The International Skating Union (ISU) announced today athlete selections for the 2021 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series, which will begin Oct. 22-24 with 2021 Skate America in Las Vegas.
The field at Skate America® will feature three-time World champion Nathan Chen as well as the other reigning U.S. champions, Bradie Tennell (ladies), Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier (pairs) and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue (ice dance). 2018 U.S. Olympic Team members Vincent Zhou and Madison Chock and Evan Bates will also compete at Skate America®. All event tickets are on sale now at 2021skateamerica.com.
The Grand Prix Series incorporates six international figure skating competitions as a unified point-scoring series that awards prize money to eligible skaters. At the conclusion of the Series, athletes’ points are totaled, and the top six ladies, men, pairs and ice dance teams will be eligible to compete at the 2021 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, set for Dec. 9-12, in Osaka, Japan.
Due to the impact of COVID-19 last season, the ISU Council determined that the 2020 Grand Prix Series would be staged as domestically run events with participants at each event limited to athletes from the host country, training in the host country or in the respective geographical area. Therefore, Team USA athletes only competed at 2020 Guaranteed Rate Skate America.
In 2019, the United States captured 15 medals on the Grand Prix circuit, including three medals at the Grand Prix Final from Chen (gold), Chock and Bates (silver) and Hubbell and Donohue (bronze).
The complete list of athlete selections for the 2021 Grand Prix Series is available at www.isu.org. The lists of U.S. selections to all six Grand Prix events and international selections to Skate America® are below. (Lineups are subject to change.)
TEAM USA ASSIGNMENTS FOR 2021 ISU GRAND PRIX OF FIGURE SKATING SERIES
Skate America® — Las Vegas — Oct. 22-24, 2021
Ladies: Amber Glenn, Bradie Tennell; TBD**
Men: Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou; TBD**
Pairs: Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier, Chelsea Liu/Danny O’Shea*; TBD**
Ice dance: Madison Chock/Evan Bates, Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue; TBD**
Skate Canada International — Vancouver, British Columbia — Oct. 29-31, 2021
Ladies: Karen Chen, Alysa Liu*
Men: Jason Brown, Nathan Chen, Tomoki Hiwatashi
Pairs: Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy LeDuc
Ice dance: Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko, Caroline Green/Michael Parsons
Cup of China — Chongqing, China — Nov. 5-7, 2021
Ladies: Bradie Tennell
Ice dance: Caroline Green/Michael Parsons, Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue
NHK Trophy — Tokyo — Nov. 12-14, 2021
Ladies: Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu
Men: Tomoki Hiwatashi, Camden Pulkinen, Vincent Zhou
Pairs: Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy LeDuc, Audrey Lu/Misha Mitrofanov
Ice dance: Madison Chock/Evan Bates, Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker
Internationaux de France — Grenoble, France — Nov. 19-21, 2021
Ladies: Starr Andrews, Mariah Bell, Karen Chen
Men: Jason Brown
Pairs: Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier
Ice Dance: Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko
Rostelecom Cup — Sochi, Russia— Nov. 26-28, 2021
Ladies: Mariah Bell
Men: Maxim Naumov*, Camden Pulkinen
Pairs: Audrey Lu/Misha Mitrofanov
Ice dance: Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker
*making Grand Prix Series debut
**to be determined
2021 SKATE AMERICA INTERNATIONAL ATHLETES
Ladies: Satoko Miyahara (JPN), Kaori Sakamoto (JPN), Yuhana Yokoi (JPN), Ekaterina Kurakova (POL), Yelim Kim (KOR), Young You (KOR), Kseniia Sinitsyna (RUS), Alexandra Trusova (RUS), Daria Usacheva (RUS)
Men: Nam Nguyen (CAN), Michal Brezina (CZE), Kevin Amyoz (FRA), Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA), Daniel Grassl (ITA), Shun Sato (JPN), Shoma Uno (JPN), Artur Danielian (RUS), Daniil Samsonov (RUS)
Pairs: Evelyn Walsh/Trennt Michaud (CAN), Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (JPN), Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii (RUS), Alina Pepeleva/Roman Pleshkov (RUS), Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov (RUS)
Ice dance: Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Nikolaj Sorensen (CAN), Carolane Soucisse/Shane Firus (CAN), Misato Komatsubara/Tim Koleto (JPN), Natalia Kaliszek/Maksym Spodyriev (POL), Annabelle Morozov/Andrei Bagin (RUS), Tiffani Zagorski/Jonathan Guerreiro (RUS), Olivia Smart/Adrian Diaz (ESP)
