2025 Grand Prix Assignments

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

There was a five year period of Reading (PA), Pittsburgh, Atlantic City, Hartford and Reading again. A lot of us went to all of them because the East Coast is relatively compact.

That’s what I thought by looking at the years he attended. because from Los Angeles I had to fly cross country for those.

 

[Rob]

With all of those destinations, do you live on the east coast?

Were you in attendance for the 2004 pairs free skate?

I live in Maryland. I lived in Bethesda (DC suburbs so near PRLady and BlueRidge) most of the time, but now I’m retired down at the shore. I attended 2003 Worlds, a few World Pros, most east coast SAs, and 2011 Nationals. I also went to the 2006 Olympics for Ice Dance and Ladies.

Yes I was at the 2004 SA pairs free skate in the front row with a group of FSUers. T/M came to a stop right in front of us so you can see us in video and photos with some of us gesturing for the medical team. It was so scary.

Oh, and I’m a she. My full name Robin was taken as username so I used Rob.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Yes I was at the 2004 SA pairs free skate in the front row with a group of FSUers. T/M came to a stop right in front of us so you can see us in video and photos with some of us gesturing for the medical team. It was so scary.

I was right by you then. We were front row, but a little bit further down from where it happened.

 

[4rkidz]

I was right by you then. We were front row, but a little bit further down from where it happened.

that must have been awful for all of you. I've seen some falls and drops but nothing like that.

 

[haribobo]

Well Stephen Gogolev has now SOARED into first place on the GP Alternates list with this score of 255!

 

[kwanfan1818]

I'm glad Hiwatashi got his assignment before this weekend, ie, that the process went smoothly.

 

[Stephanie]

Gogolev is already assigned to SC, so Tomoki would have gotten to spot anyway.

 

[Firedancer]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1972585247616425990

 

[haribobo]

ALTERNATE LIST

Pairs
McBeath/Parkman (CoC) 187
Akopova/Rakhmanin 186 (or no since they weren't on last year's list and haven't won an event?)
Chtchetinina/Wozniak (Finlandia) 185
Vaipan-Law/Digby (SCI) 183
Chan/Howe (NHK) 183
Danilova/Tsiba (NHK) 178
Vouillamoz/Bouvart (SCI) 179
Izzo/Maierhofer 171
Shin/Nagy 170 (GpF, possible SA??)
Holichenko/Darenskyi 169


Men
Stephen Gogolev (SCI) 255
Tomoki Hiwatashi (SCI) 236
Aleksandr Selevko (SCI) 235
Adam Hagara (NHK) 233
Vladimir Samoilov (SCI) 233
Corey Circelli (SkAm) 232
Jacob Sanchez (CoC) 230
Andreas Nordeback (Finlandia) 230
Hyungyeom Kim 228
Lev Vinokur 227.79
Liam Kapeikis 227.45 (possible SA??)

Women
Jia Shin (CoC) 208
Sofia Samodelkina (NHK) 203
Anna Pezzetta (NHK) 192
Livia Kaiser (GPdF) 191
Seoyoung Kim 190
Ahsun Yun (SCI) 187
Mako Yamashita 183
Katherine Medland Spence (NHK) 181
Sarina Joos 180
Ruiyang Zhang 179 (CoC)


Ice Dance
Pate/Bye (GPdF) 186
Lim/Quan (CoC) 185
Fabbri/Ayer (NHK) 185
Harris/Chan 183
Bekker/Hernandez (SkAm) 181
Wolfkostin/Tsarevski 180
Neset/Markelov (SCI) 179
Tali/Lafornara (SA) 177
Ignateva/Szemko 174
Lagouge/Caffa (GpF) 173
Reitan/Majorov 172

 

[Karen-W]

