March 19, 2015

  • Blazing Blades 2015 World Figure Skating Championship Predictions

    Blazing Blades offers its 2015 World Figure Skating Championships Podium Predictions. Lets start with... 

    MEN

    1. Denis TEN (KAZ) (Gold)

    2. Yuzuru HANYU (JPN) (Silver)

    3. Joshua FARRIS (USA) (Bronze)

    4. Sergei VORONOV (RUS)

    5. Jason BROWN (USA)

    6. Maxim KOVTUN (RUS)

    Denis comes into Worlds after a superlative performance at Four Continents and brimming with confidence. Yuzuru has had numerous injuries and illness to deal with and has trained alone in Japan sans coach Brian Orser. Hanyu, still good enough to take the Silver. Farris appears to be putting his house in order and if he lands his jumps as he has demonstrated he can, I see him edging out Voronov for the Bronze. 

    LADIES

    1. Elizaveta TUKTAMYSHEVA (RUS) (Gold)

    2. Ashley WAGNER (USA) (Silver)

    3. Elena RADIONOVA (RUS) (Bronze)

    4. Polina EDMUNDS (USA)

    5. Satoko MIYAHARA (JPN)

    6. Gracie GOLD (USA)

    Liza has ten... count em TEN competitions under her belt this season and her list of wins is impressive. If she can deliver an added Triple Axel in Shanghai, she should take the Gold by a substantial margin. Ashley Wagner wisely skipped Four Continents in order to wind down from a smashing victory at U.S. Nationals in January. She took some vacation time before returning to her training with Artunian. Her latest media conference call she is excited, is happier than ever with her skating, and determined to go for the podium. My gut says she will do just that with two outstanding programs and claim the Silver Medal. Radionova has such an air of excitement about her when she skates. However, she does not yet have the maturity of her Russian counterparts nor the component levels that Tuk delivers. I see Elena grabbing the Bronze.

    PAIRS

    1. Meagan DUHAMEL / Eric RADFORD (CAN) (Gold)
    2. Evgenia TARASOVA / Vladimir MOROZOV (RUS) (Silver)
    3. Qing PANG / Jian TONG (CHN) (Bronze)
    4. Yuko KAVAGUTI / Alexander SMIRNOV (RUS)
    5. Alexa SCIMECA / Chris KNIERIM (USA)
    6. Cheng PENG / Hao ZHANG (CHN) 

    Meagan and Eric clearly are the go-to Pair team this season. They bring passion, excitement and the elements needed to deliver the goods consistently and have done so all season. They are, for me, the clear favorites to win their first world title. I pick them for the top of the podium. The rest of the podium and top ten really appears to be a crapshoot. I am really drawing teams from the hat from Silver and Bronze on down. Tarasova and Morozov for Silver and Bronze could be either Kavaguti and Smirnov or the Returning Pang and Tong. Being that this Worlds' is in Shanghai I say odds favor the home team. Pang and Tong for the Bronze. As an aside, Scimeca and Knierim could become USA's first top five finishers in many many years if they skate two dynamite performances.

    ICE DANCE

    1. Gabriella PAPADAKIS / Guillaume CIZERON (FRA) (Gold)
    2. Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE (CAN) (Silver)
    3. Madison CHOCK / Evan BATES (USA) (Bronze)
    4. Elena ILINYHK / Ruslan ZHIGANSHIN (RUS)
    5. Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI (USA)
    6. Piper GILLES / Paul POIRIER (CAN) 

    Tis the year of the French in Ice Dance. Gabriella and Guillaume have shown the most improvement this season and politics being all important in Dance, Papadakis and Cizeron should win the World Dance Title. Weaver and Poje have a great short dance and they could well be the leaders going into the FD. However, in my view, their free dance lacks the passion and excitement of last years program and that is why I believe they will fall short of the top spot. Silver for Kaitlyn and Andrew. Chock and Bates have a great emotional connection on the ice and are on the rise this year. I look for two very strong programs from them to claim the World Bronze Medal.

    Comments welcome! - Peter

     

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