The basics:
The first Grand Prix Final, then known as the Champions Series, was held in Paris.
- There were only five regular-season events in the fall of 1995. USA, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan. Cup of Russia was added the following season as a sixth event, and the German Nations/Sparkassen Cup lasted through the 2002/2003 season. It was then moved to Cup of China.
- Only four pairs and four dance teams qualified and competed. Six men and six ladies, as it is today, also qualified.
- There were seven ladies qualifiers to the event because there was no tie-break past final placements in this first season, so Slutskaya and Markova finished with the same results (3rd and 4th place finishes) and there was no way to break the tie. Surya Bonaly also finished with those same results, but I forget the reasoning of why she was below them in the overall rankings and out of the Final.
There was an event in Russia called the Centennial on Ice I believe just one week or two before this event, and many skaters who competed there also qualified to this event. VERY different results, though. Ilia Kulik won the mens event and Alexei Yagudin beat out Alexei Urmanov for 2nd place. Irina Slutskaya won the ladies event over Maria Butyrskaya and Michelle Kwan, marking the only loss for Kwan the entire season.
The Men
Alexei Urmanov, Elvis Stojko, Eric Millot, Ilia Kulik, Todd Eldredge, Vyacheslav Zagorodniuk
Urmanov won over Elvis Stojko with a solid but not outstanding free skate. Note the amount of jumps all awkwardly clumped together towards the end. Stojko landed a 4T+2T early in his program and Dorothy Hamill couldn't contain her excitement because quads weren't really a thing back then, let alone in combination with a 2T
but made some sloppy errors at the end of his program. Millot was able to win the bronze medal at home even though he couldn't land a 3A in the free skate, wiping out on both attempts. Kulik had a solid skate with a few small errors and Eldredge looked uncharacteristically off on almost every jump attempt. Those two would obviously have their fortunes completely changed a few weeks later at Worlds where Eldredge won and Kulik placed a close second.
Millot's program, by the way, is so similar to that of Samuel Contesti's free skate in the 2009 season. I think he was extremely lucky to finish on the podium-- but in the (almost) words of Carol Lane, "It's France."
Check out the long pause in Stojko's short program. This was among his better programs, though, and I guess you could say similar in theme to Yagudin's Racing short.
The Ladies
Michelle Kwan, Irina Slutskaya, Josee Chouinard, Lu Chen, Hanae Yokoya, Olga Markova, Maria Butyrskaya
Kwan fell on her 3T in the short program and found herself in 4th place, while Lu Chen led the way. In the free skate, Michelle landed 6 of her 7 triples, including the 3T+3T that she wasn't able to complete at Worlds, but doubled her final Lutz. Several of her triples looked tight in this performance, though. After a great short, Chen fell on her first Lutz, singled the loop and the second Lutz, and doubled the Salchow. She fell all the way to 5th in the long and off the podium overall. Slutskaya won the silver medal, getting past the first Lutz that she'd wipe out on spectacularly at Worlds. Josee Chouinard returned to amateur competition this season after a year on the pro scene and won the bronze, but had already lost the Canadian National title to Jennifer Robinson after a disastrous skate and was not named to the World team. She'd end up turning pro again, with a lot of success in the following seasons. Robinson, who got to skate in Canada at her first Worlds, finished 21st. Butyrskaya had a wonderful start to her free skate but a big error towards the end ruined the mood (and the scores) for her program.
The Pairs
Shishkova/Naumov, Eltsova/Bushkov, Wotzel/Steuer, Meno/Sand
Meno/Sand were first alternates but replaced Berezhnaya/Shliakhov because of the side-by-side spin training accident that Bereznhaya suffered in January. Peter Carruthers commented that he had just seem Elena in the weeks prior to this event and she was still re-learning basic motor skills.
The competition, aside from Shishkova/Naumov's short and a clip of their free skate, wasn't shown in the United States, but they easily won the title. They then suffered one of the oddest set of ordinal splits in the history of the sport at Worlds, earning four 1st places in the free skate, one 3rd place, and four 4th place votes. That resulted in being one vote away from the gold medal, but finishing in 4th place overall behind all three of the other teams who competed here. Suspicious.
The Dance
Grishuk/Platov, Krylova/Ovsyannikov, Anissina/Peizerat, Bourne/Kraatz
The teams that would finish in the same order at the 1998 Olympics, Grishuk/Platov easily won the title here over their teammates. Anissina/Peizerat won the bronze over Bourne/Kraatz even though they'd finish behind them at Worlds in '96 and '97.
The first Grand Prix Final, then known as the Champions Series, was held in Paris.
