2024-25 ISU Grand Prix Assignments & projected alternates

[Karen-W]

Oh, I thought you were talking about Grand Prix qualifiers

If you're talking about the Grand Prix Final, then no, you're still wrong. I mean, sure, it's possible Matsuike and Yoshida and Glenn could all qualify, but have you even taken a look at the fields each of them are up against in their GPs?

Matsuike & Yoshida are both also assigned to SCI along with Kimmy & Kaori - good luck with that. At GPdF Amber is up against Loena, Pinzarrone, Rion (who has backed her way into a GP gold each of the past two seasons because the rest of a solid field imploded), and Chaeyeon. Then Amber gets to face Chaeyeon and Rion again at CoC along with Kimmy and Mone Chiba.

Honestly, looking at the women's fields - someone like Yuna Aoki or Bradie Tennell may have the best random chance of making the GPF because the NHK field is a bit thin with the exception of Kaori & Mone, but that would require them probably pushing through with a surprise medal at SkAm - which has Pinzarrone, Watanabe, Isabeau and Elyce also there.

Across the board, the GP fields are mostly pretty deep - and the depth level won't drop off quite so much with the new Alternate selection process, and that's a great thing.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

If you're talking about the Grand Prix Final, then no, you're still wrong. I mean, sure, it's possible Matsuike and Yoshida and Glenn could all qualify, but have you even taken a look at the fields each of them are up against in their GPs?

Matsuike & Yoshida are both also assigned to SCI along with Kimmy & Kaori - good luck with that. And Amber is up against Loena, Pinzarrone, Rion (who has backed her way into a GP gold each of the past two seasons because the rest of a solid field imploded), and Chaeyeon. Then Amber gets to face Chaeyeon and Rion again at CoC along with Kimmy and Mone Chiba.

Honestly, looking at the women's fields - someone like Yuna Aoki or Bradie Tennell may have the best random chance of making the GPF because the NHK field is a bit thin with the exception of Kaori & Mone, but that would require them probably pushing through with a surprise medal at SkAm - which has Pinzarrone, Watanabe, Isabeau and Elyce also there.

Across the board, the GP fields are mostly pretty deep - and the depth level won't drop off quite so much with the new Alternate selection process, and that's a great thing.

I’m excited for the season, I want to see if things are a bit unpredictable

 

[Karen-W]

Well, the Lombardia Trophy results have 2 new Pairs teams and, theoretically, 1 new Dance team added to the GP Alternates List. No changes to the Men or Women's lists, apart from Sarah Everhardt increasing her SB score and maintaining her 1st position.

We'll have to confirm for certain whenever the GP Alternates List is updated on the ISU's GP general page, but I believe that Morozov/Chen should be added thanks to their silver medal.

Projected Ice Dance Alternates -
Flores/Desyatov - SkAm
Janse van Rensburg/Steffan - NHK
Dupayage/Nabais - GPdF
Morozov/Chen
Harris/Chan - SCI
Fabbri/Ayer - SCI
Soucisse/Firus
Tkachenko/Kiliakov - SkAm
Bekker/Hernandez
Val/Kazimov
Manni/Roethlisberger
Bashynska/Beaumont
Pinchuk/Pogorielov - Finlandia
Yoshida/Morita - NHK
Lagouge/Caffa (probably getting the GPdF host TBD spot)
Nosovitskaya/Nosovitskiy
Mazingue/Gaidajenko
Reitan/Majorov
Tanaka/Nishiyama - NHK
Simova/Aksenov
Hensen/Lickers
Ramanauskaite/Kizala
Terreaux/Perron
Larson/Kapran
Dozzi/Papetti
Matthaei/Liebers
Ignateva/Szemko
Ichilov/Kravchenko

Of note - Tanaka/Nishiyama have been dealing with an injury for her - she's posted about it on her IG last month. Hopefully they'll be ready by NHK but that may be a spot that opens up for one of the non-American teams on the Alternates List.

