2019/20 GP Assignments

[Katt]

I really don't get all the complain about Kolyada's assignments. Other than Yuzuru, no one come close to his GOE/PCS and even BV. He doesn't need to go clean to get silver. Judges are more than ready to give him all the points and his score weren't go down much even when he bomb (unlike Boyang) .He just need to deliever.  Facing Nathan at SA is even harder than Yuzuru at SC. I saw some Kolyada's fans relieved at non COR because he always bomb there.

 

I don't pretend that Rusfed treat him well, tbh they rarely treat any skater well, but his case is abit complicate with the mix of health issue (last season), nerves, and the lack of experience from his team.

[sallycinnamon]

On 6/21/2019 at 12:15 AM, Moria Polonius said:

But his chances to get to GPF are actually pretty good? He's got less stiff competition than Samarin IMO, he's got just 1 opponent at each  comp that he's unlikely to beat, whereas Samarin has 2-3. Rostelecom is a tougher field with Shoma, Zhou, Samarin and Aliev and Kvitelashvili.

 

Rostelecom is tougher and the pressure would be there so much worse for him. I think Kolyada got really good assignments this season.

[Anki]

Both last year and this year, based on the competition, on paper, Kolyada should have easily podiumed. The fact he didn't last year really isn't Russian Fed's fault. I actually think the fact men competition is weaker (knock wood) in SC and NHK compared to the other stops is Russian Fed's doing, since I don't believe Japanese Fed cares to be nice for Yuzu (they sure ain't nice to their own girls allocation)

[anski]

The thing with Misha is not that he might miss GPF imho but that usually top tier 6 skaters get invited to their home countries' competition. RusFed didn't invite Misha to Rostelecom, which is just ugly. On top of that, it's true that Misha will have to face Yuzu twice so it's like they're making his GP extra difficult for no reason.

[Sombreuil]

I can’t help thinking Misha would rather be second to Yuzuru than Chen or Zhou.....

[kaeryth]

5 hours ago, anski said:

The thing with Misha is not that he might miss GPF imho but that usually top tier 6 skaters get invited to their home countries' competition. RusFed didn't invite Misha to Rostelecom, which is just ugly. On top of that, it's true that Misha will have to face Yuzu twice so it's like they're making his GP extra difficult for no reason.

 

Not really. Yes, it sucks the top Russian man is not competing on home ice but on paper he got very very good assignments (RusFed obviously doesn't back him up but I guess when they left him alone the cards fell slightly to his favour).

 

With GP rules 1,2,3 cannot meet in the GP series. Likewise 4,5,6. That means Misha would have to go against either Yuzu, Nathan or Vincent no matter what. I don't think he'll ever win against Nathan with Nathan's inflation unless there's some implosion. Vincent probably... but with the devaluation of the UR deductions and if Vincent is clean we can see his scoring go up. Going against Yuzu, he's almost guaranteed 2 silvers in the field for SC and NHK if he doesn't mess up and that would mean a qualification to GPF. Or if Skate Chanada curse is still lurking he might even get gold (you know when Yuzu messes up his score takes a dive unlike others).

 

Also, if he did get COR, he'd be up against Dima and Samarin who seem to be definitely more favoured by RusFed. I think avoiding COR is a better assignment for him. Yes, it doesn't look good that the top Russian man is not on home ice but I think this will ease the pressure for him in the long run and give him a better shot for GPF.

[shanshani]

I agree that Misha's assignments are fine for him. There's no pressure to win against Yuzu, and the NHK and SC fields aren't particularly strong for men. _{plus if Yuzu bombs and loses to someone, I'd rather it be Misha than anyone else...although Yuzu bombing would probably be followed by Misha bombing if he skated after Yuzu} I suppose Misha could have challenged for gold against Vincent though, depending on the tech panel...though tbh with Misha you get the feeling that having gold in sight would cause him to do worse, not better.

 

12 hours ago, anski said:

The thing with Misha is not that he might miss GPF imho but that usually top tier 6 skaters get invited to their home countries' competition. RusFed didn't invite Misha to Rostelecom, which is just ugly. On top of that, it's true that Misha will have to face Yuzu twice so it's like they're making his GP extra difficult for no reason.

 

Alina didn't get Rostelecom either and she's World Champ (nor did Anna Shcherbakova, who is Russian champ). Tbh that's more egregious than Misha not getting it.

