As of this moment (meaning after the SP), neither of my gold-medal picks are looking like they’ll even make the podium, let alone win the whole thing! So admittedly I’m not approaching part two of my Worlds predictions with a lot of confidence… even though they feature more obvious favorites:
MEN
GOLD: Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN)
SILVER: Nathan Chen (RUS)
BRONZE: Shoma Uno (JPN)
Finishing in the 4th-6th range: Vincent Zhou (USA
Finishing in the 7th-9th range: Jason Brown (USA), Alexander Samarin (RUS), Jin Boyang (CHN)
I know I didn’t even mention key names like Keegan Messing (CAN), Kevin Aymoz (FRA), Mateo Rizzo (ITA), and Deniss Vasiljevs (LAT). All four could make splashes here in place of the ones I mentioned. Super-tight times when these gentlemen take the ice for competition these days! But even while still dealing with some degree of injury, Hanyu seems unbeatable to me.
DANCE
GOLD: Papadakis/Cizeron (FRA)
SILVER: Hubbell/Donohue (USA
BRONZE: Stepanova/Bukin (RUS)
Finishing in the 4th-6th range: Chock/Bates (USA
Finishing in the 7th-9th range: Gilles/Poirier (CAN), Guignard/Fabbri (ITA), Fear/Gibson (GBR)
Ice dance predictions for the perpetually underschooled (such as myself) continue to be a dicey practice. But where it seems a coin toss could put “the other US team” or “the other Russian team” on the podium just as easy, I’m going with what I know and like better (in the case of Step/Buk) and with I suspect will be a meticulous free dance, in light of the unexpected minor error that made the difference at 4CC (Hub/Don).
And as you might guess if you’ve followed my posts this season, I’d gladly see Gilles/Poirier in a higher place (they’ve never finished higher than 6th at Worlds)… and if my breakout British faves of the season (Fear/Gibson) don’t make the Top 10 with their disco jukebox of fun FD, I might have to chase down a judge and slap them silly with a vintage pair of rainbow suspenders.
That is all. See you on Twitter (@KLBSt8ofSk8)!
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