2025 Grand Prix Assignments

[On My Own]

One thing to keep in mind is that a surprising number of Japanese and Korean skaters go to 4CC prior to the Olympics. I personally hope that Junhwan and Yuma don’t go… but I remember Shoma losing to Boyang back in 2018, and then Junhwan winning in 2022.

Back in 2018, Jin lost out on the GPF due to injury, so the 4CC became the "test" event for him, as well as to get him much needed WS points IIRC. IDK why Uno was there (but lol, at least Jin got a "legit" title because of it). (ETA: Oh, maybe Uno thought he'd be able to win and head into the Olympics ranked first in the world? Unless I've forgotten the standings by now)

Cha must have gone due to KSU, and lucked out that season with no contenders there, although it gave him a giant boost heading into Beijing.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Kevin left your continent for his almost 2 years ago

I wasn't clear: I meant to compete in GP's, both SC and SA. I wonder if he'll stay in NA to train rather than doing two round trips to Europe two weeks apart. Montreal is a lovely place to be, for example.

 

[Karen-W]

Okay, I've tormented ANL enough and am going to try my lame attempt at handicapping the Women's GP field... These are surely going to be wrong because I'm sure the US women will let me down & the Japanese women will dominate.

GPdF -Chaeyeon;Kaori;Isabeau; 4th Petrokina; 5th Nakai - the GPdF magic has finally run out for Rion
CoC -Alysa;Amber;Repond; 4th Watanabe; 5th Shin
SCI -Isabeau;Mone;Sarah; 4th Bradie; 5th Pinzarrone
NHK -Kaori;Wakaba;Samodelkina; 4th Loena; 5th Repond (back-to-back, intercontinental GPs drain the energy out of Sarah & Pinzarrone)
SkAm -Alysa;Chaeyeon;Yoshida; 4th Watanabe; 5th Higuchi (back-to-back, intercontinental GP drains Wakaba)
Finlandia -Amber;Bradie;Mone; 4th Petrokina; 5th Hendrickx

GPF qualifiers -
30 pts - Alysa
28 pts - Chaeyeon, Kaori, Amber
26 pts - Isabeau
24 pts - Mone
GPF Alternates - Bradie, Wakaba, & Petrokina

GPF -Kaori - she's competing in Japan ahead of the Olympics, this is such a no-brainer result;Alysa - girl has ICE in her veins;Mone - gets the job done here & the air is out of everyone's sails for Amber's chances at an Oly medal; 4th Amber; 5th Chaeyeon; 6th Isabeau.

Euros - Everyone will pretend that the medalists here have a chance at an Oly medal, though the closest anyone will come is Gubanova, who winds up 4th with Team GEO in the TE. Loena;Gubanova;Nina or Niina - who the hell knows? But, really, Euros is Gubanova's comp and she'll be on the podium again; and Loena will reassert herself after a disappointing GP season.

4CCs - The Team USA women who miss the Oly team are coming in hot, same with the Korean & Japanese women; and Samodelkina will be a factor here too. Japanese women will under-deliver as is their tendency of late, bitter at missing out on the Olys.SarahSamodelkinaBradie - call me crazy, I know, lol.

Olympics - TEfor Amber who is put in the TE despite not medaling at the GPF because the US can only swap out in 2 disciplines & the USFS goes with Dance & Men since Ilia & ChoBat are stronger contenders for individual gold based upon Ilia & ChoBat winning the GPF while Alysa finishes 2nd, plus the TE woman will have 10 days to recover btwn the TE & the women's comp. Kaori gets another TE& Mone joins her on the podium; Gutmann gets a TE, just pipping out Gubanova for an Oly medal.

Epic battle in the women's event between Kaori & Alysa forwith Alysa shocking, but not really shocking us, once more; and Kaori ends her Oly career with 4 FS medals - quite a nice haul - though she & Yuma commiserate about their lack of gold between the 6& 2they have collectively.goes to whichever Nina/Niina winds up off the Euros podium and Russia gnashes their teeth that Petrosian isn't even the best-ranked European woman in Milano-Cortina - and then we're treated to an endless stream of Google Translate articles from the Russian media with Tarasova melodramatically moaning about how this competition was fixed and it was pointless to have sent Adelia when the ISU was determined to keep her off the podium at all costs & we roll our eyes together as Tarasova mentions killing herself once again at the indignity of it all.

