It’s that time of year again, and the Grand Prix assignments have been announced! Over the next several posts, I am going to go through each of the six Grand Prix competitions in order and give the initial assignments. These are bound to change in the months leading up to the start of the Grand Prix. I will make sure to point anyone returning after an absence as well as any debuts, and any thoughts I might have.
Men
Brendan Kerry AUS
- Grand Prix Debut
- He is the first Australian man on the Grand Prix circuit since Anthony Lin in 2001.
Han Yan CHN
Florent Amodio FRA
- I wonder what to expect from him after the horrible past couple of seasons he's had.
Alexei Bychenko ISR
Takahito Mura JPN
Shoma Uno JPN
- Grand Prix Debut
Denis Ten KAZ
Konstantin Menshov RUS
Adian Pitkeev RUS
Max Aaron USA
Jason Brown USA
TBA USA
- I wonder who this will go to. Here are my thoughts:
o Ross Miner – He is assigned to Rostelecom Cup. He was sixth at Nationals.
o Nathan Chen – There’s a lot of buzz about him, so they might give to him. He was eighth at Nationals.
o Grant Hotchstein – He is assigned to Cup of China, and was ninth at Nationals.
Ladies
Alaine Chartrand CAN
Haruka Imai JPN
Satoko Miyhara JPN
Miyu Nakashio JPN
- Grand Prix Debut
Elizabet Tursnabaeva KAZ
- Grand Prix Debut
- First woman from Kazakhstan on the Grand Prix circuit
So Youn Park KOR
Julia Lipnitskaia RUS
- It’ll be interesting to see how she recovers after her disastrous season last year.
Evgenia Medvedeva RUS
- Grand Prix Debut
Nicole Rajicova SVK
- Grand Prix Debut
- She is the first Slovakian singles skater on the Grand Prix circuit since Igor Macypura in 2009, and the first Slovakian woman since Zuzanna Babiacova in 2002.
Mariah Bell USA
- Grand Prix Debut
Gracie Gold USA
TBA USA
- Here are my thought as to who this could go to:
o Karen Chen – She is assigned to the Cup of China, and being the reigning US Bronze medalist, this would make a lot of sense.
o Mirai Nagasu – I would love for her to get it, as she’s a favorite of mine. She is assigned to the NHK Trophy, and was tenth at Nationals.
o Courtney Hicks – She is assigned to the NHK Trophy as well, and was ninth at Nationals.
Pairs
Julianne Seguin / Charlie Bilodeau CAN
- Grand Prix Debut as a pair, though Seguin has competed on the circuit as a single skater.
Wenjing Sui / Cong Han CHN
Xuehan Wan / Lei Wan CHN
Kristina Astakova / Alexei Rogonov RUS
Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov RUS
Tarah Kayne / Daniel O’Shea USA
- Grand Prix Debut
Alexa Scimeca / Chris Knierim USA
TBA USA
- This is a hard one, but here are the possibilities for this spot:
o Madeline Aaron / Max Settlage - They are assigned to the Cup of China and were fourth at Nationals. They are the most likely choices in my opinion.
o Jessica Calalang / Zack Sidhu – They are assigned to the NHK Trophy and were sixth at Nationals.
o Jessica Calalang / Zack Sidhu – They are assigned to the NHK Trophy and were sixth at Nationals.
o Gretchan Donlan / Nathan Bartholomay – They were seventh at Nationals.
o DeeDee Leng / Simon Shnapir - They were eighth at Nationals. Edit 6/30/15 - Shnapir has retired.
o If Caydee Denney and John Coughlin decide to come back, this is a possibility as well. Edit 07/31/15 - Denney and Coughlin retired.
Ice Dance
Piper Gilles / Paul Poirer CAN
Shiyue Wang / Xinyu Liu CHN
Victoria Sinitsina / Nikita Katsalapov RUS
Anna Yanovskaya / Sergei Mozgov RUS
- Grand Prix Debut
Alexandra Nazrova / Maxim Nikitin UKR
- Grand Prix Debut
Madison Chock / Evan Bates USA
Kaitlin Hawayek / Jean-luc Baker USA
TBA USA
- This is tough, as the top four teams already have two assignments. Here are my thoughts:
o Anastasia Cannuscio / Colin McManus – They are the most likely candidates. They were given the host spot last year and were fifth at Nationals. In fact, I can’t see them giving it to anyone else.
Next up is Skate Canada!
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