It’s time for the last grand prix event before the final!!! Trophée Eric Bompard will hopefully be an exciting event. Let’s take a look at some of the top contenders in each field.
Men
TEB will feature a rematch between Brian Joubert and the young, but talented Takahiko Kozuka who won the Cup of China. I’m not quite sure what the French Federation’s stance on Joubert at the moment. He has the jumps but I feel as if Florent Amodio (who’s also in this competition) is on the rise and may soon replace Joubert as the top French man. If he can be consistent that is. As for any other podium possibilities… Brandon Mroz won silver in his last competition but he’s very s….l…o…w… in all his elements although he has lovely jumps.
Ladies
Mao is back and with a practice sans jumps, we have no clue how she’s going to do. If Alissa Czisny has seriously gotten consistency, she can take the gold if Mao bombs her ass off as she did at NHK. She’s had quite a bit of time to work on her jumps and all I can hope is that she can recover from that devastating event. Mirai Nagasu may be a podium contender but she has a lot of consistency issues as well. At this point, the ladies podium depends on Mao and Alissa but if they’re inconsistent, it’s a bit of a free for all.
Pairs
Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szalkowy are pretty much locked for gold unless they get injured or something. There’s really no competition for them although Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov will be fair contenders for silver. These two seem to be on the rise for Sochi.
Ice Dance
Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat are the lock for gold in ice dance. The competition in this discipline at this point is sad. Just plain sad. Chock and Zuerlin will probably make it to the final just because they had really little competition in their GP events. And then they’ll get crushed in the final. Sigh. I hope that the Shibutanis can somehow end up in the final. I think that even with Samuelson & Bates’ return next year, the Shibushibus will hold onto the #2 spot for U.S. ice dance.
The Cafe’s Picks
Men: Takahiko Kozuka
Ladies: Mao Asada (crosses fingers for her)
Pairs: Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy
Ice Dance: Natalie Pechalat & Fabian Bourzat
The Rinkside Cafe 