weir is out with (I presume) the same injury
that kept him from completing Rostelecom Cup last week... Savchenko/Szolkowy
have scratched due to illness on Savchenko’s part (and unfortunately have also
taken themselves out of the ISU Grand Prix Finals because of it)... and now
word is that Gumbyskaia may withdraw
due to an ankle injury. So, wonder #1: what will all these WD’s mean for the
podium?
For the MEN:
Has Song Nan
fully recovered from his Cup of China concussion?
Has Brian Joubert
fully recovered from whatever illness prompted HIS CoC withdrawal?
Has Jeremy Abbott
figured out whatever it was that kept him from firing on all cylinders at Skate
America?
Is it “wide open” enough for someone like Takahito Mura or Florent Amodio to medal? Or any of the other less-than-usual
suspects, for that matter?
LADIES:
If Julia Lipnitskaia
does in fact scratch this event, is there anyone else in the field that can get
in Ashley Wagner’s way as she tries
for a back-to-back GP win?
Such as Liza
Tuktamysheva (injury issues notwithstanding)? Or maybe even Christina Gao?
Will Mae Berenice
Meite skate with the kind of power that reminds us of another French skater
from years gone by (Surya Bonaly)?
Can Jenna McCorkell
make a splash by channelling her very recent successes on the “B” circuit (gold
medals at both the Ondrej Nepala Trophy and Ice Challenge)?
PAIRS:
Could Duhamel/Radford put up a worth challenge for gold
against Kavaguti/Smirnov?
Will James/Cipres be able to keep up the good work on home
ice?
Can Berton/Hotarek do as well with their throw jumps as they
do their SBS jumps?
Is everyone a lot less interested now that
Savchenko/Szolkowy are missing this event?
DANCE:
Will Cappellini/Lanotte’s
Carmen FD shine brighter away from Virtue/Moir’s shadow?
Can Gilles/Poirier
surprise with a bronze medal? (I really liked them when they competed in Salt
Lake City earlier this season.)
Will there be a lot of “tongue” in the crowd during Pechalat/Bourzat’s FD? (Rolling Stones
tongues, that is)
Can any of the Russian teams erase the memory of Ilinykh/Katsalapov’s haunting-for-all-the-wrong-reasons
Ghost FD?
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