2022-23 ISU Grand Prix Assignments are published

[Karen-W]

The problem may be with the logistics.

Could be, though I thought they were now training at the Dutch centre where Savchenko is running things.

Men's Alternates refresher -
Men - 1 open spot at GPdF (note JPN is maxed out at every event except SCI where they only have 2 men)
Miyake (SkAm)
Frangipani (NHK)
A. Selevko (SCI)
S. Lee (GPdF)
Shimada (MKJW)
Zandron (NHK)
Egadze (NHK)
Honda (Espoo)
Reshtenko (GPdF)
Orzel (SCI)
Levandi (Espoo)

Next to be added:
Majorov (Espoo)
Britschgi (SCI)
Carrillo (SkAm)
Shmuratko (GPdF)
Starostin (none)
Circelli (MKJW)
Sjoberg (SkAm)
Kapeikis (SkAm)
Newberry (MKJW)
Guarino Sabate (none)

 

[airgelaal]

Could be, though I thought they were now training at the Dutch centre where Savchenko is running things.

May be it's not easy to schedule an appointment. For most Ukrainians, this is the main problem

 

[PRlady]

May be it's not easy to schedule an appointment. For most Ukrainians, this is the main problem

Without going into boring detail, lemme tell you the whole visa/green card/citizenship apparatus is ****ed up. We might have to rearrange our winter trip to Israel due to strange changes from US immigration.

 

[Hedwig]

Rinka Watanabe is replacing Wakaba.

 

[Karen-W]

May be it's not easy to schedule an appointment. For most Ukrainians, this is the main problem

Without going into boring detail, lemme tell you the whole visa/green card/citizenship apparatus is ****ed up. We might have to rearrange our winter trip to Israel due to strange changes from US immigration.

Well, let's presume that none of the skaters with a Russian passport are going to be able to get an appointment for a visa to travel to the US in the next two weeks... That rules out Osipova/Epstein and, possibly, Efimova/Blommaert, from SkAm. Holichenko/Darenskiy we know were unable to get visas for SkAm already. The Crafoords & Plazas/Fernandez are already at SkAm, and the Mokhovs & Wessenberg/Eisenach are US teams, so they're not eligible to be selected.

That leaves:
Valesi/Piazza
Yunoki/Ichihashi
Piegad/Strekalin (he has a French passport already)

My money is on Yunoki/Ichihashi, with the JSF returning the favor to the USFS by inviting one of their teams on the alternates list to NHK.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I’ve seen two different male skaters skate to Kailanis short program and free program music from last year it still reminds me of her absence this season

With so many people constantly dropping out of the Grand Prix how far could she possibly be buried down that she can’t even get one

How come australia has not even sent her to a challenger?

 

[Orm Irian]

How come australia has not even sent her to a challenger?

Maybe she's injured. Maybe she's unofficially retired. Maybe she's taking some time off to see what she wants to do from here. Maybe she's reached the end of her ability to fund a sports career. She hasn't said anything, but if they're not sending her, it's because she either doesn't want to go or can't go.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Maybe she's injured. Maybe she's unofficially retired. Maybe she's taking some time off to see what she wants to do from here. Maybe she's reached the end of her ability to fund a sports career. She hasn't said anything, but if they're not sending her, it's because she either doesn't want to go or can't go.

They didn’t send me any faxes

 

[Sylvia]

Craine and Josefin Taljegard are both below the top 75 on last season's ISU SB scores list.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Craine and Josefin Taljegard are both below the top 75 on last season's ISU SB scores list.

thank you for an actual answer and not a series of maybes which could apply to anyone

 

[Karen-W]

thank you for an actual answer and not a series of maybes which could apply to anyone

Well, I did say that Taljegard isn't in the SB Top 75 when you asked. And since Craine hasn't competed all season, I thought the answer from @Orm Irian said it all for her, beyond the obvious "she's not in the SB Top 75".

Generally speaking, if a skater isn't invited to the GP and isn't listed on the Alternates list, which I have been updating each time the assignments change, then the skater/team isn't on the SB Top 75 and is, therefore, ineligible for the GP.