- There were only five regular-season events in the fall of 1995. USA, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan. Cup of Russia was added the following season as a sixth event, and the German Nations/Sparkassen Cup lasted through the 2002/2003 season. It was then moved to Cup of China.
- Only four pairs and four dance teams qualified and competed. Six men and six ladies, as it is today, also qualified.
- There were seven ladies qualifiers to the event because there was no tie-break past final placements in this first season, so Slutskaya and Markova finished with the same results (3rd and 4th place finishes) and there was no way to break the tie. Surya Bonaly also finished with those same results, but I forget the reasoning of why she was below them in the overall rankings and out of the Final.
There was an event in Russia called the Centennial on Ice I believe just one week or two before this event, and many skaters who competed there also qualified to this event. VERY different results, though. Ilia Kulik won the mens event and Alexei Yagudin beat out Alexei Urmanov for 2nd place. Irina Slutskaya won the ladies event over Maria Butyrskaya and Michelle Kwan, marking the only loss for Kwan the entire season.
The Men
Alexei Urmanov, Elvis Stojko, Eric Millot, Ilia Kulik, Todd Eldredge, Vyacheslav Zagorodniuk
Urmanov won over Elvis Stojko with a solid but not outstanding free skate. Note the amount of jumps all awkwardly clumped together towards the end. Stojko landed a 4T+2T early in his program and Dorothy Hamill couldn't contain her excitement because quads weren't really a thing back then, let alone in combination with a 2T
but made some sloppy errors at the end of his program. Millot was able to win the bronze medal at home even though he couldn't land a 3A in the free skate, wiping out on both attempts. Kulik had a solid skate with a few small errors and Eldredge looked uncharacteristically off on almost every jump attempt. Those two would obviously have their fortunes completely changed a few weeks later at Worlds where Eldredge won and Kulik placed a close second.Millot's program, by the way, is so similar to that of Samuel Contesti's free skate in the 2009 season. I think he was extremely lucky to finish on the podium-- but in the (almost) words of Carol Lane, "It's France."
Check out the long pause in Stojko's short program. This was among his better programs, though, and I guess you could say similar in theme to Yagudin's Racing short.
The Ladies
Michelle Kwan, Irina Slutskaya, Josee Chouinard, Lu Chen, Hanae Yokoya, Olga Markova, Maria Butyrskaya
Kwan fell on her 3T in the short program and found herself in 4th place, while Lu Chen led the way. In the free skate, Michelle landed 6 of her 7 triples, including the 3T+3T that she wasn't able to complete at Worlds, but doubled her final Lutz. Several of her triples looked tight in this performance, though. After a great short, Chen fell on her first Lutz, singled the loop and the second Lutz, and doubled the Salchow. She fell all the way to 5th in the long and off the podium overall. Slutskaya won the silver medal, getting past the first Lutz that she'd wipe out on spectacularly at Worlds. Josee Chouinard returned to amateur competition this season after a year on the pro scene and won the bronze, but had already lost the Canadian National title to Jennifer Robinson after a disastrous skate and was not named to the World team. She'd end up turning pro again, with a lot of success in the following seasons. Robinson, who got to skate in Canada at her first Worlds, finished 21st. Butyrskaya had a wonderful start to her free skate but a big error towards the end ruined the mood (and the scores) for her program.
The Pairs
Shishkova/Naumov, Eltsova/Bushkov, Wotzel/Steuer, Meno/Sand
Meno/Sand were first alternates but replaced Berezhnaya/Shliakhov because of the side-by-side spin training accident that Bereznhaya suffered in January. Peter Carruthers commented that he had just seem Elena in the weeks prior to this event and she was still re-learning basic motor skills.
The competition, aside from Shishkova/Naumov's short and a clip of their free skate, wasn't shown in the United States, but they easily won the title. They then suffered one of the oddest set of ordinal splits in the history of the sport at Worlds, earning four 1st places in the free skate, one 3rd place, and four 4th place votes. That resulted in being one vote away from the gold medal, but finishing in 4th place overall behind all three of the other teams who competed here. Suspicious.
The Dance
Grishuk/Platov, Krylova/Ovsyannikov, Anissina/Peizerat, Bourne/Kraatz
The teams that would finish in the same order at the 1998 Olympics, Grishuk/Platov easily won the title here over their teammates. Anissina/Peizerat won the bronze over Bourne/Kraatz even though they'd finish behind them at Worlds in '96 and '97.
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Stunning and underrated transtions, as always.
The 2axel fall (and recovery afterwards) is identical to some of the falls we've seen Pogorilaya take the past few years. 
