2022-23 ISU Grand Prix Assignments are published

Cross-posting this update from Nate Bartholomay regarding McBBar's withdrawal from SCI -
Nate Bartholomay posted this IG video update regarding their status - https://www.instagram.com/tv/CkMqe96pfGv/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

To summarize - about 8.5 weeks ago he suffered an elbow injury that required surgery and kept hin off the ice a few weeks, when he returned his blade broke and he wound up needing new blades & boots, as he was working through that he took a hard fall which resulted in a minor sciatic nerve injury a couple weeks ago - ultimately, they decided it would be better to withdraw from SCI and aim for MKJW instead, plus the remainder of the season.
I have to wonder if they, or any of the teams that have withdrawn from early GPs due to injury, could wind up back on the pairs alternates list for later GPs. That's not how it normally works, but I don't discount that as a possibility.
 
I think the ISU stopped allowing that at least 20 years ago, before SLC.
They did try it out again in the 2011-12 season, though only a handful of the eligible skaters took up the ISU's offer, and Pechalat/Bourzat wound up having to withdraw from one event which created some fan controversy around how in a normal year, they'd have lost their shot at the Final. It just all felt very weird in the then-current era, I can see why the ISU didn't bother keeping it up, though pairs certainly creates a stronger argument for it this year.
 
They definitely allowed three GP's to the Top 6 post SLC -- example: Delobel/Schoenfelder in 2004 (SC, NHK, TEB), ranked 5th after Winkler/Lohse's retirement -- but I they took it away and then reinstated it later, as @jmtfti posted above. They also toyed with allowing Pairs only to do both JGP and GP, after they took it away for all other disciplines -- Sui/Cong competed in two JGPs and two GP's in 2011, and then won GPF silver -- and then again later for Pairs, too.

I wonder how much prize money had to do with it, ie, back when it was really high, the top teams appeared to be hoarding it all, and when the money dropped, it might not have been worth it to the top teams to do all three and GPF when balanced against impact on the Fall training schedule in pre-CS times and with all that transcontinental travel.
 
Ok I think we can conclude that the Chinese fed is pulling all its skaters, except maybe for W/L who train in Montreal.
Agreed.

I'm actually pretty pissed about this one since there is no way that Skate Canada can replace him since practices start today. If the Chinese fed had done this even at the beginning of the week, there would have been an opportunity for him to have been replaced with someone who actually wanted the spot or was already in North America (Levandi, Frangi, Carrillo, Kapeikis, etc). As it is, the spot goes unused, unless they're already on the phone to see if they can get someone on the earliest flight to Toronto (Liam would be the easiest, unless Donovan is still in Boston). China can feck off for all I care.

Men - 1 open spot @NHK (note JPN is maxed out at every event except SCI, where they have 2 men); potentially 1 open spot at Espoo if Shaidorov is unable to compete
Frangipani (NHK)
A. Selevko (SCI)
S. Lee (GPdF)
Zandron (NHK)
Honda (Espoo)
Orzel (SCI)
Levandi (Espoo)
Majorov (Espoo)
Carrillo (SkAm)
Shmuratko (GPdF)

Next to be added:
Starostin (none)
Circelli (MKJW)
Kapeikis (SkAm)
Newberry (MKJW)
Guarino Sabate (none)
 
Didn’t China and Russia conclude, a couple of weeks ago, a long-term agreement on working together in sports? I was wondering if skating wouldn’t be affected in some way.

 
Espoo's entries have been updated! Efimova/Blommaert and Valesi/Piazza got the open spots! https://results.isu.org/events/gpfin2022_Pairs.htm

I'm betting that Osipova/Epstein get the GPdF invitation (if the FFSG fills it) since they have the highest score of the remaining five teams on the alternates list.

Pairs - 1 spot open @GPdF
Crafoord/Crafoord SWE 130.62 (63) (SkAm)
Osipova/Epstein NED 146.06 (69) (none)
Efimova Blommaert GER 186.17 (SCI & Espoo)
Valesi/Piazza ITA 150.96 (SkAm & Espoo)

Yunoki/Ichihashi JPN 140.46 (none)
Piegad/Strekalin FRA 138.36 (GPdF)
Wessenberg/Eisenach 138.22 USA (none)

ETA - the grid has also been updated and now I'm wondering if the FFSG is going to fill that last pairs spot. I'm going to be annoyed if they don't, since there are a couple teams who are training in the Netherlands with Savchenko (the Crafoords & Osipova/Epstein) who shouldn't have a problem traveling to Angers on a week's notice.

 
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Thanks, @tony! It does appear, looking at the grid for the men with the blank spot left by Jin's withdrawal from SCI today that the FFSG has chosen to not replace Peng/Jin at GPdF - it's a blank spot rather than their names crossed out. It's a darn shame that they're not going to fill that spot since there are a couple of options, but I get it, especially with the pairs alternates list getting so small.

