Shoma Uno performs his free program at the Lombardia Trophy (photo by Verit)
This week: Competitions, SO MANY competitions, top Seniors return to the Challenger Series, last minute changes to programs, GP lineups, partners and more…
The news roundup is published every Saturday. 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!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Host spots for GP Skate America have been assigned (Source).
The USFSA has updated their US Figure Skating FanZone to include biographies of all Team USA skaters, including their new programs for the season. You can click on their individual profiles to find their programs (Source).
Updates have been made to the Finlandia Trophy lineup - Maria Sotskova has been replaced by Stanislava Kostantinova (Source).
Entries for the seventh and final JGP event, JGP Armenian Cup, have been released. Notable entries include: Alena Kanysheva, Anna Kuzmenko, Nana Araki, Rion Sumiyoshi, Yuto Kishina, Sena Miyake, Artur Danielian, Kuts/Mikhailov, Ushakova/Nekrasov, and Brown/Brown.
2018 World Silver Medalist Wakaba Higuchi has announced that she is changing her Free Skate in preparation for the new season. Her new program is choreographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne.
FS - Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (Winter, Summer).
Boyang Jin has run through his new Free Skate in the National Grand Prix in Qingdao (Source, 2). He will debut his new Free Skate at the National Grand Prix in China on Sunday.
FS - Hable con ella by Alberto Iglesias; Cuidad de las ideas by Vicente Amigo. Choreographed by Lori Nichol.
Italian Pairs skaters Valentina Marchei and Ondrej Hotarek have announced their split (Source).
Chinese Pairs skater Xiaoyu Yu is reportedly looking for a new partner, suggesting a split with her partner Hao Zhang (Source).
Evgenia Medvedeva Russian Open Skates 2018-2019, with new coaches Brian Orser and David Wilson. For more clips, please see Svetapoln on Youtube.
COMPETITIONS
Senior Russian test skates happened from 8 - 9 September in Megasport Arena in Moscow. While not officially judged, this was a chance for Russian skaters from all disciplines to debut their new programs in front of a public audience and for them to receive feedback. For clips from the competition, please see Svetapoln on Youtube.
Lombardia Trophy (13 - 15 September)
Ladies - 1st: Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS), 2nd: Sofia Samodurova (RUS), 3rd: Mako Yamashita (JPN)
Pairs - 1st: Natalia Zabiiako/Alexander Enbert (RUS), 2nd: Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii (RUS), 3rd: Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise (ITA)
Ice Dance - 1st: Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA), 2nd: Rachel Parsons/Michael Parsons (USA), 3rd: Sara Hurtado/Kirill Khaliavin (ESP)
Mens - 1st: Shoma Uno (JPN), 2nd: Dmitri Aliev (RUS), 3rd: Andrei Lazukin (RUS)
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva in practice at Lombardia Trophy (photo by Verit)
JGP Canada (13 - 15 September)
Junior Ladies - 1st: Anna Scherbakova, 2nd: Anastasia Tarakanova, 3rd: Rion Sumiyoshi
Junior Mens - 1st: Petr Gumennik (RUS), 2nd: Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA), 3rd: Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA)
Junior Ice Dance - 1st: Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha (CAN), 2nd: Polina Ivanenko/Daniil Karpov (RUS), 3rd: Ksenia Konkina/Alexander Vakhnov (RUS)
Junior Pairs - 1st: Anastasia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov (RUS), 2nd: Apollinariia Panfilova/Dmitry Rylov (RUS), 3rd: Daria Kvartalova/Alexei Sviatchenko (RUS)
Satoko Miyahara performs her short program at the US International Classic (Photo credit).
US International Figure Skating Classic (13 - 15 September)
Ladies - 1st: Satoko Miyahara (JPN), 2nd: Eunsoo Lim (KOR), 3rd: Yelim Kim (KOR)
Pairs - 1st: Ashley Cain/Timothy Le Duc (USA), 2nd: Audrey Lu/Misha Mitrofanov (USA), 3rd: Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya/Harley Windsor (AUS)
Ice Dance - 1st: Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA), 2nd: Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA), 3rd: Misato Komatsubara/Tim Koleto (JPN)
Mens - 1st: Nam Nyugen (CAN), 2nd: Michal Brezina (CZE), 3rd: Jimmy Ma (USA)
Celebration with the US Classic Mens podium: Nam Nyugen, Michal Brezina and Jimmy Ma (Photo credit).
Skaters
FSIgStories is a Twitter account that posts all skaters’ Instagram stories to Twitter in case you didn’t want to switch platforms. We recommend giving them a follow - thank you for your hard work!
Evgenia Medvedeva teased her new season’s costume on Instagram - she will be competing at the Autumn Classic International next week.
Don’t forget our latest Q&A minisode is now available to listen to!
Did we forget some news? Help us be even more comprehensive next week by DM-ing us news on Twitter!