ALTERNATE LIST

Pairs
McBeath/Parkman (CoC) 187
Akopova/Rakhmanin 186 (or no since they weren't on last year's list and haven't won an event?)
Chtchetinina/Wozniak (Finlandia) 185
Vaipan-Law/Digby (SCI) 183
Chan/Howe (NHK) 183
Danilova/Tsiba (NHK) 178
Vouillamoz/Bouvart (SCI) 179
Izzo/Maierhofer 171
Shin/Nagy 170 (GpF, possible SA??)
Holichenko/Darenskyi 169


Men
Stephen Gogolev (SCI) 255
Tomoki Hiwatashi (SCI) 236
Aleksandr Selevko (SCI) 235
Adam Hagara (NHK) 233
Vladimir Samoilov (SCI) 233
Corey Circelli (SkAm) 232
Jacob Sanchez (CoC) 230
Andreas Nordeback (Finlandia) 230
Hyungyeom Kim 228
Lev Vinokur 227.79
Liam Kapeikis 227.45 (possible SA??)

Women
Jia Shin (CoC) 208
Sofia Samodelkina (NHK) 203
Anna Pezzetta (NHK) 192
Livia Kaiser (GPdF) 191
Seoyoung Kim 190
Ahsun Yun (SCI) 187
Mako Yamashita 183
Katherine Medland Spence (NHK) 181
Sarina Joos 180
Ruiyang Zhang 179 (CoC)


Ice Dance
Pate/Bye (GPdF) 186
Lim/Quan (CoC) 185
Fabbri/Ayer (NHK) 185
Harris/Chan 183
Bekker/Hernandez (SkAm) 181
Wolfkostin/Tsarevski 180
Neset/Markelov (SCI) 179
Tali/Lafornara (SA) 177
Ignateva/Szemko 174
Lagouge/Caffa (GpF) 173
Reitan/Majorov 172

Okay, so I don't believe the three I've highlighted are going to be as high on the Alternate List as you have them. Those scores are from the Skate to Milano competition and the GP General Announcement says that scores from the following events are used to determine the Alternates List:

A listing of seasons best scores for each season will be compiled to include the following events:

• ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating
• ISU Senior Grand Prix of Figure Skating
• ISU Figure Skating Championships
• ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating and ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2025/26
• Olympic Winter Games or Youth Olympic Games (if applicable in the year concerned)
• ISU Challenger Series Events

The GP Alternates List has not been updated since prior to the Skate to Milano event - and we only had one withdrawal since the last update from Sept 16th - with Hocke/Kunkel getting the CoC spot that Bombardier/Mimar had late last week.

For Men, Women & Ice Dance - the GP Alternates List includes only skaters from last season's SB Top 75 and you can only move up or down the list by improving your SB at a Challenger this season, which puts Hyungyeom Kim further down the GP Alternates List at #12 and Harris/Chan at #6. The only way a skater who is not in last season's SB Top 75 can be added to the GP Alternates List is by winning a Challenger this season (has not happened yet).

For Pairs - new teams competing in a Challenger this season are indeed added to the GP Alternates List, so Akopova/Rakhmanin have been added because they competed at John Nicks IPC - Liu/Bedard were also added for the same reason; however two teams that are now on the current season SB list are not included since they haven't competed in a Challenger yet (Valesi/Bidar and Gunnarsdottir/Piazza).

I may be incorrect, but the fact that the GP Alternates List was not updated after Skate to Milano leads me to believe that scores from that event do NOT count for the GP Alternates List. We won't know for sure until the next GP Alternates List update.

As it is, McBeath/Parkman will indeed get the spot vacated by GoluGM at GPdF. I had my eye on them as a potential withdrawal late last week when we were discussing the SkAm host TBD spot in the US Pairs thread. They haven't competed anywhere this fall and aren't on the entry list for Trialeti Trophy, which made me wonder if there was some sort of undisclosed injury that would take them out of at least their first GP since we're only 2.5 weeks away from the series starting.

