Skate Canada Ladies Preview

Julia Lipnitskaia has followed the past of the last few Russian wonderbabies.  After winning everything on the junior circuit in 2012 she made her Grand Prix debut last season and won two medals which qualified her for the Grand Prix Final.  She was not old enough for Worlds last season and lost her Junior World title to the next generation of Russian juniors.  She is old enough to qualify for the Olympics this year but with only two Russian spots available, she'll have to stay injury free this season and consistently hit her triple + triples.

Akiko Suzuki dropped to 12th at Worlds after winning bronze the year prior.  She won a medal at every other event she entered last season including the Final.  Her Worlds performance seemed to have been a fluke as she was remarkably consistent the rest of the season and has been consistent over the past several seasons.

Courtney Hicks started off her season with a surprise gold medal finish at the US International Figure Skating Classic.  She has long been known for her jumps but has committed to her artistry this season.  She has triple + triples and innovative spins and is passionate about her programs which comes out in her skating.  She started the season with no Grand Prix assignments and now has two and is ready to make the most of her opportunity.

Kaetlyn Osmond won gold at this event last season but has been off the ice with an ankle injury and has admitted that she's not back to 100%.  

Gracie Gold has struggled to put together two clean programs at the same event all year last year.  She split from her long time coach suddenly this summer and moved to Frank Carroll but her new coaching situation is not yet permanent.  

My podium predictions:
Gold: Julia Lipnitskaia
Silver: Akiko Suzuki
Bronze: Courtney Hicks

Bios of the competitors:
Amelie Lacoste, CAN: She finished 9th at Four Continents.  She placed 8th at Skate Canada and 6th at Cup of China last season.  Her personal best is 157.26.  She is 24 years old.

Veronik Mallet, CAN: This is her Grand Prix debut.  Her personal best is 159.67.  She is 19 years old.

Kaetlyn Osmond, CAN: She placed 8th at Worlds and 7th at Four Continents.  She won gold at Skate Canada last season.  Her personal best is 176.82.  She is 17 years old.  

Akiko Suzuki, JPN: She finished 12th at Worlds and is the reigning Four Continents Silver Medalist.  She won silver at Skate Canada and NHK Trophy last season to qualify for the Grand Prix Final where she won bronze.  She is the 2012 World Bronze Medalist and 2010 Four Continents Silver Medalist.  Her personal best is 199.58.  She is 28 years old.  

Julia Lipnitskaia, RUS: She is the reigning Junior World Silver Medalist.  She won silver at Cup of China and bronze at Trophee Eric Bompard last season to qualify for the Grand Prix Final but withdrew due to injury.  She is the 2012 Junior World Champion.  Her personal best is 187.05.  She is 15 years old.

Natalia Popova, UKR: She finished 15th at Worlds and placed 19th at Europeans.  This is her Grand Prix debut.  She finished 10th at JGP Austria last season.  Her personal best is 155.52.  She is 20 years old.

Christina Gao, USA: She finished 4th at Four Continents.  She won silver at Skate America and finished 4th at Trophee Eric Bompard last season to qualify for the Grand Prix Final where she finished 6th.  Her personal best is 176.28.  She is 19 years old.

Gracie Gold, USA: She placed 6th at Worlds and 6th at Four Continents.  She finished 7th at Skate Canada and won silver at Rostelecom Cup last season.  She is the 2012 World Junior Silver Medalist.  Her personal best is 188.03.  She is 18 years old.

Courtney Hicks, USA: She placed 5th at Junior Worlds.  She won silver at JGP USA and finished 4th at JGP Slovenia last season.  Her personal best is 153.77.  She is 17 years old.

Skate Canada Men's Preview

Patrick Chan is the reigning World Champion although he struggled last season and nearly lost his title.  He had strong short programs and currently holds the World Record Short Program score but his free skates were often filled with errors.  He moved to Detroit at the end of the season to pursue a better training environment and has been settling well.  After splitting from Christy Krall, he is coached primarily by Kathy Johnson and his jumps took a bit of a hit.  After missing out on the podium in 2010, his sole focus has been on Sochi and he is gunning for Olympic gold.

Yuzuru Hanyu set two World Record short programs last season and had a huge breakout year.  He finished ahead of Patrick Chan at the Grand Prix Final but wasn't able to find his way back to the podium at the World Championships.  He has the quads as well as the artistry but he seemed to struggle with some of the nerves that comes along with being a front runner.

Nobunari Oda had a rough few seasons and only won medal on the Grand Prix last season.  It's also been two years since he made a World team and in a deep Japanese field, he's facing an uphill battle to claim one of the spots in Sochi.  He kicked off the season with an impressive victory at the Nebelhorn Trophy and proved that he is a contender going into this season.

Also in the mix are Takahito Mura who was the surprise winner at Trophee Eric Bompard last year and made the Japanese Worlds team along with Jeremy Abbott who's reprising his Exogenisis free skate after failing to qualify for Worlds last season.  Ross Miner is the reigning US Silver Medalist but had a slow start to his season this year.

