2017 Rostelecom Cup Roundup

The first event of the GP season brought a couple of upsets, a few fully-expected turnouts, and of course a heaping helping of Olympic speculation. Full results and protocols can be found HERE  ; if you’re wondering how my predictions measured up, I’ll start by explaining the “rules” which are pretty similar to last year…

I get 3 points per correctly placed podium name

2 points per correctly predicted podium name

1 point per Dark Horse that reaches the podium (1/2 a point if I listed 2 Dark Horses)

And I’m calling out “Wild Cards” this year—meaning athletes that could make a splash but I haven’t followed their recent trajectory enough to say for sure—but don’t award myself any points if they make the podium.

So my score for Rostelecom was 7 points for the men’s podium… 5.5 points for the ladies… 6 points for the pairs… and 5 points for the dance, for a total of 23.5 points out of a possible 36. (Or a “batting average” of .653 if you’re a baseball fan!)

A few notes: 

MEN:   I know “no one wants to peak in October” … but dang, did these guys have to try so hard?? There were 18 points worth of deductions between 8 skaters… two of those 8 fell enough times to trigger the 2-deductions-per-fall rule that the ISU started last season… and of the 4 guys that didn’t get deductions, only one (the delightful Misha Ge) truly skated clean… albeit without any quad jumps.

Speaking of Uzbekistan’s finest… shame on me for underestimating Ge! I didn’t mention him at all in my predictions last week because I knew his jump repertoire was limited, figuring him to do no better than 5^th. But the 4^th place he earned in Moscow ties his best GP finish—which was also at Rostelecom Cup, three years ago. His next scheduled GP appearance is France, so I vow to give him more consideration there… 

The obviously headliner in the men’s event was a battle that, for me, lived up to the hype. Nathan Chen rightfully put the skating world on notice last season with a silver medal at the GP Final and a gold one at 4 Continents—defeating Yuzuru Hanyu for the first time in the latter—but his 6^th place Worlds finish was surely a disappointment to some. Whatever the reason for it (Rookie nerves? Fatigue? Boot problems? BTW does anyone know how many boots he’s worn out since adding even more quads to his arsenal?), Chen is back to doing what he does—now with an even better defined look, choreo, artistry, etc.—and while Hanyu is hardly sitting on his jumping laurels, Chen proved himself again to be a most worthy opponent. With each champ scheduled next to compete in their respective home GP assignments, we’ll have to see if both make the GP Final, as expected, to see what happens next.

LADIES: Yes, Evgenia Medvedeva fell on a double axel in her FS and the skating world gasped in shock. Yes, she still won by 39 thousand points. The best news for me, though, was seeing her stick with the Anna Karenina program rather than her previously announced FS music (which included some, but not nearly enough, of George Winston’s “January Stars”).

Carolina Kostner proved podium-worthy in Moscow just as she did at this same event four years ago. Does that bode well for her chances on bigger podiums later in the year? (Remember, she returned to the competitive scene late last season and ended up 6^th at Worlds.) Since her artistry is considered unparalleled at this point by many (Rostelecom judges aside, for they gave Medved the edge there as well)… I suppose she has a shot when those with tougher jump schedules fail to deliver (as Wakaba Higuchi, Elena Radionova, and Mariah Bell all did to some degree last weekend). Since even the likes of Tara and Johnny seem to disagree on her potential (I’ll be talking more about the NBC coverage at a later date), I’ll just say this: Kostner is the oldest (30) and still, I think, among the tallest (5’7”) of the Olympic hopefuls this season… so how can I not root for her?

Meanwhile, Mirai… oh, what to say? We hear good things, we get hopeful, we think the landings are clean… and now we hope the completed triple axel was fully rotated. But things happen, more often than not, that dim those hopes back down. Last year Nagasu was 9^th at her first GP and 5^th at her second one. This year, she came in 9^th at her first GP. So if she happens to come in 4^th or better at NHK, I guess things will be looking up. Stay tuned.