Other skaters & teams to keep an eye on as potential withdrawals -
Pairs -

• Sui/Han - CoC (CFSA may reassign this to another Chinese pairs team) and NHK (have not competed, even domestically, yet)
• Golubeva/Giotopoulos Moore - SCI
• Kam/O'Shea - SCI & Finlandia (currently entered at Trialeti Trophy, but we know they've been dealing with an injury since before Champs Camp)
• Flores/Wang - SkAm (likely to be reassigned to another US pairs team - withdrew from Nebelhorn after a very poor outing at John Nicks IPC, not yet assigned to any other competitions)
• Laurin/Ethier - SCI & SkAm (only competed the SP at Championnats Québécois d'Été; not entered in any Challengers)
• Pavlova/Sviatchenko - GPdF & NHK (not entered in any Challengers or Sr Bs yet this season)

Men -

• Pulkinen - CoC (withdrew from Nepela due to recovery from a nagging injury)
• Broussard - Finlandia (withdrew from SCI, no stated reason but has had significant injury issues the past two seasons)

Women -

• You - GPdF & NHK (has not competed in any Challengers yet this season, only listed as a substitute for DTM this week)
• Samodelkina - NHK (withdrew from DTM last week due to a knee injury sustained in practice per GoldenSkate profile article published yesterday)

Dance -

• Shibutani/Shibutani - NHK & Finlandia (have not competed in any Challengers - there's been a lively discussion about their comeback in the US Ice Dance thread, for those interested)
• Turkkila/Versluis - SCI & Finlandia (withdrew from Nepela last week, no reason stated; entered in Trophee Metropole Nice CDA per the Sept 19th entry list - we'll see if they show up; not entered in any other competitions before the start of the GP)
• Bratti/Somerville - GPdF & SCI (withdrew from Nebelhorn last week, no reason stated)
• Tali/Lafornara - SkAm (have only competed in the FISG Skate to Milano selection comp & withdrawn from all other assignments this fall, currently assigned to Trialeti Trophy)

 

[Karen-W]

And just like that - McBeath/Parkman are already confirmed for GPdF!

https://isu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.azurefd.net/isudamcontainer/CMS/Fansite/Figure-Skating/2025-2026/Events/Grand-Prix/Documents/GP-Pairs-25-09-29-1759147594-497.pdf

 

[kwanfan1818]

Thi new way of managing the Alternates List is a huge improvement over the “whatever”/stall method it replaced. The first option is clear. If the WD is during the mandatory replacement period, it happens quickly, and the Feds can see whether their athletes at the top of the list and can and have their answers ready, based on the amount of travel involved for back-to-backs, and/or if there’s an injury to consider. Otherwise, they just say “yes” to the dress.

 

[denise3lz]

Women
Mako Yamashita 183

She wasn’t in the top 75 season’s best scores for last year.

 

[Karen-W]

GP Alternates List has been updated and, as I suspected, the Skate to Milano scores are NOT being used.

https://isu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.azurefd.net/isudamcontainer/CMS/Fansite/Figure-Skating/2025-2026/Events/Grand-Prix/Documents/GP2025-26-Alternate-list-website-25-09-30-1759244236-6778.pdf

Men -
Stephen GOGOLEV CAN 255.06
Tomoki HIWATASHI USA 236.71
Aleksandr SELEVKO EST 235.23
Adam HAGARA SVK 233.93
Vladimir SAMOILOV POL 233.02
Corey CIRCELLI ITA 232.26
Jacob SANCHEZ USA 230.41
Andreas NORDEBACK SWE 230.37
Lev VINOKUR ISR 227.79
Liam KAPEIKIS USA 227.45
Camden PULKINEN USA 226.97
Hyungyeom KIM KOR 226.12
Shunsuke NAKAMURA JPN 225.69
Maxim NAUMOV USA 223.43
Kyrylo MARSAK UKR 223.20
Aleksa RAKIC CAN 222.49
Jaekeun LEE KOR 220.26
Arlet LEVANDI EST 218.90
Ivan SHMURATKO UKR 218.19
Tomas-Llorenc GUARINO SABATE ESP 217.48
Semen DANILIANTS ARM 216.89
Edward APPLEBY GBR 216.48
Nozomu YOSHIOKA JPN 215.92
Mark GORODNITSKY ISR 215.76
Juheon LIM KOR 215.54
Fedir KULISH LAT 214.33
Daniel MARTYNOV USA 212.73
Tamir KUPERMAN ISR 211.87
Nikita STAROSTIN GER 211.21
Kornel WITKOWSKI POL 211.05
Joseph KLEIN USA 210.79
Haru KAKIUCHI JPN 209.50
Donovan CARRILLO MEX 208.73
Lukas VACLAVIK SVK 207.78
Wesley CHIU CAN 206.94
Yaroslav PANIOT USA 206.59
Yu-Hsiang LI TPE 206.40

