Satoko Miyahara (JPN) performing her Short Program at Skate America 2018 (Photo Credit: ISU)
This week: The Grand Prix makes its first stop, assignment shakeups, a queen returns, and much more.
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Announcements
There have been many updates to the assignments of the Grand Prix.
Elena Radionova (RUS) withdrew from Skate America due to back injury. (source)
Veronik Mallet (CAN) and Alicia Pineault (CAN) have been assigned to Skate Canada, following the withdrawals of Gabrielle Daleman and Larkyn Austman. (source)
Karen Chen (USA) has withdrawn from GP Helsinki. (source)
Eunsoo Lim (KOR) has been assigned to NHK Trophy. (source)
Carolina Kostner (ITA) has withdrawn from both assignments due to ongoing issues with a hip injury. (source)
Harbin, China has been selected as the host for the 2021 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships. (source)
The entries for the CS Alpen Trophy 2018 have been released. Notable entries include Camden Pulkinen, Adam Siao Him Fa, Dabin Choi, Daria Panenkova, Mishina/Galliamov, Feng/Nyman, Sinitsina/Katsalapov, and McNamara/Carpenter.
Maxim Kovtun (RUS) and Anastasiia Gubanova (RUS) were originally slated to compete, but withdrew a few days after entries had been announced. (source)2010 Olympic Champion and 2014 Olympic Silver Medalist Yuna Kim has been revealed to be the special guest skater at Javier Fernandez’s ice show “Revolution on Ice”. She will be skating at the Murcia, Las Palmas, and Madrid shows, on December 21, 26, and 29 respectively. (source)
The ISU has announced the schedules for both the GP and JGP for the 2019-20 season. They can be viewed on this communication here.
Alexa Scimeca Knierim / Chris Knierim (USA) are no longer working with coach 2018 Olympic Champion Aljona Savchenko. They will search for a new coach once they have returned home. (source)
In The Loop is now available on Spotify!
Confused about how to read competition schedules? Our ITL team member Evie put together a guide on how to understand them!
Nathan Chen (USA) performs his Short Program at Skate America 2018 (Photo Credit: ISU)
Competitions
GP Skate America (19-21 October)
The first stop in the 2018-19 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating was in Everett, Washington with Skate America this weekend, and contained a jam-packed lineup containing many current World medalists. To see the standings of the Grand Prix Series, please visit the ISU’s website.
Ladies - 1st: Satoko Miyahara (JPN), 2nd: Kaori Sakamoto (JPN), 3rd: Sofia Samadurova (RUS)
Pairs - 1st: Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morosov (RUS), 2nd: Alisa Efimova/Alexander Korovin (RUS), 3rd: Ashley Cain/Timothy LeDuc (USA)
Ice Dance - 1st: Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA), 2nd: Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA), 3rd: Tiffani Zagorski/Jonathan Guerreiro (RUS)
Hubbell/Donohue set two new World Records at this event for the Free Dance, with a score of 122.39, and for Total Score, with a total of 200.82.
Men - 1st: Nathan Chen (USA), 2nd: Michal Brezina (CZE), 3rd: Sergei Voronov (RUS)
Nathan Chen set two new World Records at this event, for the Free Skate, with a score of 189.99, and for Total Score, with a total of 280.57.
Skaters
Young You (KOR) has been filmed practicing a quad Lutz in training. You can view the video here.
Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) has been nominated for the Global Outstanding Young Persons Prize in the 2018 Big Ben Awards, alongside names such as Justin Bieber and Lang Lang. The Big Ben Awards, established in 2008, endeavors to establish and promote models of high achievers and brands (cities and companies) around the world. Winners will be announced in January 2019 (source).
USFSA’s Fantasy Figure Skating is starting with the Grand Prix series. Participate now for the chance to win tickets to US Nationals!
Keegan Messing (CAN) proposed to his girlfriend - and she said yes! A big congratulations from the ITL to Keegan and his new fiancée! (source)
We’re loving this preview of the Grand Prix series made by talented fan and videographer Aeterniti - check it out!
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