International Figure Skating – September-October 2019

OCTOBER 2019 IFSMAGAZINE.COM 37

LADIES MEN PAIRS ICE DANCE

Loena HENDRICKX BEL Nicolas NADEAU CAN Severin KIEFER AUTMiriam ZIEGLER/ Carolane SOUCISSE/Shane FIRUS CAN

Laurine LECAVELIER FRA Kévin AYMOZ FRA Morgan CIPRÈS FRAVanessa JAMES/ Marie-Jade LAURIAULT/Romain LE GAC FRA

Maé-Bérénice MÉITÉ FRA Romain PONSART FRA Minerva Fabienne HASE/Nolan SEEGERT GER Guillaume CIZERON FRAGabriella PAPADAK IS/

TBD FRA TBD FRA Aleksandr GALLIAMOV RUSAnastasia MISHINA/ TBD FRA

Wakaba HIGUCHI JPN Morisi KVITELASHVILI GEO Daria PAVLIUCHENKO/ Denis KHODYKIN RUS CharlMarco FABBRI ITAène GUIGNARD/

Kaori SAKAMOTO JPN Daniel SAMOHIN ISR Alexander ENBERT RUSNatalia ZABIIAKO/ Maksym SPODYRIEV POLNatalia KALISZEK/

Yuna SHIRAIWA JPN Shoma UNO JPN Ashley CAIN-GRIBBLE/Timothy LEDUC USA Jonathan GUERREIRO RUSTiffany ZAGORSKI/

Alena KOSTORNAIA RUS Alexander SAMARIN RUS Brandon FRAZIER USAHaven DENNEY/ Adrià DÍAZ ESPOlivia SMART/

Maria SOTSKOVA RUS Anton SHULEPOV RUS Madison CHOCK/Evan BATES USA

Alina ZAGITOVA RUS Sergei VORONOV RUS Quinn CARPENTER USA Lorraine McNAMARA/

Mariah Bell USA Nathan CHEN USA

Ting CUI USA Tomoki HIWATASHI USA

INTERNATIONAUX DE FRANCE – November 1-3 – Grenoble

Grenoble

I

nternationaux de France, the third
event of the Series, takes place
once again in the southern city
of Grenoble.
Russia’s Alina Zagitova will be looking
to continue her successful run from last
season and is the prohibitive favorite to
take the title. Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto will
be Zagitova’s main rival in France and has
the potential to cause an upset. Third place
is wide open.
Russia’s Alena Kostornaia, the reigning
Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and
Ting Cui of the U.S., the 2019 World junior
bronze medalist, will make their senior
Grand Prix debuts at this competition.
Nathan Chen will be aiming for
victory in France and a place at the Grand
Prix Final.
Japan’s Shoma Uno will be his main rival
and the battle for gold will undoubtedly be
between these two men.
The Russian veteran Sergei Voronov and
reigning French champion Kévin Aymoz

Kévin Aymoz

are the frontrunners to take the bronze.

In pairs, Vanessa James and Morgan

Ciprès can expect to be challenged by the

Russian team of Natalia Zabiiako and

Alexander Enbert.

The French team are currently balancing

tra ining sessions w ith James’ pa r ticipation

in the Canadian reality show “Battle of

the Blades.” They were hoping for two

assignments closer to the end of the Series

but that did not pan out.

Reigning World champions Gabriella

Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron are

shoo-ins to capture their fourth consecutive

ice dance crown on home soil.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the

U.S. should take the silver, barring any

unforeseen disasters.

My prediction is three teams will battle

it out for the bronze: Italy’s Charlène

Guignard and Marco Fabbri; Tiffany

Zagorski and Jonathan Guerreiro of

Russia; and Poland’s Natalia Kaliszek and

Maksym Spodyriev.