Women -
Jia SHIN KOR 208.45
Sofia SAMODELKINA KAZ 203.15
Anna PEZZETTA ITA 192.97
Livia KAISER SUI 191.24
Seoyoung KIM KOR 190.18
Ahsun YUN KOR 187.68
Katherine MEDLAND SPENCE CAN 181.89
Uliana SHIRYAEVA CAN 178.83
Sara-Maude DUPUIS CAN 178.77
Kaiya RUITER CAN 178.44
Iida KARHUNEN FIN 176.84
Mai MIHARA JPN 174.93
Mariia SENIUK ISR 172.94 Nepela 2025 score 178.92
Julia SAUTER ROU 172.64
Arina KALUGINA AZE 172.43
Ekaterina KURAKOVA POL 171.08
Olga MIKUTINA AUT 169.93
Fee Ann LANDRY CAN 169.03
Janna JYRKINEN FIN 168.97
Marina PIREDDA ITA 168.92
Alexandra FEIGIN BUL 168.33
Kristen SPOURS GBR 168.21
Josephine LEE USA 166.54
Yi ZHU CHN 166.04
Minchae KIM KOR 165.57
Linnea CEDER FIN 165.50

Pairs -
Ioulia CHTCHETININA / Michal WOZNIAK POL 185.50
Anastasia VAIPAN-LAW / Luke DIGBY GBR 183.76
Emily CHAN / Spencer Akira HOWE USA 183.22
Oxana VOUILLAMOZ / Tom BOUVART SUI 179.80
Daria DANILOVA / Michel TSIBA NED 178.37
Jiaxuan ZHANG / Yihang HUANG CHN 176.09
Karina AKOPOVA / Nikita RAKHMANIN ARM 174.84
Gabriella IZZO / Luc MAIERHOFER AUT 171.24
Sofiia HOLICHENKO / Artem DARENSKYI UKR 168.55
Chelsea LIU / Ryan BEDARD USA 168.27
Valentina PLAZAS / Maximiliano FERNANDEZ USA 167.25
Letizia ROSCHER / Luis SCHUSTER GER 162.69
Sophia SCHALLER / Livio MAYR AUT 159.29
Isabella GAMEZ / Aleksandr KOROVIN PHI 157.04
Olivia FLORES / Luke WANG USA 155.82
Aurelie FAULA / Theo BELLE FRA 154.69
Greta CRAFOORD / John CRAFOORD SWE 154.53
Naomi WILLIAMS / Lachlan LEWER USA 153.34
Irma CALDARA / Riccardo MAGLIO ITA 150.53
Nica DIGERNESS / Mark SADUSKY USA 147.72
Tae Ok RYOM / Kum Chol HAN PRK 143.63
Yuchen WANG / Lei ZHU CHN 136.90
Linzy FITZPATRICK / Keyton BEARINGER USA 134.86

