2025-26 Grand Prix Assignments Discussion

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I know that's what the GPF Announcement says regarding Comeback Skaters, but I wouldn't be surprised if the GP Hosts find a squishy way to get around it. Shanghai Trophy was an invitational event, which means it doesn't count toward WS points and it also doesn't count for SB - the only thing it counts for is CTES mins.

We'll see in a few months what happens.

No, I mean you did not include her in the world standings or any other list

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

What is interesting is that both Amber and Isabeau are in the same seeded group, so which of them will choose (or be chosen) to skate in Skate America? Isabeau is higher up in the ranking at Worlds, but Amber won the GPF and is the national champion.

I’ve already thought about that and I think they could also just go with Wakaba so they could spread the wealth and pick two US skaters that would only have one or none.

 

[zebobes]

No, I mean you did not include her in the world standings or any other list

I skimmed the explanation, and didn't see her either, but I did a search for Hendrickx, and saw that there actually WAS a paragraph about her, with an explanation of why.

Based on previous applications of this clause, You is likely to only end up with 1 GP spot at initial allocation because KOR is not a GP host this season. I want to point out that the comeback clause will not apply to Hendrickx because she competed at the Shanghai Trophy this season. Unfortunately, she will have also fallen out of the top 24 WS, which means she would get 0 GP spots at initial allocation. This covers 26/72 spots.

Basically, because of missing competitions all season, she will have fallen out of the top 24 WS and 24 SB, and thus can't be included.

I’ve already thought about that and I think they could also just go with Wakaba so they could spread the wealth and pick two US skaters that would only have one or none.

I think that if the USFS feels like the top three US women have risen to the top, there will be less need to spread the wealth, and more of a need to promote the three likely skaters to go to the Olympics.

 

[Karen-W]

What is interesting is that both Amber and Isabeau are in the same seeded group, so which of them will choose (or be chosen) to skate in Skate America? Isabeau is higher up in the ranking at Worlds, but Amber won the GPF and is the national champion.

This past year, I think Amber purposefully chose to NOT skate at SA, as she also dislikes the pressure of skating at home. Considering how high the pressure was on her this week, maybe it's not a smart idea to avoid these high pressure locations. By contrast, Isabeau and Alysa seem to thrive under this kind of pressure.

I think it will be pretty difficult for any other American women to make the Olympic team, barring injury. All three have such great resumes now.

I’ve already thought about that and I think they could also just go with Wakaba so they could spread the wealth and pick two US skaters that would only have one or none.

I think that if the USFS feels like the top three US women have risen to the top, there will be less need to spread the wealth, and more of a need to promote the three likely skaters to go to the Olympics.

Well, speculating on which three US women will make the Olympic team belongs in the US Women's thread, but, as far as potential SkAm assignments/seeding...

I think the USFS will actually choose Amber as their 2nd seeded woman at SkAm. She was passed over last year because Isabeau was the World silver medalist & they wanted to maximize the chances of both making the GPF, so Amber was sent elsewhere, even though she was Nat'l Champ & should have been assigned there.

With Isabeau & Wakaba the other two in the lower group, I think the USFS will give Alysa & Amber the HubDon/ChoBat and ChoBat/HawBak treatment with both at SkAm.

For the Top 6, who are all seeded, I think we will see something like this:

SkAm - Alysa & Amber
CoC - Kaori & Isabeau
SCI - Mone & Wakaba
NHK - Kaori & Amber
GPdF - Alysa & Wakaba
Finlandia - Mone & Isabeau

I may be wrong & the JSF may choose to have Wakaba at NHK against Kaori, which would give us something like this instead:

SkAm - Alysa & Amber
CoC - Kaori & Isabeau
SCI - Mone & Amber
NHK - Kaori & Wakaba
GPdF - Alysa & Wakaba
Finlandia - Mone & Isabeau

We'll see.

 

[skatingguy]

If Loena is healthy she'll probably do an early CS event. A good score there will send her to the top of the alternates list, and if it works the same way as last season, she'll have a good shot at GP assignments.

Keep in mind she has to compete in Beijing in the 3rd week of September to earn a spot at the Olympics.

 

[her grace]

I may be wrong & the JSF may choose to have Wakaba at NHK against Kaori . . . .

That’s gonna be an interesting choice for Japan. They’ve mostly done 1 veteran, 1 rising star, and 1 skater who wouldn’t otherwise have a spot this quad. With the exception being the year they chose both Higuchi and Mihara.

I don’t think they care to protect Higuchi, and don’t think skating at home is really any “better” for her results-wise (she’s going to have a tough top 3 seed to face wherever she goes and she’s a formidable competitor against the rest of whatever field she’s in). So it’s more of who they’d rather Sakamoto face and whether they want to promote a younger skater.

