2025 Grand Prix Assignments

[Karen-W]

Okay, time to go through the Alternates List as of today; skaters marked with * are in the mix/likely for a host TBD spot.

Men
A Selevko (SCI)
Hagara (NHK)
Samoilov (SCI)
Circelli (SkAm)
Sanchez (CoC) *
Nordeback (Finlandia)
Pitot (NHK) *
Vinokur
Choi
Pulkinen (CoC) *
Hiwatashi *
Kim
Nakamura *
Rakic (SCI)
J Lee
Levandi
Shmuratko
Guarino Sabate
Daniliants
Gogolev (SCI)
Appleby
Naumov (GPdF) *
Yoshioka *
Gorodnitsky
Lim
Kulish
Martynov *
Starostin
K Witkowski
Klein *
Kuperman
Kakiuchi *
Marsak
Kapeikis *
Carrillo
Chiu
Paniot *
Yu-Hsiang Li

Women
Aoki (SCI) *
Samodelkina (NHK)
Shin (CoC)
Kaiser (GPdF)
Yun (SCI)
Pezzetta (NHK)
Medland Spence (NHK) *
Serna (SkAm) *
Shiryaeva *
Dupuis (SCI)
Karhunen (Finlandia)
Mihara *
Seniuk
Sauter
S Kim
Kurakova (SkAm)
Mikutina
Landry *
Jyrkinen *
Piredda
Feigin
Spours
J Lee *
Zhu (CoC)
Ruiter *
M Kim
Ceder *

Pairs
Beccari/Guarise
Ghilardi/Ambrosini (Finlandia)
Hocke/Kunkel (SkAm)
Chtchetinina/Wozniak (Finlandia)
Vaipan-Law/Digby (SCI)
Danilova/Tsiba (NHK)
Chan/Howe (NHK) *
Zhang/Huang (Finlandia) *
Nagaoka/Moriguchi (Finlandia) *
McBeath/Parkman (CoC) *
Bombardier/Mimar (CoC)
Shin/Nagy (GPdF) *
Vouillamoz/Bouvart (SCI)
Holichenko/Darenskyi
Kovalev/Kovalev (NHK) *
Roscher/Schuster
Schaller/Mayr
Gamez/Korovin
Flores/Wang (SkAm)
Faula/Belle (GPdF)
Crafoord/Crafoord
Williams/Lewer *
Izzo/Maierhofer
Caldara/Maglio
Digerness/Sadusky *
Ryom/Han
Wang/Zhu *
Kucianova/Bidar

Ice Dance
Brown/Brown (Finlandia) *
Janse van Rensburg/Steffan (SCI)
Lim/Quan (CoC)
Fabbri/Ayer (NHK) *
Pate/Bye (GPdF) *
Bekker/Hernandez (SkAm)
Harris/Chan
Neset/Markelov (SCI) *
Lauriault/Le Gac (GPdF) *
Tali/Lafornara (SkAm)
Ignateva/Szemko
Lagouge/Caffa *
Reitan/Majorov
Yoshida/Morita (NHK)
Soucisse/Firus
Manni/Roethlisberger
Val/Kazimov
Larson/Kapran
Wolfkostin/Tsarevski (NHK) *
Tkachenko/Kiliakov
Matthaei/Liebers
Dupayage/Nabais *
Hensen/Lickers *
Fradji/Forneaux (SkAm) *
Paolina/Tuba
Pinchuk/Pogorielov
Mullen/Mullen *
Gauthier/Thieren *
Peal/Peal *
Xiao/He (CoC)
Ramanauskaite/Kizala
Ren/Xing (CoC)
Tanaka/Nishiyama (NHK)
Dozzi/Papetti
Kudryavtseva/Karankevich
Bordet/Chardain *
Zehnder/Sieber
Dovhal/Kulesza
Finelli/Bucciarelli
Nguyen/Giang *
Karl/Hoferichter
Csiszer/Shapiro
Pallu-Neves/Panesar
Argentieri/Riva

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Today's Wordle is HARD.

Not a single Wordle friend has sent me their result today, it’s 5 PM and I can’t get the last two letters, I think they’re using pigLatin now, this is taking up too much of my day.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Okay, time to go through the Alternates List as of today; skaters marked with * are in the mix/likely for a host TBD spot.

