European champions Evgeny Plushenko on the men' side and Irina Slutskaya on the women's side lead the Russian charge but American veterans Todd Eldregde and Michelle Kwan are aiming to impress with Kwan trying to establish herself as the favorite for Olympic gold next year.

	Evgeny Plushchenko successfully retained his European men's crown and is now the favorite at the ISU Grand Prix Final.

Slutskaya led a Russian sweep of the women's singles medals at the European championship but the performances of the Russian trio were unlikely to leave Kwan shaking in her skates.

Defending world champion and Nagano silver medallist Kwan is America's best hope for a gold in Salt Lake City. Earlier this year, she swept her fifth title in six years in the U.S. championships, showing maturity in her routine which included six triple jumps.

Some of the other women to watch are European silver medallist Maria Butyrskaya of Russia and American Sara Hughes, who has shown impressive improvement over the last two years.

The 18-year-old Plushenko is the odds-on favourite for a gold in Salt Lake City. The Russian scored three perfect 6.0s in defending his European title and has added greater artistic fluidity to his action-packed routines.

There may be a few fireworks at the NHK Cup as one of Plushenko's top rivals, and three-time world champion, Alexei Yagudin will be in the field. The two Russians have a simmering feud and did their best to avoid each other at the European championship.

A pair of 20-year-olds, American Timothy Goebel and Russian Ilia Klimkin are dark horses.

The pairs' skating is looking to be a show-down between Russian greats Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikhardulidze and the Canadian pair of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who dominated the Four Continents Championships last week in Salt Lake City.