 

[Evgeniafan]

Now that the women's event at Worlds 2025 is over, here are some projected GP assignments. Despite WTT not happening yet, I don't believe any new SBs earned there would affect allocation substantively.

This prediction hinges on the assumption that

• those who have been banned from competing will still be banned in 2025-26 and
• that no one is unexpectedly sitting out/retiring and
• ISU uses the same rules they’ve historically used for GP spot allocation.

Top 12 from Worlds guaranteed 2 each:
Liu - USA
Sakamoto - JPN
Chiba - JPN
Levito - USA
Glenn - USA
Higuchi - JPN
Pinzarrone - BEL
Petrokina - EST
Lee - KOR
Kim - KOR
Schizas - CAN
Repond - SUI

Comeback clause:
You - KOR

Based on previous applications of this clause, You is likely to only end up with 1 GP spot at initial allocation because KOR is not a GP host this season. I want to point out that the comeback clause will not apply to Hendrickx because she competed at the Shanghai Trophy this season. Unfortunately, she will have also fallen out of the top 24 WS, which means she would get 0 GP spots at initial allocation. This covers 26/72 spots.

Here is the updated World Standings list after the 2022/23 season's scores are dropped and the 2023/24 seasons's scores are multiplied by 0.7:

Kaori SAKAMOTO

Isabeau LEVITO

Chaeyeon KIM

Amber GLENN

Mone CHIBA

Nina PINZARRONE

Anastasiia GUBANOVA

Hana YOSHIDA

Niina PETROKINA

Alysa LIU

Kimmy REPOND

Elyce LIN-GRACEY

Lara Naki GUTMANN

Madeline SCHIZAS

Rinka WATANABE

Bradie TENNELL

Lorine SCHILD

Sarah EVERHARDT

Wakaba HIGUCHI

Mao SHIMADA

Ekaterina KURAKOVA

Haein LEE

Anna PEZZETTA

Rion SUMIYOSHI

Not top 12 at Worlds, Top 24 in updated World Standings AND Top 24 in Season’s Best (will likely get 2 each):
Gubanova - GEO
Yoshida - JPN
Lin-Gracey - USA
Gutmann - ITA
Watanabe - JPN
Tennell - USA
Everhardt - USA
Sumiyoshi - JPN

This now covers 42/72 spots.

Not top 12 at Worlds, ONLY Top 24 in updated World Standings (guaranteed 1 — may get 2 based on how far down the SB list they are):
Schild - FRA (39th on SB list --> 2 spots)
Kurakova - POL
Pezzetta - ITA (36th on SB list --> 2 spots)

Shimada (JPN) is not age-eligible to compete senior in 2024-25.

Not top 12 at Worlds, ONLY Top 24 in Season’s Best (guaranteed 1 — may get 2 based on how far down the SB list they are):
Nakai - JPN (11th on SB list --> 2 spots)
Matsuike - JPN (17th on SB list --> 2 spots)

Medallist at JWC
Shin - KOR (The language in the document states that medallists are included in the process. Shin would be able to get one in her own right through her SB, but it's unclear whether this medal would help her get an additional one.)

This now covers 52 or 53/72 spots.

These spots are left open to host countries’ discretion:
TBD - USA (likely saving 1 spots)
TBD - CHN (likely saving 3 spots for Zhu, An, and Chen)
TBD - CAN (likely saving 1 spot for Dupuis and 1 spot for someone else; Medland Spence and Shiryaeva are able to get spots in their own right with their SB)
TBD - JPN (likely saving 1 spot)
TBD - FRA (likely saving 1 spot for Serna and 1 spot for someone else; could be another 1 if Schild gets assigned somewhere else)
TBD - FIN (likely saving 3 spots)

This now covers 64 or 66/72 spots.

The theoretically 6-8 remaining spots are filled in going down the SB list:
Aoki - JPN (After this JPN has maxed out its spots)
Samodelkina - KAZ
Kaiser - SUI
Yun - KOR
Medland Spence - CAN
Serna - FAR
Thorngren - USA
Shiryaeva - CAN

Please leave any questions you have about my methodology. I'm no expert by any means, but I thought it would be fun to get a preview of the landscape for the next Grand Prix season.

What about Sofia Samodelkina?

 

[Karen-W]

What about Sofia Samodelkina?

I believe she will get two.

 

[Allskate]

It's hard to believe that someone won't find a way for Loena to be able to compete in a Grand Prix event. I could see why the Japanese and American federations wouldn't want her screwing with the chances of their skaters making the GP Final, but I would think that one of the other federations would like her as a draw for fans.

 

[Skateforlive]

Soooooooo... Pairs!

