Rostelecom Cup ladies preview

In the ladies event, Carolina Kostner is the only one who has to fight her way in order to qualify for the final. Julia Lipnitskaia instead is pretty sure to go to Fukuoka as she won at Skate Canada with a brilliant score that should allow her to get a spot to the final even if she ranks fourth at Cup of Russia (goal more than achievable for her).

The former world champion got the bronze medal at Cup of China, where she was expected to win, and therefore she needs to win in Moscow or score something close to two hundreds points overall (she would need to score higher that Radionova did at NHK Trophy). Carolina had a tough competition in China and she didn’t look as consistent as she has been in the past years, struggling on several jumps maybe due to a back injury had in September that prevented her from having  a solid preparation. She has an edge over Lipnitskaia when it comes to the components score, but if she doesn’t compete somewhat clean, she won’t make up with the technical content of the young Russian skater.

Talking about Russian skaters, Elizaveta Tuktamisheva is listed to compete at Cup of Russia too, but her participation is still in doubt due to a back injury. She wouldn’t be in the final contention anyway, so withdrawing could be a wise decision, even though she may want to have the highest exposure to competitions as possible.

Kanako Murakami is looking for a better performance as well as at Cup of China she performed way below her standards. She can’t fight for the final as well but a good competition may help her in order to get an Olympic spot.

Rostelecom Cup Men preview

In the men competition, two are the skaters who aims for the final: Tatsuki Machida and Maxim Kovtun. Tatsuki Machida of Japan surprised anyone by winning the title at Skate America where not only did he make the final a very achievable goal, but also showed himself as a tough contender to get a spot in the Japanese Olympic team. Winning a Grand prix event he gained 15 points in the standings and he needs to rank no lower than fourth in order to qualify for the final.

The qualification will be slightly more difficult for Maxim Kovtun, who got the silver medal at Cup of China and therefore needs at least another silver medal. Kovtun is still a very young skater (he debuted in the senior circuit some months ago at Europeans) and may not have the experience to nail a crucial competition in front of the home crowd yet as he will have the attentions on himself as Plushenko has recently withdrawn. Come what may, it is pretty reasonable to consider him a medal favorite given the difficulty of his programs that feature five quads and three triple axels in total.

Surprisingly not in the battle for the final, Javier Fernandez will want here to redeem himself after a not so brilliant competition at NHK Trophy where he ranked fifth. He won’t qualify for the final even if he wins the competition, but as a reigning world medalist it would be important for him to compete according to his standards and giving himself a boost of confidence as the Olympic season progresses. He claimed that after NHK Trophy some judges advised him  to go back to the Chaplin free program of last year, and it will be interesting to see whether he took or not that advice.