Projected Pairs Alternates -
Efimova/Mitrofanov - SkAm (should get the GPdF spot vacated by Peng/Wang)
Geynish/Chigirev
McBeath/Parkman - SkAm
Holichenko/Darenskiy - doing JGP Poland which should remove them from this list in a couple weeks
Vaipan-Law/Digby - SkAm
Chtchetinina/Wozniak
Nagaoka/Moriguchi - NHK
Gamez/Korovin
Martins/Bedard
Piegad/Strekalin - GPdF
Schaller/Mayr
Digerness/Sadusky
Williams/Lewer - Finlandia
Kucianova/Bidar
Ryom/Han (new this week)
Crafoord/Crafoord
Smart/Mattick
Wang/Zhu - CoC
Caldara/Maglio
Roscher/Schuster
Faula/Belle (new this week)
Fitzpatrick/Bearinger
Mokhova/Mokhov

I have a feeling we may see quite a few pairs teams on the alternates list wind up with GP assignments - there are a LOT of teams who haven't made their season debuts and aren't on the Nebelhorn entry list. Chan/Howe did WD from Lombardia this week but they're listed for Shanghai Trophy so hopefully they'll be there and all will be fine for their GP season.

MetBeru, GoluGM, BecGuar, DanTsi, Les Kovs, PieStrek, and PlaFern are all conspicuously absent from the early Challengers. We know that PlaFern are dealing with a concussion issue for Max, and both Les Kovs & BecGuar are coming back from injury. DanTsi were on the Nebelhorn entry list but WD last week. The other four haven't been seen or heard from - and their IGs are relatively quiet. Hopefully they're just all knuckling down with practicing, but... Be warned, we could wind up going pretty far down the Pairs Alternates list by the time it's all said and done on the GP.

 

[Karen-W]

The USFS has confirmed their SkAm host TBD assignments -

U.S. Figure Skating on Instagram: "Team USA is locked in 🔒 for Skate America! Six up-and-coming athletes were added to the Skate America lineup!"

340 likes, 10 comments - usfigureskating on September 16, 2024: "Team USA is locked in 🔒 for Skate America! Six up-and-coming athletes were added to the Skate America lineup!".

www.instagram.com

 

[Karen-W]

So, who else is ready for the Metelkina & Parkman showdown at SkAm now that McBeath/Parkman have been officially assigned and it's one of Metelkina/Berulava's GPs?

 

[Karen-W]

More updates today -

Pairs - Efimova/Mitrofanov have been added to GPdF as expected; Piegad/Strekalin have been crossed off AND Skate Canada has crossed out it's "Host TBD" which means they're tossing that spot back into the pool - https://isu.org/docman-documents-li...-25/grand-prix-5/entries-9/33866-pairs-5/file

Per the GP Alternates List, the expectation would be that Geynish/Chigirev will be assigned to SCI. I don't think there are any other senior age-eligible teams in France right now, so that GPdF spot should also wind up in the selection pool and then go to Geynish/Chigirev, but it may take a little while for that to happen if there is some unknown new French pairs team we don't know about yet. I'll be curious as to whether or not Piegad/Strekalin are removed from the GP Alternates list - they only had 1 assignment, so theoretically they should still be eligible for a 2nd but they don't seem to be in good health and may not be in a position to accept a 2nd assignment anywhere.

Women - Mazzara got the GPdF host TBD spot (I'm giving a huge side-eye to that based on how she skated at Lombardia this past weekend, but whatever FFSG) - https://isu.org/docman-documents-li...-25/grand-prix-5/entries-9/33867-women-4/file

Ice Dance - Lagouge/Caffa got the GPdF host TBD spot as expected based upon their strong 4th place result at Lombardia this past weekend - https://isu.org/docman-documents-li...grand-prix-5/entries-9/33868-ice-dance-4/file

 

[BlueRidge]

Ice Dance - Lagouge/Caffa got the GPdF host TBD spot as expected based upon their strong 4th place result at Lombardia this past weekend - https://isu.org/docman-documents-li...grand-prix-5/entries-9/33868-ice-dance-4/file

 

[coralline]

Ice Dance - Lagouge/Caffa got the GPdF host TBD spot as expected based upon their strong 4th place result at Lombardia this past weekend - https://isu.org/docman-documents-li...grand-prix-5/entries-9/33868-ice-dance-4/file

Great news！Happy for Natacha & Arnaud.