 

[LoisAGOEs]

Well, let's presume that none of the skaters with a Russian passport are going to be able to get an appointment for a visa to travel to the US in the next two weeks... That rules out Osipova/Epstein and, possibly, Efimova/Blommaert, from SkAm. Holichenko/Darenskiy we know were unable to get visas for SkAm already. The Crafoords & Plazas/Fernandez are already at SkAm, and the Mokhovs & Wessenberg/Eisenach are US teams, so they're not eligible to be selected.

That leaves:
Valesi/Piazza
Yunoki/Ichihashi
Piegad/Strekalin (he has a French passport already)

My money is on Yunoki/Ichihashi, with the JSF returning the favor to the USFS by inviting one of their teams on the alternates list to NHK.

Michel Tsiba implied on his Instagram post today that they might be receiving the open NHK spot. Their withdrawal from SkAm was confirmed to be a visa issue.

Also Efimova is Finnish by birth so she may not fall under the same visa issues.

 

[Karen-W]

Michel Tsiba implied on his Instagram post today that they might be receiving the open NHK spot. Their withdrawal from SkAm was confirmed to be a visa issue.

Also Efimova is Finnish by birth so she may not fall under the same visa issues.

Here's the post from Michel - https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjc8IUSo1ug/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I'll be glad if the ISU is able to work with them to assign them to another GP (NHK, hopefully) since they shouldn't be punished for missing out due to visa issues.

I know Efimova was born in Finland, but wasn't sure of her citizenship since both of her parents are Russian - does Finland give citizenship by birth?

 

[Sylvia]

Here's the post from Michel - https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjc8IUSo1ug/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Relevant excerpt:

With that being said, we are saddened to announce that we had to withdraw from Skate America because Daria was not able to receive the visa in time. We want to thank the KNSB and @usfigureskating for trying everything they possibly could to get us to Skate America. It is a shame because we were really looking forward to perform in Norwood. I guess this season it was not mend to be. Hopefully we get the chance to perform at Skate America next season!

We hope we can share some more news next week about another Grand Prix assignment for us.

 

[Karen-W]

Looking over the GP assignments, there seem to be a few question marks about whether or not they're ready for competition since they haven't competed, even domestically, yet, so we might have a few withdrawals coming up. I'm deliberately not including skaters/teams whose status is known, information about is very limited, or they haven't been entered/withdrawn from any Challengers (Chock/Bates, Gilles/Poirier, Carreira/Ponomarenko, Wang/Liu, Muramoto/Takahashi, Knierim/Frazier, Crafoord/Crafoord, Peng/Jin, Zhu, Jin)

Men -
Kagiyama (SkAm & GPdF) - ankle injury caused him to withdraw from the Japan Open this weekend
Aymoz (GPdF & Espoo) - ankle injury at French Masters competition this weekend (my guess is he would be replaced by Landry le May at GPdF as a host pick)
Hiwatashi (MKJW & NHK) - unspecified injury caused him to withdraw from Lombardia Trophy 3 weeks ago
Zandron (NHK) - has not competed yet this fall, not even at the Austrian domestic Lentia Cup competition this weekend

Women -
Tennell (MKJW & Espoo) - ankle injury caused her to withdraw from Japan Open this weekend
Daleman (SCI & MKJW) - car accident & various other nagging injuries have kept her out of competition this summer/fall (no Canadian woman to replace her as a host pick since Lia Pereira had a JGP assignment earlier this season)
Yun (SkAm) - withdrew from Nebelhorn prior to FS due to warm-up accident where she was showing concussion symptoms
Peltonen (Espoo) - has not competed yet this fall, withdrawn from Budapest Trophy original entries list (would be replaced by a Finnish host pick - Janna Jyrkinen or Oona Ounasvuori)
Saarinen (Espoo) - has not competed yet this fall, not entered in any Challengers yet (would be replaced by a Finnish host pick - Janna Jyrkinen or Oona Ounasvuori)

