Most surprising medalist of the 2019-20 Grand Prix?

[Colonel Green]

Denney/Frazier as double-medalists (and the only US pairs medalists) was certainly a contender. I also weighed Fear/Gibson's bronze at SCI -- while these two were known to be capable of scoring well, ice dance rankings are typically so rigid (until they aren't) that a surprise medalist is usually not even a thing at a major event, and there was no particular reason to expect they could beat Hawayek/Baker. I went, in the end, with Hase/Seegert.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

None of those. Kevin Aymoz.

And Im trilled.

But Ill go for Roman then.

 

[meer]

Mariah Bell x2

 

[skatingguy]

I went with Ignatov because I'm sure I could have picked him out of a line up if I had to last month.

 

[Seerek]

Other. Considering who else was in the field (Tennell, Medvedeva), Young You's bronze at Skate Canada was most surprising, imo.

 

[Gris]

Ignatov because I knew very little of him before Rostelecom. Sorry Makar.

 

[Vash01]

I picked Ignatov because I had barely heard his name in the past (and the present).

 

[skateboy]

I voted for Han Yan. What a comeback!

 

[Karen-W]

I went with D/F because they didn't medal just once but twice, and that was very surprising. Even with a weak field at IdF, given they were going up against C-G/L at both of their events, I would have picked Ash & Tim to medal ahead of Haven & Brandon at least once.

 

[Colonel Green]

Mariah Bell x2

Other. Considering who else was in the field (Tennell, Medvedeva), Young You's bronze at Skate Canada was most surprising, imo.

Because I'm considerate, I added your choices to the poll. I had been debating whether to include Mariah or not, but initially decided against it because I felt her past results made her medaling at least a reasonable prospect.

 

[text_skate]

For me Hase/Seegert, because they're not there yet, and depend on mistakes of others.

For me the other skaters in the poll have the potential to medal without depending on mistakes of others. Their success depends on (lacking) consistency, nerves, judging (ur calls)

Han Yan was a surprise, too, but he has all the skills. I didn't expect him to deliver two mostly clean performances.
Ignatov and Sadovsky have the potential to medal, but both are inconsistent.

 

[firstflight]

I picked F/G medaling at Skate Canada over H/B. This is ice dance so we’re not talking about falling on jumps, etc. Based on challenger scores, a 118 FD wasn’t obviously in the works for F/G. Also, H/B weren’t obviously “in trouble” heading into the event. This first head-to-head defeat was always going to be a surprise, IMO, given their gap of 4 places at worlds.

 

[Karen-W]

For me Hase/Seegert, because they're not there yet, and depend on mistakes of others.

For me the other skaters in the poll have the potential to medal without depending on mistakes of others. Their success depends on (lacking) consistency, nerves, judging (ur calls)

Han Yan was a surprise, too, but he has all the skills. I didn't expect him to deliver two mostly clean performances.
Ignatov and Sadovsky have the potential to medal, but both are inconsistent.

Hase/Seegert wasn't so much of a surprise to me because that pairs field at CoR was sooooo empty. I figured bronze would be a toss up between them, Ziegler/Kiefer and maybe Stolbova/Novosolev (if they had a stellar debut). H/S and Z/K are solid teams that haven't quite broken through yet so it was really only a matter of time.

I agree about Yan, Ignatov, and Sadovsky, and put Nguyen in the same group.

 

[JasperBoy]

I voted for Roman because when I saw the results I swore for five minutes straight. That must mean I was surprised, shocked, delighted. He's not a little boy anymore and looked quite comfortable at the gala with the other medalists.

 

[briancoogaert]

Roman Sadovski because of Brown, Voronov, Bychenko, Ignatov competing in the same competition ! And he almost finished in 2nd ! Congrats to him

 

[Rock2]

Other. Considering who else was in the field (Tennell, Medvedeva), Young You's bronze at Skate Canada was most surprising, imo.

This is my vote, because of how she stacked up against the field going in. For the others, there was either a home bump or on paper they had a real chance going in.

 

[cs.berlin]

Hase/Seegert wasn't so much of a surprise to me because that pairs field at CoR was sooooo empty. I figured bronze would be a toss up between them, Ziegler/Kiefer and maybe Stolbova/Novosolev (if they had a stellar debut). H/S and Z/K are solid teams that haven't quite broken through yet so it was really only a matter of time.

Yes. And I am in favour of balancing justice: after Grenoble, H/S had made an effort to show what they could really do in Moscow, despite this boring programme (they don't have to be ashamed of the fact that another couple is now flopping).

 

[aliceanne]

I voted for Han Yan (I expected him to no-show), but I thought D/F's career was over so 2 medals was a big surprise. Fear/Gibson seem to be making steady progress, so no great surprise there. Many of the other veterans are hit and miss, so nothing surprises me with them. There is always hope with the young ones.

 

[zigzig]

Young was pretty surprising cuz she came out of nowhere (seriously, Young WHO?) and hit it big with an explosive 3A. Too bad she’s 1 for 4 with that jump cuz she’s actually a semi-decent skater, just in desperate need of better packaging.

 

[RoseRed]

Young was pretty surprising cuz she came out of nowhere (seriously, Young WHO?) and hit it big with an explosive 3A. Too bad she’s 1 for 4 with that jump cuz she’s actually a semi-decent skater, just in desperate need of better packaging.

She's been hyped for quite a while, since she won the Korean national title at 11.

 

[Colonel Green]

She's been hyped for quite a while, since she won the Korean national title at 11.

Yeah, I initially didn't list her as a surprise because she'd been landing (albeit not cleanly) the triple Axel in her Challengers beforehand.

 

[Marco]

Pleasantly surprised by Mariah Bell (both times) and Roman Sadovsky. Been waiting for them to deliver since forever. Bell has shown her consistency throughout the season whereas Sadovsky is still quite up and down. Looking forward to the bloodbath of Canadian Nationals.

But I was most surprised by Alexander Samarin - perhaps not the overall medalling part, but those PCS were indeed surprising, if not frightening.

 

[Kateri]

Han Yan, because he was a trainwreck BEFORE he spent years out with injuries, so who would expect him to have two good skates in a row now??