 

[victorskid]

Confirmed today that the host Pairs spot given up by Skate Canada has now been filled by Ekaterina Geynish / Dmitrii Chigirev UZB

 

[Karen-W]

Confirmed today that the host Pairs spot given up by Skate Canada has now been filled by Ekaterina Geynish / Dmitrii Chigirev UZB

Yup - https://isu.org/docman-documents-li...-25/grand-prix-5/entries-9/33866-pairs-5/file

No one has been assigned to fill the GPdF spot vacated by Piegad/Strekalin yet.

It should go to Geynish/Chigirev as they remain at the top of the GP Alternates list, but I wonder if the FFSG is waiting to see if vacancies occur elsewhere so that 1) GeyChig don't have back-to-back GPs and 2) they can invite VLDigs who will be much cheaper to fly in from Dundee.

The GP Alternates List changed again, with the scores from Nebelhorn moving some teams ahead of others:

Geynish/Chigirev SCI
Vaipan-Law/Digby SkAm
Chtchetinina/Wozniak
McBeath/Parkman SkAm
Holichenko/Darenskiy (still entered for JGP Poland next week)
Nagaoka/Moriguchi NHK
Gamez/Korovin
Martins/Bedard
Piegad/Strekalin GPdF (announced end of partnership due to injuries today)
Roscher/Schuster
Schaller/Mayr
Digerness/Sadusky
Williams/Lewer Finlandia
Kucianova/Bidar
Ryom/Han
Crafoord/Crafoord
Smart/Mattick (uncertain status - have not competed anywhere this season, are not entered for Tayside Trophy)
Wang/Zhu CoC
Caldara/Maglio
Faula/Belle GPdF
Fitzpatrick/Bearinger
Mohkova/Mokhov (uncertain status - have not competed anywhere this season, not even domestically & not listed on USFS' ISP)

The Women's GP Alternate List remains the same except at the very top with Elyce Lin-Gracey and Sarah Everhardt flipping spots due to Lin-Gracey's higher score at Nebelhorn.

No changes to the Men's or Dance Alternate Lists.

 

[zebobes]

This new system of alternates is a lot more fun to me, and makes the challenger competitions much more important. The flip flopping between Elyce and Sarah is also kind of fun.

Whenever the Russians come back, it can be the way for their top skaters to quickly get to the top of the list for GP substitutions.

 

[Karen-W]

This new system of alternates is a lot more fun to me, and makes the challenger competitions much more important. The flip flopping between Elyce and Sarah is also kind of fun.

Whenever the Russians come back, it can be the way for their top skaters too quickly get to the top of the list for GP substitutions.

Presuming the host feds keep the new Alternates system in place.

Also, it's only the medalists at the Challengers who weren't on the SB list who are getting added to the Alternates list. I wouldn't expect most of their dance teams to wind up on the Alternates list; maybe some of their men - but men are men and inconsistent AF; women - who knows how competitive they really are these days.

For example - Samodelkina just finished 4th at her JGP with a score of 174.58- not exactly setting the world on fire there, and 30+ points off her PB of 205.67 that she earned at her 2nd JGP in 2021 when she was representing Russia.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

This new system of alternates is a lot more fun to me, and makes the challenger competitions much more important. The flip flopping between Elyce and Sarah is also kind of fun.

Whenever the Russians come back, it can be the way for their top skaters to quickly get to the top of the list for GP substitutions.

If they do come back they can be counted on to work the system in ways others would never stoop to do.

