Eleven members of Team USA – four seniors and seven juniors – will compete at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2023 in Beijing, China, Dec. 7-10.
The culmination of the Grand Prix Series and Junior Grand Prix Series, Team USA will be represented in six of the eight events, only not qualifying a team or athlete in senior pairs and junior women. All three senior entries – Isabeau Levito, Ilia Malinin, and Madison Chock and Evan Bates – medaled at the Grand Prix Final last season, while all four junior entries will make their Grand Prix Final debut.
Chock and Bates, the reigning World champions, will make history when they take the ice as they will become the team or athlete with the most-ever appearances at the Grand Prix Final in U.S. Figure Skating history, skating at the event for the seventh time in their career.
Looking to win their first Grand Prix Final title and fifth medal at the event overall after securing two golds in the Grand Prix Series this season, Chock and Bates also have the opportunity to become the first U.S. ice dancers to go undefeated in a calendar year since Meryl Davis and Charlie White in 2013.
Chock and Bates won silver at this event in 2022 and 2019 (the Grand Prix Final was not held in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID-19). The United States has stood on the ice dance podium every year the Grand Prix Final has been contested since 2007.
After earning bronze at the Grand Prix Final last season, Malinin will also look to keep the U.S. men’s winning tradition alive as the U.S. men have medaled every year the event has been held since 2016.
Malinin won gold at Skate America and silver at Grand Prix de France to solidify his spot on the U.S. Grand Prix Final roster for the second time. He enters the competition with the highest combined score of all competitors from his two Grand Prix assignments.
Levito, the 2022 Grand Prix Final silver medalist, became the youngest U.S. woman to win a Grand Prix title since Sarah Hughes in 2001 at Grand Prix de France. She also claimed silver at Skate America.
In the junior events, two ice dance teams will represent the red, white and blue: Leah Neset and Artem Markelov and Yahli Pedersen and Jeffrey Chen.
Heading to China as the No. 1 seed, Neset and Markov are undefeated this season, winning both their Junior Grand Prix events in Thailand and Japan.
Pedersen and Chen, who teamed up in April of this year, quickly made a splash internationally, securing silver at both their stops on the Junior Grand Prix circuit.
The junior pairs competition will see Olivia Flores and Luke Wang wrap up their first season in the Junior Grand Prix Series. They earned two silvers in their debut season in Austria and Turkey.
2023 World Junior team member Daniel Martynov medaled at both his Junior Grand Prix assignments, punching his ticket to China with a bronze at JGP Japan and a gold at the final Junior Grand Prix of the season in Armenia.
The Grand Prix Series Final, which began in 1995 with junior events added in 1997, includes the top-six point earners in each discipline from the six Grand Prix and seven Junior Grand Prix events in the 2023 season.
Competition begins for Team USA Thursday, Dec. 7 with the junior men’s short program, senior men’s short program and junior pairs short program. The competition continues Friday, Dec. 8 with the junior rhythm dance, senior women’s short program and senior rhythm dance. All 11 members of Team USA will be in action on the final day of competition on Saturday, Dec. 9 as medals are awarded following the junior free dance, junior pairs free skate, junior men’s free skate, senior free dance, and senior women’s and men’s free skates.
The senior competition will be streamed live on Peacock Premium while the junior competition will be available to watch on the ISU’s YouTube page. Figure skating events can be accessed on Peacock for 72 hours following their conclusion. Find the full Peacock streaming schedule at peacocktv.com/skating.
In addition, E! and NBC will be broadcasting The Grand Prix Final on Dec. 9 and 10, respectively. Visit the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone for the full schedule.
Source : Fanzone
