Bordeaux / France

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2014/2015 continues this week with Trophée Eric Bompard in Bordeaux, France, the fifth of six events in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. Several skaters have the chance to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Barcelona (ESP). The world's top figure skaters are competing for a prize money of US $ 180,000 per individual event of the Grand Prix.

53 skaters/couples from 13 ISU Members will compete at Trophée Eric Bompard. The event is headlined by Olympic and World silver medalists Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov (RUS), World silver medalists Julia Lipnitskaia and Tatsuki Machida (JPN) as well as Olympic bronze medalist Denis Ten (KAZ).

Following his win at Hilton HHonors Skate America last month, Machida now aims at booking his ticket to Barcelona. He will face Ten, who finished fourth at Skate America, but still has a chance to make the Final. Maxim Kovtun (RUS) comes with a gold medal from Lexus Cup of China and thus has good chances to go to Barcelona. Other contenders are Han Yan (CHN), Florent Amodio (FRA), Cup of China bronze medalist Richard Dornbush (USA) and European bronze medalist Konstantin Menshov (RUS).

Lipnitskaia took the silver in Shanghai and is eyeing the top of the podium in Bordeaux. Competition should come from teammate Elena Radionova, who struck gold at Skate America and wants to secure her spot in the Final, as well as from Ashley Wagner (USA). Wagner was the silver medalist at Skate Canada and is hoping to return to the Final. Other competitors include Mae Berenice Meite (FRA), Haruka Imai (JPN) and Samantha Cesario (USA).

Stolbova/Klimov come fresh from their victory at Rostelecom Cup last week and want to win another gold plus qualify for their first Grand Prix Final. