Grand Prix Assignments for the upcoming season will be released this June, and in the off-season, speculation is rife over which skaters and teams will be getting one or two spots (or maybe left out completely!). So let’s break it down a little…
Grand Prix Events
There are 6 Grand Prix events in the 2022/23 skating season, which conclude with the Grand Prix Final in Italy. The ISU have confirmed that Rostelecom Cup is canceled due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and are looking for a replacement host. Cup of China’s location was removed from the ISU calendar, likely due to COVID restrictions.
- 2022 Skate America
- 2022 Skate Canada
- 2022 Internationaux de France
- 2022 TBA
- 2022 NHK Trophy
- 2022 TBA
The question is, how is it decided which skaters attend the Grand Prix events in the first place? It’s not an exact formula – because the host federation of a Grand Prix chooses who they want to invite – so always be prepared for some surprises. However, we can make some predictions based on the rules that create the Selection Pool.
Prize Money
The Global Prize Money per individual event of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating in 2021/22 was US$ 180,000.00.
| Place | Singles (prize money) | Pairs / Ice Dance (prize money) |
|---|---|---|
|
1st Place |
US$ 18,000 |
US$ 18,000 |
|
2nd Place |
US$ 13,000 |
US$ 13,000 |
|
3rd Place |
US$ 9,000 |
US$ 9,000 |
|
4th Place |
US$ 3,000 |
US$ 3,000 |
|
5th Place |
US$ 2,000 |
US$ 2,000 |
Selection Pool
Invited Skaters and Seeded Skaters
- Singles skaters who finish in the top 12 at the World Championships are guaranteed TWO spots, the top 6 skaters are called “Seeded Skaters”
- Dance and Pairs teams who finish in the top 10 at the World Championships are guaranteed TWO spots, the top 6 are called “Seeded Skaters”
- Everyone who is in the top 24 in the World Standings is guaranteed ONE spot
- Everyone who is in the in the top 24 Season’s Best total score list is guaranteed ONE spot
other invited Skaters:
The host countries can invite up to 3 skaters per discipline who do not necessarily meet the strict requirements set out by ISU guidelines.
Rules
Only 3 skaters/teams (per discipline) from one country can participate in a Grand Prix.
To compete in the Grand Prix circuit, skaters have to be 15 years old before July 1, 2022.
Since 2011 there is a minimum score requirement. Skaters who were invited by their own host country do not need to fulfil these requirements.
| Discipline | Total Score |
|---|---|
|
Men |
187.49 |
|
Women |
141.65 |
|
Pairs |
132.65 |
|
Ice Dance |
137.89 |
Medalists from the Junior World Championships, if moving up to the Senior field, will be included in the selection process, although spots are NOT explicitly guaranteed.
This includes:
- Ilia Malinin (USA), Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan), Tatsuya Tsuboi (Japan)
- Isabeau Levito (USA),
Jia Shin (South Korea)(age ineligible), Lindsay Thorngren (USA) - Safina / Berulava (Georgia), Golubeva / Giotopoulos-Moore (Australia), McIntosh / Mimar (Canada)
- Brown / Brown (USA),
D’Alessandro / Waddell (Canada)(split),Bashynska / Beaumont (Canada)(confirmed staying Junior)
Other rules include:
- the “Comeback” rule (= skaters, who have previously been seeded #1-6 in a World Championship are guaranteed TWO GP spots, even if they skipped one or more seasons, if it is their first “comeback” and they commit to the ISU to participate in two Grand Prix events)
- the “Split Couple” rule (= if a partnership ended but the couple were highly ranked, the skater’s new partnership can be invited based on the previous good results)
- the “Return Skater/Couple” rule (= for skaters who have skipped a season due to injury or other reasons)
Successful “Seeded” skaters are allowed to give a preference for the assignments they want to complete. However, skaters/teams who have been seeded from the World Championships spot #1-3 and #4-6 are in the same seeding group and cannot meet each other at the Grand Prix events.
For example, Kaori Sakamoto (#1) cannot attend the same Grand Prix events as Loena Hendrickx (#2).
Predictions 2022/2023
Men
Men guaranteed TWO spots in the 2022/23 season:
- Shoma Uno (Japan)
- Yuma Kagiyama (Japan)
*Vincent Zhou (USA)[likely skipping GP series due to education]- Morisi Kvitelashvili (Georgia)
- Camden Pulkinen (USA)
- Kazuki Tomono (Japan)
- Daniel Grassl (Italy) [*seeded if Zhou skips]
- Adam Siao Him Fa (France)
- Ilia Malinin (USA)
- Matteo Rizzo (Italy)
- Kevin Aymoz (France)
- Roman Sadovsky (Canada)
- Deniss Vasiljevs (Latvia) [*added if Zhou skips]
Seeded skaters in bold.
Men guaranteed ONE spot in the 2022/23 season:
*Nathan Chen (USA)[focusing on education, will not compete]- *
Mark Kondratiuk (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan)
- Junhwan Cha (South Korea)
- Jason Brown (USA) [rumoured to be skipping the GP series]
- *
Evgeni Semenenko (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Mikhail Kolyada (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Boyang Jin (China)
- *
Andrei Mozalev (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Keegan Messing (Canada)
- Shun Sato (Japan)
- *
Petr Gumennik (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Makar Ignatov (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Dmitri Aliev (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Alexander Samarin (Russia)[country banned by ISU]
Women
Women guaranteed TWO spots in the 2022/23 season:
Kaori Sakamoto (Japan)
Loena Hendrickx (Belgium)
*Alysa Liu (USA)[retired]Mariah Bell (USA)
Young You (South Korea)
Anastasiia Gubanova (Georgia)
Haein Lee (South Korea)
Karen Chen (USA)
Ekaterina Ryabova (Azerbaijan)
Nicole Schott (Germany)
Wakaba Higuchi (Japan)
Madeline Schizas (Canada)
Ekaterina Kurakova (Poland)
Seeded skaters in bold.
Women guaranteed ONE spot in the 2022/23 season:
- *
Kamila Valieva (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Anna Shcherbakova (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Alexandra Trusova (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Sofia Akateva (Russia)[ineligible, too young to compete senior] [country banned by ISU] - *
Maiia Khromykh (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Alena Kostornaia (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Mai Mihara (Japan)
- *
Daria Usacheva (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Veronika Zhilina (Russia)[ineligible, too young to compete senior] [country banned by ISU] - *
Sofia Muravieva (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Adeliia Petrosian (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Yelim Kim (South Korea)
*Satoko Miyahara (Japan)[retired]- Isabeau Levito (USA)
- *
Anastasia Zinina (Russia)[country banned by ISU] *Jia Shin (South Korea)[ineligible, too young to compete senior]- Rika Kihira (Japan)
- Bradie Tennell (USA)
- *
Viktoriia Safonova (Belarus)[country banned by ISU] - Starr Andrews (USA)
Pairs
Pairs guaranteed TWO spots in the 2022/23 season:
- Knierim/Frazier (USA)
- Miura/Kihara (Japan)
*James/Radford (Canada)[unofficially retired]- Safina/Berulava (Georgia)
*Hase/Seegert (Germany)[split]- Walsh/Michaud (Canada)
*Ziegler/Kiefer (Austria)[retired]- Kovalev/Kovalev (France)
- Danilova/Tsiba (Netherlands)
*Jones/Boyadji (Great Britain)[retired]*Broda/Betegon Martin (Spain)[split]*Kops/Krasnopolski (Israel)[split]
Seeded teams are bolded.
Pairs guaranteed ONE spot in the 2022/23 season:
- Sui/Han (China)
- *
Mishina/Galliamov (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Tarasova/Morozov (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Boikova/Kozlovskii (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Peng/Jin (China)
- *
Pavliuchenko/Khodykin (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Artemeva/Nazarychev (Russia)[split] [country banned by ISU] *Cain-Gribble/LeDuc (USA)[retired]*Calalang/Johnson (USA)[split]*Lu/Mitrofanov (USA)[split]- *
Kadyrova/Balchenko (Russia)[split] [country banned by ISU] - *
Pepeleva/Pleshkov (Russia)[split] [country banned by ISU] - *Barquero/Zandron (Spain) [banned substance at Olympics – TBD]
- Metelkina/Parkman (Georgia)
- *
Chikmareva/Ianchenkov (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Khabibullina/Knyazhuk (Russia)[country banned by ISU] *Moore-Towers/Marinaro (Canada)[retired]- *
Mukhortova/Evgenyev (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Chan/Howe (USA)
- Ghilardi/Ambrosini (Italy)
- *
Della Monica/Guarise (Italy)[split] - *
Chtchetinina/Magyar (Hungary)[split] - Hocke/Kunkel (Germany)
Ice Dance
Ice dance teams guaranteed TWO spots in the 2022/23 season:
*Papadakis/Cizeron (France)[will not compete in 22/23]- *
Hubbell/Donohue (USA) [retired] - Chock/Bates (USA)
- Guignard/Fabbri (Italy)
- *Gilles/Poirier (Canada) [implied they may take a break after 21/22]
- Fear/Gibson (Great Britain)
- *
Smart/Diaz (Spain)[split] - Hawayek/Baker (USA)
- Fournier-Beaudry/Sorensen (Canada)
- Reed/Ambrulevicius (Lithuania) [*seeded if Gilles/Poirier skip]
- Lajoie/Lagha (Canada)
- Turkkila/Versluis (Finland)
- Taschlerova/Taschler (Czech Republic)
*Garabedian/Proulx Senecal (Armenia)[split]- Kazakova/Reviya (Georgia) [*added if Gilles/Poirier skip]
Seeded teams are bolded.
Ice dance teams guaranteed ONE spot in the 2022/23 season:
- *
Sinitsina/Katsalapov (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Stepanova/Bukin (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Green/Parsons (USA)
- *
Davis/Smolkin (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Skoptcova/Aleshin (Russia)[retired] [country banned by ISU] *Hurtado/Khaliavin (Spain)[retired]- Muramoto/Takahashi (Japan)
- Nazarova/Nikitin (Ukraine)
- *
Khudaiberdieva/Bazin (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Wang/Liu (China)
- *
Shanaeva/Naryzhnyy (Russia)[split] [country banned by ISU] - Lopareva/Brissaud (France)
- Soucisse/Firus (Canada)
- Carreira/Ponomarenko (USA)
- Kazakova/Reviya (Georgia)
- Kaliszek/Spodyriev (Poland)
*Muller/Dieck(Germany) [split]
There are 12 spots available in Singles at the Grand Prix events, 8 spots available for Pairs and 10 for Ice Dance. This means there are 72 spots available for the women and the men, 48 spots for Pairs teams and 60 for Ice Dance teams. There are many more spots available than skaters and teams mentioned above, but it gets a little harder to predict who will get spots the further down the lists you get. Spots can be assigned from the top 75 season best scores list provided the skater or team has reached the minimum required score. It’s also likely that some skaters and teams who are assigned spots will withdraw from the event as they get closer as teams can split up or skaters can become injured. This then means other skaters or teams will get invited in their place. Going into next season, skaters or teams who win a Challenger event can be added to the list of eligible replacements.
Men's Season Best Scores 2021/22 (up to 75th)
- *
Alexander Samarin (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Dmitri Aliev (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Kao Miura (Japan)
- Jimmy Ma (USA)
- Sota Yamamoto (Japan)
- Brendan Kerry (Australia)
- Vladimir Litvintsev (Azerbaijan)
- Sena Miyake (Japan)
- Gabriele Frangipani (Italy)
- Aleksandr Selevko (Estonia)
- *
Michal Brezina (Czech Republic)[retired] - Mihhail Selevko (Estonia)
- Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan)
- Tatsuya Tsuboi (Japan)
- Wesley Chiu (Canada)
- *
Ilya Yablokov (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Gleb Lutfullin (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Keiji Tanaka (Japan)[retired] - Sihyeong Lee (South Korea)
- Koshiro Shimada (Japan)
- Maurizio Zandron (Austria)
- Nika Egadze (Georgia)
- Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda (Japan)
- Stephen Gogolev (Canada)
- Georgii Reshtenko (Czech Republic)
- *
Alexei Bychenko (Israel)[retired] - *
Egor Rukhin (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Conrad Orzel (Canada)
- Arlet Levandi (Estonia)
- Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA)
- *
Konstantin Milyukov (Belarus)[country banned by ISU] - *
Artem Kovalev (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Artur Danielian (Russia)[country banned by ISU] *Joseph Phan (Canada)[retired]- Nikolaj Majorov (Sweden)
- *
Nam Nguyen (Canada)[retired] - Lukas Britschgi (Switzerland)
- Donovan Carrillo (Mexico)
- *
Kirill Sarnovskiy (Russia) [country banned by ISU] - Ivan Shmuratko (Ukraine)
- Nikita Starostin (Germany)
- Corey Circelli (Canada)
- Nikolaj Memola (Italy)
- Eric Sjoberg (USA)
- *
Alexey Erokhov (Russia) [country banned by ISU] - *
Romain Ponsart (France)[retired] - Liam Kapeikis (USA)
- Graham Newberry (Great Britain)
- Tomas Llorenc Guarino Sabate (Spain)
Women's Season Best Scores 2021/22 (up to 75th)
- *
Kseniia Sinitsyna(Russia) [country banned by ISU] - *
Sofia Samodelkina (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Mana Kawabe (Japan)
- Audrey Shin (USA)
- Rino Matsuike (Japan)
- Eva-Lotta Kiibus (Estonia)
- Amber Glenn (USA)
- Lindsay Thorngren (USA)
- *
Elizaveta Kulikova (Russia)[ineligible, too young to compete senior] [country banned by ISU] - *
Elizaveta Berestovskaia (Russia)[ineligible, too young to compete senior] [country banned by ISU] - Ahsun Yun (South Korea)
- Minchae Kim (South Korea)
- Chaeyeon Kim (South Korea)
Mariia Zakharova (Russia)[ineligible, too young to compete senior] [country banned by ISU]- *
Viktoriia Safonova (Belarus)[country banned by ISU] - Niina Petrokina (Estonia)
- Seoyeong Wi (South Korea)
- Eunsoo Lim (South Korea)
- Yeonjeong Park (South Korea)
- Nina Pinzarrone (Belgium)
- Yuhana Yokoi (Japan)
- Olga Mikutina (Austria)
- Clare Seo (USA)
- Marilena Kitromilis (Cyprus)
- *
Sofia Samodurova (Russia)[retired] [country banned by ISU] - Alexia Paginini (Switzerland)
- Gabriella Izzo (USA)
- Kaiya Ruiter (Canada)
- *
Anastasiia Shabotova (Ukraine)[expelled from National team] - Starr Andrews (USA)
- Kimmy Repond (Switzerland)
- Gabrielle Daleman (Canada)
- Ava Marie Ziegler (USA)
- *
Varvara Kisel (Belarus)[country banned by ISU] - Lindsay van Zundert (Netherlands)
- Eliska Brezinova (Czech Republic)
- Rion Sumiyoshi (Japan)
- Seoyeon Ji (South Korea)
- Yi Zhu (China)
- Lea Serna (France)
- Kate Wang (USA)
- Julia Sauter (Romania)
- Emmi Peltonen (Finland)
- Jenni Saarinen (Finland)
- Alison Schumacher (Canada)
Pairs Season Best Scores 2021/22 (up to 75th)
- *
Della Monica/Guarise (Italy)[split] - Ghilardi/Ambrosini (Italy)
- *
Chtchetinina/Magyar (Hungary)[split] - *
Liu/O’Shea (USA)[unconfirmed split] - Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps (Canada)
- *
Petushkova/Malikov (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Golubeva/Giotopoulos-Moore (Australia) [likely staying Junior]
- Conti/Macii (Italy)
- Matte/Ferland (Canada)
- McBeath/Bartholomay (USA)
- Hocke/Kunkel (Germany)
- *
Storublevtceva/Gritsaenko (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Petranovic/Souza Kordeiru (Croatia)[split] *Wang/Huang (China)[unofficially split]- *
Kostiukovich/Briukhanov (Russia)[split] [country banned by ISU] - *
Lukashevich/Stepanov (Belarus)[country banned by ISU] - *
Pavlova/Nagy (Hungary)[unconfirmed split] - *
Iurova/Bushlanov (Belarus)[country banned by ISU] - Zukova/Bidar (Czech Republic)
- McIntosh/Mimar (Canada)
- Smirnova/Siianytsia (USA)
- *
Akhanteva/Kolesov (Russia)[split] [country banned by ISU] - Roscher/Schuster (Germany)
- Sierova/Khobta (Ukraine)
- *
Keriven/Pierre (France)[split] - Holichenko/Darenskyi (Ukraine)
- Caldara/Maglio (Italy)
- *
Pfund/Santillan (Switzerland)[retired] - *
Martins/Bedard (USA)[split] - Chernyshova/Windsor (Australia)
- *
Vaananen/Akulov (Finland)[split] - Crafoord/Crafoord (Sweden)
Ice Dance Season Best Scores 2021/22 (up to 75th)
- Carreira/Ponomarenko (USA)
- Oirhara/Pirinen (Finland)
- Tascherlova/Taschler (Czech Republic)
- *
Morozov/Bagin (Russia)[split] [country banned by ISU] *Garabedian/Proulx-Senecal (Armenia)[split]*Muller/Dieck (Germany)[split]- Kazakova/Reviya (Georgia)
- Soucisse/Firus (Canada)
- Bratti/Somerville (USA)
- Komatsubara/Koleto (Japan)
- Fabbri/Ayer (Canada)
- Pate/Bye (USA)
- Brown/Brown (USA)
- Lanaghan/Razgulajevs (Canada)
- *
Khavronina/Cirisano (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Holubtsova/Bielobrov (Ukraine)
- Janse van Rensburg/Steffan (Germany)
- Kaliszek/Spodyriev (Poland)
- *
Kaganovskaia/Angelopol (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Lauriault/Le Gac (Canada)
- Cesanek/Yehorov (USA)
- *
Leonteva/Gorelkin (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Wolfkostin/Chen (USA)
- Harris/Chan (Australia)
- *
Fear/Waddell (Great Britain)[split] - *
D’Alessandro/Waddell (Canada)[split] - Demougeot/Le Mercier (France)
- *
Tyutyunina/Shustitskiy (Russia)[split] [country banned by ISU] - Lagouge/Caffa (France)
- Sales/Wamsteeker (Canada)
*Yanovskaya/Lukacs (Hungary)[unconfirmed split]- Ling/Wein (USA)
- *
Shevchenko/Eremenko (Russia)[retired] [country banned by ISU] - Nosovitskaya/Nosovitskiy (Israel)
- McNamara/Spiridonov (USA)
*Min/Eaton (South Korea)[unconfirmed split]- Chen/Sun (China)
- Portesi Peroni/Chrastecky (Italy)
- *
Bashynska/Beamont (Canada)[staying Junior] - *
Semenjuk/Yukhimuk (Belarus)[country banned by ISU] - *
Mamchenkova/Volkov (Russia)[split] [country banned by ISU] - Polibina/Golovishnikov (Poland)
*Tessari/Walker (Switzerland)[unconfirmed split]- *
Ichilov/Abecassis (Israel)[split] - *
Grimm/Savitskiy (Germany)[staying Junior] - *
Kerry/Dodds (Australia)[split] - Lim/Quan (South Korea)
- *
Flores/Tsarevski (USA)[split] - Kudryavtseva/Karankevich (Cyprus)
- *
Rybakova/Makhnonosov (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Ignateva/Szemko (Hungary)
Grand Prix Final
The Grand Prix Final 2022/2023 will take place from December 8 – 11, 2022 in Torino, Italy. You need to qualify during the Grand Prix circuit for the Final.
Qualification
Qualification is pretty simple and depends on your performance in your one or two Grand Prix events. Because it is a points system, where each place gets awarded a certain amount of points, it is almost impossible to qualify with just one event. The six skaters or teams with the highest total points in each discipline can compete at Grand Prix Final.
| Place | Singles (points) | Pairs / Ice Dance (points) |
|---|---|---|
|
1st Place |
15 |
15 |
|
2nd Place |
13 |
13 |
|
3rd Place |
11 |
11 |
|
4th Place |
9 |
9 |
|
5th Place |
7 |
7 |
|
6th Place |
5 |
5 |
|
7th Place |
4 |
|
|
8th Place |
3 |
This system does not take into account the actual Total Score a skater achieved at an event. As a result, skaters at a weaker event could get into the Final over skaters who had a higher Total Score at a more competitive event.
Tiebreaker
Because of the nature of the points system, very often the results will end up in a tie. There are several rules on how to decide in these situations:
- Highest place at a Grand Prix Event (a skater placing 1st and 3rd beats a skater placing 2nd at both of their events)
- Highest added up Total Score from both events (the total score of both events will be combined and compared)
- Skaters who participated in 2 events over just 1 event will win the tie
- Highest combined score in the Free Skate/ Dance in both events
- Highest individual score in the Free Skate/ Dance from one event
- Highest combined score in the Short Skate/Dance from both events
- Highest individual score in the Short Skate/Dance at one event
Prize Money
The prize money you can win at the Grand Prix Final is higher compared to the individual events. In 2021/22 the Global Prize Money for the Grand Prix Final was U.S. $272,000.00
| Place | Singles (prize money) | Pairs / Ice Dance (prize money) |
|---|---|---|
|
1st Place |
US$ 25,000 |
US$ 25,000 |
|
2nd Place |
US$ 18,000 |
US$ 18,000 |
|
3rd Place |
US$ 12,000 |
US$ 12,000 |
|
4th Place |
US$ 6000 |
US$ 6000 |
|
5th Place |
US$ 4000 |
US$ 4000 |
|
6th Place |
US$ 3000 |
US$ 3000 |
One Reply to “A Guide to Grand Prix Assignments 2022/23”
Thank you!