Dance -
Eva PATE / Logan BYE USA 186.96
Hannah LIM / Ye QUAN KOR 185.62
Alicia FABBRI / Paul AYER CAN 185.05
Phebe BEKKER / James HERNANDEZ GBR 181.80
Katarina WOLFKOSTIN / Dimitry TSAREVSKI USA 180.20
Holly HARRIS / Jason CHAN AUS 179.53
Leah NESET / Artem MARKELOV USA 179.38
Noemi Maria TALI / Noah LAFORNARA ITA 177.50
Mariia IGNATEVA / Danijil Leonyidovics SZEMKO HUN 174.95
Natacha LAGOUGE / Arnaud CAFFA FRA 173.52
Milla Ruud REITAN / Nikolaj MAJOROV SWE 172.56
Utana YOSHIDA / Masaya MORITA JPN 171.59
Carolane SOUCISSE / Shane FIRUS IRL 171.34
Victoria MANNI / Carlo ROETHLISBERGER ITA 170.75
Sofia VAL / Asaf KAZIMOV ESP 170.50
Zoe LARSON / Andrii KAPRAN UKR 169.28
Elizabeth TKACHENKO / Alexei KILIAKOV ISR 166.94
Charise MATTHAEI / Max LIEBERS GER 166.89
Marie DUPAYAGE / Thomas NABAIS FRA 165.80
Lily HENSEN / Nathan LICKERS CAN 165.40
Giulia Isabella PAOLINO / Andrea TUBA ITA 162.61
Mariia PINCHUK / Mykyta POGORIELOV UKR 162.28
Caroline MULLEN / Brendan MULLEN USA 161.16
Sandrine GAUTHIER / Quentin THIEREN CAN 160.75
Elliana PEAL / Ethan PEAL USA 160.50
Zixi XIAO / Linghao HE CHN 157.43
Paulina RAMANAUSKAITE / Deividas KIZALA LTU 157.06
Junfei REN / Jianing XING CHN 156.51
Leia DOZZI / Pietro PAPETTI ITA 156.38
Angelina KUDRYAVTSEVA / Ilia KARANKEVICH CYP 155.67
Louise BORDET / Martin CHARDAIN FRA 154.79
Gina ZEHNDER / Beda Leon SIEBER SUI 153.29
Sofiia DOVHAL / Wiktor KULESZA POL 153.25
Laura FINELLI / Massimiliano BUCCIARELLI ITA 152.52
Chloe NGUYEN / Brendan GIANG CAN 150.97
Karla Maria KARL / Kai HOFERICHTER GER 150.73
Emese CSISZER / Mark SHAPIRO HUN 147.45
Natalia PALLU-NEVES / Jayin PANESAR BRA 147.03
Carlotta ARGENTIERI / Francesco RIVA ITA 146.96

 

[Kiki5375]

Do I get that right? Each country can send up to 3 skaters per GP? So what happens if for example USA sent 3 skaters, a Japanese skater withdraws and 1st alternate is from USA? Will he get the free spot and USA has 4 skaters in one event?

 

[Kateri]

Do I get that right? Each country can send up to 3 skaters per GP? So what happens if for example USA sent 3 skaters, a Japanese skater withdraws and 1st alternate is from USA? Will he get the free spot and USA has 4 skaters in one event?

No, the 3-per-country rule overrides. That skater would have to wait for another event to have a free spot.

 

[Kiki5375]

No, the 3-per-country rule overrides. That skater would have to wait for another event to have a free spot.

Thank you

 

[Karen-W]

Do I get that right? Each country can send up to 3 skaters per GP? So what happens if for example USA sent 3 skaters, a Japanese skater withdraws and 1st alternate is from USA? Will he get the free spot and USA has 4 skaters in one event?

No, the 3-per-country rule overrides. That skater would have to wait for another event to have a free spot.

Correct.

Ice Dance is a great example of the USA being nearly maxed out at all events - Only Grand Prix de France has 2 US teams. Unfortunately, for Pate/Bye as the current 1st alternates, GPdF is their only GP, so even if there was a withdrawal, the spot would go to Lim/Quan as the 2nd alternates. The only way for Pate/Bye to pick up a 2nd GP assignment is if another US team withdraws from a different GP - possibly Bratti/Somerville if they're unable to compete at SCI. The Browns were, originally, the 1st alternates, but they picked up a 2nd GP by being selected by the USFS for the 1 host TBD spot at SkAm.