Grand Prix Seeded Teams 1-6
Miura/Kihara
Hase/Volodin
Conti/Macii
Metelkina/Berulava
Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps
Efimova/Mitrofanov

Grand Prix Invited Teams 7-10
Kam/O'Shea
Pavlova/Sviatchenko
Golubeva/Giotopoulos Moore
Geynish/Chigirev

We still have WTT to go, but here is the SB Top 24 (excluding the Seeded/Invited Teams listed above):
8 - Pereira/Michaud
10 - Ghilardi/Ambrosini
12 - Hocke/Kunkel
14 - Chtchetinina/Wozniak
15 - Vaipan-Law/Digby
16 - Laurin/Ethier
17 - Danilova/Tsiba
18 - Chan/Howe
19 - Zhang/Huang
20 - Nagaoka/Moriguchi
21 - McBeath/Parkman
22 - Bombardier/Mimar
23 - Shin/Nagy
24 - Vouillamoz/Bouvart

WS Top 24 once the 2022-23 scores are removed & the 2023-24 scores are reduced to 70% (excluding the Seeded/Invited Teams listed above):
6 - Ghilardi/Ambrosini
9 - Pereira/Michaud
10 - Hocke/Kunkel
11 - Vaipan-Law/Digby
12 - Chtchetinina/Wozniak
13 - Danilova/Tsiba
15 - Kovalev/Kovalev
16 - Laurin/Ethier
18 - Flores/Wang (if they were smart, they'd stay junior)
19 - Vaananen/Clerici
20 - Beccari/Guarise
21 - Telemaque/Coulon (age-ineligible)
23 - Holichenko/Darenskyi
24 - Nagaoka/Moriguchi

USFS really screwed Chan/Howe by not sending them to 4CCs - if they'd gotten the 293 points that ShiNagy got for coming in dead last (and they wouldn't have come in dead last with GamKor there), they'd have been 22nd on the WS list.

Jr Worlds Medalists - Not guaranteed 1, but added to the pool & usually given 1 on the Initial Assignments (excluding Seeded/Invited Teams):
Holichenko/Darenskyi
Ariano Kent/Laliberte Laurent (if they were smart, they'd stay junior, especially with Canada only having 2 spots for the Olys)

Does Pereira/Michaud can get 2 grand prix without having a host spot?

 

[Karen-W]

Does Pereira/Michaud can get 2 grand prix without having a host spot?

Not likely. There just aren't enough spots, not especially when you factor in a Sui/Li partnership likely qualifying in the "Comeback" Skater clause like FBCiz will for dance.

 

[Karen-W]

Okay... Onto Dance - this is going to be BRUTAL for a lot of teams who had 2 GPs this season & are out in the cold next season.

60 Spots

Grand Prix Seeded Teams 1-6
Chock/Bates
Gilles/Poirier
Fear/Gibson
Guignard/Fabbri
Carreira/Ponomarenko
Smart/Dieck

Grand Prix Invited Teams 7-10
Lajoie/Lagha
Lopareva/Brissaud
Green/Parsons
Davis/Smolkin

60 - 20 = 40 spots

Comeback Skater/Team
Fournier-Beaudry/Cizeron

40 - 2 = 38 spots

WS & SB Top 24 (excluding the Seeded/Invited Teams listed above) - these teams should get 2 assignments initially:
7/11 - Reed/Ambrulevicius
9/6 - Turkkila/Versluis
10/12 - Zingas/Kolesnik
13/17 - Demougeot/Le Mercier
14/16 - Taschlerova/Taschler
16/18 - Mrazkova/Mrazek
17/13 - Orihara/Pirinen
18/21 - Lim/Quan
23/20 - Janse van Rensburg/Steffan

38 - 18 = 20 spots

SB Top 24 (excluding the Seeded/Invited Teams listed above) - these teams will get 1 each:
15 - Bratti/Somerville
19 - Brown/Brown
22 - Fabbri/Ayer
23 - Pate/Bye
24 - Bekker/Hernandez

20 - 5 = 15 spots

WS Top 24 once the 2022-23 scores are removed & the 2023-24 scores are reduced to 70% (excluding the Seeded/Invited Teams listed above) - these teams will get 1 each:
19 - Neset/Markelov
20 - Lauriault/Le Gac
21 - Tali/Lafornara
22 - Fradji/Forneaux
24 - Grimm/Savitskiy

15 - 5 = 10 spots

Host Spots
SkAm - 1 TBD - this will be a dog fight between the 4 teams with 1 GP+Wolfkostin/Tsarevski - LPIDI should be
CoC - 3 - Xiao/He SB 58 and Ren/Xing SB 60 should get 2 of the host spots, with 1 TBD
SCI - 1 TBD - battle between Fabbri/Ayer SB 22 & Lauriault/Le Gac SB 27
NHK - 3 - Yoshida/Morita SB 34 and Tanaka/Nishiyama SB 61 should get 2 of the host spots, with 1 TBD
GPdF - 1 TBD - currently, I'm projecting Fradji/Forneaux will be assigned here for their 1 guaranteed assignment & Fournier-Beaudry/Cizeron will be assigned here for 1 of their 2 assignments; fight between several other teams for the remaining spot
Finlandia - 1 TBD - I think Ivanitskiy/Sperry are still a team, so I could see the Finnish fed assigning them

 

[Karen-W]

And now for the Men's projections - I expect the host feds to scratch each other's backs to ensure all the JPN & USA men entitled to 1 wind up with 2, same for Dai, Sadovsky & Economides who are 27-29, and Shimada who is 32 on the SB list.

