Like Skate Canada last week,
2016 Rostelecom Cup (Cup of Russia) will be packing all the disciplines into
two days (Friday 11/4 and Saturday 11/5)…
This time I have the link for Canadian & U.S. TV schedules, as well as start orders and other good stuff…
And we start with Men
and Ice Dance, the latter of which gets started at 7:45 AM (ET) Friday…
(I’ll have my Pairs &
Ladies preview up before the Pairs SP starts at Noon )
MEN
GOLD: Javier Fernandez (ESP)
SILVER: Shoma Uno (JPN)
BRONZE: Mikhail Kolyada (RUS)
DARK HORSE: Max Aaron (USA
Javi is keeping last year’s Malaguena SP and skates
to an Elvis Presley medley in the FS, and I don’t see much keeping him from a third
straight Rostelecom victory. His closest competition is likely found in the
astoundingly good—if not quite World Champion good— Uno, who of course won
Skate America a couple weeks ago. Bronze is a bit of a toss-up, but Kolyada was
a surprise 4th at Worlds this year and therefore has the highest
pedigree of the three Russian men competing (the other two being Gordei
Gorshkov and Artur Dmitriev Jr.). I think he tends to be a more consistent
competitor than Aaron (the only U.S.
man in the event), and that’s why I’ve got him for bronze. But if Aaron can
keep it together, I think he’s got a good podium shot.
DANCE
GOLD: Chock/Bates (USA
SILVER: Weaver/Poje (CAN)
BRONZE: Bobrova/Soloviev (RUS)
DARK HORSE: One of the other two Russian dance teams, and
if they medal here I promise to use their actual names in the future
Remember Weaver/Poje? The long-suffering runners-up to
Virtue/Moir that got as close as 2nd at Worlds two years ago, only
to fall back to 3rd the following year and 5th in 2016?
The ones who must have been the most thrilled of absolutely anyone to hear that
V/M were returning to competition? Well… they’re here, and while this season’s
FD to Concierto de Aranjuez doesn’t appear to be a break from their
tradition of intriguing, highly dramatic free dances, their SD now promises
some Michael Jackson hip-hop. Their SD dance rhythm was originally listed as “country
swing” and featured the song “Black Velvet”… which I happen to despise… so I
most definitely consider this a win-win. (Except that Chock/Bates will be the
team that actually wins here.)
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