Men
A Selevko (SCI)
Hagara (NHK)
Samoilov (SCI)
Circelli (SkAm)
Sanchez (CoC) *
Nordeback (Finlandia)
Pitot (NHK) *
Vinokur
Choi
Pulkinen (CoC) *
Hiwatashi
Kim
Nakamura *
Rakic (SCI)
Lee
Levandi
Shmuratko
Guarino Sabate
Daniliants
Gogolev (SCI)
Appleby
Naumov (GPdF) *
Yoshioka *
Gorodnitsky
Lim

Women
Aoki (SCI) *
Samodelkina (NHK)
Shin (CoC)
Kaiser (GPdF)
Yun (SCI)
Pezzetta (NHK)
Medland Spence (NHK) *
Serna (SkAm) *
Shiryaeva
Dupuis (SCI)
Karhunen (Finlandia)
Mihara *
Seniuk
Sauter
S Kim
Kurakova (SkAm)
Mikutina
Landry *
Jyrkinen *
Piredda
Feigin
Spours
J Lee *
Zhu (CoC)
Ruiter *
M Kim
Ceder *

Pairs
Beccari/Guarise
Ghilardi/Ambrosini (Finlandia)
Hocke/Kunkel (SkAm)
Vaipan-Law/Digby (SCI)
Chtchetinina/Wozniak (Finlandia)
Danilova/Tsiba (NHK)
Chan/Howe (NHK) *
Zhang/Huang (Finlandia) *
Nagaoka/Moriguchi (Finlandia) *
McBeath/Parkman (CoC) *
Bombardier/Mimar (CoC)
Shin/Nagy (GPdF) *
Vouillamoz/Bouvart (SCI)
Holichenko/Darenskyi
Kovalev/Kovalev (NHK) *
Roscher/Schuster
Schaller/Mayr
Gamez/Korovin
Flores/Wang (SkAm)
Faula/Belle (GPdF)
Crafoord/Crafoord
Williams/Lewer *
Izzo/Maierhofer
Caldara/Maglio
Digerness/Sadusky *
Ryom/Han
Wang/Zhu *
Kucianova/Bidar
Fitzpatrick/Bearinger *

Ice Dance
Brown/Brown (Finlandia) *
Lim/Quan (CoC)
Janse van Rensburg/Steffan (SCI)
Fabbri/Ayer (NHK) *
Pate/Bye (GPdF) *
Bekker/Hernandez (SkAm)
Harris/Chan
Neset/Markelov (SCI) *
Lauriault/Le Gac (GPdF) *
Tali/Lafornara (SkAm)
Ignateva/Szemko
Lagouge/Caffa *
Reitan/Majorov
Yoshida/Morita (NHK)
Soucisse/Firus
Manni/Roethlisberger
Val/Kazimov
Larson/Kapran
Wolfkostin/Tsarevski (NHK) *
Tkachenko/Kiliakov
Matthaei/Liebers
Dupayage/Nabais *
Hensen/Lickers *
Fradji/Forneaux (SkAm) *
Paolina/Tuba
Pinchuk/Pogorielov

She’s color coding

 

[Wyliefan]

Today's Wordle is HARD.

I haven't played in some time, but that was a challenge I couldn't resist! Got it in 4, but it WAS hard.

 

[leilaofpaper]

I haven't played in some time, but that was a challenge I couldn't resist! Got it in 4, but it WAS hard.

same here, been a while but got it in four.

 

[peibeck]

of course cpom finally get skam when it's not 15 minutes down the road from me

15 hours of travel and a dog-sled for transport should not deter you.

 

[Rukia]

15 hours of travel and a dog-sled for transport should not deter you.

yeah i don't like anybody going to lake placid amounts

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I haven't played in some time, but that was a challenge I couldn't resist! Got it in 4, but it WAS hard.

What I’ve been working on this the entire day and I can’t get the last two letters, yesterdays word I never even heard of, if I never heard of the word, how can I guess it.

 

[Karen-W]

What I’ve been working on this the entire day and I can’t get the last two letters, yesterdays word I never even heard of, if I never heard of the word, how can I guess it.

expand your vocabulary beyond the word "harem"?

 

[peibeck]

yeah i don't like anybody going to lake placid amounts

(((Torgy)))

 

[Karen-W]

GP Assignments Review from Tatjana Flade & Judith Dombrowski for Pirouette Magazin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG5mmKWUGt8

Tatjana noted that BecGuar didn't have a qualifying minimum score from last season (Shanghai Trophy doesn't count toward SB) and they didn't qualify as a Comeback team, but I'd have thought they would have qualified as a Return of a Ranked Team since they were 9th at 2024 Worlds. I don't get it. If the GP Host Commission is going to give Loena a pass for competing only at Shanghai Trophy last fall then shouldn't they have applied the same standard to BecGuar?

