Figure skatingFigure skating season boasts amazing talent

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The object is for skaters to earn points based on their final placing in a maximum of two events. The top six finishers in each discipline will earn a spot to compete at the ISU Grand Prix Final, which will take place in Tokyo in early December.

This year’s Grand Prix series kicks off in Paris during this weekend’s Trophée Eric Bompard, boasting an amazing list of top competitors looking to establish themselves as early season favourites.

The order of the events may have changed but the intensity of the competition has not, especially in an Olympic season. Skaters are looking to make their mark early with the Grand Prix events and to perform what they hope will be their strongest programs in an effort to facilitate their climb towards the Olympics in February of 2010. This is not the season for the skaters to experiment creatively but rather to arrive at each and every event with their “game on.”

Olympic season unpredictable

In an Olympic season, anything can happen and often does. Take Olympic favourite and 2009 World silver medallist, Patrick Chan of Canada.

As a result of a gastrocnemius tear in his left calf, his training has been affected over the last month, precipitating his withdrawal from next week’s Grand Prix event in Russia. Although he is hoping to be back in time for his second Grand Prix event at the Homesense Skate Canada International – his only GP event of the season - he will not be competing at the ISU Grand Prix Final.

Another notable withdrawal from the Grand Prix events are world dance champions from Russia, Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, who no longer appear as entries at either the Cup of Russia next week or the NHK Trophy event two weeks later in Tokyo. No reason has yet been given.

Showdown in Paris

The Olympic showdown starts in Paris with the women. Defending world champion from Korea, Yu-Na Kim, will face longtime rival from Japan, Mao Asada.

Asada is the 2008 world champion who struggled with skating highs and lows this past season. Although she won the last year’s ISU Grand Prix Final, she ended up off the world podium in four place in Los Angeles.

Early sightings of Asada from the 2009 Japan Open would indicate that she has a fair amount of work to do if she wants to stay ahead overtake Kim.

In the meantime, having changed coaches to the legendary American Frank Carroll, Italy’s Carolina Kostner will also be aiming for a medal spot. The change of coach and training location will hopefully help her, for and once and for all, learn how to deal with the inconsistencies in her competitive performances.

Virtue, Moir cream of the crops

There is little doubt in my mind that Canada’s dance champions, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir will take the top spot here. Their struggle has been to get healthy with Tessa having fought back from a debilitating condition requiring surgery on both legs about a year ago.

A compromised skating schedule notwithstanding, the fact that Virtue and Moir were nevertheless able to earn a world bronze medal in Los Angeles makes them an even bigger threat this year with their return to optimum training. Back on the ice, they also boast brilliant original and free dances, which will make them early favourites this season.

Two other teams will also be looking to stay at the front of the pack. Champions from Great Britain, the brother and sister team of Sinead and John Kerr are still looking for the breakthrough they need to get the international attention and medals they seek.

The 2008 world junior ice dance champions, Americans Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates, were impressive enough in their senior world debut in 2009 to end up in 11th place and are not to be underestimated.

Canadian contenders, Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison were the world bronze medalists in 2008 and will be facing world champions from Germany, Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy in Paris. Although they don’t have the same speed and size in their tricks, what Dube and Davison have this year is a brilliant free program choreographed by David Wilson to “The Way We Were.”

The construction of this program is such that it capitalizes on the emotional connection that this team is able to perfectly convey from the ice. It signifies the return to their “comfort zone” which should help build their confidence over the season and help to set them apart from many of the other teams.

The Russian team of Maria Murkhotova and Maxim Trankov will also be in the mix at this event with a strategy that sees them capitalizing on other teams’s errors rather than taking the lead for themselves.

The Grand Prix competitions will be step one for France’s Brian Joubert to try and re-establish his dominance in the men’s field.

Recently at the French Masters competition, the 2007 world champion placed second behind fellow Frenchman Florent Amodio, the ISU junior Grand Prix champion from a year ago.

Joubert settled for the 2009 world bronze medal in Los Angeles and has to set the bar very high in his first Grand Prix event if he is going to be taken seriously as a medal threat this year.

Looking to challenge the Frenchman will be Tomas Verner from the Czech Republic, whose fourth place finish at the worlds may go a long way to confirming that he may also finally have his problems with inconsistent performances under control. The other name to watch out for is Japan’s Nobunari Oda who, as the junior world champion in 2005, showed that he has the potential to end up on top of the heap; whether or not he can deliver remains to be seen.

Pj’s Picks:

Men: Tomas Verner CZE
Women: Yu-Na Kim KOR
Ice Dance: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir CAN
Pairs: Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy GER

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