Team USA Set for World Team Trophy

Eight U.S. athletes will compete as a team at the ISU World Team Trophy 2019, April 11-14 in Fukuoka, Japan. The event features the six best figure skating teams of the 2018-19 season, which includes Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Each team consists of two ladies, two men, one pairs team and one ice dance team. Each skater/team will receive points based on placements in the short program/rhythm dance and free skate/dance. The points will be combined across the four disciplines with the highest point total winning.

Bradie Tennell and Mariah Bell will compete in the ladies competition. Tennell and Bell most recently competed at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2019, finishing seventh and ninth, respectively. Tennell earned the silver medal at 2019 GEICO U.S. Championships, while Bell finished in third.

In the men’s competition, Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou will take the ice. Chen is undefeated in his five outings this season, including Worlds, U.S. Championships, the Grand Prix Final, Internationaux de France and Skate America. Zhou captured the bronze medal at Worlds and Four Continents earlier this year. He finished second at U.S Championships.

Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc will represent Team USA in pairs. Cain and LeDuc finished ninth at Worlds, picking up a second pairs spot for the United States at 2020 Worlds. In their third season together, Cain and LeDuc won their first U.S. title, picked up their first Grand Prix medal, bronze at Skate America, and finished fourth at Four Continents.

Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue will represent Team USA in ice dance. Hubbell and Donohue are the two-time reigning U.S. Champions and two-time World medalists, claiming the bronze medal at the 2019 event in Saitama, Japan. They also took home gold at Skate America, Skate Canada International and the Grand Prix Final earlier this season.

U.S. skaters qualified for World Team Trophy based on results at the most recent World Championships, the ISU Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series and Final, the Four Continents Championships, and the ISU World Standings. Teams will compete for a total of $1 million USD in prize money.

Held every odd year, Team USA has medaled in all five World Team Trophy events. Most recently, Team USA took third in the event in 2017, scoring 97 points. The United States won the inaugural 2009 competition, earned silver in 2012 (held in an even year because the 2011 event was postponed due to an earthquake and tsunami in Japan) and won gold in 2013 and 2015.

Competition will be aired live on the Figure Skating Pass on NBC Sports Gold. See the schedule below.
 

U.S. ENTRIES AT ISU WORLD TEAM TROPHY 2019

ISU WORLD TEAM TROPHY 2019 STREAMING SCHEDULE
(All times Eastern; subject to change)