ISU announces Grand Prix of Figure Skating series assignments for 2021-22 Olympic season
Which skaters are headed where in their preparations for the Olympic Games Beijing 2022? Find out here.
Figure Skating
After a truncated season in 2020-21, figure skating is back in full ahead of the Olympic Games Beijing 2022.
The International Skating Union (ISU) announced its assignments for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating series for the 2021-22 season, with top skaters being placed at its six staple events, set for October and November, with the Grand Prix Final to be held in Osaka, Japan, 9-12 December.
In total, 38 men, 44 women, 25 pairs teams and 34 ice dance duos from 21 different countries are set to lace up their boots for the Grand Prix as skaters look to hone their programs ahead of Beijing.
The series schedule is as follows:
- Skate America, Las Vegas, 22-24 Oct.
- Skate Canada, Vancouver, 29-31 Oct.
- Cup of China, Chongqing, 5-7 Nov.
- Grand Prix of Japan, Osaka, 12-14 Nov.
- Internationaux de France, Grenoble, 19-21 Nov.
- Grand Prix of Russia, Sochi, 26-28 Nov.
The Grand Prix Final features the top six skaters or teams from each discipline. Typically, respective national Olympic teams are announced around national championships, held in late December and early/mid-January.
Three-time and reigning men's world champion Nathan Chen will kick off his season at Skate America, then go directly to Skate Canada the following week.
Two-time and reigning Olympic gold medallist Hanyu Yuzuru won't skate until week four of the season, set for the Grand Prix of Japan, before heading to the Grand Prix of Russia in the final week of the series.
Reigning ladies' world champion Anna Shcherbakova will go to Cup of China and Internationaux de France, while her teammates - and fellow reigning world champs in pairs - Anastasia Mishina and Maxim Galliamov are set for China and Russia.
The reigning ice dance world champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov will skate in week four in Japan, then week six in Russia.
Fellow ice dance world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron will make their first international appearance since the 2020 European Championships, having sat out the entirety of last season. The four-time world champs will skate at Cup of China and then in front of the home crowd in France.
Grand Prix assignments out for 2021-22 season
Other notable assignments:
-Olympic silver medallist Uno Shoma will appear at Skate America and the Grand Prix of Japan
-World bronze medallist Alexandra Trusova: Skate America, Grand Prix of Japan
-Two-time world medallist Miyahara Satoko: Skate America, China
-Two-time world ice dance medallists Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue: Skate America, China
-2015 world champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva: Skate Canada, Russia
-2020 European champion Alena Kostornaia: Skate Canada, France
-Kihira Rika: Skate Canada, Japan
-Olympic silver medallists Sui Wenjing and Han Cong: Skate Canada, China
-World bronze medallists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier: Skate Canada, France
-Alysa Liu makes her senior Grand Prix debut at Skate Canada, then goes to Japan
-New pairs team Vanessa James and Eric Radford set to debut at Skate Canada, as well as head to France
-World medallist Kagiyama Yuma: Cup of China, France
-World medallist Mikhail Kolyada: Cup of China, Russia
-Two-time world medallists Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov: Skate America, Grand Prix of Japan
-Up-and-coming juniors Kamila Valieva and Daria Usacheva are also set to make their senior debuts
You can see the full list of entries from the ISU here.
If you want to see individual lists, you can find the men here, ladies here, pairs here and ice dance here.