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

GP Assignments Review from Tatjana Flade & Judith Dombrowski for Pirouette Magazin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG5mmKWUGt8

Tatjana noted that BecGuar didn't have a qualifying minimum score from last season (Shanghai Trophy doesn't count toward SB) and they didn't qualify as a Comeback team, but I'd have thought they would have qualified as a Return of a Ranked Team since they were 9th at 2024 Worlds. I don't get it. If the GP Host Commission is going to give Loena a pass for competing only at Shanghai Trophy last fall then shouldn't they have applied the same standard to BecGuar?

Totes, and they were also European champions.

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

 

[Wyliefan]

What I’ve been working on this the entire day and I can’t get the last two letters, yesterdays word I never even heard of, if I never heard of the word, how can I guess it.

After I got the first three letters, I went looking online for words that started with those letters. However, the word flashed into my mind right before I saw it onscreen. All that searching must have knocked something loose.

 

[panda42]

same here, been a while but got it in four.

It was tough! I figured it out in four but did get clues from another site.

 

[thvu]

And our thoughts on pairs and ice dance.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

 

[jägerbomb]

Wow that Skate America lineup is rather shit. And I can't blame the skaters -- who wants to try to get to Lake Placid in the winter?

 

[NinjaTurtles]

Hmm, I need to be in Brussels for work the week of October 20th. Maybe I fly to Europe early and go to GPdF and forget SkAm.

 

[jägerbomb]

I hate to be pedantic, but I think these Wordle posts should utilize the SPOILER tag. Some of us don't work traditional hours and Wordle is played in the evening. I have a streak to maintain here.

 

[YukiNieve]

My biggest surprises were -

-Alysa is going to China and with Amber.
Have a similar concern as Debbie. Also, I was repeatedly told that they did not want to have a face-to-face match between the top women. (I guess that means between Amber/Alysa/Isabeau).
-Maxim is getting the 1st assignment. He was saying "Take one thing at a time" -wouldn't it be easier to prepare if he gets a later assignment (aka Skate America)?

 

[panda42]

My biggest surprises were -

-Alysa is going to China and with Amber.
Have a similar concern as Debbie. Also, I was repeatedly told that they do not want to have a face-to-face match between the top ladies. (I guess that means between Amber/Alysa/Isabeau).
-Maxim is getting the 1st assignment. He was saying "Take one thing at a time" -wouldn't it be easier to prepare if he gets a later assignment (aka Skate America)?

I think that Alysa got first pick being world champion but it is interesting that she is up against Amber. Maybe Maxim could be a substitute or also get Skate America in the host slot, but I was surprised that Jacob only got one assignment.

 

[coralline]

I think you just answered your own question... Except, Dupayage/Nabais are SB 44, not 30th. Lagouge/Caffa are SB 32.

Plus, there's the rumored Flores/Colmor Jepsen partnership that could be in the mix for a GPdF host spot.

So French Masters will be really important for these relatively lower ranking senior teams.

 

[Wyliefan]

I hate to be pedantic, but I think these Wordle posts should utilize the SPOILER tag. Some of us don't work traditional hours and Wordle is played in the evening. I have a streak to maintain here.

I wrote my post very carefully to avoid spoilers!

 

[ChillSkate]

Like everyone, I am mystified that the US is utilizing only 2 Men's spots at Skate America.

@Karen-W - Thank you for adding the Alternate lists. It's really interesting to see the Men's list - it makes it clear how much the USFS must have had to advocate for Camden and Max to get spots.

I am now seriously considering going to Helsinki for Finlandia. I had already ruled out Skate America as Lake Placid is just not feasible for me. However, I've always wanted to go to Helsinki and this is a great line up for all of the events. And there will somehow be nearly as many US skaters / teams at Finlandia as there will be at Skate America (2 Women incl reigning National Champ, 3 Men, 2 Pairs incl reigning National Champ, 3 Ice Dance).

I'm going to start a separate planning thread to see if anyone else is considering going to Finlandia.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

I hate to be pedantic, but I think these Wordle posts should utilize the SPOILER tag. Some of us don't work traditional hours and Wordle is played in the evening. I have a streak to maintain here.

Or they could not be posted at all on the thread about Grand Prix assignments.

 

[PRlady]

Oh, lordy... it is way harder to handicap any other discipline but dance. Dance is easy because Worlds & WTT established a clear hierarchy.