Men - 0 spots currently open (note JPN is maxed out at every event except SCI, where they have 2 men); potentially 1 open spot at Espoo if Shaidorov is unable to compete
Frangipani (NHK)
A. Selevko (SCI)
S. Lee (GPdF)
Zandron (NHK)
Honda (Espoo)
Orzel (SCI & NHK)
Levandi (Espoo)
Majorov (Espoo)
Carrillo (SkAm)
Shmuratko (GPdF)
Starostin (none)

Next to be added:
Circelli (MKJW)
Kapeikis (SkAm)
Newberry (MKJW)
Guarino Sabate (none)
 
Didn’t China and Russia conclude, a couple of weeks ago, a long-term agreement on working together in sports? I was wondering if skating wouldn’t be affected in some way.

That article only quotes Russian officials so it's hard to know how seriously the Chinese view these events.

There is the link to the figure skating results from Russia-China Youth Winter Games.
 
Ummm…hardly. 😉
OK, I've told you we should wait for W/L's withdrawal if it even happens, but you should know that figure skating has less than zero popularity in China. As fun as it is to muse about how Xi Jinping might be planning to take over Taiwan by making Jin Boyang land a 4Lz and making Peng/Jin do a Death Spiral, it's not happening.

Like I don't trust the "injury" and "health issues" stories that have now apparently affected three of their discplines, but this theory isn't it. If say @Gris mentions they're also doing it with Speed Skating, then we can start theorizing about this.
 
OK, I've told you we should wait for W/L's withdrawal if it even happens, but you should know that figure skating has less than zero popularity in China. As fun as it is to muse about how Xi Jinping might be planning to take over Taiwan by making Jin Boyang land a 4Lz and making Peng/Jin do a Death Spiral, it's not happening.

Like I don't trust the "injury" and "health issues" stories that have now apparently affected three of their discplines, but this theory isn't it. If say @Gris mentions they're also doing it with Speed Skating, then we can start theorizing about this.
Yes, and we know that WangLiu are actually in Montreal and training - I just spotted them at the rink in an IG post Nik Sorensen made earlier today.
 
Yes, and we know that WangLiu are actually in Montreal and training - I just spotted them at the rink in an IG post Nik Sorensen made earlier today.
I think the simplest explanation is probably that none of them had the opportunity to train formally with coaches until now, which does fall on the CFSA - which is now trying to save face by making them say they're injured/unrecovered/whatever. I think that only rules out Zhu Yi, but I was confused how she was supposed to be keeping up with Peking University and skating anyway...
 
I think the simplest explanation is probably that none of them had the opportunity to train until now formally with coaches, which does fall on the CFSA - which is now trying to save face by making them say they're injured/unrecovered/whatever.
Seems likely. As long as we don't hear that Boyang has returned to China but remains in Toronto to train with Orser & Wilson, I think we can feel confident he'll be at 4CCs and Worlds later in the season.

I do really want Peng/Jin to leave China, at this point, and go abroad to train. Probably not Oakville, but possibly Montreal, with the coaching team that trains SDDes & MatFer, perhaps.
 
I do really want Peng/Jin to leave China, at this point, and go abroad to train. Probably not Oakville, but possibly Montreal, with the coaching team that trains SDDes & MatFer, perhaps.
It's such a waste for them too, they're easily a top 2 team with S/H and T/M gone now. I'd say the best team, R/K aren't really on the same level for me, even if I like them and their speedy skating.
 
Kevin Aymoz withdrew from GP France and if the universe leads to Morisi being a world medalist this season I'm going to nuke the entire thing
I feel the same way. I'm so sad for Kevin. And Morisi is so overscored.
Kevin Aymoz withdrew from GP France and if the universe leads to Morisi being a world medalist this season I'm going to nuke the entire thing
 
Kevin Aymoz withdrew from GP France and if the universe leads to Morisi being a world medalist this season I'm going to nuke the entire thing
Why even put that out there for the universe to consider? We still have plenty of men to block Morisi from the podium - and I'm praying they all remain standing.

No surprise that the FFSG selected Landry to replace Kevin. The real question is whether or not Kevin will be healed enough to compete in Espoo.
 
Wait - I thought that Kevin had already backed out for at least half of the season. The announcement a couple of weeks ago was loosey goosey?
 
I do really want Peng/Jin to leave China, at this point, and go abroad to train. Probably not Oakville, but possibly Montreal, with the coaching team that trains SDDes & MatFer, perhaps.
I doubt they would go to Montreal. In a new book published last week, Julianne Seguin described in detail the toxic relationship that developed between her and Josee Picard, and how she was constantly harassed about maintaining a certain weight - among other things.
 
I doubt they would go to Montreal. In a new book published last week, Julianne Seguin described in detail the toxic relationship that developed between her and Josee Picard, and how she was constantly harassed about maintaining a certain weight - among other things.


Yeah, the fact that Deanna/Maxime train with Picard now does give me pause. How can it not, after her history with Seguin?

But the good thing is that Deanna and Maxime are both mature athletes who have been in this sport for a long time and have a strong sense of what works for them and what doesn't. And will probably voice that.

In general, I wish we could get out of this thinking that certain coaching camps provide certain solutions to everything, while others have nothing to offer. The truth is that pretty much every coaching camp has its successes and failures. Some have more of one than the other.
 

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