2025-26 Grand Prix Assignments Discussion

[Karen-W]

Well, pencil in the ShibSibs for 2 GP assignments (see the US Ice Dance thread for the news). There will be some non-host fed teams who lose out on a 2nd GP assignment with this news.

 

[litenkyckling]

Well, pencil in the ShibSibs for 2 GP assignments (see the US Ice Dance thread for the news). There will be some non-host fed teams who lose out on a 2nd GP assignment with this news.

do they qualify for 2 spots, or will they get the host SkAm spot?

 

[tony]

Well, we know with the world standings updated:

Guaranteed:
Chock & Bates - 2
Carreira & Ponomarenko - 2
Green & Parsons - 2
Zingas & Kolesnik - 1
Bratti & Somerville - 1
Brown & Brown - 1
Pate & Bye - 1
Neset & Markelov - 1

Wolfkostin & Tsarevski ? IIRC the WJC medalist thing didn't guarantee anything moving forward.

With Shibutanis certainly getting 2 if that's what they want, that's 13 spots. Z/K, B/S, Browns probably getting seconds spots. Maybe W/T get 2 and that's that.

 

[Karen-W]

Well, we know with the world standings updated:

Guaranteed:
Chock & Bates - 2
Carreira & Ponomarenko - 2
Green & Parsons - 2
Zingas & Kolesnik - 1
Bratti & Somerville - 1
Brown & Brown - 1
Pate & Bye - 1
Neset & Markelov - 1

Wolfkostin & Markelov Tsarevski ? IIRC the WJC medalist thing didn't guarantee anything moving forward.

With Shibutanis certainly getting 2 if that's what they want, that's 13 spots. Z/K, B/S, Browns probably getting seconds spots. Maybe W/M get 2 and that's that.

It won't affect the US teams who were already guaranteed 2 or 1 assignment. WolfTsar aren't getting any at all (unless they get the SkAm host TBD spot) - they're too far down the SB list (41) & not in the WS Top 24.

ZingKol will get a 2nd because they're on both the SB and WS Top 24 - and pretty high up on each - WS 10/SB 12. I just can't see the USFS expending capital to get either the Browns or BraSom a 2nd GP over the likes of any of other teams who are on both the WS & SB Top 24 lists.

There are too many teams in the WS Top 24 and/or SB Top 24 for teams who are only on one of those lists to get 2, and there will be 2 teams who are in both the WS/SB Top 24 lists who would have expected 2 who are only getting 1 now.

WS/SB Top 24 (position on WS & SB listed after the team, host fed teams marked by *)
Reed/Ambrulevicius 7/11
Turkkila/Versluis 9/6 *
Zingas/Kolesnik 10/12 *
Demougeot/Le Mercier 13/17 *
Taschlerova/Taschler 14/16
Mrazkova/Mrazek 16/18
Orihara/Pirinen 17/13 *
Lim/Quan 18/21
Janse van Rensburg/Steffan 23/20

SB Top 24 (position on SB listed after each team, host fed teams marked by *)
Bratti/Somerville 15 *
Brown/Brown 19 *
Fabbri/Ayer 22 *
Pate/Bye 23 *
Bekker/Hernandez 24

WS Top 24 (position on WS & SB listed after each team, host fed teams marked by *)
Neset/Markelov 19/26 *
Lauriault/Le Gac 20/27 *
Tali/Lafornara 21/28
Fradji/Forneaux 22/47 *
Grimm/Savitskiy 24/46

If you list the teams out in order of SB, it's pretty clear that LimQuan and JvRStef are the two teams on both the WS/SB lists that will only get 1 GP. Maybe an argument could be made to give BraSom a 2nd over the Mrazkovi, Taschlers or DemLeM (all lower on the SB list), but it won't be DemLeM since they're from a GP host fed and I don't see BraSom getting a 2nd GP as the 6th best US team over either Czech team what with those teams being Czechia's ONLY GP entries and Prague hosting Worlds next year.

 

[Karen-W]

do they qualify for 2 spots, or will they get the host SkAm spot?

They qualify as a Comeback Team and I'd be surprised if they're assigned to SkAm.

Right now, my projection list has them down for NHK & Finlandia.