72 Spots

Grand Prix Seeded Skaters 1-6
Malinin
Shaidorov
Kagiyama
Siao Him Fa
Aymoz
Sato

Grand Prix Invited Skaters 7-12
Cha
Brown
Egadze
Memola
Vasiljevs
Britschgi

72 - 24 = 48 spots

WS & SB Top 24 (excluding the Seeded/Invited Skaters listed above) - these skaters will get 2 assignments initially:
8/6 - Miura
10/18 - Rizzo
15/13 - Yamamoto
16/21 - Frangipani
18/9 - Grassl
23/22 - Litvintsev

48 - 12 = 36 spots

SB Top 24 (excluding the Seeded/Invited Skaters listed above) - these skaters will get 2 assignments initially:
16 - Tsuboi
19 - Torgashev
20 - Broussard
23 - M Selevko
24 - Ma

36 - 10 = 26 spots

WS Top 24 once the 2022-23 scores are removed & the 2023-24 scores are reduced to 70% (excluding the Seeded/Invited Skaters listed above) - these skaters will get 2 assignments initially:
13 - A Selevko SB 30
14 - Hagara SB 31
19 - Tomono SB 25
21 - Sanchez SB 3

26 - 8 = 18 spots

Host Spots
SkAm - 1 TBD - time for Pulkinen, Naumov, Hiwatashi, Martynov & Kapeikis to put up or shut up (Klein & Paniot are also in the SB Top 75, FWIW)
CoC - 3 - Dai SB 28 will get a host spot, the other 2 will be TBD pending the CFSA's domestic summer inter-club comp results
SCI - 3 - Sadovsky SB 27 will get a host spot, the other 2 will be TBD with Rakic, Chiu, Gogolev & Newnham in the mix
NHK - 1 TBD - this will be a battle between Nakamura, Yoshioka, Kakiuchi & other Japanese men
GPdF - 2 - Economides SB 29 and Pitot SB 40 are the only other French men on the SB Top 75, so this is a no-brainer
Finlandia - 2 - Suntsev & Virtanen seem to be the pretty obvious choices here - I don't think they'll hold onto a 3rd spot given that Lindfors has another season of junior eligibility & Juusola's SB is nowhere close to the total score minimum (which is not a requirement for host spots, but he's had time to earn it & hasn't yet).

18 - 12 = 6 spots
Dai, Sadovsky & Economides are SB 27-29 - they'll get a host spot, plus 1 other assignment elsewhere
Shimada is SB 32 and will get 2 non-NHK assignments

That accounts for 5 of the available spots, which leaves 1 spot and I'm predicting it will go to Andreas Nordeback, who is SB 38. He's a little lower on the SB list than Samoilov 33 or Circelli 34, but he finished 16th at Worlds & the Finnish fed likes to spread the wealth with their Baltic neighbors who have much stronger men than their own, so I think he will be selected.

 

[Skateforlive]

Not likely. There just aren't enough spots, not especially when you factor in a Sui/Li partnership likely qualifying in the "Comeback" Skater clause like FBCiz will for dance.

So far Canada in pairs it looks like this?

Max and Dehana host spot + 1
Trent and Lia host spot + 1
Loucas and Kelly host spot + 1
Ben and Fiona 1 Gp and first subs?

 

[kwanfan1818]

21 - Tali/Lafornara
22 - Fradji/Forneaux
24 - Grimm/Savitskiy

-- I'm glad they're all guaranteed one and not having to rely on the kindness of strangers.

 

[Vagabond]

I think that if the USFS feels like the top three US women have risen to the top, there will be less need to spread the wealth, and more of a need to promote the three likely skaters to go to the Olympics.

I know that people have a recency bias, but Bradie Tennell recently finished ahead of Alysa Liu and Sarah Everhardt at Four Continents and even more recently earned a score of 220.29 at the Maria Olszewska Memorial, a score that would have earned her a silver medal at Worlds.

I expect that Liu will indeed want to skate at Skate America. If I were making the decision for USFS, I would choose Tennell for the second host spot, and possibly give either Lin-Gracey or Everhardt the third spot. YMMV.

 

[kwanfan1818]

If someone uses "loath" instead of "reluctant," I interpret this to have a visceral reaction against it, but more personal/internal than .

 

[Karen-W]

So far Canada in pairs it looks like this?

