2015 Grand Prix Assignments: NHK Trophy

This is the last of six articles detailing the Grand Prix assignments for the coming up season. As with the previous articles, I will go through all the assignments. I will detail any new countries, any returns or debuts as well as any interesting thoughts. These are bound to change in the coming up months, but these are the initial assignments.

Last up is the NHK Trophy.

Men

Elladj Balde CAN
Boyang Jin CHN

Michal Brezina CZE

Chafik Besseghier FRA

Yuzuru Hanyu JPN

Takahito Mura JPN

TBA JPN

• Japan has a few options for this spot. Here are my thoughts:
• Keiji Tanaka – Aside from Sota Yamamoto (who I’m certain is continuing on the Junior Grand Prix), he’s the highest ranked Japanese man who doesn’t already have an assignment. He was eighth at Japanese Nationals, and was given one assignment last season. He’s the most likely candidate.
• Ryuju Hino – He was ninth at Japanese Nationals, and might be given the spot.
• Hiroaki Sato – Tenth at Japanese Nationals, he’s not eligible for the Junior Grand Prix anymore, as he’s aged out. This might give him this assignment, but I find this a bit far-fetched.

Maxim Kovtun RUS

Konstantin Menshov RUS

Jason Brown USA

Richard Dornbush USA

Joshua Farris USA

Ladies

Katelyn Osmond CAN

Li Zijun CHN

Mae Berenice Meite FRA

Mao Asada JPN

Satoko Miyhara JPN

TBA JPN

• There are options for Japan. A couple of options – sixth-place finisher at Japanese Nationals Kaori Sakamoto and eighth-place finisher Mariko Kihara will most likely be continuing on the Junior Grand Prix. Also likely continuing is thirteenth-place finisher Rin Nataya. If they are, these are the options for Japan in my opinion:
• Miyu Nakashio – She is already assigned to Skate America, so this would give her two assignments. She was tenth at Japanese Nationals. I find her to be the most likely candidate.
• Miyabi Oba – Twelfth at Japanese Nationals, she had a Grand Prix assignment last year, so they might give her another one this year.
• Yuki Nishino – Fourteenth at Japanese Nationals, she is a bit far-fetched, but it is possible.

Maria Artemieva RUS

Alena Leonova RUS

Anna Pogorilaya RUS

Courtney Hicks USA

Mirai Nagasu USA

Ashley Wagner USA

Pairs

• You’ll notice there’s no Japanese pair here. That’s because the only Japanese pair – Narumi Takahashi / Ryuichi Kihara broke up. Kihara has found a new partner, but Japan had already relinquished their host spot. 

Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford CAN

Lubov Ilushechkina / Dylan Moscovitch CAN

Yu Xiaoyu / Jin Yang CHN

Vanessa James / Morgan Cipres

Vera Bazarova / Andrei Deputat RUS

Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov RUS

Jessica Calalang / Zack Sidhu USA

• Grand Prix Debut

Alexa Scimeca / Chris Knierim USA

Ice Dance

Alexandra Paul / Mitchell Islam CAN

Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Cizeron FRA

Emi Hirai / Marien de la Asuncion JPN

TBA JPN

• I was initially very confused by this. Japan’s main pair, Cathy and Chris Reed, broke up as Cathy retired. I was unsure as to how fast Chris would find a partner and if they would be prepared. However, Chris has already found a new partner, so this is obviously reserved for them. If they are not ready, the spot will be relinquished.

Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev RUS

Alexandra Stepanova / Ivan Bukin RUS

Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donahue USA

Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani USA

That’s it! Updates will be given as they happen.