World Junior Champion Joshua Farris is making his Grand Prix debut at this event.  He has quads and triple axels in his arsenal but struggled with his jumps at his senior debut at the US Figure Skating Classic.  He choreographs his own programs and admitted that he was more focused on the performance at that event and let the jumps get away from him.

My podium predictions:
Gold: Patrick Chan
Silver: Yuzuru Hanyu
Bronze: Nobunari Oda

Bios of the competitors:
Elladj Balde, CAN: He finished 18th at Four Continents.  He placed 7th at Skate Canada last season.  His personal best is 199.94.  He is 22 years old.

Patrick Chan, CAN: He is the reigning World Champion.  He won silver at Skate Canada and gold at Rostelecom Cup last season to qualify for the Grand Prix Final where he won bronze.  He is the 2011 and 2012 World Champion, 2009 and 2010 World silver medalist, 2009 and 2012 Four Continents Champion and 2007 World Junior silver medalist.  His personal best is 280.98.  He is 22 years old.  

Andrei Rogozine, CAN: He finished 13th at Worlds and 10th at Four Continents.  He placed 9th at NHK Trophy last season.  He is the 2011 World Junior Champion.  His personal best is 216.60.  He is 20 years old.

Michal Brezina, CZE: He placed 10th at Worlds and is the reigning European Bronze Medalist.  He placed 6th at Skate America and won bronze at Rostelecom Cup last season.  He is the 2009 World Junior Silver Medalist.  His personal best is 243.52.  He is 23 years old.  

Yuzuru Hanyu, JPN: He placed 4th at Worlds and is the reigning Four Continents silver medalist.  He won silver at Skate America and gold at NHK Trophy last season to qualify for the Grand Prix Final where he won silver.  He is the 2012 World Bronze Medalist, 2011 Four Continents Silver Medalist and 2010 World Junior Champion.  His personal best is 264.29.  He is 18 years old.  

Takahito Mura, JPN: He placed 8th at Worlds and 8th at Four Continents.  He finished 8th at Skate Canada and won gold at Trophee Eric Bompard last season.  His personal best is 234.18.  He is 22 years old.

Nobunari Oda, JPN: He won bronze at Skate Canada and placed 5th at Rostelecom Cup.  He is the 2006 Four Continents Champion and 2005 Junior World Champion.  His personal best is 262.98.  He is 26 years old.

Jeremy Abbott, USA: He placed 5th at Skate Canada and won silver at Trophee Eric Bompard last season.  He is the 2007 and 2011 Four Continents Bronze Medalist.  His personal best is 238.82.  He is 28 years old.

Joshua Farris, USA: He is the reigning World Junior Champion.  He won gold at JGP USA and gold at JGP Slovenia last season to qualify for the JGP Final where he won silver.  He is the 2012 World Junior Silver Medalist.  His personal best is 228.32.  He is 18 years old.  

Ross Miner, USA: He placed 14th at Worlds and 9th at Four Continents.  He placed 5th at Skate Canada and won bronze at NHK Trophy last season.  He is the 2012 Four Continents Bronze Medalist.  His personal best is 235.37.  He is 22 years old.

Southwest Pacific Regional Results

Novice Ladies

Place	Start No.	Name	Short Program		Free Skate		Total Score
			Place	Score	Place	Score
1	12	Heidi Han, Los Angeles FSC	1	39.02	1	72.74	111.76
2	14	Runa Maeda, All Year FSC	3	37.65	2	68.83	106.48
3	15	Cheyenne Taylor, Los Angeles FSC	2	38.81	4	64.06	102.87
4	7	Ai Setoyama, All Year FSC	8	34.64	3	64.66	99.30
5	11	Ellie Min, All Year FSC	4	37.05	6	62.21	99.26
6	9	Nadine Orellana, Los Angeles FSC	7	35.01	5	62.44	97.45
7	6	Vanna Giang, All Year FSC	6	35.69	10	56.37	92.06
8	8	Jacqueline Benson, Coyotes SC of Arizona	10	33.18	8	57.15	90.33
9	2	Selina Pan, Los Angeles FSC	11	31.58	7	58.01	89.59
10	13	Isabella Smit, Los Angeles FSC	5	36.13	13	53.32	89.45
11	10	Victoria Giang, All Year FSC	9	33.23	11	54.01	87.24
12	5	Alexis Gagnon, Coyotes SC of Arizona	12	30.55	9	56.63	87.18
13	4	Lydia Lee, Pasadena FSC	13	29.30	14	52.81	82.11
14	1	Mo'E Okuda, All Year FSC	15	25.05	12	53.35	78.40
15	3	Beverly Laksana, All Year FSC	14	26.84	15	48.83	75.67