Max and Dehana host spot + 1
Trent and Lia host spot + 1
Loucas and Kelly host spot + 1
Ben and Fiona 1 Gp and first subs?

SDDes are guaranteed two - I see no reason to think that one of those won't be SCI.

PerMich are the only team who are in both the SB & WS Top 24 that I think will get 2 GPs initially, but the only way they do is with a SCI host spot.

LaurEth & BoMim - they'll each get 1 GP initially & SCI will wait to figure out the host spot in September, I think. BoMim are nowhere near the top of the Alternates List.

Here's my full projection for Pairs -

48 spots
Grand Prix Seeded Teams 1-6
Miura/Kihara
Hase/Volodin
Conti/Macii
Metelkina/Berulava
Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps
Efimova/Mitrofanov

Grand Prix Invited Teams 7-10
Kam/O'Shea
Pavlova/Sviatchenko
Golubeva/Giotopoulos Moore
Geynish/Chigirev

48 - 20 = 28 spots

Comeback Skater/Team
Sui/Li

28 - 2 = 26 spots

WS/SB Top 24 (excluding the Seeded/Invited Teams listed above) - only Pereira/Michaud, by virtue of their high SB, will get 2 assignments initially, the rest will get 1:
6/10 - Ghilardi/Ambrosini
9/8 - Pereira/Michaud
10/12 - Hocke/Kunkel
11/15 - Vaipan-Law/Digby
12/14 - Chtchetinina/Wozniak
13/17 - Danilova/Tsiba
16/16 - Laurin/Ethier
24/20 - Nagaoka/Moriguchi - assigned to NHK

26 - 9 = 17 spots

SB Top 24 (excluding the Seeded/Invited Teams listed above) - each team will get 1 assignment:
18 - Chan/Howe
19 - Zhang/Huang
21 - McBeath/Parkman
22 - Bombardier/Mimar
23 - Shin/Nagy
24 - Vouillamoz/Bouvart

17 - 6 = 11 spots

WS Top 24 once the 2022-23 scores are removed & the 2023-24 scores are reduced to 70% (excluding the Seeded/Invited Teams listed above):
15 - Kovalev/Kovalev SB 26- assigned to GPdF
18 - Flores/Wang SB 32 - assigned to SkAm
19 - Vaananen/Clerici SB 27- assigned to Finlandia
20 - Beccari/Guarise no SB
21 - Telemaque/Coulon (age-ineligible)*
23 - Holichenko/Darenskyi SB 25

11 - 5 = 6 spots

Host Spots
SkAm - 1 TBD - if FloWang decide to stay on the JGP then the USFS will keep 2 host spots; regardless ChanHowe, McBPark, ShiNagy & PlaFern fight it out for however many host spots the USFS has
CoC - 1 TBD - one of their spots will go to Sui/Li; I think they'll hold onto 1 spot to give ZhaHua a 2nd GP should they not pick up one elsewhere, if that happens, they'll use their TBD spot on WangZhu or some other team
SCI - 1 TBD - Skate Canada will have LaurEth & BoMim battle for a 2nd GP
GPdF - 2 spots - Faula/Belle will get a host assignment & the FFSG will hold onto 1 TBD to see if Matte/Ferland work out

6 - 5 = 1 spot

The score range from LaurEth SB 16 to VaanCler SB 27 is 12 points, with a 5 point gap separating LaurEth from VLDigs SB 14. ZhaHua are the only outlier in that group, with their score being from juniors. Once they're able to move up to senior, I think they'll jump into the 180+ score range pretty easily. That's part of my rationale for picking/choosing them to get a GP assignment away from home with the chance of a 2nd GP from their host fed, and then slotting NagaMori in with Les Kovs, VaanCler & FloWang as getting host GP assignments on the initial list. I may be wrong, but the math is hard to work out to ensure every team entitled to a GP receives one with only 48 GP spots total.

That leaves the 1 spot up for grabs and when I look at all of the eligible teams, the one that really jumps out at me is BecGuar - former European champs, sat almost the entire season out due to injury... I can see the logic in treating them ALMOST like a Return/Split Couple. They're in the pool by virtue of still being in the WS Top 20, but they won't be on the Alternates List since they don't have a SB from this season. So, you give them that last GP spot left open and then you have one less team to worry about.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Even though it's not written this way -- host spots are down the list in the announcement -- I think they declare their host picks up front, so that the rest of the Feds know when a skater/team has one. I don't think they get to declare them later.

There's also the part which isn't written but we have testimony from skaters that this is so: at least the seeds get to list their preferences, so that, after host picks are assigned, Kagiyama, Chiba, Conti/Macii, and Fear/Gibson get what's left in Round 1 and Sato, Higuchi, Efimova/Mitrofanov, and Smart/Dieck get what's left in Round 2, based on the selection order each Fed draws for each discipline.

