nekkidgator
Active Member
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So, looking at the top 20 finishers in the ladies GP standings, all 20 hail from 1) Russia 2)Japan 3)USA or 4)Korea. It has been an obvious trend over the last decade that Russia was headed towards ladies' dominance, with Japan, USA and Canada trying to keep up. Now with Osmond (CAN) retired and Daleman (CAN) floundering, Kostner (ITA) finished, and Tursynbaeva out injured, there seems to be nobody save the Koreans even showing up to challenge the big 3. Non-Russian Europe, Canada and China have no real contenders currently.
It is looking like the top 10 at Worlds will likely be these 4 countries alone, with a possible medals sweep by Russia by 3 first year seniors. To that end, there are parallels to 1991, the first Worlds after school figures were eliminated. USA ladies had 2 medalists at 1990 Worlds (Trenary and Holly Cook), but neither made the World team the following year, as Yamaguchi, Harding, and Kerrigan won the 3 spots and went on to sweep the medals at Worlds when Midori Ito showed up injured and jumped out of the rink, literally. This year, it is quite possible world medalists Zagitova and medvedeva will not even qualify for Worlds this year (just like Trenary and Cook). Let's just hope with all this Russian competitiveness, we don't get another knee-whacking scandal in 2 years.
It is looking like the top 10 at Worlds will likely be these 4 countries alone, with a possible medals sweep by Russia by 3 first year seniors. To that end, there are parallels to 1991, the first Worlds after school figures were eliminated. USA ladies had 2 medalists at 1990 Worlds (Trenary and Holly Cook), but neither made the World team the following year, as Yamaguchi, Harding, and Kerrigan won the 3 spots and went on to sweep the medals at Worlds when Midori Ito showed up injured and jumped out of the rink, literally. This year, it is quite possible world medalists Zagitova and medvedeva will not even qualify for Worlds this year (just like Trenary and Cook). Let's just hope with all this Russian competitiveness, we don't get another knee-whacking scandal in 2 years.