From the 2024-25 GP Announcement - https://isu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.az...General-Announcement-2024-25-1742973255-8.pdf

c) “Come-Back” Skaters/Couples: Skaters/Couples who were previously seeded (placed 1 to 6 within the past 10 years at a ISU World Figure Skating Championships) and subsequently did not participate in one or more competitive seasons will be given priority consideration to re-enter the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating for selection of up to 2 assignments if they commit in writing to participating in two ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating events and if such return is announced and confirmed by the date of the annual Selection Meeting. Such so called “Come Back Skaters/Couples” will not substitute any of the Seeded Skaters/Couples, mentioned under a). “Come Back Skaters/Couples” must not fulfil the requirements of the minimum Grand Prix score and would be considered for selection as an Organizing ISU Member Choice. A come back under this clause is allowed only once in their competitive career for any Skater/Couple.

The "Come-Back" Skaters/Couples part is listed in Section 2.1 Seeded Skaters/Couples, so it would appear they're considered a seeded team for purposes of the GP assignments and the USFS isn't obligated to assign them to SkAm. I think the USFS will do its best to protect both ChoBat and CarPon as seeded teams and send the Shibs elsewhere.

We still have no idea where FBCiz fit into the GP Assignments list since there's the missing clause for Returning Split Couples placed 1-6 in previous WCs - presumably that missing clause would go in Section 2.1 also and would be for the past 10 years, similar to the Come-Back Skaters/Couples clause, but who knows?

 

[BittyBug]

I must be missing something (which would not be surprising ), but there are six Grand Prix events and I thought that each country had a max of 2 entries except that a host has an extra slot, so isn't that 13 slots for the U.S.? And if so, where is the room for any of the teams guaranteed only one spot to pick up a second assignment?

I'm going by C/B, CPom, G/P and Shibs getting 2 assignments - that's 8 slots taken. And then there are 5 teams guaranteed at least one assignment.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Three entries is the max/country in any discipline in any event. So a max of 18/member for each discipline across all six events.

 

[BittyBug]

Well that explains it. Did it used to be 2 without regard to the host country bonus slot?

 

[Karen-W]

Well that explains it. Did it used to be 2 without regard to the host country bonus slot?

No, it's never been 2; it's always been 3 max.

 

[kwanfan1818]

The two limit is the number of GP’s a skater/team can do, aside from a period where seeded skaters/teams could do three, with one not counting towards GPF points. (But they got prize money and pushed down other skaters/teams, who got fewer points, less money, and one would have to skate in an earlier group.).

 

[farahfan]

This is nuts, but I wonder if the Shibs have citizenship with Japan. They’d be a shoo in for the Olympic team event. And still get their GP spots right?

 

[litenkyckling]

This is nuts, but I wonder if the Shibs have citizenship with Japan. They’d be a shoo in for the Olympic team event. And still get their GP spots right?

I'm pretty certain at a certain age (21 maybe?) you have to revoke your Japanese citizenship as they don't allow dual - so they likely don't have it anymore (assuming their parents ensured they had it as kids, which I would assume yes for ease of family travel etc).

 

[BittyBug]

Yes, didn't Chris Reed had to give up his U.S. citizenship when he turned 21?

 

[Vagabond]

Why would the Shibutanis want to skate for Japan, even if they could, when they can skate for the United States?

 

[Karen-W]

This is nuts, but I wonder if the Shibs have citizenship with Japan. They’d be a shoo in for the Olympic team event. And still get their GP spots right?

Pretty sure that even if there was a way for them to regain their Japanese citizenship, which @litenkyckling notes has most certainly been relinquished by both of them already, that their return to competitive skating wouldn't have come from the USFS if there was a country switch afoot.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Yuka Kavaguti said in an interview that she could apply to get back Japanese citizenship, which she renounced for Russian ten years or more after renunciation.

The Shibutani’s would have had to choose by age 22.

It would have been an interesting choice to compete for Japan, because they would be team gold would have been in sight, and they might have been the ones trying to qualify in Beijing.

But then USFS would be fuming, not sending out press releases.

 

[Vagabond]

Were the Shibutanis born to Japanese citizens? If not, they probably weren't eligible for Japanese citizenship themselves.

 

[farahfan]

Were the Shibutanis born to Japanese citizens? If not, they probably weren't eligible for Japanese citizenship themselves.

Their mother was born in Japan.
I realize they are committed to USFS but just speculating that Japan would have been a pretty much guaranteed ticket to the Olympics if they count on the citizenship. Did not know that dual is not accepted in Japan so it's likely they had no chance.

 

[Vagabond]

Their mother was born in Japan.

Thanks. Of course, she may have relinquished her citizenship at some point.

 

[kwanfan1818]

They were asked multiple times before he turned 22 if they would choose Japanese citizenship and skate for Japan, like the Reeds. They said no. If they were not Japanese citizens through their mother, I think they would have said so at the time. For one thing, it would have stopped the question cold.