I think once, the Japanese Fed picked two skaters in the same 1-3 or 4-6 group, and one of the other Feds chose two from the next group. I know it happened a couple of times in the later groups, but by the time it's 7-12, I'm not sure many people care. And I don't think either was recent.

 

[Karen-W]

Even though it's not written this way -- host spots are down the list in the announcement -- I think they declare their host picks up front, so that the rest of the Feds know when a skater/team has one. I don't think they get to declare them later.

I think so too, but I also think there winds up being some horse-trading going on - and I'm not sure if it's all the host picks that are declared up front or just the seeded/invited ones that wind up being host picks.

There's also the part which isn't written but we have testimony from skaters that this is so: at least the seeds get to list their preferences, so that, after host picks are assigned, Kagiyama, Chiba, Conti/Macii, and Fear/Gibson get what's left in Round 1 and Sato, Higuchi, Efimova/Mitrofanov, and Smart/Dieck get what's left in Round 2, based on the selection order each Fed draws for each discipline.

I think once, the Japanese Fed picked two skaters in the same 1-3 or 4-6 group, and one of the other Feds chose two from the next group. I know it happened a couple of times in the later groups, but by the time it's 7-12, I'm not sure many people care. And I don't think either was recent.

Looking back over the past two seasons - there haven't been many instances of a host fed having 2 skaters/teams in the 1-6 seeded group, let alone 3 skaters in the 1-6 group.

2022-23 GP
Men - Uno 1-3, Kagiyama 1-3, Tomono 4-6
Women - none
Pairs - none
Dance - ChoBat 1-3, HawBak 4-6; GilPoir 1-3, FBSoer 4-6 (HawBak, GilPoir & FBSoer all moved up to seeded status following retirements from PapCiz, HubDon & SmaDia)

Uno was assigned to SCI & NHK (3 weeks apart), Kagiyama was assigned to SkAm & GPdF (2 weeks apart), Tomono was assigned to GPdF & NHK (2 weeks apart)
ChoBat were assigned to SkAm & NHK (4 weeks apart), HawBak were assigned to SkAm & Espoo (5 weeks apart)
GilPoir were assigned to SCI & Espoo (5 weeks apart), FBSoer were assigned to GPdF & NHK (2 weeks apart)

2023-24 GP
Men - Uno 1-3, Tomono 4-6
Women - Sakamoto 1-3, Mihara 4-6
Pairs - SDDes 1-3, PerMich 4-6
Dance - ChoBat 1-3, GreenP 4-6; GilPoir 1-3, FBSoer 4-6

Uno was assigned to CoC & NHK (2 weeks apart), Tomono was assigned to SCI & CoC (2 weeks apart)
Sakamoto was assigned to SCI & Espoo (3 weeks apart), Mihara was assigned to CoC & NHK (2 weeks apart)
SDDes were assigned to SCI & CoC (2 weeks apart), PerMich were assigned to SkAm & GPdF (2 weeks apart)
ChoBat were assigned to SkAm & Espoo (4 weeks apart), GreenP were assigned to SkAm & CoC (3 weeks apart)
GilPoir were assigned to SCI & CoC (2 weeks apart), FBSoer were assigned to GPdF & Espoo (2 weeks apart)

2024-25 GP
Men - Malinin 1-3, Brown 4-6
Women - none
Pairs - none
Dance - GilPoir 1-3, LajLag 4-6

Malinin was assigned to SkAm & SCI (1 week apart), Brown was assigned to SCI & NHK (2 weeks apart)
GilPoir were assigned to SCI & Finlandia (3 weeks apart), LajLag were assigned to SCI & CoC (4 weeks apart)

The USFS seems to routinely, actively assign both of their seeded ice dance teams to Skate America - they did it with HubDon & ChoBat a couple of times and they've done it with both ChoBat/HawBak and ChoBat/GreenP in this Olympic quad alone, so it's a safe bet to presume they'll do it again with ChoBat/CarPon.

The only example we have of a country with 2 skaters in the same seeded sub-group was Uno & Kagiyama in 2022 - the JSF chose to keep them apart. Meanwhile, Tomono, who was in the lower seeded sub-group wound up initially scheduled against both of his compatriots - Uno at NHK and Kagiyama at GPdF.

From that, we can probably guess that Sakamoto & Chiba will be kept apart, while Higuchi may very well go up against both of them separately. Based off this information, the most likely breakdown for the Seeded 1-6 Women will be as follows:

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

In some regards, it almost doesn't matter what the seeding is, because the women's fields are going to be ridiculously deep between there being 3 Japanese women and 2 American women at each event plus 2 each of the 7-12 (Pinzarrone, Petrokina, H Lee, C Kim, Schizas & Repond), not to mention Gubanova, Gutmann, Samodelkina, Jia Shin, You and maybe Hendrickx.

