Internationaux de France 2019-- Previews & Predictions

This third stop on the senior GP circuit has been known as Internationaux de France since 2016—long enough for me to stop calling it Trophee Eric Bompard; also long enough to embrace this year’s hashtag for the event (#IFP2019, or Internationaux (de) France Patinage en Francais). Let’s see who’s on deck for this week:

MEN

GOLD: Nathan Chen (USA)

SILVER: Shoma Uno (JPN)

BRONZE: Kevin Aymoz (FRA)

Chen, the reigning World Champion, has already thrown down a pair of winning performances to establish his place in the 2019-20 season. While he’s also said he’s got work yet to do, a flawed Chen is still highly likely to defeat the rest of this IDF field. Uno, who may or may not have relatively healthy ankles right now, reportedly only has a “jump coach” (Two-time World Bronze Medalist Takeshi Honda) this season. Will be as reliable a podium pick as ever? I’m looking at his recent Finlandia Trophy win and saying yes. The bronze pick is trickier, with two Russian men competing with a lot of GP bronze medals between them (Alexander Samarin and Sergei Voronov). But Voronov is now 32, and frankly I don’t know that he’ll be able to keep pace once the free skate gets going. Samarin (age 21) can keep the pace, but his skating in general is a paler shade of beige for me regardless of the program difficulty. So I’m casting both Russian options aside in favor of France’s own Kevin Aymoz, who appears on track to be the biggest singles start to emerge from that country since Brian Joubert a decade ago.

Eyes on: Tomoki Hiwatashi, the 19 year-old pewter medalist from this year’s U.S. Nationals making his GP debut here. He was only 5^th at the U.S. International Classic in September, but after Camden Pulkinen established himself with a strong 4^th place GP debut last week, Hiwatashi surely wants to make a powerful first impression of his own.

DANCE:

GOLD: Papadakis/Cizeron (FRA)

SILVER: Chock/Bates (USA)

BRONZE: Guignard/Fabbri (ITA)

Papa/Ciz established itself as The Top French Team Winning at This French Event back in 2014, and of course they’ve won just a few major titles since then. Come early for their ‘80s inspired RD to music from Fame; stay for a free dance that doesn’t necessarily harken to their lyrical FDs from seasons past. Chock/Bates I’ve put over the Italian team, not just because they tend to place higher in general (6^th at Worlds last year to Guig/Fab’s 8^th) but because their Egyptian Snake Dance FD is FIERCE. Don’t miss it.

EYES ON: the Canadian dance team of Soucisse/Firus, making their GP debut this season with a Jersey Boys RD and a Tom Jones medley for their free dance. Sounds like fun! Hope it looks like fun too. 

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LADIES:

GOLD: Alena Kostornaia (RUS)

SILVER: Alina Zagitova (RUS)

BRONZE: Kaori Sakamoto (JPN)

And the Russia-on-Russia showdowns start… now! Zags vs. Kosto. Who will win? I’m going with Kosto for all the jump difficulty reasons you might expect. (Triple axels are Kosto’s specialty, as I mentioned in this post a few weeks ago.) AND, unlike some of the Russian senior newbies, her component scores come a lot more honestly. But having said that, Zags will be right there if Kosto didn’t bring all her jumps to France.

Bronze is tough, again. Mariah Bell’s consistency keeps improving, and I can’t wait to see the finished product of her SP choreo’d by Adam Rippon. But up against three different Japanese women, two of whom are podium capable for sure… I’ve gotta go with one of them. I’m picking Sakamoto, who just missed the podium at SkAM last month.

EYES ON: Mae-Berniece Meite… just because I’m always rooting for her to have her best skate at GP France. Also because Rippon did choreo for her, too (a FS to Adele’s “Hometown Glory”).

PAIRS:

GOLD: Mishina/Galliamov (RUS)

SILVER: Pavliuchenko/Khodykin (RUS)

BRONZE: Denney/Frazier (USA)

What we have here are a couple of senior GP rookies from Russia who are likely to be near and/or at the top despite the experience of much of the rest. I’m choosing the recent Nebelhorn winners to repeat victory here (get ready for Wa/Po flashbacks with their “Je Suis Malade” SP), with recent SkAM silver medalists Pav/Kho as runners-up. Either US team could get bronze, and since I predicted CGLD (Cain-Gribble/LeDuc) at SkAM and got it wrong, I’ll go with Denney/Frazier this time. Apologies if doing so results in another opposite finish… I’m really not trying to jinx anyone!

EYES ON: Ziegler/Keifer of Austria, who have been 4^th at GP events many, many times. To see them make a GP podium for the first time might be this week’s equivalent of Piper Gilles’ victorious Kiss-n-Cry freakout from SkCAN. Just sayin’!