Trophee Eric Bompard Pairs Preview

Savchenko and Szolkowy started their season strong with a gold medal finish at Skate America.  They still hold the highest scores for the season and should have no problem bringing home the gold here.  They were over 20 points below their personal best, so look for them to bring their scores up here.  Bazarova/Larinov also had a strong first outing posting personal best scores and winning the silver medal.  They should repeat that feat here.  The third podium spot will likely be a toss up between Mylene Brodeur and John Mattatall of Canada and Hausch and Wende of Germany.

My podium predictions are:
Gold: Savchenko/Szolkowy
Silver: Bazarova/Larinov
Bronze: Brodeur/Mattatall

My USFSA Fantasy team is:
A) Savchenko/Szolkowy
B) Brodeur/Mattatall
C) Zhang/Toth

Information on all the competitors is below.

Mylene Brodeur/John Mattatall, CAN: They finished 7th at Four Continents with a personal best short program.  They finished 6th and 5th at their two Grand Prix assignments last season.  They finished 6th earlier this season at NHK Trophy with a personal best total score.

Klara Kadlecova/Petr Bidar, CZE: They finished 14th at the World Junior Championships.  They finished 7th at both their Junior Grand Prix assignments earlier this season.  This is their Grand Prix debut.

Maylin Hausch/Daniel Wende, GER: They finished 17th at the Olympics, 14th at Worlds and 9th at Europeans with a personal best short program.  They finished 7th earlier this season at NHK Trophy with a personal best free skate and total score.

Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy, GER: They won bronze at the Olympics with a personal best short program score and silver at Worlds and Europeans (with a personal best free skate and total score).  They have 2 additional Gold and 1 Bronze medal at the World Championships and 3 Gold and a silver at Europeans.  They won bronze at Trophee Eric Bompard and gold at Skate Canada last season, qualifying them for the Grand Prix Final where they won bronze.  They won gold at Skate America earlier this season.

Anna Khnychenkova/Mark Magyar, HUN: They finished 15th at the World Junior Championships with personal best scores across the board.  They finished 15th at their Junior Grand Prix assignment earlier this season.  This is their Grand Prix debut.

Vera Bazarova/Yuri Larionov, RUS: They finished 11th at the Olympics, 8th at Worlds and 5th at Europeans.  They finished 4th at their only Grand Prix competition last season.  They won silver earlier this season at NHK Trophy with personal best scores across the board.

Felicia Zhang/Taylor Toth, USA: Zhang and Toth finished 9th at World Juniors with personal best scores in the short program and total score.  They finished 6th and 11th at their two Junior Grand Prix assignments last season.  Zhang also competes internationally as a junior in singles.  They finished 7th at their Grand Prix debut at Skate America with personal best scores across the board.