Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2022 - World champions Uno, Sakamoto headline competitive fields: Preview
The exclusive Grand Prix Final returns to Turin this weekend (8-10 December), with the season's best six skaters and teams from each discipline set to feature, including world champs Uno Shoma and Sakamoto Kaori.
Figure Skating
After a three-year hiatus, the exclusive ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final returns in the same place it was last held – Turin, Italy – as the top six performers in each of the sport’s four disciplines are set to compete this weekend (8-10 December).
The Torino Palavela was the site of the figure skating competition at the 2006 Winter Games, as well, and held the Grand Prix Final in 2019 before the event was cancelled due to Covid-19 in 2020 and last year.
The post-Olympic season has been one full of surprises, with 12 of the 24 Grand Prix gold medals won by respective skaters or teams for the very first time in their careers.
The Final features six men, women, pairs teams and ice dance duos after a six-stop Series where they attained points for their subsequent results. The top junior skaters are set to feature, as well.
Reigning world champions Uno Shoma (men’s singles) and Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier (pairs) won both of their Grand Prix appearances to qualify for the Final with the maximum of 30 points (15 for each win).
Double Grand Prix winners also include American upstart Ilia Malinin; Japan’s Mihara Mai; pairs team Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi; and the ice dance teams of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier as well as Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri.
So – it’s an expect the unexpected sort of weekend in Turin, too.
Here, a preview of the event, its full schedule, and how you can tune in to watch from wherever you are in the world.
Grand Prix Final 2022: Men
Uno, Malinin go head-to-head
The men’s event is highlighted by three-time Olympic medallist and reigning world champion Uno taking on the 17-year-old Malinin, who earlier this season he said “drives me to work day in, day out.”
Malinin has made history this season with the first-ever landed quadruple Axels (three of them in total), and he might require the jump to overcome a steady Uno, with Malinin’s 280.37 at Skate America just a sliver ahead of Uno’s 279.76 at NHK Trophy.
Uno leads a team of four Japanese men in singles, with 18-year-old Sato Shun, the 2019 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, having captured the title at the Grand Prix of Espoo.
Miura Kao and Yamamoto Sota are also set for Turin, while 20-year-old Italian Daniel Grassl is the first-ever Italian man to qualify for the event in Grand Prix Final history.
Grand Prix Final 2022: Women
World champ Sakamoto has competition
It’s not clear cut for Japan’s other world champion, Sakamoto, in the women’s event, either, as she faces tests from within her own team – and beyond.
Sakamoto, the Olympic bronze medallist, won at the start of the season at Skate America, but then finished second to Republic of Korea’s Kim Yelim at home at NHK Trophy, while compatriot Mihara – in her sixth season on the Grand Prix at age 23 – won both of her appearances in Great Britain and Finland.
Surprise Skate Canada champion Watanabe Rinka will look to show off her triple Axel, while American teenager Isabeau Levito and reigning world silver medallist Loena Hendrickx are among the high scorers of the season:
- Sakamoto 217.61 Skate America
- Mihara 216.43 MK John Wilson Trophy
- Hendrickx 216.34 Grand Prix de France
- Levito 215.74 MK John Wilson Trophy
Grand Prix Final 2022: Pairs
Knierim/Frazier and Miura/ Kihara meet again
Both Knierim/Frazier and Miura/Kihara swept their Grand Prix assignments, though neither were at the peak of their powers early in the season. The Final could be a two-team race between the reigning world gold and silver medallists, though the Japanese team’s 216.16 at NHK Trophy is over 10 points north of the American duo’s 205.85 at MK John Wilson Trophy.
Miura/Kihara revealed they lost valuable training time during the off-season due to a shoulder injury Miura incurred on a show tour, but the five weeks on ice prior to Skate Canada was enough to get them back near the top of the discipline.
No other pairs team has broken the 200-point mark this season, meaning the race for Final gold should come down to Knierim/Frazier and Miura/Kihara.
The season’s feel-good story? Deanna Stellato-Dudek, at age 39, making a return to the Final for the first time in 22 years – since she qualified as a junior singles skater in the year 2000. The Canadian took 16 years away from the sport and has teamed up with Maxime Deschamps, winning gold at Grand Prix de France.
- Deanna Stellato-Dudek: 'Passion has no age limit'
Grand Prix Final 2022: Dance
Wide open field set to feature
While the top two pairs teams feel well established, the ice dance competition could be wide open – and are we in for a twist (or twizzle!)?
2021 world bronze medallists Gilles and Poirier of Canada have emerged as the top point-earners this season, their 219.49 at Grand Prix of Espoo some six points ahead of another veteran team in Italy’s Guignard/Fabbri (213.74).
Four Montreal-based teams will eye the podium as well, with veterans Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. who were surprised at NHK Trophy by training mates Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sørensen of Canada.
Like Fournier Beaudry/Sørensen, Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson are making their GPF debut, while Americans Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker are back for the first time since 2018.
Grand Prix Final 2022: Juniors
Rising stars on display ahead of 2026
The junior competition always takes place alongside the senior event for the Final, a rare opportunity for the young, up-and-coming skaters to share the senior spotlight.
While reigning world junior champs Malinin and Levito are already at the senior level, women’s silver medallist Shin Jia of the Republic of Korea is set for a field of three Korean skaters and three Japanese.
Japan’s Shimada Mao and Yoshida Hana won both their Junior Grand Prix stops, with Shimada having recently displayed a quadruple toe-loop in competition.
Three Japanese men are also set to skate. American Lucas Broussard won both his GP appearances, though it’s Japan’s Kataise Takeru Amine who has the best score of the season at 234.24.
Grand Prix Final Torino 2022: Schedule
All times are local (Central European Time [CET]).
Thursday 8 December
1500 Junior men - short program
1605 Junior pairs - short program
1720 Junior women - short program
1920 Pairs - short program
2035 Men - short program
Friday 9 December
1500 Junior ice dance - rhythm dance
1620 Junior women - free skating
1735 Pairs - free skating
1950 Ice dance - rhythm dance
2105 Women - short program
Saturday 10 December
1330 Men - free skating
1445 Junior pairs - free skating
1605 Junior men - free skating
1820 Junior ice dance - free dance
1940 Ice dance - free dance
2100 Women - free skating
Sunday 11 December
1400 Exhibition Gala
How to watch the Grand Prix Final 2022
The ISU streams the Grand Prix on its YouTube channel – though many territories are geo-blocked from watching.
American fans can watch on Peacock, the full list of ISU broadcast partners showing the action on their TV and streaming services for the Grand Prix events is here.