Pairs -
Miura/Kihara (SCI & NHK) - she is in recovery mode from an ankle injury sustained in July while on tour, only resumed training throws about 2 weeks ago (probably replaced by Yunoki/Ichihashi as a host pick for NHK if they have to withdraw)
Safina/Berulava (GPdF & Espoo) - have not competed this fall, withdrawn from Finlandia original entries list
McBeath/Bartholomay (SCI & MKJW) - have not competed since they debuted their SP at a summer domestic comp, withdrawn from Nebelhorn original entries list
Faula/Belle (GPdF host pick) - barely cracked 106 total score at French Masters competition this weekend (no viable host pick option as Keriven/Bouvart scored even lower)

Dance -
Kazakova/Reviya (GPdF & MKJW) - have not competed this fall, withdrawn from Finlandia original entries list
Janse van Rensburg/Steffan (SkAm) - have not competed this fall, withdrawn from Nebelhorn due to slow recovery from unspecified injury

 

[happycamper2554]

Looking over the GP assignments, there seem to be a few question marks about whether or not they're ready for competition since they haven't competed, even domestically, yet, so we might have a few withdrawals coming up. I'm deliberately not including skaters/teams whose status is known, information about is very limited, or they haven't been entered/withdrawn from any Challengers (Chock/Bates, Gilles/Poirier, Carreira/Ponomarenko, Wang/Liu, Muramoto/Takahashi, Knierim/Frazier, Crafoord/Crafoord, Peng/Jin, Zhu, Jin)

Men -
Kagiyama (SkAm & GPdF) - ankle injury caused him to withdraw from the Japan Open this weekend
Aymoz (GPdF & Espoo) - ankle injury at French Masters competition this weekend (my guess is he would be replaced by Landry le May at GPdF as a host pick)
Hiwatashi (MKJW & NHK) - unspecified injury caused him to withdraw from Lombardia Trophy 3 weeks ago
Zandron (NHK) - has not competed yet this fall, not even at the Austrian domestic Lentia Cup competition this weekend

Women -
Tennell (MKJW & Espoo) - ankle injury caused her to withdraw from Japan Open this weekend
Daleman (SCI & MKJW) - car accident & various other nagging injuries have kept her out of competition this summer/fall (no Canadian woman to replace her as a host pick since Lia Pereira had a JGP assignment earlier this season)
Yun (SkAm) - withdrew from Nebelhorn prior to FS due to warm-up accident where she was showing concussion symptoms
Peltonen (Espoo) - has not competed yet this fall, withdrawn from Budapest Trophy original entries list (would be replaced by a Finnish host pick - Janna Jyrkinen or Oona Ounasvuori)
Saarinen (Espoo) - has not competed yet this fall, not entered in any Challengers yet (would be replaced by a Finnish host pick - Janna Jyrkinen or Oona Ounasvuori)

Pairs -
Miura/Kihara (SCI & NHK) - she is in recovery mode from an ankle injury sustained in July while on tour, only resumed training throws about 2 weeks ago (probably replaced by Yunoki/Ichihashi as a host pick for NHK if they have to withdraw)
Safina/Berulava (GPdF & Espoo) - have not competed this fall, withdrawn from Finlandia original entries list
McBeath/Bartholomay (SCI & MKJW) - have not competed since they debuted their SP at a summer domestic comp, withdrawn from Nebelhorn original entries list
Faula/Belle (GPdF host pick) - barely cracked 106 total score at French Masters competition this weekend (no viable host pick option as Keriven/Bouvart scored even lower)

Dance -
Kazakova/Reviya (GPdF & MKJW) - have not competed this fall, withdrawn from Finlandia original entries list
Janse van Rensburg/Steffan (SkAm) - have not competed this fall, withdrawn from Nebelhorn due to slow recovery from unspecified injury

C/P seem to be planning on competing based on this post from Carreira

Christina Carreira on Instagram: "One month until our first competition🫶🏻 📸 @danielleearlphotography • • • #gpfigure #teamusa #figureskating #icedance #fd #dance #skating #training #sheffield #england"

580 likes, 16 comments - christinacarreira on October 8, 2022: "One month until our first competition🫶🏻 📸 @danielleearlphotography • • • #gpfigur..."

www.instagram.com

 

[Karen-W]

C/P seem to be planning on competing based on this post from Carreira

Christina Carreira on Instagram: "One month until our first competition🫶🏻 📸 @danielleearlphotography • • • #gpfigure #teamusa #figureskating #icedance #fd #dance #skating #training #sheffield #england"

580 likes, 16 comments - christinacarreira on October 8, 2022: "One month until our first competition🫶🏻 📸 @danielleearlphotography • • • #gpfigur..."

www.instagram.com

Yes, which is why they aren't on my list - we know what their status is even if they aren't competing until their first GP - same with teams like Chock/Bates, Knierim/Frazier, Gilles/Poirier, etc.