I can tell you’re not a dance fanatic. Those hierarchies change these days, look at where Smart is relative to previous season. Look at the Taschlers stagnating or dropping. And so on.

I expect La/La to trounce Car/Pon once the Boston aura dissipates. G/F might surge with decent programs and an Italian Oly, upsetting GilPoir or ChoBat not out of the realm of possibility. The Shibs and FB/Ciz are total wildcards til we see them skate, anywhere from first to 8th is possible.

I think there will be a lot of drama this year!

 

[taz'smum]

There is no apparent basis under French law for it's being a done deal.

How to Get French Citizenship: Requirements & Application Process

Learn how to obtain French citizenship through naturalization, marriage, birth, or special exemptions. Find out eligibility criteria, required documents, and step-by-step application process.

life-in-france.net

Fournier-Beaudry doesn’t live in France and doesn't have a French parent or a French spouse. She  is an elite athlete, but she lives in Canada. Elite skaters such as Vanessa James and Evgenia Lopareva did actually live in France for at least two years before obtaining citizenship.

So perhaps the FFSG has agreed to stick to the law in exchange for a favor or two.

There are other fast-track ways that can be used for athletes who will deliver great results. Though I'd imagine they will have had to prove in competition, that they are strong together before this route could be used.

Article 21-21 states
French nationality may be conferred by naturalisation on the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to any French-speaking foreigner who requests it and who contributes through their distinguished work to the influence of France and the prosperity of its international economic relations.

 

[Karen-W]

I can tell you’re not a dance fanatic. Those hierarchies change these days, look at where Smart is relative to previous season. Look at the Taschlers stagnating or dropping. And so on.

I expect La/La to trounce Car/Pon once the Boston aura dissipates. G/F might surge with decent programs and an Italian Oly, upsetting GilPoir or ChoBat not out of the realm of possibility. The Shibs and FB/Ciz are total wildcards til we see them skate, anywhere from first to 8th is possible.

I think there will be a lot of drama this year!

LOL. You know, I'm not a dance fanatic, but I think that gives me an advantage over the crazed dance fanatics in correctly handicapping the fields. Sure, things can change from season to season, but might I remind you that I was the ONLY person beating the drum about both the French & Finnish teams Euros scores being abnormally high and that they would revert back to the median in Boston? Might I remind you that I've been on the SmaDie bandwagon since their first, rather inauspicious, season? Might I remind you that pretty much EVERYONE here trashed LajLag's programs this past season, especially their FD, so their result in Boston should not have been nearly the surprise it was to everyone? And might I remind you that consensus has been that the Taschlers actually WERE stagnating with less-than-stellar material from Zanni & Co?

I am not predicting, btw, that CarPon are going to beat LajLag handily, despite what you seem to be implying based upon my known uber-fandom of CarPon. I fully expect LajLag to beat CarPon at SCI, and then I expect the results to be reversed at SkAm. I make no prediction on an outcome of a third head-to-head match-up at the GPF, just that I believe they will both qualify for the GPF while FearGib and GuigFab are iced out of that competition.

USFS & SkCan are protecting the teams that have, at this point, established themselves, quite solidly, as their #2, with an eye toward the next Olympic cycle. Perhaps your own US ice dance uber matrix is kicking into gear because CarPon aren't your favored successors to ChoBat as the top US team post-Milano Cortina.

With respect to GuigFab... That's an awfully big ask you're making for them given the material they've had this entire Olympic cycle. At no point in the past three seasons could a reasonable argument be made that they had the best RD of the top 3 teams, and only in 2023 could an argument be made in favor of their FD as the best, but even that would have been debated mightily (and the judges didn't agree, even with a fall by ChoBat at Worlds). In fact, their material has been unimpressive enough that they've allowed FearGib to overtake them, which is not something any of us would have predicted 3 years ago when FearGib were very clearly behind the top 3.

Go back and rewatch even just the RDs from 2023. To me, it's clear why ChoBat and GilPoir have put some distance between themselves and GuigFab. There is a dynamic quality they both have that allows them to rise above some awful music/packaging choices. I mean... Really... ChoBat gave us David Bowie's "Let's Dance" with a Latin beat! And GilPoir gave us Piper in a purple sparkly tramp stamp dress with Paul in a black mesh/sheer with some stoning/crystals black, loose tank top for "Do What I Do." Yet, somehow, they have a raw charisma that shines through. GuigFab with their safe, traditional Latin program in bland black with a zebra print burnout patterning & gold stoning/crystals are just there. I can see why they scored higher than GilPoir in the RD in 2023 - GilPoir were rougher & not quite as developed, but the potential was there for GilPoir to continue improving & overtake GuigFab as they have since.

