If you look at the ladies’ field at Rostelecom Cup this week, four names immediately pop up as podium favorites over the rest of the competition. And all four have a shot at making it to the Grand Prix Final coming up in early December. Once again, though, it will be Alexandra Trusova and her technical arsenal that will be on full display, making her the favorite for her second Grand Prix title.
Rostelecom Cup predictions
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GOLD Alexandra Trusova RUS - Gold at Nepela Memorial, and then gold again in her Grand Prix debut at Skate Canada, the two-time World junior champion comes in very much favored to win her second Grand Prix title and book her spot in the Final. She’s upgraded her technical content this season, with an incredibly intimidating lineup of quads in her free skate. Where she will be most vulnerable will be in the short program. Watch again for her component marks relative to everyone else’s.
SILVER Satoko Miyahara JPN - After a title at US Classic and then a somewhat subpar showing at Japan Open, Miyahara returned to competition last week with silver at Cup of China. Having just added Lee Barkell to her coaching team, she isn’t expecting overnight improvements on the technical side, but her components are stronger than ever with these two programs this season. Another silver will put her back into the Final for a fifth consecutive season.
BRONZE Evgenia Medvedeva RUS - There may be a lot to unpack at Rostelecom Cup this week for Medvedeva. She’s back in Russia in international competition for the first time since 2018 Europeans, and with that comes the pressure of skating a home and knowing that she needs to stay close to Trusova with Russian Nationals coming up. After a fifth-place finish at Skate Canada, it will be incredibly difficult for her to make it to the Grand Prix Final, but it’s less about that for her here. Two clean programs will go a long way to keeping her motivation and confidence up, knowing that it will be difficult for her to make it back to Worlds again this season.
4. Mariah Bell USA - We’ve seen Bell’s consistency - and results - improve steadily over the past couple of seasons. And so far this season, it’s been the best that she’s ever looked. Two weeks ago at Internationaux de France, she took bronze, her first Grand Prix medal since 2016, with two very strong programs. But perhaps the most promising outcome of that competition was the visible rise in her component scores, which have been hampering her progress the past couple of years even if she skated cleanly. We’ll see if they maintain this week.
5. Yuhana Yokoi JPN - It feels like we’ve been awaiting Yokoi’s senior debut for many years now. We’ve seen her shine at Japan Nationals and on the junior level, but often on the heels of a poor short program and with a comeback with a brilliant free skate. She makes her senior Grand Prix debut this week, having taken bronze at Finlandia Trophy to start her season.
6. Yuna Shiraiwa JPN - Still on the road to recovery from an illness earlier in the season that kept her from training 100%, Shiraiwa, at her best, can be a medal contender here. And though her consistency wasn’t there at Internationaux de France two weeks ago, her improved skating basics were definitely on display. She can definitely be a dark horse this week if her jumps are back in full force.
7. Alexia Paganini SUI - It was at this very competition last season where Paganini had a career breakthrough, finishing fourth in a very strong field. She has had a decent, though not spectacular, few competitions in the past few months, most recently ninth at Skate Canada.
8. Ekaterina Ryabova AZE - She was one of the surprises of last season’s Worlds, with some strong technical skills that helped her finish 13th in her Worlds debut. She will be making her Grand Prix debut this week.
9. Nicole Schott GER - Schott has started this season off very well, taking bronze at Nebelhorn and seventh at Internationaux de France. Her lack of a triple lutz and lower technical base value are still going to make it difficult for her to compete with the best here.
10. Stanislava Konstantinova RUS - It’s been a rough season for Konstantinova thus far, the inconsistency in her jumps has kept her from getting results that she’s been used to. The snap in her jumps is just not quite there yet, and it contributed to a recent 11th-place finish at Skate America.
11. Emmi Peltonen FIN - Always with the potential to dazzle, Peltonen has never really figured out how to put two good skates in competition on an even somewhat consistent basis. She was fourth at the Volvo Open last week.
12. Hongyi Chen CHN - Fresh off a ninth place at Cup of China last week, Chen will be going back to back in her first season on the Grand Prix series.