 

[kwanfan1818]

It last happened before the pandemic break, but my sense of time is shot, so that could have been 2019 or 2009 or anything before or in between. I remember yammering about it here when it happened.

 

[Karen-W]

And, finally, my Women's projections - JPN is going to be maxed out, the USA won't be far behind with 2 at each GP, though the chances of getting a 3rd are low unless someone comes out of relative obscurity & far down the SB Alternates list early on at Cranberry the way Elyce & Sarah did last summer...

72 Spots

Grand Prix Seeded Skaters 1-6
Liu
Sakamoto
Chiba
Levito
Glenn
Higuchi

Grand Prix Invited Skaters 7-12
Pinzarrone
Petrokina
H Lee
C Kim
Schizas
Repond

72 - 24 = 48 spots


Comeback Skaters - these skaters will get 2 assignments initially:
You
Hendrickx* - she doesn't technically qualify as a Comeback Skater because she competed in Shanghai Trophy, but I'm betting the GP Hosts overlook that seeing as it's an invitational that qualifies neither for WS or SB - I just can't see any way the GP Hosts are going to exclude her as a 2-time Worlds medalist.

48 - 4 = 44 spots

WS & SB Top 24 (excluding the Seeded/Invited Skaters listed above) - these skaters will get 2 assignments initially:
6/19 - Gubanova
8/15 - Yoshida
12/7 - Lin-Gracey
13/20 - Gutmann
15/23 - Watanabe
16/12 - Tennell
18/14 - Everhardt
24/13 - Sumiyoshi

44 - 16 = 28 spots

SB Top 24 (excluding the Seeded/Invited Skaters listed above) - these skaters will get 2 assignments initially:
11 - Nakai
17 - Matsuike
18 - Yuseong Kim - age-ineligible
21 - Wada - age-ineligible
22 - von Felten - age-ineligible

28 - 4 = 24 spots

WS Top 24 once the 2022-23 scores are removed & the 2023-24 scores are reduced to 70% (excluding the Seeded/Invited Skaters listed above) - these skaters will get 1 assignment initially:
17 - Schild SB 39
21 - Kurakova SB 58
23 - Pezzetta SB 36

2 - 3 = 21 spots

Host Spots
SkAm - 1 TBD - Cranberry Cup should be fun with Ziegler, Thorngren SB 46, Andrews & J Lee SB 69 trying to nab this host spot - my early money is on either Starr or Ava Marie
CoC - 3 - Zhu SB 71 should get one of these spots, maybe An, though she's not on the SB Top 75, so the CFSA may make her compete for it - they may make Zhu compete for her spot too, but I'm a bit more confident that Zhu will be assigned initially; they will certainly keep their 3 host spots
SCI - 2 - Dupuis SB 50 was the highest Canadian woman at 4CCs & is their silver medalist, so I expect her to be assigned initially, while the rest of their women - Medland Spence SB 41, Shiryaeva SB 48, Ruiter SB 73, etc - will compete domestically for the remaining host spot
NHK - 1 TBD - the JSF will, like the USFS, make skaters like Aoki SB 25, Takagi SB 34, Mihara SB 52 & Kushida SB 72 earn the assignment at their regionals next fall
GPdF - 3 - Schild SB 39 will get a host spot in addition to a 2nd assignment elsewhere, Serna SB 42 will get a host spot, the 2nd spot will be filled, somehow, I suppose, by a skater we all think has no business getting a GP over a bunch of better skaters, especially ones high up on the Alternates List
Finlandia - 3 - probably all TBD on the initial assignments list, though I could see the Finnish fed rewarding Ceder SB 75 for securing their Olympic spot with one right out of the gate, they may also assign Karhunen SB 51 & Jyrkinen SB 63 with assignments initially, or they may have to earn them since there are other Finnish women like Lisko, Ounasvuori & Pelkonen who can beat the rest of them on any given day

21 - 13 = 8 spots

Aoki SB 25 will get 1 & that will max JPN out on the GP with 3 women in each event - though she may wind up with a 2nd GP if the JSF awards her their NHK Host TBD spot

Samodelkina SB 28 & J Shin SB 29 are either 1st season seniors or rising juniors & the GP Hosts tend to reward skaters like them who are just on the cusp of climbing into the SB Top 24, so I expect they will both get 2 GPs (Nina Pinzarrone is the most recent example of a skater who fits this criteria and got 2 GPs initially back in 2023 when she was SB 26 for the 22-23 season).

Kaiser SB 30 will get 1 - she fits more closely the scenario of Kurakova a few years ago when she was SB 31 for the 22-23 season and got 1 GP on the initial assignments list for the 2023 GPs.

