Figure skating Grand Prix Series preview: Ilia Malinin, Sakamoto Kaori headline pivotal season
Figure skating's six-stop Grand Prix Series kicks off 18 October at Skate America outside Dallas.
Figure Skating
The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 are just around the corner.
With the figure skating season already underway, the Olympic quad is more than halfway finished as the best skaters in the world eye coveted spots in Italy for coming Olympics in February 2026.
This season's World Figure Skating Championships in Boston have Olympic implications, too: Skaters will help to earn Olympic quota spots for their respective countries at the event in late March.
While Worlds will culminate the second half of the season, the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series is the focus in the first half, with six Grand Prix stops leading to the Grand Prix Final, set for 5-8 December in Grenoble, France.
The top six skaters or teams in each of the sport’s four disciplines will look to qualify for the Final based on their respective finishes at two of the Grand Prix events in October and November.
Skate America kicks off the Grand Prix Series on 18 October just outside of Dallas, in Allen, Texas.
That’s where reigning world champion in men’s skating, Ilia Malinin, starts his season off, while three-time and reigning women’s winner Sakamoto Kaori gets underway the following week, at Skate Canada International.
The 19-year-old American Malinin enters the penultimate season ahead of the Olympics as the one to beat in the men’s discipline, especially following the retirement of two-time world champion and three-time Olympic medallist Uno Shoma of Japan in the off-season.
Malinin is set for Skate America and Canada back-to-back (a rare, front-loaded schedule), while three-time world runner-up and Beijing 2022 silver medallist Kagiyama Yuma will kick off his Grand Prix campaign in week three at NHK Trophy in Tokyo.
Kagiyama’s Japanese compatriot Sakamoto splits the difference between the two top men: She’ll compete at Skate Canada in late October, then head home for NHK Trophy.
Sakamoto is seeking a rare four-peat as world champion. Not since Scott Hamilton in 1981-84 has any singles skater gone four in a row at Worlds, while no woman has done it since Carol Heiss won five consecutive between 1956 and 1960.
Katarina Witt won Worlds four titles between 1984 and 1988, though she did so non-consecutively.
Reigning pairs world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada start their Grand Prix season fittingly at Skate Canada, while ice dance champs Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. will feature at Skate America.
You can see a full list of Grand Prix assignments for the season here. Below, find preview info, as well as a full schedule and TV broadcast details.
Malinin, Sakamoto face challenges in singles
Malinin, armed with his historic quadruple Axel, aims to continue his momentum from the 2024 World Championships, where he delivered a world record free skate (227.79 points) to clinch his maiden world title.
With Uno out, Kagiyama will feature as Malinin’s chief challenger, joined by France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, the reigning world bronze medallist.
American veteran Jason Brown is back on the Grand Prix for the first time since 2021, while 2023 world silver medallist Cha Jun-hwan of the Republic of Korea, Lukas Britschgi of Switzerland and Italian Nikolaj Memola all look to make their mark, too.
Sakamoto will see challenges from 2024 world silver medallist Isabeau Levito of the USA, who leads experienced compatriots Amber Glenn, Bradie Tennell and Alysa Liu – who announced her comeback in April – as well as Korean Kim Chae-yeon, who had a breakout year last season.
Belgium’s Loena Hendrickx, a two-time world medallist, seeks to find more consistency in her output after a fourth-place finish at Worlds to end last year (she was eighth in the free skate).
Schedule: Figure skating Grand Prix Series, 2024-25
The ISU’s Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series features six stops in the lead-up to the Grand Prix Final, which this year is set for Grenoble, France. The Final consists of the six top-performing skaters in each of the sport’s four disciplines.
Here’s what the schedule looks like for this season’s Grand Prix:
- 18-20 October: Skate America | Allen, Texas
- 25-27 October: Skate Canada International | Halifax, Nova Scotia
- 1-3 November: Grand Prix de France | Angers, France
- 8-10 November: NHK Trophy | Tokyo, Japan
- 15-17 November: Finlandia Trophy | Helsinki, Finland
- 22-24 November: Cup of China | Chongqing, People’s Republic of China
The Grand Prix Final is set for 5-8 December in Grenoble, France.
How to watch: Figure skating’s Grand Prix Series, 2024-25
The Grand Prix Series airs on the ISU’s partner broadcasters globally. Americans can find the skating action on NBC and its subsequent platforms, including USA, E! and digital streamer Peacock.
You can find a list of other key territories – and their subsequent broadcasters – here:
- Australia - SBS
- Brazil - ESPN
- Canada - CBC
- People’s Republic of China - CCTV
- France, Great Britain - Eurosport
- Finland - YLE
- Germany - ARD; ZDF
- Italy - Rai
- Japan - Fuji
- Mexico - Sky Mexico
For full tune-in information, see the ISU’s “Where to Watch” page here.
ISU also provides live streaming on its YouTube account, though many territories are geo-blocked.