[Sukigirl]

4 hours ago, shanshani said:

I agree that Misha's assignments are fine for him. There's no pressure to win against Yuzu, and the NHK and SC fields aren't particularly strong for men. _{plus if Yuzu bombs and loses to someone, I'd rather it be Misha than anyone else...although Yuzu bombing would probably be followed by Misha bombing if he skated after Yuzu} I suppose Misha could have challenged for gold against Vincent though, depending on the tech panel...though tbh with Misha you get the feeling that having gold in sight would cause him to do worse, not better.

 

 

Alina didn't get Rostelecom either and she's World Champ (nor did Anna Shcherbakova, who is Russian champ). Tbh that's more egregious than Misha not getting it.

 

According to Megan Duhamel in T*L’s latest show yes I caved Alina as world champ probably didn’t request for RC, and that’s why Med, as the next Worlds ranking Russian skater, got assigned. If true, it might be because she preferred to skate at a place with less pressure. And it’s apparently not uncommon, as according to Megan D, Tatiana/Max asked to skate outside of Russia when they were Pairs champ too.

 

So I won’t be surprised if, rather than Misha being shafted by his fed, he specifically requested not to be assigned to RC. Competing without the expectations and adoration of a home crowd, and knowing you aren’t expected to win, might do wonders for steadying his competition nerves and building his confidence.

[Katt]

Liza also doesn't like skate at COR, she didn't there even when she was WC/EC/GPF champ. If not Yuzuru, Kolyada have to face Nathan or Vincent. I would say among top 6 men, no one has easier or harder assignments.  

I take a look at GP's assignment again, and I think the ladies's filed in COR is the least scary. A russian sweep could happen. Imo SA=SC>NHK=COC>IDF>COR
As for the men, its quite even, and apart from Nathan vs Shoma, IDF looked like the weakest field, but it would depend on how they skate. Last season, SC's fileds is quite weak on paper but lots of clean SP made the competition more interesting
I don't know much about Ice dance and Pairs but NHK's line up for both looked great. As usual I think there would be one or two surprise in both GPF line up for ladies. 

[sallycinnamon]

According to Tatjana Flade on GS Kolyada told her before the GP assignments came out that he hoped he wouldn't get CoR again because he found it difficult to compete home. He wanted to compete at Skate Canada because he had never been there before + he also said he likes Japan. 

So it seems he really didn't want to get CoR because of pressure, which makes sense. I think the assignments are good for him!

 

The reason why Alina didn't get CoR may be similar too - maybe RusFed wanted her to compete under less pressure so IdF looks like the better choice.

[Moria Polonius]

According to Jack Gallagher, Nathan requested NHK but NHK picked Yuzu. 

 

https://twitter.com/sportsjapan/status/1143883939951439872?s=20

[kaeryth]

17 minutes ago, Moria Polonius said:

According to Jack Gallagher, Nathan requested NHK but NHK picked Yuzu. 

 

https://twitter.com/sportsjapan/status/1143883939951439872?s=20

 

The dive in ratings when Yuzu's not around must've really hurt them.

[Vulnavia]

1 hour ago, Moria Polonius said:

According to Jack Gallagher, Nathan requested NHK but NHK picked Yuzu. 

 

https://twitter.com/sportsjapan/status/1143883939951439872?s=20

 

So, I realize that Nathan is the current world champion and can request any GPs that he wants, but to request not only your own home GP but also the current silver medalist's (and reigning Olympic champion's) home GP as well? That's...a choice, and I'll just say that personally I'm glad that NHK picked Yuzu. 

[mimimo]

4 minutes ago, Vulnavia said:

 

So, I realize that Nathan is the current world champion and can request any GPs that he wants, but to request not only your own home GP but also the current silver medalist's (and reigning Olympic champion's) home GP as well? That's...a choice, and I'll just say that personally I'm glad that NHK picked Yuzu. 

I'm guessing Nathan requested NHK because it's around Thanksgiving break, so NHK is probably easier to do given his college schedule. Even so, I hope he didn't seriously expect NHK to pick him over Yuzu. Like you said, NHK is Yuzu's home turf. 

[Katt]

Host's pick  >>>>>> skater's pick. Sometime you get what you want (Kolyada), sometime you don't and I'm sure Nathan isn't the only one who didn't get the GP that he request. Javi used to do back to back event when he was WC.

 

Of course some people would use this for another round of lets blame X for Y's assignment 

 

Edit : Seem like Nathan said NHK is the best choice but the 2nd option IDF is also good. No COC because he's busy that time. He didn't mention any skater, its Jack who drag Yuzuru's name into this 

https://twitter.com/IceTimePodcast1/status/1144013509455314945