Vamos, Barcelona!
After almost two full months of beautiful skating and shocking outcomes, the 2014 Grand Prix Series is finally drawing to a close. The host of the final is Spain's most visited city, a world-renowned centre of Hispanic art, music and sports: Barcelona (cue the triumphant trumpets).
The city's cultural wealth is not the main reason it was picked to organise the Final though. The real reason was to celebrate Spain's newly formed relationship with figure skating, which has only recently acquired popularity on the Iberian Peninsula. Responsible for this popularity is Javier Fernandez, whose chances of getting on the podium are extremely high. Of course, ideally he would win the competition, but that's easier said than done when he has to beat an unbelievably determined Yuzuru Hanyu and a very ambitious Maxim Kovtun. Nothing is impossible though.
Speaking of impossible, how could one guess the winner of the ladies' event? Four Russian golden girls, none alike the other, all have what it takes to get the gold. But whether it will be the carefree Elena Radionova, the mature Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, the elegant Anna Pogorilaya or the sensitive Julia Lipnitskaia, there's no way of telling. Ashley Wagner and Rika Hongo are also present, and will try to break the Russian chain of command.
In the pairs' event no other country is better represented than China, which is paradoxical because it's very unlikely for either one of the three Chinese pairs to reach the podium. Instead, the obvious winners here are Ksenia Stolbova & Fedor Klimov, whose programmes are too good to be overshadowed by either the ingenious Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford or the old-school style of Yuko Kavaguti & Alexander Smirnov.
The situation is less clear when it comes to the ice-dancers. Madison Chock & Evan Bates have got themselves in the favourite spot, but Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje might overthrow them and win the gold medal. The fight for the bronze is not less exciting as Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron, as well as Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin are competing at their first Grand Prix Final together. Don't understimate the Shibutani siblings either! Finally, Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier are also very excited to attend their first Final ever, and although they're not yet ready to win a medal, they'll give us quite a show.
Whoever wins this Final, you can be sure that we're in for three days of spectacle, the kind you can only get when the best of the best are fighting for the win. We will also witness history in the making because the ladies', pairs' and ice-dance's gold medals will go to skaters who have never before won a Grand Prix Final.
So who are you rooting for?
The city's cultural wealth is not the main reason it was picked to organise the Final though. The real reason was to celebrate Spain's newly formed relationship with figure skating, which has only recently acquired popularity on the Iberian Peninsula. Responsible for this popularity is Javier Fernandez, whose chances of getting on the podium are extremely high. Of course, ideally he would win the competition, but that's easier said than done when he has to beat an unbelievably determined Yuzuru Hanyu and a very ambitious Maxim Kovtun. Nothing is impossible though.
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| Javier Fernandez, Spain's leading man in figure skating Photograph: Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images Europe |
In the pairs' event no other country is better represented than China, which is paradoxical because it's very unlikely for either one of the three Chinese pairs to reach the podium. Instead, the obvious winners here are Ksenia Stolbova & Fedor Klimov, whose programmes are too good to be overshadowed by either the ingenious Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford or the old-school style of Yuko Kavaguti & Alexander Smirnov.
The situation is less clear when it comes to the ice-dancers. Madison Chock & Evan Bates have got themselves in the favourite spot, but Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje might overthrow them and win the gold medal. The fight for the bronze is not less exciting as Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron, as well as Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin are competing at their first Grand Prix Final together. Don't understimate the Shibutani siblings either! Finally, Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier are also very excited to attend their first Final ever, and although they're not yet ready to win a medal, they'll give us quite a show.
Whoever wins this Final, you can be sure that we're in for three days of spectacle, the kind you can only get when the best of the best are fighting for the win. We will also witness history in the making because the ladies', pairs' and ice-dance's gold medals will go to skaters who have never before won a Grand Prix Final.
So who are you rooting for?
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