 

[Andrea82]

Hiwatashi (MKJW & NHK) - unspecified injury caused him to withdraw from Lombardia Trophy 3 weeks ago

It seems it is the shoulder. During Lombardia live stream, they had Memola as guest while the last group was on ice and he said Hiwatashi fell during official practices and his shoulder looked dislocated.

Edit:
Zandron is entered at Tayside Trophy next week

 

[Karen-W]

Zandron is entered at Tayside Trophy next week

Just saw that! Glad to see he's popped up for competition at last!

 

[Hanna]

I know Efimova was born in Finland, but wasn't sure of her citizenship since both of her parents are Russian - does Finland give citizenship by birth?

Not by birth but she's lived here all her life before moving to Russia to skate with Korovin, I'm sure she has citizenship and her parents too.

 

[LoisAGOEs]

Looking over the GP assignments, there seem to be a few question marks about whether or not they're ready for competition since they haven't competed, even domestically, yet, so we might have a few withdrawals coming up. I'm deliberately not including skaters/teams whose status is known, information about is very limited, or they haven't been entered/withdrawn from any Challengers (Chock/Bates, Gilles/Poirier, Carreira/Ponomarenko, Wang/Liu, Muramoto/Takahashi, Knierim/Frazier, Crafoord/Crafoord, Peng/Jin, Zhu, Jin)

Men -
Kagiyama (SkAm & GPdF) - ankle injury caused him to withdraw from the Japan Open this weekend
Aymoz (GPdF & Espoo) - ankle injury at French Masters competition this weekend (my guess is he would be replaced by Landry le May at GPdF as a host pick)
Hiwatashi (MKJW & NHK) - unspecified injury caused him to withdraw from Lombardia Trophy 3 weeks ago
Zandron (NHK) - has not competed yet this fall, not even at the Austrian domestic Lentia Cup competition this weekend

Women -
Tennell (MKJW & Espoo) - ankle injury caused her to withdraw from Japan Open this weekend
Daleman (SCI & MKJW) - car accident & various other nagging injuries have kept her out of competition this summer/fall (no Canadian woman to replace her as a host pick since Lia Pereira had a JGP assignment earlier this season)
Yun (SkAm) - withdrew from Nebelhorn prior to FS due to warm-up accident where she was showing concussion symptoms
Peltonen (Espoo) - has not competed yet this fall, withdrawn from Budapest Trophy original entries list (would be replaced by a Finnish host pick - Janna Jyrkinen or Oona Ounasvuori)
Saarinen (Espoo) - has not competed yet this fall, not entered in any Challengers yet (would be replaced by a Finnish host pick - Janna Jyrkinen or Oona Ounasvuori)

Pairs -
Miura/Kihara (SCI & NHK) - she is in recovery mode from an ankle injury sustained in July while on tour, only resumed training throws about 2 weeks ago (probably replaced by Yunoki/Ichihashi as a host pick for NHK if they have to withdraw)
Safina/Berulava (GPdF & Espoo) - have not competed this fall, withdrawn from Finlandia original entries list
McBeath/Bartholomay (SCI & MKJW) - have not competed since they debuted their SP at a summer domestic comp, withdrawn from Nebelhorn original entries list
Faula/Belle (GPdF host pick) - barely cracked 106 total score at French Masters competition this weekend (no viable host pick option as Keriven/Bouvart scored even lower)

Dance -
Kazakova/Reviya (GPdF & MKJW) - have not competed this fall, withdrawn from Finlandia original entries list
Janse van Rensburg/Steffan (SkAm) - have not competed this fall, withdrawn from Nebelhorn due to slow recovery from unspecified injury

Janse van Rensburg had a knee injury, but around Nebelhorn they said they are back on the ice preparing for SkAm.