 

[farahfan]

Yup - https://isu.org/docman-documents-li...-25/grand-prix-5/entries-9/33866-pairs-5/file

No one has been assigned to fill the GPdF spot vacated by Piegad/Strekalin yet.

It should go to Geynish/Chigirev as they remain at the top of the GP Alternates list, but I wonder if the FFSG is waiting to see if vacancies occur elsewhere so that 1) GeyChig don't have back-to-back GPs and 2) they can invite VLDigs who will be much cheaper to fly in from Dundee.

The GP Alternates List changed again, with the scores from Nebelhorn moving some teams ahead of others:

Geynish/Chigirev SCI
Vaipan-Law/Digby SkAm
Chtchetinina/Wozniak
McBeath/Parkman SkAm
Holichenko/Darenskiy (still entered for JGP Poland next week)
Nagaoka/Moriguchi NHK
Gamez/Korovin
Martins/Bedard
Piegad/Strekalin GPdF (announced end of partnership due to injuries today)
Roscher/Schuster
Schaller/Mayr
Digerness/Sadusky
Williams/Lewer Finlandia
Kucianova/Bidar
Ryom/Han
Crafoord/Crafoord
Smart/Mattick (uncertain status - have not competed anywhere this season, are not entered for Tayside Trophy)
Wang/Zhu CoC
Caldara/Maglio
Faula/Belle GPdF
Fitzpatrick/Bearinger
Mohkova/Mokhov (uncertain status - have not competed anywhere this season, not even domestically & not listed on USFS' ISP)

The Women's GP Alternate List remains the same except at the very top with Elyce Lin-Gracey and Sarah Everhardt flipping spots due to Lin-Gracey's higher score at Nebelhorn.

No changes to the Men's or Dance Alternate Lists.

Could Gamez/Korovin get the vacated P/S spot?

 

[Karen-W]

Could Gamez/Korovin get the vacated P/S spot?

No, they cannot. The GP replacement process was changed this season and now it is followed in order.

Geynish/Chigirev are next in line to get the vacated GPdF spot and it doesn't look like there is another French pairs team to replace PieStrek. However, there may be another spot that is opening up at CoC - Zhang/Jia were WD from Shanghai Trophy today - if they're also done/out for the season, then China does not have any other senior age-eligible teams that we're aware of, and that spot would go to the next team on the list. It may be that the FFSG is waiting to see what happens with the CFSA and that CoC spot that is currently assigned to Zhang/Jia before they formally invited Geynish/Chigirev. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Samurina]

No, they cannot. The GP replacement process was changed this season and now it is followed in order.

Geynish/Chigirev are next in line to get the vacated GPdF spot and it doesn't look like there is another French pairs team to replace PieStrek. However, there may be another spot that is opening up at CoC - Zhang/Jia were WD from Shanghai Trophy today - if they're also done/out for the season, then China does not have any other senior age-eligible teams that we're aware of, and that spot would go to the next team on the list. It may be that the FFSG is waiting to see what happens with the CFSA and that CoC spot that is currently assigned to Zhang/Jia before they formally invited Geynish/Chigirev. We'll just have to wait and see.

No ipersonally think they withdrew to develop their throws cuz they desperately need throw triples. If they do this they could leapfrog the other two teams to be number 1 (at least until zhang huang make their debut next year)

 

[Karen-W]

No ipersonally think they withdrew to develop their throws cuz they desperately need throw triples. If they do this they could leapfrog the other two teams to be number 1 (at least until zhang huang make their debut next year)

Well, if they don't have throw triples right now then the chances of them making the CTES mins for 4CCs or Worlds are non-existent, so what's the point of competing at CoC and taking a spot from a team who has better technical content right now?

 

[farahfan]

Well, if they don't have throw triples right now then the chances of them making the CTES mins for 4CCs or Worlds are non-existent, so what's the point of competing at CoC and taking a spot from a team who has better technical content right now?

