For World champion Ilia Malinin, this week’s Skate America marks his first time on the Grand Prix with that title in hand, and what we see in Texas this week could be a signal to how he will handle the pressure of this pre-Olympic season. On paper, he’s the odds-on favorite, so perhaps it’s a question of who is fighting for the other two spots on the podium—and that could very well be the intriguing story this week.
Skate America predictions
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GOLD Ilia Malinin USA - No time wasted for Malinin. Without Japan Open this year, he started his season with a full Challenger event at Lombardia, where he already broke 100 in the short and 200 in the free. It’s hard to see anyone challenging Malinin this week given how strong he looked already this early in the season.
SILVER Kao Miura JPN - Not quite the blazing start to his season like he had last year, but Miura has been turning it on for the Grand Prix the past two years. After a superb domestic event over the summer where he broke 200 in his free skate with four quads, he has not had that same kind of skate since, finishing fourth at Lombardia and then second at Regionals last month.
BRONZE Deniss Vasiljevs LAT - Just two weeks ago, Vasiljevs perhaps had one of the strongest overall competition skates of his life, taking silver there behind Junhwan Cha. It’s been a solid start to his season, and his triple axel has generally looked good. If he can keep his rotations in check this week, the podium is very much there for him to stand on. And if he does medal, it would (crazily enough) only be his second career Grand Prix medal. Oh, and that Bayadère free skate? It’s stunning.
4. Lucas Broussard USA - Last year, Broussard looked like he might have been ready to take his first senior season by storm, but it was a snowballing of issues with equipment problems and injuries, and he eventually cut his season short. But so far this season, he’s looked solid, with wins at Cranberry Cup to open his season and then at Regionals last month. If there’s anyone who could be surprise medalist here, it’s Broussard.
5. Nika Egadze GEO - Fifth at Lombardia and then bronze at Denis Ten Memorial, Egadze comes back to Allen, Texas, having taken fourth here last year. Consistency has been his issue, but we know he can string together clean programs. Just depends on who shows up this week.
6. Koshiro Shimada JPN - One event down this season, and it was somewhat middling for Shimada. He was fifth at Regionals last month, and nothing really seemed to be clicking for him technically. We’ve seen him shine on the Grand Prix before, and it will take a big turnaround from that performance at Regionals to get him up with the top guys here.
7. Nozomu Yoshioka JPN - Yoshioka has proven himself to be a very up and down skater. Last year at Skate America, he put up a big short program and ended up sixth overall, but then he never really improved past that the rest of the season. He was just at the same Regionals as Shimada and bested him there by a few points, though neither skated very well.
8. Donovan Carrillo MEX - It’s a big week for Carrillo, because his top 15 finish at Worlds last season brought him back to the Grand Prix this year. Two years ago in his GP debut at Skate America, he was disappointed with a 12th-place finish. But he’s looking solid already, without the injuries that had been nagging him the past few years. A top six finish would be spectacular.
8. Maxim Naumov USA - The enigma that is Max Naumov continues to confound and confuse. Two years in a row, he’s put up spectacular skating at Nationals, only to look like a completely different skater when he goes international. It was similar at Nebelhorn last month,w here he finished 11th. His talent is there, but can he put it together?
9. Francois Pitot FRA - After his 11th-place finish at Lombardia, Pitot came back with a very strong free skate at French Masters to win that event. This is his first fully-senior season and his Grand Prix debut, and we’ve seen great stuff from him on the Junior Grand Prix.
11. Wesley Chiu CAN - The technique is all there, but the consistency isn’t. Chiu has so much potential both technically and artistically but just hasn’t been able to put together complete competitions. He was 14th at Nebelhorn to start his international season.
12. Kevin Aymoz FRA - At this point, it’s tough to even imagine if Aymoz can put together a competition where he is able to find his skating for the entirety of the two programs. Whatever it is that has plagued him has made him completely surrender one program in the last four competitions he’s skated in, dating back to the Grand Prix Final last year. It happened again just three weeks ago at French Masters, where he had a decent short and scored 83 points, then followed it up with a free skate that only scored one point higher than his short.