JGP Italy Dance Preview

This promises to be a good event with several teams in contention for the podium.  Stepanova and Bukin of Russia already have a gold medal from Romania.  If they finish on the podium, they'll earn a spot in the JGP Final.  Their score in Romania is the highest in this field by a comfortable margin, so they should not have a problem repeating their gold medal performance here.

Bonacorsi and Mager of the United States took home the silver medal in Australia.  Last weekend, Orford and Williams, who won gold in Australia, showed that their scores didn't hold up in a larger field.  Bonacorsi and Mager will have to improve on their performance if they hope to make the medal stand again at this event.  They'll need a gold medal to guarantee a spot in the Final while a silver or bronze might land them in a tiebreaker.

Koch and Nuchtern of Germany finished just off the podium last weekend in Austria.  They have a real shot at climbing the ranks here and nabbing their first JGP medal if they can maintain their performance level and not burn out from two back to back competitions.

Zenkova and Sinitsin of Russia have a bronze medal from Australia.  If they want to make the Final, they'll need a gold medal.  A silver would put them in a possible tiebreaker.

Also in the mix are Hasegawa and Hawegawa of Canada.  They can't qualify no matter what the result here, and that lack of pressure could give them the extra edge to capture their first medal.

My podium predictions:
Gold: Stepanova/Bukin
Silver: Koch/Nuchtern
Bronze: Bonacorsi/Mager

Bios of the competitors:

Abts/Buckens, BEL:

Dalmer/Firus, CAN

Hasegawa/Hasegawa, CAN: They finished 5^th at JGP Poland.  Their personal best is 118.45.  She is 17 and he is 19.

Zhang/Wu, CHN: They finished 12th at JGP Austria.  Their personal best is 110.90.  She is 18 and he is 19.

Elizabeth/Le Gac, FRA: They finished 9^th at their international debut in Austria.  Their personal best is 111.87.  She is 15 and he is 16. 

Pousset/Thauron, FRA: They finished 10^th at their international debut in Austria.  Their personal best is 103.35.  She is 15 and he is 16.

Koch/Nuchtern, GER: They finished 4^th at JGP Austria.  Their personal best is 124.09.  She is 18 and he is 19.

Coward/Brown, GBR: They finished 7^th at their JGP debut in Australia.  Their personal best is 92.66.  She is 18 and he is 20.

Cazzaniga/Ortenzi, ITA

Busi/Fabbri, ITA: They finished 11^th at their international debut in Austria.  Their personal best is 101.79.  He is 18.

Sforza/Fioretti, ITA: They finished 20th at Junior Worlds.  They placed 5th at JGP Romania.  Their personal best is 109.05.  She is 16 and he is 18.

Tessari/Colafato, ITA: They finished 16^th at their JGP debut in Poland.  Their personal best is 88.95.  She is 15 and he is 16.

Mansour/Zhunussov, KAZ

Zenkova/Sinitsin, RUS: They won bronze at JGP Australia.  Their personal best is 122.35.  She is 16 and he is 19.

Stepanova/Bukin, RUS: They won gold at JGP Romania.  They won gold at JGP France and Japan last season to qualify for the JGP Final where they won bronze.  Their personal best is 134.29.  She is 16 and he is 18.

Yermak/Liubchenko, UKR: They finished 7th at JGP France last season.  Their personal best is 91.28.  She is 15 and he is 19.

Bonacorsi/Mager, USA: They finished 11th at Junior Worlds.  They won silver at JGP Australia.  Their personal best is 123.62.  She is 18 and he is 20.