The 2018 GPF Senior Ladies Podium at the Victory Ceremony (Photo credit: Kat)
This week: New GPF champions are crowned, familiar faces announce their return, and some unfortunate, frightening injuries.
The news roundup is published every Monday. Follow us on Twitter for the most timely updates throughout the week. If you have news, announcements and/or shoutouts you'd like to be included in the week's roundup, DM us on Twitter and we will take them into consideration! If you enjoy our work, we would appreciate your support on Ko-fi.
Announcements
American Pairs skater Ashley Cain fell during a lift dismount at Golden Spin of Zagreb this weekend. Her partner Timothy LeDuc stumbled and lost his grip on her while finishing a lift during their Free Skate, causing the both of them to fall. Ashley landed on the back of her head, and seemed to be unconscious for a few seconds before getting up and finishing their program. She was checked out at a local hospital and will continue her treatment back home. Get well soon, Ashley! (source)
Carolina Kostner (ITA) fell from a flight of stairs and injured her left foot. She will have to use crutches for 7 days. We hope that you feel better soon, Caro! (source)
Pyeongchang Silver medallists Wenjing Sui/Cong Han (CHN) have officially announced they intend to return to competition in December at the Chinese Nationals and will be debuting 2 new programs, after sitting out of the Grand Prix series due to an injury Wenjing sustained last season. (source)
Two time consecutive GPF Men’s Champion Nathan Chen (USA) at the Men’s Victory Ceremony (Photo credit: ISU)
Competitions
Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2018 (6-9 December)
The Junior and Senior Grand Prix Series came to a close this weekend in Vancouver, Canada with the 2018 GPF. There were many first time winners, some from first time qualifiers, and overall the level of competition was extremely impressive. You can find the full results from this competition on ISU Results.
GPF Pairs Champions Vanessa James and Morgan Ciprès performing at the Gala (Photo credit: ISU)
Senior Results
Ladies - 1st: Rika Kihira (JPN), 2nd: Alina Zagitova (RUS), 3rd: Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS)
Rika Kihira set a new World Record for the Short Program at this event.
Pairs - 1st: Vanessa James/Morgan Ciprès (FRA), 2nd: Cheng Peng/Yang Jin (CHN), 3rd: Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morosov (RUS)
James/Ciprès set a new World Record for the Free Skate at this event.
Ice Dance - 1st: Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA), 2nd: Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov (RUS), 3rd: Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA)
Men - 1st: Nathan Chen (USA), 2nd: Shoma Uno (USA), 3rd: Junhwan Cha (KOR)
GPF Ice Dance Champions Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue (USA) perform their Rhythm Dance (Photo credit: ISU)
Junior Results
Ladies - 1st: Alena Kostornaia (RUS), 2nd: Alexandra Trusova (RUS), 3rd: Alena Kanysheva (RUS)
Pairs - 1st: Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Galliamov (RUS), 2nd: Polina Kostiukovich/Dmitrii Ialin (RUS), 3rd: Apollinariia Panfilova/Dmitry Rylov (RUS)
Ice Dance - 1st: Sofia Shevchenko/Igor Eremenko (RUS), 2nd: Arina Ushakova/Maxim Nekrasov (RUS), 3rd: Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva/Nikita Nazarov (RUS)
Men - 1st: Stephen Gogolev (CAN), 2nd: Petr Gumennik (RUS), 3rd: Koshiro Shimada (JPN)
JGPF Ladies Champion Alena Kostornaia performs her “Romeo and Juliet” Free Skate (Photo credit: ISU)
CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 2018 (6-8 December)
Ladies - 1st: Bradie Tennell (USA), 2nd: Anastasiia Gubanova (RUS), 3rd: Mariah Bell (USA)
Pairs - 1st: Alisa Efimova/Alexander Korovin (RUS), 2nd: Alexa Scimeca Knierim/Chris Knierim (RUS), 3rd: Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Nathan Bartholomay (USA)
Ice Dance - 1st: Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier (CAN), 2nd: Natalia Kazliszek/Maksym Spodyriev (POL), 3rd: Betina Popova/Sergey Mozgov (RUS)
Men - 1st: Jason Brown (USA), 2nd: Mikhail Kolyada (RUS), 3rd: Alexander Samarin (RUS)
Jason Brown (USA) celebrating his win at the Golden Spin of Zagreb (Photo credit: Jason Brown)
Skaters
4th place finishers at the GPF, Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin (RUS), talked with Absolute Skating about their performance at the Final this weekend, their partnership, and their goal to win the next Olympics. You can read the interview here.
Newly crowned Ladies GPF Champion Rika Kihira (JPN) has stated in a recent interview that she intends to resume training her quad jumps, the 4T and 4S, after Japanese Nationals in late December (source).
Did we forget some news? Help us be even more comprehensive next week by DM-ing us news on Twitter! If you enjoy what we do, please consider leaving a donation on our Ko-fi page.