2019 World Figure Skating Championship Predictions: Pairs and Ladies

Two days ago I was tap-dancing on a stage (with about 40 others) in front of a sold-out crowd on the near north side of downtown Indianapolis… the last of 11 performances of Singin’ in the Rain, which is how I’ve spent a substantial chunk of my time the past several weeks. It will go down as one of my favorite experiences in the 45 years (!!!) that I’ve been doing theater, and I’m eager to tell you all about it. With any luck, some of you will be mildly eager to hear about it. But “it” will have to wait, because THE 2019 WORLD FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE ABOUT TO BEGIN.

PAIRS

GOLD: James/Cipres (FRA)

SILVER: Sui/Han (CHN)

BRONZE: Tarasova/Morozov (RUS)

Finishing in the 4^th-6^th range: Boikova/Kozlovskii (RUS), Della Monica/Guarise (ITA), Moore-Towers/Marinaro (CAN)

Finishing 7^th-9^th: Zabiiako/Enbert (RUS), Peng/Jin (CHN), Cain/LeDuc (USA)

This truly feels like Vanessa and Morgan’s time. It has this entire season. I know Sui/Han have a sublime FS (as was unveiled at 4CC), but I also know injuries continue to hinder them… to the point where they’ve barely been seen on the international circuit post- Pyeong Chang. They might come through with the gold—particularly if J/C falter at a critical moment, which they’ve certainly been known to do in the past—but I’m still sticking with hopes for a historic French win.

LADIES 

GOLD: Rika Kihira (JPN)

SILVER: Sofia Samadurova (RUS)

BRONZE: Satoko Miyahara (JPN)

Finishing in the 4^th-6^th range: Evgenia Medvedeva (RUS), Kaori Sakamoto (JPN), Alina Zagitova (RUS)

Finishing 7^th-9^th: Elizabet Tursynbaeva (KAZ), Bradie Tennell (USA), Eunsoo Lim (KOR)

Here’s what I want as I make this list: at least SIX medals. Medvedeva for her perseverance this season. Tursynbaeva for finally shaking up her mid-pack status. Sakamoto for making everybody smile when the rest of their day is a trainwreck. Wakaba Higuchi—last year’s World Silver Medalist, who didn’t even make the Worlds cut this time—for still being awesome. Oh, and let’s not forget The Empress Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who looked absolutely Worlds-bound this season… until she wasn’t.

But of course, we only have the three. So I’m predicting one for an outstanding young skater with a consistent triple axel… one for a dynamic rookie to the senior ranks with a consistent everything-else (aka Zagitova through February 2018)… and one for the “whole package” skater who, at all of 20 years of age, would somehow be the podium veteran if my predictions proved correct.

(And given all this… yeah, I’d be extremely surprised if Tennell and Mariah Bell were able to net the U.S. three spots for next year.)