Junior Ladies

Place	Start No.	Name	Short Program		Free Skate		Total Score
			Place	Score	Place	Score
1	10	Elizabeth Nguyen, All Year FSC	1	56.91	1	87.61	144.52
2	14	Amanda Gelb, Los Angeles FSC	3	42.99	2	75.52	118.51
3	12	Rosalie Chen, San Diego FSC	2	45.26	3	72.85	118.11
4	13	Hanna Skane, Glacier Falls FSC	5	34.73	4	72.27	107.00
5	11	Ashley Park, All Year FSC	4	42.41	6	63.32	105.73
6	7	Tiffany Vanta, San Diego FSC	8	31.93	5	67.02	98.95
7	6	Cheyenne Bell, All Year FSC	7	32.95	7	62.94	95.89
8	8	Annika Lindgren, All Year FSC	6	33.19	8	56.27	89.46
9	5	Emily Gabriele, Coyotes SC of Arizona	9	29.10	12	47.94	77.04
10	1	Brianna Gianiorio, Coyotes SC of Arizona	13	25.70	9	50.87	76.57
11	9	Michaella Bradley, Las Vegas FSC	10	26.97	10	48.46	75.43
12	3	Mackenzie Stumpf, Los Angeles FSC	11	26.28	11	48.03	74.31
13	4	Brigitte Gong, Los Angeles FSC	12	26.11	14	46.23	72.34
14	2	Rachel Carey, SC of Phoenix	14	23.90	13	47.13	71.03
WD		Lily Bai, San Diego FSC
WD		Jaclyn Cartwright, Coyotes SC of Arizona
WD		Shayanne Casapao, Los Angeles FSC
WD		Ashley Quan, All Year FSC
WD		Ellie Yuen, All Year FSC

Senior Ladies

Place	Start No.	Name	Short Program		Free Skate		Total Score
			Place	Score	Place	Score
1	20	Leah Keiser, All Year FSC	1	57.71	1	103.44	161.15
2	16	Katarina Kulgeyko, San Diego FSC	4	45.55	2	80.40	125.95
3	18	Sophia Adams, All Year FSC	3	45.81	3	72.64	118.45
4	17	Anna Malkova, All Year FSC	2	46.05	4	71.38	117.43
5	19	Rachel Mendelson, All Year FSC	5	43.40	6	68.66	112.06
6	15	Catherine Giese, Los Angeles FSC	10	32.54	5	71.08	103.62
7	13	Taylor Sirset, All Year FSC	7	36.14	7	66.73	102.87
8	14	Dyllan Mcintee, SC of Phoenix	8	35.69	9	63.40	99.09
9	11	Brenda Ji, Los Angeles FSC	9	33.90	8	64.12	98.02
10	7	Brittany Ward, All Year FSC	11	32.51	10	60.40	92.91
11	6	Liana Sherman, Coyotes SC of Arizona	13	30.32	11	59.34	89.66
12	10	Gabrielle Dominguez, Las Vegas FSC	12	31.16	12	54.20	85.36
13	12	Victoria Muniz, All Year FSC	6	38.08	16	44.50	82.58
14	8	Patricia Mcneil, Glacier Falls FSC	14	30.30	13	51.38	81.68
15	1	Emily Fields, Coyotes SC of Arizona	16	25.47	14	51.02	76.49
16	2	Arlyn Gamarro, All Year FSC	17	25.38	15	48.76	74.14
17	9	Natalie Tso, Pasadena FSC	15	29.48	17	43.41	72.89
18	4	Abrianna Percuoco, Desert Ice SC Of Arizona	19	23.68	18	43.33	67.01
19	5	Hailli Dorman, Coyotes SC of Arizona	20	23.38	19	43.24	66.62
20	3	Madison Jones, Coyotes SC of Arizona	18	24.62	20	40.82	65.44
WD		Louisa Warwin, Individual Member	21	20.86
WD		Jamie Deese, Coyotes SC of Arizona
WD		Ellie Kawamura, All Year FSC
WD		Summer Reyna, Glacier Falls FSC

Novice Men

Place	Start No.	Name	Short Program		Free Skate		Total Score
			Place	Score	Place	Score
1	7	Paolo Borromeo, Los Angeles FSC	1	50.42	1	97.01	147.43
2	5	Harrison Wong, All Year FSC	2	41.30	2	90.57	131.87
3	6	Sahmaro Rockhold, Los Angeles FSC	3	41.29	3	74.86	116.15
4	4	Micah Tang, Coyotes SC of Arizona	4	36.26	4	70.82	107.08
5	2	Darian Weiss, Los Angeles FSC	5	31.27	5	57.14	88.41
6	1	Michael Valdez, All Year FSC	6	27.43	6	51.06	78.49
7	3	Matthew Rounis, Coyotes SC of Arizona	7	26.48	7	46.05	72.53

Junior Men

Place	Start No.	Name	Short Program		Free Skate		Total Score
			Place	Score	Place	Score
1	3	Nix Phengsy, All Year FSC	1	57.20	2	91.74	148.94
2	2	Spencer Howe, Los Angeles FSC	2	45.01	1	94.33	139.34
3	1	Timothy Boore, Pasadena FSC	3	38.61	3	76.86	115.47