I suppose there is no altruism in figure skating competition...just wish G/K could get a spot because it seems to me that they have a viable path to Milan. But maybe it's too early to say.

 

[Karen-W]

I suppose there is no altruism in figure skating competition...just wish G/K could get a spot because it seems to me that they have a viable path to Milan. But maybe it's too early to say.

The best way for GamKor to secure a spot is to compete in another Challenger and increase their SB score, which would move them up the GP Alternates list. Unfortunately, the October Challengers do not have Pairs as part of the Challenger event (both Budapest and Metropole Nice are including pairs as a Senior B). They showed tremendous improvement at John Nicks IPC compared to last season.

I'll take the rest of my thoughts on teams likely to qualify for Milano-Cortina to the Pairs general discussion thread over in the Trash Can.

 

[BrightSkates]

No, they cannot. The GP replacement process was changed this season and now it is followed in order.

Geynish/Chigirev are next in line to get the vacated GPdF spot and it doesn't look like there is another French pairs team to replace PieStrek. However, there may be another spot that is opening up at CoC - Zhang/Jia were WD from Shanghai Trophy today - if they're also done/out for the season, then China does not have any other senior age-eligible teams that we're aware of, and that spot would go to the next team on the list. It may be that the FFSG is waiting to see what happens with the CFSA and that CoC spot that is currently assigned to Zhang/Jia before they formally invited Geynish/Chigirev. We'll just have to wait and see.

Noel Antoine Pierre had been skating with Tilda Alteryd for all of the summer but have not seen clips/posts officially announcing their partnership so it seems it could have been just an extended tryout.

 

[Karen-W]

Noel Antoine Pierre had been skating with Tilda Alteryd for all of the summer but have not seen clips/posts officially announcing their partnership so it seems it could have been just an extended tryout.

Interesting... They're not listed on the French Masters entry list, so they may not feel ready for competition yet.

 

[Karen-W]

Geynish/Chigirev have been added to GPdF -

https://results.isu.org/events/gpfra2024_Pairs.htm

 

[Karen-W]

Coming on the heels of Soerensen's 6 year ban by OSIC (Canadian SafeSport)...

Fournier-Beaudry and Sorenson have been removed from the Skate Canada intearnational assignments page for all of their events.

Events

skatecanada.ca

FBSoer were assigned to SkAm and NHK. Next in line on the GP Alternates List is FlorDes but their 1 GP is SkAm and NHK already has 3 US teams, so the next two teams in line for these GP assignments are:

Janse van Rensburg/Steffan - already assigned to NHK, so they should get SkAm
Dupayage/Nabais - assigned to GPdF, so they should wind up with NHK and back-to-back assignments (and a head-to-head match up with Demougeot/Le Mercier).

 

[tony]

Janse Van Rensburg & Steffan should get Skate America, and Dupayage & Nabais should get NHK

And Karen and I posted at the same time

 

[Karen-W]

Janse Van Rensburg & Steffan should get Skate America, and Dupayage & Nabais should get NHK

And Karen and I posted at the same time

Listen, we all know what's important here! Ice Dance openings on the GP are a rare occurrence!

 

[Sylvia]

Coming on the heels of Soerensen's 6 year ban by OSIC (Canadian SafeSport)...

ICYMI, today's news & discussion starts here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...nsions-in-skating.105778/page-70#post-6656034

 

[her grace]

Happy for the Germans for their presumed second assignment and the French D/LM v. D/N head-to-head is exciting to anticipate!

 

[litenkyckling]

Are the German's still injured? Obviously they weren't in a place to compete 2 weeks ago at Nebelhorn so will they be healthy for SkAm?

 

[Karen-W]

Are the German's still injured? Obviously they weren't in a place to compete 2 weeks ago at Nebelhorn so will they be healthy for SkAm?

They're on the entry list for Denis Ten Memorial this week.

 

[danafan]

No replacements yet, but Fournier-Beaudry and Sorensen have been scratched from the ice dance grid.