Carolina Kostner is the favorite going into Europeans and she is looking to defend her title. She won two medal at her Grand Prix events and won the silver at the Grand Prix Final. She has the 2nd highest total score of the season and has by the far the highest scores of any of the ladies here. She would have to make a lot of mistakes to not win gold here.
Kiira Korpi had a stellar Grand Prix season, taking home gold from Trophee Eric Bompard. Her programs are exquisite this season and she has a triple-triple in her arsenal. She has the 6th highest score for the season which is also a personal best for her. She finished 4th at Europeans last season and I would be shocked to not see her on the podium this year.
Ksenia Makarova opened strong with a silver medal win at her Grand Prix debut but mistakes dropped her to 7th place at Cup of Russia. She does have the 9th highest score of the season thus far, and if she skates her best she should end up on the podium here. She and Korpi both skate to Evita in their free skate and it will be interesting to see how the judges score them head to head. She finished 9th at Europeans last year and should make a big jump in placements.
Elene Gedevanisvili (bronze last year), Valentina Marchei (8th), Alena Leonova (7th) and Sarah Meier (5th) are also in the mix. These skaters all have consistency problems and have struggled to put two clean programs together. Gedevanisvili and Leonova are both firecrackers on the ice with tons of personality and big jumps but their mixed scores show their difficulty landing those jumps. I don't particulary like either of Leonova's programs this year, but she's the only one of four ladies in this competiton to win a Grand Prix medal this season. Sarah Meier sat out the Grand Prix due to injury and also struggled with injury last year so she may not be in top form here.
A few up and coming skaters Ira Vannut, Mae Berenice Meite, and Romy Buhler are likely not medal threats here, but are looking to make a name for themselves as they transition (or continue to transition) to the senior ranks.
My podium predictions:
Gold: Kostner
Silver: Korpi
Bronze: Makarova
My USFSA Fantasy Team:
A) Kostner
B) Marchei
C) Vannut
The skaters:
Belinda Schonberger, AUT: She finished 18th and 19th at her two JGP assignments this season.
Nastassia Hrybko, BLR: She finished 26th and 29th at her two JGP assignments last season.
Ira Vannut, BEL: She finished 22nd at the World Junior Championships. She finished 4th at JGP Austria and won bronze at JGP Germany.
Hristina Vassileva, BUL: She finished 32nd at the World Championships in 2007.
Mirna Libric, CRO: She finished 37th at Worlds and 26th at Europeans. She finished 22nd and 30th at her two JGP assignments this season.
Martina Bocek, CZE: She finished 39th at Worlds and 27th at Europeans.
Karina Johnson, DEN: She finished 35th at Worlds, 32nd at Europeans and 16th at Junior Worlds with personal best short program and total scores.
Svetlana Issakova, EST: She finished 12th at World Juniors. She placed 19th at her JGP assignment this season.
Gerli Liinamae, EST (D): She finished 9th and 10th at her two JGP assignments this season.
Kiira Korpi, FIN (D): Korpi finished 11th at the Olympics with a personal best free skate, 19th at Worlds and 4th at Europeans with a personal best short program and total score. She is the 2007 European bronze medalist. She finished 4th at NHK Trophy and won gold at Trophee Eric Bompard with a personal best total score.
Cecilia Torn, FIN: She finished 19th and 11th at her two JGP assignments this season.
Juulia Turkkila, FIN: She finished 10th at her JGP assignment this season.
Mae Berenice Meite, FRA: She finished 12th at the World Junior Championships. She finished 8th at her Grand Prix debut at Skate America and 9th at Trophee Eric Bompard with a personal best free skate and total score.
Elene Gedevanishvili, GEO (D): She placed 14th at the Olympics with a personal best short program, 18th at Worlds and won bronze at Europeans with personal best free and total scores. She placed 6th at NHK Trophy and 7th at Skate America.
Sarah Hecken, GER (D): Hecken finished 18th at the Olympics, 12th at Worlds with personal best scores across the board and 16th at Europeans. She finished 10th at Trophee Eric Bompard.
Jenna McCorkell, GBR (D): She placed 29th at the Olympics, 14th at Worlds with personal best free and total scores and 14th at Europeans with a personal best short program. She finished 11th at NHK Trophy and 10th at Skate America. She is married to Kevin van der Perren of Belgium.
Georgia Glastris, GRE: She finished 44th at Worlds and 28th at Junior Worlds. She finished 21st and 18th at her two JGP assignments this season.
Katherine Hadford, HUN: She finished 31st at Europeans.
Viktoria Pavuk, HUN (D): She finished 18th at Europeans in 2007.
Clara Peters, IRL: She finished 47th at Worlds and 36th at Europeans.
Alice Garlisi, ITA: She finished 19th and 7th at her two JGP assignments this season.
Carolina Kostner, ITA (D): She finished 16th at the Olympics, 6th at Worlds and is the reigning European champion. She has one silver and one bronze medal at worlds and 2 additional gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal at Europeans. She won gold at NHK Trophy and bronze at Skate America to qualify for the Grand Prix Final where she won silver.
Valentina Marchei, ITA (D): Marchei finished 8th at the European Championships with a personal best short program. She finished 8th at Skate Canada and 5th at Cup of Russia with a personal best total score.
Fleur Maxwell, LUX: She finished 33rd at Worlds and 34th at Europeans.
Manouk Gijsman, NED: She finished 24th at Worlds, 28th at Europeans and 23rd at Junior Worlds. She finished 26th and 18th at her two JGP assignments earlier this season.
Anne Line Gjersem, NOR: She finished 26th at the World Junior Championships. She finished 14th and 15th at her two JGP assignments earlier this season.
Anna Jurkiewicz, POL: She finished 30th at the Olympics.
Sabina Mariuta, ROU: She finished 27th and 21st at her two JGP assignments this season.
Alena Leonova, RUS (D): Leonova placed 9th at her Olympic debut with personal bests in the short program and total score and followed it up with a 13th place finish at Worlds. She was 7th at the European Championships. She won bronze at Cup of China and finished 9th at Cup of Russia.
Ksenia Makarova, RUS (D): Makarova placed 10th at the Olympics with a personal best free skate and total score, 8th at World Championships with a personal best short program, and 9th at Europeans. She won silver at her Grand Prix Debut in Canada and finished 7th at Cup of Russia.
Marina Seeh, SRB: She finished 46th at Worlds and 38th at Europeans.
Alexandra Kunova, SVK (D): She finished 31st at Junior Worlds with a personal best short program.
Dasa Grm, SLO (D): She placed 46th at Junior Worlds in 2009.
Sonia Lafuente, ESP (D): She placed 22nd at the Olympics with personal best scores, 20th at the World Championships and 17th at Europeans. She finished 10th at her Grand Prix debut at Skate Canada with a personal best free skate and 7th at Trophee Eric Bompard with a personal best free skate and total score.
Viktoria Helgesson, SWE (D): She placed 10th at the World Championships with personal best scores across the board and 11th at Europeans. She placed 9th in her Grand Prix debut at the NHK Trophy and 6th at Skate America.
Romy Buhler, SUI: She placed 13th at the World Junior Championships with personal best scores across the board. She finished 10th at her JGP assignment this season.
Sarah Meier, SUI (D): She finished 15th at the Olympics, 26th at Worlds and 5th at Europeans.
Birce Atabey, TUR (D): She finished 30th at Europeans. She placed 22nd and 24th at her two JGP assignments this season.
Irina Movchan, UKR (D): She finished 40th at the World Championships.
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