Worlds - Kaori & Alysa skip - Alysa is the IT girl of the Olympics & once again FS reigns supreme in America's Winter Olympics sports hearts, Kaori's just exhausted from it all, plus she's lauded in Japan for her valiant efforts that came up just short in both the TE & the women's event. Amber toys with skipping Worlds because she's the secondary IT girl of the Olympics here in the US & gets tons of media attention, but ultimately, she goes to Prague because she's got some unfinished business & wants a Worlds medal. Field feels very wide open despite the presence of Amber, Isabeau, Mone, Wakaba, Chaeyeon, Gubanova, Petrokina, Pinzarrone, Repond, Sarah & Samodelkina (Loena also skips Worlds). Mone;Isabeau;Amber - and Wakaba fans rage about how she was robbed once again.

 

[Jammers]

What is up with the USFS acting like Canada and not using all of it's spots at it's own GP? Things aren't that dire in terms of depth like Canada has been so what the hell are they doing and why are neither of the top 2 US Pairs team comp so what the hell are they doing and why are neither of the top 2 US Pairs team competing there either?

 

[cholla]

I wasn't clear: I meant to compete in GP's, both SC and SA. I wonder if he'll stay in NA to train rather than doing two round trips to Europe two weeks apart. Montreal is a lovely place to be, for example.

OK, I see. Chances are he'll stay in NA, but it will rather be in FL where he has coaches and friends.

 

[Dobre]

The Shibs, Sui & Han, Alysa Liu, Wakaba Higuchi, Jason Brown, Deanna Stellato . . .



This is not the lineup, I think, many of us would have predicted at the end of the last Olympics. I love it.

I am only sad about no Yelim Kim.

On dance:
Also, I'll just point out that Chock & Bates are at Cup of China. Which was always the most logical place they were gonna go. I am glad to see Guignard & Fabbri in France. I was afraid it would be a weak event so I'm glad to see France inviting real competition from the second seeded flight. Plus, kudos to Finland for inviting two unseeded potential medal contenders when they have their own potential GP medal contenders in the field. Orihara & Pirinen and Taschlerova & Taschler both get the double whammy of Finlandia and NHK. Ya gotta love neutral host countries.

 

[4rkidz]

Soooo glad I decided to make the trek to Sask for Skate Canada!! A great line-up!! Can't wait.

Now to decide how comfortable I feel about crossing the border and driving to Lake Placid for Skate America.

Me too.. at first wasn’t thrilled about Saskatoon but now I see the lineup (especially Aymoz) I’m very happy to be going to Skate Canada. I’m likely not doing Lake Placid now, although loved the JPG there when I first saw Alyssa, such a pretty town.

 

[4rkidz]

Let me know if you want to grab my hotel room when I release it. I’ve been on the fence about SkateAm and I’m not enthralled with the field.

Come to SCI in Saskatoon!

 

[tony]

I wasn't clear: I meant to compete in GP's, both SC and SA. I wonder if he'll stay in NA to train rather than doing two round trips to Europe two weeks apart. Montreal is a lovely place to be, for example.

I’d imagine he just comes back to Miami for a week to skate with Silvia.

 

[kwanette]

I’d imagine he just comes back to Miami for a week to skate with Silvia.

i hope Kazuki stays in NA as well. I have a rink 2 miles from my house.

 

[Evgeniafan]

I’d imagine he just comes back to Miami for a week to skate with Silvia.

Originally I thought Silvia coached in Wesley Chapel Florida? Did they move to Miami recently?

 

[PRlady]

Come to SCI in Saskatoon!

Hahahah. No thanks. Decided against SA because Olys are so expensive, and then the weak lineup (except for dance) made it easy. No offense but Saskatoon not on my bucket list.

 

[tony]

@Evgeniafan - she’s at panthers ice den now, has been for about a year or so, maybe longer.

 

[Dobre]

Totes, and they were also European champions.

Too bad, Babs was not lobbying for them, she’ll get it done. Stare stopwatch, and all.

If they were a Babs team, she'd have them doing two Challengers along with a full GP every season.

I'm having a tough time seeing how this could rationally apply to an ice dancer within one season of work. Let's say they exceed expectations and win both of their GPs, the GPF and any Senior B's they enter - it's still ice dance, an obscure sport with a limited global audience. So that's going to contribute to the influence of France and the prosperity of France's international economic relations?

It's ice dance. That discipline that was like a really big deal in Albertville. With the Duchesnays. There was an Olympic broadcasting puff piece about what a big deal it was, with CBS interviewing Albertvillians who all knew and cared about the Duchesnays. That was like my first exposure to an Olympic ice-dancing puff piece!

