Highlights:
The ladies competition at Worlds, culminating in Evgenia Medvedeva forcing everyone to acknowledge her brilliance, Anna Pogorilaya putting it together at the right time and showing a Russian girl can still medal without being a baby ballerina phenom, and, of course, Ashley Wagner breaking the US ladies medal drought in style:
The ladies event at Worlds ended up being the one that caused me the most anxiety. With the other three, if I wasn’t completely indifferent to the results, I wasn’t seriously invested in any one thing happening. In the ladies, I desperately wanted Ashley Wagner to medal, even though I didn’t know if she could.
And we come out of it almost with more questions than answers. Such as:
Done hastily before I run off to work:
Men: Javier Fernandez, Takahiko Kozuka, Michal Brezina. Though really, I feel like I’m shooting in the dark even predicting Fernandez to win, despite his abilities; everyone here is so inconsistent. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Mura went and won instead(and then probably came in 10th at his other event). Or Amodio could medal, but I’m putting no money on him until further notice. But Brezina has been faring worse than the other two, and Kozuka has been struggling much more than Fernandez, so… Also looking forward to: Menshov is still going! Hope he does well.
Ladies:Ashley Wagner, Anna Pogorilaya, Alena Leonova. Maybe I’m just predicting what I really want to happen here, when the recent trends would insist the Russians would win instead. But even with her recent comeback Leonova has a ways to go yet, and Pogoriyala is still not the strongest lady in the Russian field either, so I will continue to hope she can pull this one out, at least if she rotates a few more jumps than she did in Japan. Looking forward: how well both of them do, though.
Pairs: Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford, Wenjing Sui & Cong Han, Kirsten Moore-Towers & Michael Marinaro. Though I’m close to thinking Canada might go 1-2 here, and the only reason I’m not predicting it because Moore-Towers & Marinaro probably are still getting used to each other. I have doubts about Sui & Han going into the future, especially if she really is younger than her ISU bio claims, and they really aren’t the only ones doing the quad elements anymore. Also looking forward to: I don’t think James & Cipres will quite medal here, but it’ll be interesting to see how well they do nonetheless.
Ice Dance: Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Pojé, Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue, Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier. With the Germans struggling recently, the only real question here becomes who wins the silver, and Hubbell & Donohue were the ones that won the face-off with Gilles & Poirier on the biggest stage either of them has starred on so far. Also looking forward to: Hurtado & Diaz!
Getting these in at the super last minute…
Men: Weird feeling Hanyu’s going to beat Chan for this one, so that just leaves the bronze. Given how Amodio’s skating lately, I think we can rule him out, so that leaves Brezina & Yan. Given how the latter’s been doing lately, I’d go with him, so that’s Chan, Hanyu, Yan.
Ladies: And when the only challenge for Ashley Wagner left is an inconsistent Sotnikova, I’d say that’s the top two. Then the question is whether Pogorilaya can pull off a second medal in a row. I think she may have a bit of a letdown, maybe enough for Christina Gao to capitalize on this weak field instead. So that’s Wagner, Sotnikova, Gao.
Pairs: And the podium seems obvious, but I really don’t know which order. But Pang & Tong have been the strongest of the three. On the other hand, I don’t think Duhamel & Radford were blow it for the second competition in a row, at least not enough to lose to Bazarova & Larionov, so I’ll go with Pang & Tong, Duhamel & Radford, Bazarova & Larionov.
Dance: On the other hand, after I&K’s less than impressive showing at their first event and P&B not looking like they’re going to challenge the top two just yet, this order is obvious: Virtue & Moir, Pechalat & Bourzat, Ilinykh & Katsalapov.
Russians & Americans take most the medals at Junior Worlds
Ponsart, Yan out of Senior Worlds
Updates on injured pairs, Bazarova & Larionov, & Chan
Kriengkrairut & Giulietti-Schmitt change coaches
Artur Gachinski shows preview of new long
Johnny Weir updates about season
Reports on Canadian pairs
Flatt may not compete next season
Withdrawal in Dancing on Ice semifinals
Dorothy Hamill on Dancing With the Stars
World Hall of Fame nominees announced
Hard jumps and a few messes at Four Continents
ISU lowers tech score minimums for Worlds
Plushenko out of Worlds, Russian men must all contend at Russian Cup Final
Junior Worlds roster released
Davis & Ladwig confirm breakup
Bavarian Open & Dragon Trophy
Challenge Cup roster released
Oksana Baiul sues Disson
Yeah, I know, I know, everybody’s watching the Super Bowl instead. But I’ve still done it, did most of it in the afternoon because I had a date tonight, finished up-then did an edit after saving the initial mp3 file because the news had literally just broken of Adam Rippon’s withdrawal, and it’s up: January 28-February 3, 2013
Russian Senior Nationals is a colorful event
Russian Junior Nationals & Volvo Cup rosters released
Montalbano & Krasnapolski split
Suzuki to stay one more season
Various shows take place in Europe
Dorothy Hamill interviewed for Stars on Ice
We Need More Fruit 