This should be an easy win for Pechalat and Bourzat and with a second gold medal they'll secure a spot in the Final. If they can bring their scores up here, they could put themselves in a position to be competitive with Davis and White at the Final. They also have a lot of room for mistakes as a medal of any color will get them into the Final. Chock/Zuerlein, Riazanova/Tkachenko and Carron/Jones will battle it out for the final two podium spots. I give the edge to the Americans and Russians as both countries have had successful outings on the Grand Prix this season. Chock and Zuerlein have an exciting free skate and that should make them competitive for the silver medal here but if they win bronze, they'll be in a tiebreaker with the Shibutanis for the final Grand Prix Final slot. Carron and Jones do have home ice advantage here which could boost them onto the podium. The rest of the field is made up mostly of young teams looking to improve their scores and set themselves up for nationals.
My podium predictions are:
Gold: Pechelat/Bourzat
Silver: Chock/Zuerlien
Bronze: Riazanova/Tkachenko
My USFSA Fantasy Team is:
A) Pechelat/Bourzat
B) Riazanova/Tkachenko
C) Cannuscio/Lorello
Information on all the competitors is below.
Kharis Ralph/Asher Hill, CAN: Ralph and Hill placed 6th at the Four Continents Championships. They won silver medals at both their Junior Grand Prix assignments last season and placed 4th at the Junior Grand Prix Final. They finished 7th in their Grand Prix debut at Cup of China.
Xintong Huang/Xun Zheng, CHN: They placed 19th at the Olympics and 4th at Four Continents. They placed 7th and 5th at their two Grand Prix assignments last season. They finished 5th earlier this season at Cup of China.
Pernelle Carron/Lloyd Jones, FRA: They finished 12 at both Worlds and Europeans. They finished 9th at Trophee Eric Bompard last season. They finished 5th earlier this season at Skate Canada.
Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat, FRA: They placed 7th at the Olympics and 4th at both Worlds and Europeans. They won silver last season at both their Grand Prix assigments in Paris and Canada and won bronze at the Grand Prix Final. They won gold earlier this season at Cup of China.
Dora Turoczi/Balazs Major, HUN: They finished 12th at World Juniors last season. They finished 10th at both their Junior Grand Prix assignments last season. They finished 10th at their Grand Prix debut at NHK Trophy.
Ekaterina Riazanova/Ilia Tkachenko, RUS: They finished 6th at their Grand Prix debut in Moscow last season. They finished 5th at Skate America earlier this season.
Isabella Cannuscio/Ian Lorello, USA: They won bronze at both of their Junior Grand Prix assignments last season and placed 6th in the Junior Grand Prix Final. They finished 10th at their Grand Prix debut at Cup of Russia.
Madison Chock/Greg Zuerlein, USA: Chock and Zuerlein finished 5th at Four Continents. They are the 2009 World Junior Champions. They finished 8th and 6th at their two Grand Prix assignments last season. They won bronze at Skate Canada earlier this season.
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