Yun SB 35 will get 1 - maybe? I tend to think she'll get one because she's appreciably higher on the SB list than any of the host fed women who may be hoping for either an initial assignment or a 2nd one - this could go either way - the GP Hosts did go out of their way to give Serna a 2nd GP last season on the initial assignments when she was SB 41, but they didn't give Pelkonen a 2nd one on that same initial assignments list when she was SB 43, and Lin-Gracey didn't get any on the initial assignments though she was SB 44.

Medland Spence SB 41 - probably will get 1 elsewhere, but may not - I waffle back and forth between her getting 1 initially and Kaiser getting a 2nd or Yun getting one at all. Right now, I'm leaning toward her getting 1 initially, which gives Skate Canada a little wiggle room with that SCI Host TBD spot to go to someone else & get at least 4 of their women on the GP circuit.

 

[Lutzes&Loops]

Host Spots
SkAm - 1 TBD - Cranberry Cup should be fun with Ziegler, Thorngren SB 46, Andrews & J Lee SB 69 trying to nab this host spot - my early money is on either Starr or Ava Marie

There is also Clare Seo and Mia Kalin. Also, wouldn’t Ziegler get one (or even 2) via the World Standings? Or does she drop too low because she didn’t compete this season?

 

[Karen-W]

There is also Clare Seo and Mia Kalin. Also, wouldn’t Ziegler get one (or even 2) via the World Standings? Or does she drop too low because she didn’t compete this season?

She'll drop out completely. She was only 18th at the start of the season and with her points from last season dropping to 70% there is no way she'll stay in the top 24. No SB means she can only be selected as a host pick unless/until she wins a Challenger.

 

[rinettoii]

Samodelkina SB 28 & J Shin SB 29 are either 1st season seniors or rising juniors & the GP Hosts tend to reward skaters like them who are just on the cusp of climbing into the SB Top 24, so I expect they will both get 2 GPs (Nina Pinzarrone is the most recent example of a skater who fits this criteria and got 2 GPs initially back in 2023 when she was SB 26 for the 22-23 season).

I know you brought up Nina Pinzarrone as an example in response to my prediction earlier. I'm realizing now she placed 11th at 2023 Worlds and was going to get 2 GPs initially regardless of SB or WS.

 

[Karen-W]

I know you brought up Nina Pinzarrone as an example in response to my prediction earlier. I'm realizing now she placed 11th at 2023 Worlds and was going to get 2 GPs initially regardless of SB or WS.

Ah, I missed her on my spreadsheet under the invited skaters when I was going over my projections. Fair point, but I still stand by my view that Samodelkina & Jia Shin will get 2. I have a hard time thinking either the USFS or Skate Canada are going to be advocating to give Thorngren or Shiryaeva any GP assignments after their up-and-down seasons and the GP hosts aren't going to drop into the SB 50 range to start handing out GP assignments to the likes of Sauter or Seniuk. Jia Shin is coming in as the 4-time reigning JWC silver-medalist - she's getting two GPs. And Samo had a strong enough season to warrant 2 GPs. Every season is a bit different, but I feel really confident that Samo will get 2 as well.

 

[Karen-W]

Looks like Hagara is likely to be assigned to at least NHK per this article...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1906979438853521668

 

[tony]

Looks like Hagara is likely to be assigned to at least NHK per this article...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1906979438853521668

I'm going to do a recap video after all on my platforms, and I was going to speak about this. I recorded every. last. skater. in practices and posted them to IG, and Hagara by far had the most people in my inbox thanking me and telling me how much they liked him-- many were Japanese fans.

 

[Karen-W]

Grand Prix schedule has been altered with SkAm and GPdF flipping calendar slots. Adjust your GP projections accordingly!

ISU Council strengthens Ice Skating’s future with key event decisions: Finland set to host ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2027

The ISU Council, in alignment with the ISU Vision 2030, continues to modernize and strengthen Ice Skating’s future by confirming an exciting line-up of future hosts. In addition to other key calendar updates, the Council approved the provisional allotment of Tampere, Finland as the host of the...

www.isu.org

ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Season 2026/27 Calendar update​

The Council agreed to a request for an exchange of dates of the Grand Prix Events in France and the USA. The Grand Prix Series 2026/27 Calendar will therefore be as follows:

Grand Prix de France	Angers, FRA	October 17-19, 2025
Grand Prix Cup of China	TBC, CHN	October 24-26, 2025
Grand Prix Skate Canada International	Saskatoon, CAN	October 31-Nov. 2, 2025
Grand Prix NHK Trophy	TBC, JPN	November 7-9, 2025
Grand Prix Skate America	TBC, USA	November 14-16, 2025
Grand Prix Finlandia Trophy	Helsinki, FIN	November 21-23, 2025
Grand Prix Final	Nagoya, JPN	December 4-7, 2025

 

[kwanfan1818]

I assume this will impact the requests seeded skaters make. It could also sweeten the loss of a SA host spot for anyone assigned to NHK, which is a skaters' favorite. Doing NHK/SA back-to-back would be rough.