Somehow, the pairs event has potentially been the most stable (relatively speaking) out of all the disciplines this season. And there’s another great matchup this week at Cup of China with two World medalist pairs facing off for both the title and to get into the Grand Prix Final.
Cup of China predictions
Official hashtags: #GPCOC #GPFigure
Grand Prix Final: Mapping the scenarios
GOLD Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin GER - If there’s any pair in this very exciting season so far who has announced themselves as the frontrunners this season, it’s Hase/Volodin, who not only has been undefeated so far, but have beaten both Conti/Macii and World champions Stellato/Deschamps. This is looking very similar to what we saw last year on the Grand Prix from them, and this is just another stepping stone toward the Final for them.
SILVER Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii ITA - Two golds and a silver this season so far, they are in for another Grand Prix matchup against Hase/Volodin, who is the only pair this season to beat them. Everything about this week is about setting themselves up for an even bigger rematch—at the Grand Prix Final in a couple of weeks.
BRONZE Lia Pereira/Trennt Michaud CAN - After a strong short program that put them in podium territory at Grand Prix de France, Pereira/Michaud made multiple errors in the free skate there and dropped to fifth. They haven’t found the consistency in their free skate that they were having last year, but they are, on paper, favored to take bronze here if they can hold it together.
4. Katie McBeath/Daniil Parkman USA - They were disappointed with their seventh place finish at Skate America. The side-by-sides were not firing for them there, and that element is what sets them apart in difficult content than everyone else here. A solid skate this week will set them up well with a competitive US Nationals coming up in two months.
5. Ioulia Chtchetinina/Michal Wozniak POL - Sixth at Skate Canada, Chtchetinina/Wozniak have been really impressing this season with their improvements in their second season together.
6. Camille Kovalev/Pavel Kovalev FRA - Their performances at their home Grand Prix was a solid step forward for the French champions, who have been trying to get back to the form they were in a year ago. They were seventh in Angers and will look to improve on that.
7. Isabella Gamez/Aleksandr Korovin PHI - Gamez/Korovin will be making their Grand Prix debut this week in China. They are coming off some strong performances earlier this season, including personal best scores at John Nicks Invitational.
8. Yuchen Wang/Lei Zhu CHN - The sole Chinese pair at this event, Wang/Zhu return to Cup of China after placing seventh here last year.