Same situation applies to the JPN women - they were maxed out at every single GP with 1 host TBD spot at NHK, so even if there were withdrawals Yuna Aoki would have been passed over in favor of other skaters lower on the Alternates list. The JSF chose to assign Aoki to their NHK host spot rather than see her passed over if/when any spots opened up.

 

[Kiki5375]

Ok I understand. But... another question. Why does USA send 3 skaters to France and Finnland but only 2 to the other GPs?

 

[Karen-W]

Ok I understand. But... another question. Why does USA send 3 skaters to France and Finnland but only 2 to the other GPs?

GP assignments are handled by the Grand Prix Host Commission - which are the 6 feds that host the GPs and the ISU. There is a priority list for assignments that they go off of when making both the initial assignments & the replacements.

For Singles - top 12 at Worlds are guaranteed 2 GPs; top 24 from the Season's Best and World Standings are guaranteed 1 GP; Comeback Skaters (Top 1-6 at Worlds in the past decade) are guaranteed 2, etc.; Top 75 from the SB can be selected as well, provided they meet the Total Min Score requirement (60% of the WC score from Worlds).

For Pairs & Dance - top 10 at Worlds are guaranteed 2 GPs; top 24 from the Season's Best and World Standings are guaranteed 1 GP; Comeback Skaters (Top 1-6 at Worlds in the past decade) are guaranteed 2, etc.; Top 75 from the SB can be selected as well, provided they meet the Total Min Score requirement (60% of the WC score from Worlds).

The Top 6 in each discipline are "seeded" - so they can request the GPs they want & the GP Host Comm tries to accommodate their requests, but nothing is guaranteed. After that, the GP Host Comm assigns the skaters/teams who are guaranteed 2 GPs and 1 GP their events - fans have gleaned through the years that this is done round-robin style with the Host feds drawing for selection order and then going down the lists, selecting skaters until the event is full. The Host feds also reserve 3 spots in each discipline for their own skaters - these get filled, generally, with a mixture of seeded, invited (top 7-12 singles & top 7-10 pairs/dance teams), and guaranteed (top 24 SB/WS skaters/teams), and, usually, a handful of skaters/teams in the SB Top 75.

Apart from the the host feds own GPs, it's pretty rare to see 3 skaters from any country at a single GP in any given discipline. A country would have to be really strong & dominant in a discipline (JPN women, US ice dance) or just plain lucky (USA men @GPdF, ITA men @SkAm, USA men @Finlandia, ITA pairs @CoC) for that to happen.

 

[Kiki5375]

Thank you so much for that great explanation

 

[haribobo]

Interestingly, Sihyeong Lee and Yudong Chen would move up to 2 and 3 on the alternates list, except Sihyeong was 76th and was 107th on last year's SB list, making them ineligible to move up with this silly rule!

 

[Karen-W]

Interestingly, Sihyeong Lee and Yudong Chen would move up to 2 and 3 on the alternates list, except Sihyeong was 76th and was 107th on last year's SB list, making them ineligible to move up with this silly rule!

Well, the "silly rule" about the GP Alternates being pulled only from the previous season's SB Top 75 has been around for a long, long time. Both of them had terrible seasons last year & that's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.

 

[Kiki5375]

The skaters who plan their challengers later in the season have no chance to get on top of the list?

 

[Karen-W]

The skaters who plan their challengers later in the season have no chance to get on top of the list?

So, there GP Alternates list starts with the previous season's SB Top 75. Any skaters/teams on that list are able to improve their standing on the GP Alternates list by competing in current season events which qualify for the SB list - mainly Challengers but also Grand Prix competitions. Theoretically, a skater who only has 1 GP assignment (ie Livia Kaiser, Camden Pulkinen, Maxim Naumov, etc) and it's an early one, could do well enough to move up to the top of the GP Alternates list and pick up a 2nd GP at the last minute.