 

[RoseRed]

Well that explains it. Did it used to be 2 without regard to the host country bonus slot?

It is 2 for the JGP, with 3 for the host for singles and dance. Maybe that's what you were thinking of.

Pairs has max 3 since only 4 JGP events have pairs.

 

[Karen-W]

Ikra Kushida and Koshiro Shimada have teamed up as ice dancers! ?

Ikura will also compete in singles while Koshiro will focus on dance.

https://x.com/Kinoshita_Sport/status/1920722636167950550

ETA：They will skate for Friends on Ice show in August.

Well, this opens up a couple of spots on the GP. Shimada wasn't guaranteed 1 or 2 but given he was SB 32 and from a host fed, I think most of us had him pencilled in to get 2 on my projections. For now, I'm giving Samoilov and Circelli, SB 33 & 34 respectively, one GP each, since the next highest Japanese man on the SB list is Nakamura down at SB 46.

 

[SidelineSkater]

The category is...GP Seeding for top 6.

Anyone care to take a guess at what the GP seeding will shake out? It's tricky with 3 USA and 3 JPN and knowing what the two feds will do with their host spots.

I've redone this several times. It's not my final answer, but for today's discussion...

France - Sakamoto/Glenn
China - Chiba/Higuchi
Canada - Liu/Glenn
NHK - Sakamoto/Levito
USA - Liu/Higuchi
FIN - Chiba/Levito

 

[jamesy]

That would be amazingly unhinged if USFS kept Liu and Glenn from being at SKAM together only for SC to be like "yeah we don't care let's cause chaos."

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

The category is...GP Seeding for top 6.

Anyone care to take a guess at what the GP seeding will shake out? It's tricky with 3 USA and 3 JPN and knowing what the two feds will do with their host spots.

I've redone this several times. It's not my final answer, but for today's discussion...

France - Sakamoto/Glenn
China - Chiba/Higuchi
Canada - Liu/Glenn
NHK - Sakamoto/Levito
USA - Liu/Higuchi
FIN - Chiba/Levito

You and I tend to agree when we did this together last month although I Will not put Amber at skate America.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

France - Sakamoto/Glenn
China - Chiba/Higuchi
Canada - Liu/Glenn
NHK - Sakamoto/Levito
USA - Liu/Higuchi
FIN - Chiba/Levito

Same as yours.

Or

France - Sakamoto/Levito
China - Chiba/Higuchi
Canada - Liu/Glenn
NHK - Sakamoto/Levito
USA - Liu/Higuchi
FIN - Chiba/Glenn

 

[Karen-W]

The category is...GP Seeding for top 6.

Anyone care to take a guess at what the GP seeding will shake out? It's tricky with 3 USA and 3 JPN and knowing what the two feds will do with their host spots.

I've redone this several times. It's not my final answer, but for today's discussion...

France - Sakamoto/Glenn
China - Chiba/Higuchi
Canada - Liu/Glenn
NHK - Sakamoto/Levito
USA - Liu/Higuchi
FIN - Chiba/Levito

Oooo! Let's do this for every discipline! I haven't re-done my Women's seedings recently, but I have re-done the Men, Pairs & Dance just in the past week or so, lol. Your women's list is interesting - we have 4 pairings that are the same, though at different GPs.

Women -
GPdF - Liu/Levito
CoC - Sakamoto/Glenn
SCI - Chiba/Levito
NHK - Sakamoto/Higuchi
SkAm - Liu/Glenn
Finlandia - Chiba/Higuchi

Men -
GPdF - Kagiyama/Siao Him Fa
CoC - Shaidorov/Aymoz
SCI - Malinin/Siao Him Fa
NHK - Kagiyama/Sato
SkAm - Malinin/Aymoz
Finlandia - Shaidorov/Sato

Pairs -
GPdF - MiuKih/EfiMit
CoC - MiNiki/MetBeru
SCI - ConMac/SDDes
NHK - MiuKih/MetBeru
SkAm - ConMac/EfiMit
Finlandia - MiNiki/SDDes

Ice Dance -
GPdF - ChoBat/SmaDie; *FBCiz
CoC - FearGib/GuigFab; *Shibs
SCI - GilPoir/CarPon; *LajLag
NHK - FearGib/SmaDie; *FBCiz
SkAm - ChoBat/CarPon
Finlandia - GilPoir/GuigFab; *Shibs

I've gone back & forth on my Ice Dance seedings a LOT, even before the Shibs announced last week, I was still struggling because of the FBCiz factor.