 

[Andrea82]

Valesi/Piazza assigned to Skate America

 

[Karen-W]

Valesi/Piazza assigned to Skate America

Not surprising at all!

Pairs - 1 TBD @ NHK
Danilova/Tsiba NED (Espoo) - seeded team that couldn't get visas for SkAm, first priority for any GP spot that opens up (likely NHK)
Holichenko/Darenskiy UKR (55) (Espoo)
Crafoord/Crafoord SWE (63) (SkAm)
Osipova/Epstein NED (69) (none)
Efimova Blommaert GER 186.17 (SCI)
Plazas/Fernandez USA 166.25 (SkAm)
Mokhova/Mokhov USA 161.29 (none)
Valesi/Piazza ITA 150.96 (SkAm)
Yunoki/Ichihashi JPN 140.46 (none)
Piegad/Strekalin FRA 138.36 (GPdF)
Wessenberg/Eisenach 138.22 USA (none)

 

[Andrea82]

Could be, though I thought they were now training at the Dutch centre where Savchenko is running things.

Men's Alternates refresher -
Men - 1 open spot at GPdF (note JPN is maxed out at every event except SCI where they only have 2 men)
Miyake (SkAm)
Frangipani (NHK)
A. Selevko (SCI)
S. Lee (GPdF)
Shimada (MKJW)
Zandron (NHK)
Egadze (NHK)
Honda (Espoo)
Reshtenko (GPdF)
Orzel (SCI)
Levandi (Espoo)

Nika Egadze got GPdF

 

[Karen-W]

Nika Egadze got GPdF

Good for him!

Men's Alternates refresher -
Men - currently no open spots (note JPN is maxed out at every event except SCI where they only have 2 men)
Miyake (SkAm)
Frangipani (NHK)
A. Selevko (SCI)
S. Lee (GPdF)
Shimada (MKJW)
Zandron (NHK)
Egadze (GPdF & NHK)
Honda (Espoo)
Orzel (SCI)
Levandi (Espoo)
Majorov (Espoo)

Next to be added:
Britschgi (SCI)
Carrillo (SkAm)
Shmuratko (GPdF)
Starostin (none)
Circelli (MKJW)
Sjoberg (SkAm)
Kapeikis (SkAm)
Newberry (MKJW)
Guarino Sabate (none)

 

[Karen-W]

Interesting! Women's grid has been updated and Rinka Watanabe got the SCI spot left vacant by Wakaba Higuchi's withdrawal!

https://isu.org/docman-documents-links/isu-files/event-documents/figure-skating-4/2022-23-4/grand-prix-3/entries-7/29098-entries-women-2022-23/file

Women - no spots currently open (note JPN maxed out at SCI, GPdF, NHK & Espoo; KOR maxed out at SkAm & NHK; USA maxed out at SkAm, SCI, MKJW & NHK)
Yun (SkAm)
Wi (NHK)
Park (SkAm)
Yokoi (SCI)
Kitromilis (SkAm)
Paganini (MKJW)
Izzo (MKJW)
Ziegler (none)
Brezinova (SCI)
Ji (NHK)

Next to be added:
Zhu (SkAm)
Serna (GPdF)
Wang (SCI)
Sauter (MKJW)
Peltonen (Espoo)
Saarinen (Espoo)
Watanabe (SCI & NHK)

 

[Sylvia]

Interesting! Women's grid has been updated and Rinka Watanabe got the SCI spot left vacant by Wakaba Higuchi's withdrawal!

@leilaofpaper posted that news (source tweet in Japanese) in this thread this past Thursday (Oct. 6).

ETA: OOPS, never mind... I'm happy that Rinka got a 2nd GP!

 

[tony]

@leilaofpaper posted that news (source tweet in Japanese) in this thread this past Thursday (Oct. 6).

She took both of Higuchi's spots, actually! This is a Skate Canada addition

 

[Karen-W]

@leilaofpaper posted that news (source tweet in Japanese) here on Oct. 6 - you must have missed it.

No, that was the news that Rinka was getting the NHK spot that had been Wakaba's, which made sense since she is the only Japanese woman without a GP.

 

[Hedwig]

what a stellar rise for her! I hope she can withstand the added pressure from Japan she must surely feel.