Cup of China is going to be very interesting as there are several "battles within the battle" that promise to unfold w/respect to qualifying for the Grand Prix Final and for jockeying for momentum as federations start to look at potential Olympic team members.
MEN:
1. If Mikhail Kolyada can nail a clean free skate complete w/4Lutz and 4Sal, I wonder how narrow the gap would be between him and Javi.
2. My gut is telling me that the battle for the third Olympic spot will ultimately be between Vincent Zhou and Adam Rippon. Unless he can show a rock solid outing here, I honestly think Max Aaron will be left out of the conversation, if he isn't already. Max is neither the "artist" that Adam and Jason Brown are considered to be nor is he offering the quad arsenal that Vincent and Nathan Chen are. Winning a medal will be tough here for Max, but frankly I think he'll need to do just that if he's to be seriously considered for Pyeongchang.
3. Having said that about Max, I will boldly predict that Vincent Zhou will nail all of his quad passes en route to the silver medal here.
LADIES:
1. I predict Mai Mihara and Alina Zagitova will win gold and silver here in some order. Kaetlyn Osmond may have the bigger scoring potential to challenge Medvedeva in Pyeongchang, but both Mihara and Zagitova are the ones that can match Medved in terms of consistency in delivering whistle-clean free skates.
2. Similarly to Max Aaron, I think Radionova and Tuktamysheva will need to nab a medal here, most likely the bronze, to stay in the conversation for RUS's Olympic Team. Momentum is clearly not with neither skater at the moment.
3. ...and similarly to Rad & Tukt, there'll be another closely watched duel between Wakaba Higuchi and Marin Honda, both of whom are serious contenders for JPN's Olympic Team. Higuchi, IMO, has the slight edge, and I prefer her personally. Another medal here for Higuchi can further solidify that edge. More boldly a silver medal could qualify her for the Grand Prix Final, which would solidify her position further still.
4. This event may be as good as time as any for both Tukt and Higuchi to take a bold risk and try a 3Axel.
I think either has more to gain by landing it than they have to lose by falling on a creditable attempt.
Your thoughts...