Ladies Report Men's Report Pairs Report Dance Report
Oh my! What an uninteresting competition this is for U.S. fans: Not a single lady is entered; while a sole, tolerable, man and one mediocre team each in pairs and dance make up the U.S. team. Overall the talent is spread pretty thin among the four events. Few skaters in the top five from last year are here. For Canadian fans, however, it is a great lineup. All of the top Canadian skaters are here for all events, and with such weak competition the home crowd is sure to see several of their countrymen go home with medals. A total of 18 skaters are here representing Canada, while the U.S. team consists of just five skaters.
None of the top ladies are here, but at least there a few that are pleasant to watch, so the event isn't a total loss -- Fumie Suguri and Julia Sebestyen to name two.
In men we have the the current World Bronze medalist, Stefan Lindermann., who was dreadful at Skate America last week, and former Bronze medalist Takeshi Honda who in recent years is in danger of slipping into "has been" status.
The most interesting event may prove to be the pairs, with the Silver (Xue Shen & Hongo Zhao) and Bronze (Qing Pang & Juan Tong) medalists from last season competing.
In dance the 2004 Silver medalists, Albena Denkova & maxim
Staviski should make easy work of the rest of the field.