 

[BittyBug]

It's ice dance. That discipline that was like a really big deal in Albertville. With the Duchesnays. There was an Olympic broadcasting puff piece about what a big deal it was, with CBS interviewing Albertvillians who all knew and cared about the Duchesnays. That was like my first exposure to an Olympic ice-dancing puff piece!

Albertville was in 1992 - 33 years ago. A question for our French FSUers - what kind of interest was there in ice dance in France when Papadakis and Cizeron were skating?

 

[Dobre]

I know. But again, they gave Lauriault citizenship with basically nothing but a qualification. (Lauriault & Le Gac had a 21st place finish at Worlds the season before and an 8th place at Junior Worlds + 5th at the JGPF two seasons before). I know L&LG got married so I assume it's not the same law, but still . . . I just don't think it's at all likely that Fournier-Beaudry doesn't get citizenship. No matter where they place on the GP, which isn't gonna be that low.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

& Amber gets her Oly medal

Fixed your delusional story for you.

 

[Karen-W]

Fixed your delusional story for you.

Did you read the full story? I have Amber coming back from Milano-Cortina as an Olympic Champion. She will contribute mightily to Team USA's defense of our Beijing gold.

And there will be many Russian media articles from angry, bitter Russian FS glitterati about how Russia would have won had they not been unfairly denied entry in pairs & ice dance or the opportunity to compete at all internationally for years. There will be much grousing and claims about the illegitimacy of the TE & Women's gold medals. They'll only, grudgingly, shut their yaps about Pairs because SuiHan were routinely able to beat the best Russian pairs. And they'll claim Ilia as their own again, thus there will be no complaints about the Men's gold. And Dance, well, some delusional bozos will claim that StepBuk would have won - and the rest of the world will just snicker at their bitter tears.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Did you read the full story? I have Amber coming back from Milano-Cortina as an Olympic Champion. She will contribute mightily to Team USA's defense of our Beijing gold.

And there will be many Russian media articles from angry, bitter Russian FS glitterati about how Russia would have won had they not been unfairly denied entry in pairs & ice dance or the opportunity to compete at all internationally for years. There will be much grousing and claims about the illegitimacy of the TE & Women's gold medals. They'll only, grudgingly, shut their yaps about Pairs because SuiHan were routinely able to beat the best Russian pairs. And they'll claim Ilia as their own again, thus there will be no complaints about the Men's gold. And Dance, well, some delusional bozos will claim that StepBuk would have won - and the rest of the world will just snicker at their bitter tears.

Oh, I read it, and the only story that I’ve read out in the press is that Amber gets gold gold gold gold.

 

[cholla]

Albertville was in 1992 - 33 years ago. A question for our French FSUers - what kind of interest was there in ice dance in France when Papadakis and Cizeron were skating?

Approx. the same as in 1992 for the Duchesnay, i.e. a lot more than usual. But the interest in ice dance and the interest in P/C are 2 different things. P/C drove a lot of new fans to ice dance and even figure skating. But the main focus was really P/C and most of the new fans lost interest when they retired. When Cizeron's come back was announced, these fans woke up from the dead. On mainstream media social networks, the comments were very telling: almost no one knew of Lopareva/Brissaud despite their results. And when Demougeot/Le Mercier told the press they weren't happy with the way FFSG had treated them and their fellow ice dancers, they were considered cry babies and more or less told that nobody gave a sh*t. Guillaume is a hero in the collective inconscious as not so many French athletes have such a long prize list (although it's not the only decisive factor. Windsurfer Antoine Albeau is the Frenchie with the longest list of titles and not many people know that and/or who he is). People actually know nothing about ice dance as a sport with its rules but they know who Cizeron and Papadakis are.

 

[Nmsis]

Albertville was in 1992 - 33 years ago. A question for our French FSUers - what kind of interest was there in ice dance in France when Papadakis and Cizeron were skating?

There was some kind of fascination towards Papadakis Cizeron, because of their uniqueness, their sensitivity, much like with the Duchesnays. They striked a chord.
That doesn't mandatorily extend their glow to the whole of ice dance.

But what I can tell you is that there has never been as many little ice dancers as right now, France having specific ice dance clubs where kids start ice dance right away.

 

[nguyhm]

I will be in Helsinki and I am very happy with that. Full on ice dance drama. Plus Jason. Amber. And our German pair

Finlandia has my favorite lineup - what a dream . Enjoy your time there and please cheer on Rino super hard for me and of course Minerva and Nikita as well .