World Championships: Men's Preview

Patrick Chan (CAN) is the absolute favourite for winning Worlds in the men's competition this year.

He has being unbeated since 2011: his technical content and quality, and his artistry is going to assure him the world title even if he makes some little mistakes.

Japan's Daisuke Takahashi seems the only one who could beat Chan. He has been the silver medalist at Grand Prix Final and Four Continents (behind Patrick Chan) and he is stil finding his consistancy on quad toe, but anything else is his repertoire is near to perfection.

A younger Japanese skater is taking the scene: Yuzuru Hanyu placed fourth at Grand Prix Final. He has a very soft and light skating enriched by a remarkable technical content including a quad toe and a very solid triple axel.

The most surprising skater of 2011 Grand Prix circuit, Javier Fernandez (ESP) was one of the favourites for an European medal but struggled in both short and long program to finish sixth. However he has been one of the most successful performer in the fall season and can battle for a podium finish at Worlds.

Artur Gachinski (RUS) did just the opposite: after earning the bronze medal at Worlds 2011 he disappointed in  the Grand Prix series, but with the presence of Plushenko at Europeans, and maybe some pressure off his shoulders, he gave one of his best performances assuring the silver medal.

Jeremy Abbott had had some rollercoaster seasons so far. This year Jeremy has two wonderful programs: the short is on sing sing sing and other jazzy pieces hat really seem to fit his skating, the free is very emotional and classy. He gave a superb performance at Nationals, but again struggled at Challenge Cup last week.

Best scores of the season: -short program

                                        -free skate

Podium Picks:
Gold: Patrick Chan
Silver: Daisuke Takahashi
Bronze: Artur Gachinski

Campionati Mondiali: Previsioni per le coppie

Nella gara delle coppie di artistico sara' centrale lo scontro tra i Tedeschi Savchenko/Szolkowy e i Russi Volosozhar/Trankov. 

Mentre la squadra russa ha sempre fornito prestazioni generalmente pulite in tutta la stagione, Savchenko/Szolkowy, campioni del mondo per la quarta volta nel 2011, hanno cominciato la stagione non brillantemente per il fatto che hanno piu' volte tentato di portare a termine il triplo axel lanciato, sempre senza successo, salto a causa del quale Aliona Savchenko ha contratto un infortunio al ginocchio sinistro che le ha impedito insieme al suo partner di partecipare ai campionati europei.

I Tedeschi si sono scontrati con Volosozhar/Trankov in due occasioni (Mondiali e Finale di Grand Prix 2011) e li hanno sempre battuti con un piccolo margine.

Altre due coppie russe potrebbero dire la loro nella lotta per il podio.

Kavaguti/Smirnov, gia' medagliati a livello mondiale, non hanno partecipato agli Europei, ma sembra che ora abbiano recuperato la forma.

Kavaguti Smirnov alla Mishin Cup

Bazarova/Larionov, vice-campioni europei 2012, sbagliano abbastanza spesso sui salti in parallelo ma sono molto solidi su salti lanciati, twist e sollevamenti.

Pang/Tong (CHN), medaglia di bronzo ai mondiali 2011, sono stati assenti dalle competizioni per tutta la stagione ma e' in programma per loro la partecipazione ai mondiali 2012. Coppia di grande eleganza e leggerezza, Pang Tong saranno sicuramente competitivi per il podio.

Pang/Tong ai Giochi Invernali Cinesi

Un'altra coppia cinese, Sui/Han, decisamente piu' giovane di Pang/Tong, stupira' il pubblico per abilita' tecnica (presenteranno un quadruplo twist e un quadruplo salchow lanciato).

PREVISIONI PER IL PODIO
Oro: Volosozhar/Trankov (RUS)
Argento: Savchenko/Szolkowy (GER)
Bronzo: Pang/Tong (CHN)

I Migliori Punteggi della stagione-short program
I Migliori Punteggi della stagione-free skate

World Championships: Pairs Preview

The pairs competion will see the rivalry between the Germans and the Russians.

Savchenko/Szolkowy (GER) are the reigning world champions and ne of the favourite teams to win this year. Gold is going be contended by Savchenko/Szolkowy and Volosozhar/Trankov (RUS), the newly crowned European champions.

The two teams faced twice (during World Championships and Grand Prix Final 2011), in both competitions the Germans won.

While Volosozhar/Trankov have competed with consistancy all year long, Savchenko/Szolkowy struggled during fall season because of their attempt to land a throw triple axel. Because of this jump, Aliona Savchenko caused a knee injury that forced the team to skip European Championships.

Two other Russian teams can battle for a podium finish.

Kavaguti/Smirnov, already world medalists, did not attend European Championships too, but seem to be on form now.

Kavaguti/Smirnov at Mishin's Cup 10/3/2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29_8eUwhkwg&context=C47f2c86ADvjVQa1PpcFPLDtJaNjXMS0ajUs0_CJlbYbBXbOqrou8=

Bazarova/Larionov earned the silver medal at European Championships this year. They have been struggling with side by side jumps lately, but shine on throw jumps, twist and lifts.

Last year's world bronze medalists, Pang/Tong of China didn't compete all year long but they are supposed to skate at World Championships. They are one of the most elegant and artistically gifted couple of the bunch and we expect them to be top contenders.

Pang Tong at Winter Chinese Games 2012

Take a look on the younger Chinese team Sui/Han who had already won Four Continents Championships and World Junior Championships this year by nailing a superb technical content including a quad twist and a throw quad salchow.

PODIUM PICKS:

Gold: Volosozhar/Trankov (RUS)
Silver: Savchenko/Szolkowy (GER)
Bronze: Pang/Tong (CHN)

Is Ksenia Makarova going to worlds?

 

Ksenia Makarova is dealing with one of the most disappointing season of her career. She is struggling competition after competition, pressed by the upcoming young phenomenal Russian girls. Her participation to World Championships is not assured yet and she has been asked to prove her technical abilities during the Mishin's Cup 2012.

Here is her free skate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLoR7HU49PE&feature=related

She tried to land the triple lutz, istead of triple flip, for the first time this season. She landed it, althought that was underrotated, and nailed the triple toe-triple toe combo. She attempted three other triple jumps: two loops, that were not perfectly landed, and a salchow turned to double. Ksenia seems a little bit slow on the ice surface and her skating is kind of tentative. The Russian federation has decided to send Ksenia at World Championships.

Challenge Cup 2012: Ladies' short

Carolina Kostner is in first with 64.89. She did triple toe-double toe combo, triple loop and double axel.

Alissa Czisny fell on her opening triple lutz and missed the combo.Then she did a shaky triple loop and a double axel. Alissa is in second with 59.82

Valentina Marchei had a very good short. Scored 57.55. She did triple lutz-double toe, triple salchow and double axel.

Challenge cup: Men's short program

Florent Amodio did triple axel, then triple lutz-triple toe. His only mistake was the quad salchow, not perfectly landed. He is first with 82.48

Brian Joubert nailed his quad toe-double toe combo and triple axel. He attended a quad salchow as solo jump, that was not effortless, yet landed. Now he is in second. 78.79

Jeremy Abbott fell both on his quad toe (that was under rotated too) and triple axel. He completed his triple lutz-triple toe combo. He is currently in third with 77.97 due to high components score (42.91)

Samuel Contesti is fourth with a clean triple lutz-triple flip, then struggled a little bit on triple axel and triple flip. He got 77.15

Hendrickx is in fifth at the moment with the best technical score of 42.63. He did triple axel, triple lutz-triple toe and triple loop.

Julia Lipnitskaia wins Junior Worlds