First Look: Skate Canada International
What’s up, Saskatchewan?
1. Ladies look to make their case for Olympic spots
No field for Olympic qualification feels as tight as that of the Japanese ladies. They only have two Olympic spots and at least four women who could conceivably be Olympic medal contenders. Marin Honda in her first senior Grand Prix season will be looking to send a message to Rika Hongo who will be at the event (and who will be looking to jump into the Olympic conversation) and her countrywomen at home. Honda could totally top favorite Kaetlyn Osmond if she can put out solid programs.
Similarly, two American ladies, Ashley Wagner and Karen Chen will be in Regina this weekend. Karen’s the reigning U.S. champ but has had some issues with consistency throughout her career and again early this season. She just announced a change to her long program which could either be really good and turn things around, or be messy since it’ll be so new. We haven’t seen Ashley in international competition yet this season. She beat Karen (barely) at a club competition in California and is bringing back two old programs. Both will be looking to make their case for an Olympic spot at Skate Canada. All things considered, both Karen and Ashley could medal (if not win) at this event if they skate as well as we know they can.
2. James/Ciprès v. Duhamel/Radford
The favorite to win the pairs event is likely reigning world silver medalists Savchenko/Massot from Germany, BUT this is the second time in as many months we get a James/Ciprès (France) and Duhamel/Radford (Canada) matchup. If James/Ciprès can eke out another win over the Canadians, they’re putting themselves in serious medal contention as we get into championship and Olympic season. It’s also not crazy to think that either of those teams could win gold over the Germans.
Canadian pairs team Iliushechkina/Moscovitch will also be looking to make the case for an Olympic spot.
3. Can Patrick beat Shoma?
Patrick Chan has won Skate Canada five times since 2010 (in 2012 he got silver and he took 2014 off). He’s got home-field advantage and history on his side. Yet it feels like this might be the year that changes. Patrick’s up for a tough fight with Shoma Uno who delivered stunning performances at Lombardia Trophy in September, including a five-quad free skate. Patrick, on the other hand, has announced he’ll cut down from the number of quads he was doing last year (which was already on the low end of the top men).
If Shoma skates as well as he did at Lombardia, he’ll be really difficult for Patrick to beat. But Shoma did have some flaws in his free program at Japan Open, and if he makes enough mistakes he could be vulnerable.
4. Can Jason Brown medal?
Jason Brown is among four American men most poised to take one of the U.S.’s three Olympic spots. He’ll need a strong showing at Skate Canada to make the statement that he deserves one of those spots. Nathan Chen is all but a lock for one spot so Brown is really trying to prove that he’s better than Adam Rippon and/or Vincent Zhou. Brown isn’t strong on the technical side of his scores, so he’ll need to skate really clean in Regina. Snatching a bronze medal is totally in the realm of possibility if he can make that happen.
5. Can anyone beat Virtue/Moir?
No, Tessa and Scott would have to fall on their faces to lose this event. But I’m sure Canada’s #2 ice dance team, Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje will do their best to try and top their countrymen.
On the American side of things, Hubbell/Donohue and Hawayek/Baker will be looking for a good start to their respective seasons. Hubbell and Donohue surely want to prove that they’re more than the third-tier American team while Hawayek/Baker will be looking to pull off some upsets this season to make it onto the Olympic team.
If you’re in the U.S. you can watch Skate Canada Friday and Saturday on Ice Network, NBC’s Olympic Channel, by scouring the internet for a stream, or by following #SCI17 on Twitter. Here’s the schedule (times for the East Coast of the US):
10/27
2:57 p.m. Ladies short | 4:50 p.m. Short dance | 7:57 p.m. Men’s short | 9:48 p.m. Pairs short.
10/28
1:04 p.m. Ladies free | 3:13 p.m. Free dance | 6:50 p.m. Men’s free | 9:05 Pairs free
And here’s the lineup
Ladies: Kailani Craine (Australia), Larkyn Austman (Canada), Alaine Chartrand (Canada), Kaetlyn Osmond (Canada), Laurine Lecavelier (France), Marin Honda (Japan), Rika Hongo (Japan), Anna Pogorilaya (Russia), Maria Sotskova (Russia), Karen Chen (US), Courtney Hicks (US), Ashley Wagner (US).
Dance: Soucisse/Firus (Canada), Virtue/Moir (Canada), Weaver/Poje (Canada), Lorenz/Polizoakis (Germany), Kaliszek/Spodyriev (Poland), Loboda/Drozd (Russia), Smart/Diaz (Spain), Agafonova/Ucar (Turkey), Hawayek/Baker (US), Hubbell/Donohue (US).
Men: Brendan Kerry (Australia), Jorik Hendrickx (Belgium), Patrick Chan (Canada), Keegan Messing (Canada), Nicolas Nadeau (Canada), Michal Brezina (Czech Republic), Paul Fentz (Germany), Takahito Mura (Japan), Shoma Uno (Japan), Jun Hwan Cha (South Korea), Alexander Samarin (Russia), Jason Brown (US).
Pairs: Duhamel/Radford (Canada), Ilyushechkina/Moscovitch (Canada), Kolodziej/Deschamps (Canada), Peng/Jin (China), James/Ciprès (France), Savchenko/Massot (Germany), Zabiiako/Enbert (Russia), Denney/Frazier (US).
