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Mel's Weekly#9: December 1, 2004After a brief hiatus for the trials of the end of the semester and the American Thanksgiving holiday (my cousins are the cutest kids in the world, I am sure of it!), I'm back, only to find another Grand Prix season closed. Out of respect to those strong-willed individuals who are somehow able to go "unspoiled" until everything airs on television, I'll warn them to skip this weekly until they're ready to hear the final Grand Prix standings. For the first time since its inaugural year in the 1995-96 season, a Canadian lady has qualified for this competition...and better yet, two Canadian ladies will be ready to fight in the battle of the best in Beijing. That's right, the third and fourth qualifiers to the final are Canadians Cynthia Phaneuf and Joannie Rochette. Although I am unwilling to jump on the pressure-filled bandwagon that proclaims them co-Olympic gold medalists in Turino, I am so proud of both girls and what they have accomplished this season. They'll have quite a field to fight in Beijing at the Final. Two world champions, Irina Slutskaya and Shizuka Arakawa are favourites for the top two spots. Although Slutskaya beat Arakawa for the gold at last week's Cup of Russia, Arakawa was ill throughout the competition and we did not see Shizuka at her best. In the event that both ladies go clean at the Final...well, let's just say that I'm glad I'm not a judge. Rounding out the field are two countrywomen of Shizuka, athletic Japanese phenoms, Miki Ando and Yoshie Onda. Young Miki looks to prove that she's not just another teenage jumping bean and Yoshie has a task ahead of her - she wants to show her federation that leaving her off of last year's world championship team was a mistake. All three Japanese ladies also have Japanese nationals on their minds as well - it takes place at the end of the month. On the men's side, considering that defending world champion Evgeni Plushenko only competed in one event, there aren't really any surprises. Coming off of a very strong opening, American Johnny Weir, one of the "quadless wonders," holds the first qualifying spot and he will do everything he can to fend off a strong field. Canadian Emanuel Sandhu took home the title last year, when he was the alternate. This year, he has the advantage of preparation time, but also the disadvantage of quite a load of pressure. Can he hold up? Qualifying just ahead of him is his teammate Jeffrey Buttle, who has perpetually been in Emanuel's shadow as far as head-to-head competitions go. He looks to finally come out ahead and prove that he has a lot to offer. Always a force, yet always in the background, Chengjiang Li of China may show us that he's tired of playing second fiddle and one can never count out Brian Joubert, the best that France has to offer. Rounding out the field will be another American, a newcomer to the top ranks of the world, though he comes with years of experience. Ryan Jahnke has already proven that this season's strategy of starting eaDarly has worked to his advantage...now we watch to see how far he can go. Dance is dance, and of course no one is surprised to see six of the top teams in the world in the final...the only surprise is perhaps in the order that they qualified. After winning a bronze medal at last year's final, Belbin & Agosto arrived on the scene. They qualified second this year, ahead of world silver medalists Denkova & Staviyski. This will be the first time Belbin & Agosto will compete against either Denkova & Staviyski or world champions Navka & Kostomarov since last year's worlds and fans are anxious to see how they stack up. Fourth through sixth will likely be a separate battle and the players are Chait & Sakhnovski, Dubreuil & Lauzon, and Delobel & Schoenfelder. In a country where no one has "home team advantage," I hope to see a fair and well-skated competition. Maybe the best team triumph! Finally, the pairs field probably contains the most surprises. Due to the withdrawal of three teams that were expected to fight for a spot in the final, there are some new faces to the scene - Americans Inoue & Baldwin squeezed into the last spot with Russia's Obertas & Slavnov just ahead of them. Three of the top four teams in the world are Chinese and while Shen & Zhao are expected to dominate, one never knows what will happen in the risky sport of pairs skating. If they falter, Russians Petrova & Tikhonov hope to be ready to step in ahead of the other Chinese teams, Zhang & Zhang and Pang & Tong. Will the Chinese sweep in Beijing? It would be quite the hometown story if they did, but the other three teams aren't just going to stand by and let that happen. The 2005 Grand Prix Final will take place in Beijing, China, December 16-19. Meanwhile, the juniors take the stage in their final this weekend in Helsinki, Finland. I'll cover that next week. Archives -- Contact -- Features -- Guestbook -- Links -- Webmistress (c)2004 Melanie L. Hoyt All rights reserved. |