Like or dislike ChoBat's material each of the past 3 seasons, but you're going to have a tough time selling me on them not putting out the best RD in both 2023 & 2024, and the best FD of the top 4 in 2025. And, like or dislike GilPoir's material each of the past few seasons, but you're not going to convince me that they didn't have the best FD in 2024 and the best RD in 2025. You may be able to convince me that GuigFab had the best FD in 2023, but what have they done in the intervening two seasons? Nothing that was going to beat ChoBat or GilPoir in either segment. Their 2024 RD was awful and their 2024 FD was "Love Never Dies/Mephisto's Lullaby" where she had a sparkly skeleton spine on her back for her costume. And the less said about this past season's Robot FD and Condiment Kids Costumes RD, the better.

 

[On My Own]

I can tell you’re not a dance fanatic.

This is not an insult.

 

[The Observer]

Bookmark this for the upcoming season in ice dance:

GPdF - FBCiz, FearGib & GuigFab in some order, 4th & 5th - DavSmo & ReedAmbru in some order
CoC - ChoBat, SmaDie & LopBri in some order, 4th & 5th - GreenP & ZingKol in some order
SCI - GilPoir, LajLag, CarPon, 4th - TurkVers, 5th - Mrazkovi
NHK - Shibs, FearGib & GuigFab in reverse order of their GPdF placements, 4th - GreenP, 5th - Taschlers
SkAm - ChoBat, CarPon, LajLag, 4th - LopBri, 5th - Mrazkovi
Finlandia - GilPoir,FBCiz & Shibs in some order, 4th & 5th - SmaDie & TurkVers in some order

GPF qualifiers -
30 pts - ChoBat & GilPoir
26 pts - FBCiz or Shibs (dependent upon Finlandia results)
24 pts - FBCiz or Shibs (dependent upon Finlandia results) - wins tiebreaker against all other teams with 24 pts due to at their 1st event
24 pts - 4-way tie for the last two spots between FearGib, GuigFab, LajLag & CarPon - first tiebreaker is highest placement of 2nd for all of them, 2nd tiebreaker is total points - friendly judging panels & later events for both LajLag & CarPon put them into the GPF ahead of FearGib & GuigFab.

GPF - ChoBat & GilPoir in some order, FBCiz, 4th & 5th - LajLag & CarPon in some order, 6th - Shibs

Euros winds up being a massacre with FBCiz coasting to the title that the Brits expected FearGib to win, FearGib hanging onto silver because it's in Sheffield, and SmaDie winning bronze because it's in Sheffield.

4CCs is won by GreenP with ZingKol taking silver and bronze is either a bone thrown to the top Canadian team there or possibly goes to the #3 US team if any of them can differentiate themselves from the rest of the mid-tier US teams somewhat during the fall.

Italians are absolutely devastated going into Milano-Cortina where GuigFab wind up with the consolation prize of a TE bronze medal for their efforts, while the podium winds up being ChoBat, GilPoir & FBCiz, which sets FBCiz up quite nicely for 2030. Also, CarPon get a TEwhen the US splits ice dance because they want ChoBat fresh for the individual event & the Shibs are shut out of any medals in Milano-Cortina.

I like your Dance predictions for the coming season. As a fan of GilPoir, I hope you are correct that they will maintain their current silver medal ranking through the 2026 Olympics.

However, we have to be cautious with any predictions until we see how FBCiz & the Shibs perform, as well as the kind of material for the RD & FD that each of the Dance teams brings next season.

 

[Karen-W]

I like your Dance predictions for the coming season. As a fan of GilPoir, I hope you are correct that they will maintain their current silver medal ranking through the 2026 Olympics.

However, we have to be cautious with any predictions until we see how FBCiz & the Shibs perform, as well as the kind of material for the RD & FD that each of the Dance teams brings next season.

I can't agree with respect to Chock/Bates and Gilles/Poirier. The Shibs are useful tools, IMO, to protecting ChoBat's position as the top US team as well as getting FBCiz to the GPF & in a position to win bronze in Milano-Cortina, but Marie-France will have no use for them once we hit the GPF and will summarily dispense with them. GilPoir may be a bit more vulnerable to an onslaught from FBCiz, but... I've seen the clips of FBCiz from FAOI last weekend and I'm willing to go out on a limb & say GilPoir are also in the driver's seat.