From left:Pasquale Camerlengo,
Andrew Poje, Kaitlyn Weaver, Nathalie Pechalat, Fabian Bourzat, Madison
Hubbell, Zach Donohue, Sarah Arnold, Justin Trojeck and Anjelika Krylova
At 2011 Worlds, PECHALAT / BOURZAT placed 4th behind Shibutanis by 0.25 scores and Weaver/Poje placed 5th behind Shibutani by 3.47
If I have to categorized two powerhouses, I would like to define the dual between Zoueva/Shpilbandvs. Krylova/Camerlengolike this.
Both North Americanized
Russia Ice Dance vs. Italian/Frace + a little Russian Ice Dance
Recently, traditaional dynasty, Russian Ice Dance started to pursue them to prepare Sochi Olympics.
but didn't keep pace with them.
In Cup of China, Reigning Russian National Champion Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev won Shibutanis in Cup of China, but in Russia they placed 3th behind Davis/White and Weaver/Poje
At Grand Prix Final, they placed 6th.
Elena ILINYKH / Nikita KATSALAPOV in Japan, placed 3rd behind Weaver/Poje and Shibutanis,
and did not qualify for Grand Prix Final.
In last Grand Prix Finals, there were 6 teams
Zoueva/Shpilband 3 teams - Davis / White, Virtue/Moir, Shibutanis
Krylova/Camerlengo 2 teams - PECHALAT / BOURZA, Weaver/Poje Russia 1 team - Bobrova / Soloviev
It was not upset, because Pechalat/Bourza throws away their bronze medal at last Worlds and gave it to Shibutanis just before ending of the free program due to fall.
Virtue/Moir won and Davis/White failed to continue consecutive wins.
What about this worlds?
Gold vs Silver - competition between Zoueva/Shpilband teams
Bronze vs. 4th between Krylova/Camerlengo teams
http://aldridge-eaton.ice-dance.com/blog
For the dual betweenDavis/Whiteand Virue/Moir, a little mistake will decide their medals.
For dual between Weaver/Poje and Pechalat/Bourza,
let us see which will affect Pechalat/Bourza's performance, Pechalat's nose injury or home town advantage?
My prediction
1 Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR (CAN) 2 Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE (USA) 3 Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE (CAN) 4 Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT (FRA) 5 Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI (USA) 6 Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV (RUS)
Here are video links for contender's programs.
Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR (CAN)
4CC SD
4CC FD
Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE (USA)
4CC SD
4CC FD
Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE (CAN)
4CC SD
4CC FS
Nathalie PECHALAT / Fabian BOURZAT (FRA)
EC SD
EC FD
Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI (USA)
US Nationals SD
US Nationals FD
Ekaterina BOBROVA / Dmitri SOLOVIEV (RUS)
EC SD
EC FD
If you have any difficulty in watching the Video clips, please let me know by writing comments. It will be also fun to look around other posts in my blog through Google translator. But remember that don't trust the translator so much, because it gives you often many errors especially from Korean into English. Finally, Worlds week !!! Enjoy!!! - spiral9509 -
"Skating is Language"