The results of the last World Cup are indeed distorted. Mainly due to the lack of Miho Takagi , Graeme Fish and Zhongyan Ning . Below I indicate per distance which changes I expect.
Women:
500 - We missed Nao Kodaira , but the question is how good she still is. She seems to have passed her peak. Your prediction based on the WCH seems realistic.
1000 - We missed Miho Takagi , she is the big favourite in the medium distances. She will fight with Bowe en Leerdam for the gold.
1500 - We missed Miho Takagi , pretty sure she will win this. Wiklund was a very unexpected winner. Next year I expect Bowe , Wüst and Golubeva for the silver and bronze medal.
3000 - We missed Miho Takagi and Ayano Sato . Still I think the favourites for the medals are De Jong , Schouten , Wiklund , Voronina and Sablikoba .
5000 - We missed no one. Big fight next year between Schouten , Sablikova , Weidemann , Wiklund and Voronina . Reigning Olympic champion Esmee Visser may come back next year.
Pursuit: Japan will win the gold. 100% sure.
Men:
500 - We missed Tatsuya Shinhama , many other Japanese sprinters and Tingyu Gao . They can change the podium, although Russia remains a favorite.
1000 - We missed Zhongyan Ning , who will win a medal in front of his home crowd. Again the Russians are favorite, although I'm not pretty sure if Kulizhnikov may start in connection with his doping history.
1500 - We missed Zhongyan Ning , no way the Dutch will get a clean sweep. Anyway, Nuis and Krol remain the other favorites.
5000 - We missed Graeme Fish . Normally he fights with Van der Poel and Roest for the gold.
10000 - We missed Graeme Fish and TJ Flowers , will be exciting to see them compete with Van der Poel .
Pursuit: Japan becomes better and better, I expect a close battle with Norway, Netherlands, Canada and Russia.
Mass start: unpredictable!