This season the Challenger Series is taking a break where there aren't any Challengers happening for the first 5 weeks of the GP Series, so if a skater/team didn't compete in any of the first 7 Challengers and they don't have any GP assignments, then they're not going to move up the GP Alternates list. That's just the way the Challenger calendar worked out this season - in past seasons there have been Challenger events taking place simultaneously as the GP - Denis Ten Memorial used to be the last weekend of October, Tallinn Trophy has been the 2nd weekend of November in the past, Trophee Metropole Nice CDA & IceChallenge Graz have been Challengers in past seasons held the 3rd weekend of October & 1st weekend of November respectively.

 

[Richard]

I live in Maryland. I lived in Bethesda (DC suburbs so near PRLady and BlueRidge) most of the time, but now I’m retired down at the shore. I attended 2003 Worlds, a few World Pros, most east coast SAs, and 2011 Nationals. I also went to the 2006 Olympics for Ice Dance and Ladies.

Yes I was at the 2004 SA pairs free skate in the front row with a group of FSUers. T/M came to a stop right in front of us so you can see us in video and photos with some of us gesturing for the medical team. It was so scary.

Oh, and I’m a she. My full name Robin was taken as username so I used Rob.

2004 Skate America was the first ever skating competition I attended. It also the first time as an adult that I booked my own travel arrangements, bought tickets, etc. I was a sophomore in college and had midterms that week. Luckily I was able to convince two of my professors to let me take my exams early so that I could attend the event.

My heart was broken a few weeks before the event when Michelle Kwan withdrew. She still remains my favorite athlete of all time and I was beyond thrilled to finally see her compete in person. All of my travel arrangements were nonrefundable, so I decided to attend anyway. I'll never forget the feeling I had after T/M's accident. It was so quiet in the arena. I also never forget what I said to the lady sitting next to me. She was a local who decided at the last minute to come out that night. I said to her, "You might enjoy this last pair. They're the reigning world champions. They should do really well."

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

2004 Skate America was the first ever skating competition I attended. It also the first time as an adult that I booked my own travel arrangements. bought tickets, etc. I was a sophomore in college and had midterms that week. Luckily I was able to convince two of my professors to let me take my exams early so that I could attend the event.

My heart was broken a few weeks before the event when Michelle Kwan withdrew. She still remains my favorite athlete of all time and I was beyond thrilled to finally see her compete in person. All of my travel arrangements were nonrefundable, so I decided to attend anyway. I'll never forget the feeling I had after T/M's accident. It was so quiet in the arena. I also never forget what I said to the lady sitting next to me. She was a local who decided at the last minute to come out that night. I said to her, "You might enjoy this last pair. They're the reigning world champions. They should do really well."

You and I must be twins, that was my first Skate America too, Pittsburgh. Aside from the pairs tragedy it was a great event.

And the following year, both Michele and Sasha were entered and they both withdrew, and the destination was not good. After 20 years, it’s still remains my least favorite city.

 

[Richard]

You and I must be twins, that was my first Skate America too, Pittsburgh. Aside from the pairs tragedy it was a great event.

And the following year, both Michele and Sasha were entered and they both withdrew, and the destination was not good. After 20 years, it’s still remains my least favorite city.

Twinsies! For me, the most exciting part of the event came when my other favorite lady skater, Angela Nikodinov, won the women's competition. Single Axel and all!

I bought tickets to the following year's Skate America while in Pittsburgh (back in the day when we knew the location of the event more than a year ahead of time - imagine that! We were so spoiled then.) and scored a front row seat. Sadly I wasn't able to make it and sold my tickets a few weeks before the event.

 

[Karen-W]

And Golubeva/Giotopoulos Moore are out of Skate Canada - https://isu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.az...cuments/GP-Pairs-25-10-06-1759743651-0994.pdf

Spot should go to Chtchetinina/Wozniak.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Twinsies! For me, the most exciting part of the event came when my other favorite lady skater, Angela Nikodinov, won the women's competition.

Holy crap now I know we’re twins.

I have a feeling you’re gonna be my vice president Besty.

Oh my gosh I got so many pictures taken with her at the practice sessions. I feel like I became her for one day lol.