So, who wants to make some predictions about Worlds?
Gold - Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps
Silver - Conti/Macii
Bronze - Hase/Volodin
4th - Miura/Kihara
5th - Beccari/Guarise
6th - Metelkina/Berulava
7th - Chan/Howe
8th - Hocke/Kunkel
9th - Pereira/Michaud
10th - Pavlova/Sviatchenko
11th - Peng/Wang
12th - Kam/O'Shea
13th - Golubeva/Giotopoulos Moore
14th-16th -
Laurin/Ethier
Vaananen/Clerici
Danilova/Tsiba
And rounding out the top 20 -
Vaipan-Law/Digby
Chtchetinina/Wozniak
Holichenko/Darenskiy
Plazas/Fernandez
Missing the FS cut will be -
Schaller/Mayr
Simioli/Zarbo
Gamez/Korovin
Crafoord/Crafoord
I'm really torn about where I've placed ConMac, MiuKih and ChanHowe.
Theoretically, if ConMac can put together two solid skates then they're easily top 3 - their GPF FS is #2 on the SB and their GPF SP is #4 on the SB. Skate as well as they did there and they could beat SDDes for the title should SDDes crack under hometown pressure. I don't think that will happen and ConMac haven't really had the kind of season that makes me think they'll be able to step up to the top of the podium next week, but they are seasoned competitors and that will hold them in good stead against the newer teams coming up from behind.
HaseVol are my dark-horse surprise bronze pick. I'm rather lukewarm about their programs but Minerva is a fierce competitor and they have already proven at the GPF that they're podium contenders.
MiuKih did NOT look good at 4CCs but my expectation is they'll get WC level PCS and that will hold them up even if they're outskated by BecGuar and/or MetBeru. I think nerves and heightened expectations will play a factor for both BecGuar and MetBeru so I really think their ceiling here is 5th/6th in some order.
ChanHowe are one of the more experienced teams in the field and while we've only seen them in the SP at US Nats, they're still, IMO, the #1 US team and better than the 6 teams I have behind them. HocKun - their programs aren't great this season and she's no more reliable than Emily on the jumping elements, so ChanHowe get the edge with PCS. PerMich have had some struggles in their sophomore season and I have a feeling they're not going to be able to put it together next week any better than they did at the GPF or 4CCs. PavSvia - mid-tier Russians without the 'Skating While Russian' PCS bump. We're going to get another series of quotes from them complaining about their low scores like they did at Euros and we'll all roll our eyes (if we can keep them open after their deadly dull programs, lol). PengWang and KamOShea - flip a coin because they have similar jump issues and they're battling it out for 11th & 12th. They could both easily be beaten by GoluGM if the Aussies can sort out their FS issues and skate up to their potential. Heck, GoluGM could repeat their top 10 finish from last year if they go clean since they're a far more exciting and talented team than the Hungarians.
Then there is a sizable gap and I expect LaurEth, VaanCler and DanTsi to round out the top 16. PlaFern might beat one of those three teams but... Well, this is PlaFern we're talking about and we'll all drop dead from the shock if they can skate clean in the SP. There is a smaller gap with VLDigs, HolDar and ChtWoz - and any of those three could also make it to the top 16 but they're really going to merely be happy to have made the FS.
No doubt exists in my mind about which 4 teams will fail to make the cut - their SP SBs are all well behind the others.