There's something about these dance assignments that just feels... off? Not sure how to explain it but some fields feel pretty deep, others feel so empty?
Such a shame to see some teams miss out on even 1 assignment again - Bashynska/Beaumont and Bekker/Hernandez come to mind here. Maybe they will get one each from the Grimm/Savitskiy error? Harris/Chan also a notable omission here.
I think France looks like a pretty easy field in terms of making the final. Could NHK somehow end up a team USA 1,2,3?
Surely the slam dunks for the final are: C/B, G/P, G/F, F/G, La/La and.... the rest are maybe totally material and performance on the day dependent?
Those who placed 6-10 at worlds seem quite clustered in a way I don't think they have been in recent years.
Some things to note:
- Can't say how F-B/S will do. They put out medicore performances all of last year - regardless of what else they have going on I think they've seemed physically ready to retire for a while. Will they be dropped?
- Davis/Smolkin have moved to IAM - will this give them a boost despite what they put on the ice?
- Green/Parsons - was last year just teething problems/injury? Crucial off season for them.
- Will Reed/Ambrulivious be able to keep the momentum going?
- Carreira/Ponomarenko missed out on a seeded spot by less than a point - can they keep that momentum going?
Here are just some of the possibilities:
For L/B to qualify they need to:
Bronze in Canada - a good chance. (11 points)
Beat R/A in France - a good chance. (13 points)
For R/A to qualify they need to:
Beat L/B in France - will the French need to make a mistake? (13 points)
Beat F-B/S, CPom, Gr/Pa at NHK - who knows (13 OR 11 points)
For CPom to qualify they need to:
Beat F-B/S, Gr/Pa, R/A at NHK - who knows (13 OR 11 points)
Beat T/V, Gr/Pa, D/S in China - who knows (11 points)
For F-B/S to qualify they need to:
Beat L/LG in USA - surely possible (11 points)
Beat R/A, CPom, Gr/Pa at NHK - surely possible (13 points)
For Gr/Pa to qualify they need to:
Beat F-B/S, R/A, CPom at NHK - who knows (13 points)
Beat T/V, D/S, CPom in China - who knows (11 points)