Ultimately, I think ChoBat are going to feel pretty confident about making an early season debut at France - 1) they've done it at SkAm the past few years, 2) their off-season is pretty clear post-WTT with just 12 days or so for the US-SOI tour, and they've been back in Montreal the past 3 weeks, so they're not going to come into the GP behind the 8-ball like they have the past couple seasons, and 3) they're not going to want to show any fear in taking on FBCiz on their home territory. I'm probably entirely wrong and they'll take CoC instead, which would completely scramble the rest of the assignments, lol.

 

[hoptoad]

These potential match-ups are fun to read, but I think they are optimistic in minimizing the number of repeated match-ups.

Does anyone know what order the feds choose in? I don't remember whether they take turns somehow or make it random each year.

 

[Karen-W]

These potential match-ups are fun to read, but I think they are optimistic in minimizing the number of repeated match-ups.

Does anyone know what order the feds choose in? I don't remember whether they take turns somehow or make it random each year.

I want to say they draw lots and it then rotates through each discipline, but I'm not 100% on that. So, if the order for Men winds up being FRA, CAN, FIN, USA, CHN, JPN; then the Women's draw order would be CAN, FIN, USA, CHN, JPN, FRA; the Pairs' draw order would be FIN, USA, CHN, JPN, FRA, CAN; and the Dance draw order would be USA, CHN, JPN, FRA, CAN, FIN.

Here's what we do know about the selection process:

1) feds make their host picks - they can pick any of their own skaters regardless of whether they meet the GP total score min
2) the Seeded Skaters are assigned - seeded skaters get to list their preferences and are split into two sub-groups 1-3 and 4-6
3) the Comeback Skaters (Shibs, Young You, possibly Loena, possibly Sui/Han) are assigned & given priority consideration for 2 GPs - GP total score min does not apply
4) the Invited Skaters are assigned - these skaters are not split into two sub-groups
5) the Returning Split Couples (FBCiz, possibly Sui/Li - who knows what's the deal with Sui & a potential partner, rumors abound on Weibo) are assigned - GP total score min does not apply
6) the Returning Ranked Skater/Couples are assigned (none that we're aware of yet) - GP total score min does not apply
7) Skaters/Couples with an ISU World Standing 1-24 or on the ISU Season's Best top 24 are assigned
8) Included but not guaranteed an assignment - Jr Worlds 2025 medalists & 2024-25 JGPF gold medalists
9) Included but not guaranteed an assignment - any skaters/couples on the ISU Season's Best top 75 who meet the GP Total Minimum Score (All 75 of the Men, Women & Dance teams have the GP min, only the top 53 of the Pairs teams have the GP min)

Ilia/Alysa/MiuKih/ChoBat & Adam/Isabeau/MetBeru/GuigFab are likely to get their first choices, Misha/Kaori/MiNiki/GilPoir & Kevin/Amber/SDDes/CarPon may get their first choices, and Yuma/Mone/ConMac/FearGib & Shun/Wakaba/EfiMit/SmaDie will get whatever is left over, regardless of what they want save for if they've been chosen as fed host picks.

So, for the Men, host & seeded skater selections will go something like this...
France will host select Adam, and probably Economides & Pitot
China will host select Dai & 2 TBD spots
Canada will host select Sadovsky & 2 TBD spots
Japan will host select Yuma & probably Shun, + 1 TBD spot
USA will host select Ilia & either Brown or Torgashev (I'm leaning towards Brown right now), + 1 TBD spot
Finland will host select Suntsev & Virtanen and throw their 3rd spot back in the pool

Then, Ilia will get his 1st choice from France, China, Canada & Finland; then Misha will get his top 2 choices of what's left from FRA, CHN, CAN & FIN after Ilia chooses; then Yuma will get the last slot left. Repeat for the 4-6 sub-group - Adam will get his 1st choice from CHN, CAN, USA & FIN; Kevin will get his top 2 choices of what's left from CHN, CAN, USA & FIN after Adam chooses; and Shun will get the last slot left.

For the Women, host & seeded skater selections will be something like this...
France will select Schild & Serna + 1 TBD
China will select Zhu + 2 TBD
Canada will select Schizas & Dupuis + 1 TBD
Japan will select Kaori & probably Wakaba + 1 TBD
USA will select Alysa & either Isabeau or Amber + 1 TBD
Finland will select Ceder & probably Karhunen & Jyrkinen (who are both higher than Ceder on the SB75 list)

Then Alysa will get her 1st choice from FRA, CHN, CAN & FIN; then Kaori will get her 1st choice of what's left from FRA, CHN, CAN & FIN; then Mone will get whatever is left over. Repeat for the 4-6 group - Isabeau and Amber will get their 1st/2nd choices of what's left of FRA, CHN, CAN & FIN; and Wakaba will get the last slot left.

