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Mel's Editorial#17: October 6, 2005Juniors Look to the Final With 5 of the 8 Junior Grand Prix events completed, the Final is looking like it will be an exciting competition. Taking place in Ostrava, Czech Republic, between November 24 and 27, some of the participants have already clinched one of the eight spots. However, there are still spots to be won and well, I feel like it's my job to offer some sort of educated guesses as to what might happen. With two wins, in Andorra and in Montréal, Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir are favourites for gold in the final. Following a real breakout season on the junior circuit that ended with a silver medal at the World Junior Championships, they were expected to dominate this year's Junior Grand Prix and so far, they have not disappointed. Accompanying them will be their training mates, Meryl Davis & Charlie White. An injury kept them from qualifying for U.S. Nationals last season, which in turn, kept them from representing the United States at Junior Worlds. However, there was no sign of any time away from competition as they kept pace with Virtue & Moir in Andorra and brought home a gold medal of their own from Sofia. With two silver medals, from Slovakia and Sofia, we will also see the new pairing of Anna Cappellini & Luca LaNotte at the final. Their fluid style has been appreciated by judging panels and they have already managed to smooth over much of the "roughness" that comes in the first year of skating together. Among those that are not yet finished with their second event, the Russian teams of Mikhailova & Sergeev and Gorshkova & Tkachenko are expected to qualify, favourites to win the events in Croatia and Poland, respectively. With three spots available after that, I would have to say that I expect two more Russian teams, Platonova & Maximishin and newcomers Bobrova & Soloviev to medal in their respective final events, giving them a spot. Platonova & Maximishin are the likely champions for the last event in Japan and Bobrova & Soloviev will likely win another silver medal behind their teammates, Gorshkova & Tkachenko, in Poland. Finally, with no other competition for the top two spots in Croatia this weekend, Trina Pratt & Todd Gilles should be making an appearance in the Final. So, in conclusion:
(*) denotes my prediction, not actual results In the ladies event, only two girls can start booking their flights to Ostrava. With two wins, in Slovakia and Bulgaria, Korea's Yu-Na Kim is the favourite to win the Final. The runner-up to Japanese sensation Mao Asada at both the Junior Grand Prix Final and the World Junior Championships, Kim has definitely lived up to the expectations that she would be in a league of her own on this year's junior circuit. Joining her in Ostrava will be Elene Gedevanishvili, coming off a bronze in Slovakia and a win in Tallinn. Of the other girls who have completed both events, the next in line is Katy Taylor, the world junior bronze medallist from 2004, but who has struggled with inconsistency since then. However, with only 22 points, it's likely that she will end up being an alternate. For the remaining six spots, there are eight girls with good chances of accumulating the points needed to make the final. This weekend in Croatia, the favourites for the top two spots are Veronika Kropotina and Christine Zukowski, each with 13 points thus far. The fifth spot will likely be taken next week in Gdansk by Akiko Kitamura, coming off of a win in Montréal. That leaves three spots to be decided at the last event in Japan, most likely going to the three medallists. The catch is that there are five girls competing in Japan who have already medaled once on the Junior Grand Prix and it looks to be a tight competition. Fighting for the medals should be Mai Asada, Aki Sawada, Megan Oster, Juliana Cannarozzo, and Laura Dutertre. Asada and Sawada would be my first two picks and for the third spot, I'd have to go with Oster over Cannarozzo and Dutertre for experience, and well, because she's from Kenosha, and I live about two hours away from Kenosha. Logic is a wonderful thing. In more understandable table format, my predictions:
(*) denotes my prediction, not actual results Archives -- Contact -- Features -- Guestbook -- Links -- Webmistress (c)2004-7 Melanie L. Hoyt All rights reserved. |