Less than two weeks away from the start of the Olympics, we have one more chance to watch some of the Olympians take the ice and get one more competition under their belts. But for many of these skaters, the 2022 Four Continents Championships is something of a consolation prize for getting oh-so-close to making it to the Olympics, but never underestimate the power of redemption for these skaters. It is their chance to go out of this season with a performance that they can be satisfied with.
Oh, and what else is new? In this unorthodox figure skating season, the Four Continents Championships will not be held in any of the continents that the event is supposed to represent.
2022 Four Continents predictions
Official hashtag: #4ContsFigure
Women Top 10 predictions
GOLD Mai Mihara JPN
SILVER Young You KOR
BRONZE Yelim Kim KOR
4. Rino Matsuike JPN
5. Haein Lee KOR
6. Gabriella Izzo USA
7. Audrey Shin USA
8. Yuhana Yokoi JPN
9. Gabrielle Daleman CAN
10. Kailani Craine AUS
The Korean team for Four Continents has been named for over a month now, and they are the only country this week sending their full named Olympic team to Tallinn. It does feel a bit overkill for them to be here given that the Olympics are so close, but it does give them another chance to be in front of an international panel. The title may come down to the battle between the two Korean Olympians, Young You and Yelim Kim, and Mai Mihara, who heartbreakingly missed the Olympics again after a fourth-place finish at Japan Nationals.
Men Top 10 predictions
GOLD Kazuki Tomono JPN
SILVER Junhwan Cha KOR
BRONZE Kao Miura JPN
4. Camden Pulkinen USA
5. Sena Miyake JPN
6. Jimmy Ma USA
7. Brendan Kerry AUS
8. Corey Circelli CAN
9. Sihyeong Lee KOR
10. Tomoki Hiwatashi USA
In the men’s event, Kazuki Tomono has had a very solid season, earning a bronze at Rostelecom and fifth at Japan Nationals with a number of memorable performances. He’s never been higher than seventh at Four Continents, but he comes into this event stronger than ever. It should be a showdown with teammate Kao Miura and Korean champ Junhwan Cha. A potential dark horse could be Camden Pulkinen, who is coming off the competition of his career at US Nationals, where he finished fifth.
Outside of those names, an entire Olympic team will be named after this event - the two Australian spots for Beijing (one man, one woman) depend on the technical scores that Brendan Kerry, James Min, Kailani Craine, and Victoria Alcantara get here. These scores will combine with the technical scores from Finlandia Trophy - Kerry has a lead of 23.52 over Min, and Craine has a lead of 5.29 over Alcantara.
Pairs predictions
GOLD Audrey Lu/Misha Mitrofanov USA
SILVER Evelyn Walsh/Trennt Michaud CAN
BRONZE Emily Chan/Spencer Howe USA
4. Deanna Stellato/Maxime Deschamps CAN
5. Katie McBeath/Nathan Bartholomay USA
6. Lori-Ann Matte/Thierry Ferland CAN
After Australia pulled their pair teams from the event, it became the battle between the Americans and the Canadians. There are a lot of solid pairs at this event, with Audrey Lu/Misha Mitrofanov as the favorites given how they’ve performed this season. Coming off the disappointment of not making the Olympic team, Evelyn Walsh/Trennt Michaud will be looking for that redemption to potentially go out of this season on their own terms.
Dance Top 5 predictions
GOLD Caroline Green/Michael Parsons USA
SILVER Kana Muramoto/Daisuke Takahashi JPN
BRONZE Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko USA
4. Emily Bratti/Ian Somerville USA
5. Carolane Soucisse/Shane Firus CAN
The dance competition may be a battle between two teams who likely missed Olympic berths by just about two points at the respective national championships. Caroline Green/Michael Parsons will look for the biggest win of their career, and will be facing Japanese silver medalists Kana Muramoto/Daisuke Takahashi, who have both been at Four Continents before, but not with each other. Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko will look to rebound from a disappointing US Nationals and finish their season strongly in Tallinn.