For the Pairs, host & seeded skater selections will go something like this...
France will select Les Kovs, Faula/Belle + 1 TBD
China will select Sui/Partner + 1 TBD - I don't think they have more than 2 senior teams they're willing to put out there at CoC
Canada will select SDDes, PerMich + 1 TBD
Japan will select MiuKih, NagaMori + 1 TBD
USA will select EfiMit and probably FlorWang + 1 TBD
Finland will select 1 TBD - presuming Vaananen has a partner within the next few weeks, if not, they will throw all 3 host picks into the pool

Then MiuKih will get their 1st choice from FRA, CHN, CAN, USA & FIN; next MiNiki will get their top 2 choices from what's left of FRA, CHN, CAN, USA & FIN; and then ConMac will get whatever is left over. Repeat for the 4-6 group - MetBeru will get their top 2 choices from FRA, CHN, JPN, & FIN; then SDDes will get their 1st choice from whatever's left after MetBeru choose; and EfiMit will get the last slot left.

For Ice Dance, host & seeded skater selections will look something like this...
France will select FBCiz and probably FraForn + 1 TBD
China will select RenXing, XiaoHe + 1 TBD
Canada will select GilPoir and probably LajLag + 1 TBD
Japan will select YoMori and TaNishi + 1 TBD
USA will select ChoBat & CarPon + 1 TBD
Finland will select TurkVers & PiriHara + 1 TBD

Then ChoBat will get their 1st choice from FRA, CHN, JPN & FIN; GilPoir will get their 1st choice of what's left from FRA, CHN, JPN & FIN; and FearGib will get whichever 2 GPs remain. Repeat for the 4-6 group - GuigFab will get their top 2 choices from FRA, CHN, CAN, JPN & FIN; CarPon will get their 1st choice of what's left after GuigFab are assigned; and SmaDie will get the last 2 spots.

From that point on, the Feds would assign the Skaters/Couples based on the draw order, going through each of the different groups of skaters/couples guaranteed 2 GPs (#3-4 above), then the skaters/couples guaranteed 1 GP each (#5-7 above). After that, if there are any spots left, they still continue through the draw order & fill up those for each discipline.

I'd really love to be a fly on the wall in that room or Zoom meeting when the GP Host Feds have their Selection Meeting. I really want to know what sort of horse-trading and gentlemen's agreements happen in there, lol.

 

[angi]

Ice Dance -
GPdF - ChoBat/SmaDie; *FBCiz
CoC - FearGib/GuigFab; *Shibs
SCI - GilPoir/CarPon; *LajLag
NHK - FearGib/SmaDie; *FBCiz
SkAm - ChoBat/CarPon
Finlandia - GilPoir/GuigFab; *Shibs

I've gone back & forth on my Ice Dance seedings a LOT, even before the Shibs announced last week, I was still struggling because of the FBCiz factor.

Ultimately, I think ChoBat are going to feel pretty confident about making an early season debut at France - 1) they've done it at SkAm the past few years, 2) their off-season is pretty clear post-WTT with just 12 days or so for the US-SOI tour, and they've been back in Montreal the past 3 weeks, so they're not going to come into the GP behind the 8-ball like they have the past couple seasons, and 3) they're not going to want to show any fear in taking on FBCiz on their home territory. I'm probably entirely wrong and they'll take CoC instead, which would completely scramble the rest of the assignments, lol.

Yeah, I would imagine both C/B and FB/C will prefer to delay going head to head until at least GPF (especially after what happened in 2017 when P/C had a match-up with V/M at NHK), and that C/B will avoid going to Cizeron's home ice given how much the French federation will politick for him, but I love the idea of "high risk, high reward" of C/B debuting 1) in the 1st GP, 2) against FB/C, and 3) in France LOL.
Still, my guess is CoC and SkAm for C/B, and that FB/C will prefer to face F/G or G/F at their GPs. At least if I was IAM I will try to maximize the momentum of both teams before they face each other instead of setting a packing order so soon in the season. I also think C/B wouldn't mind facing G/F given how things went down this season (I don't trust G/F or Barb to actually produce decent material and packaging for next season, I will perhaps change my mind if we'll actually see them working with outside choreographers and actually going to a decent costume maker).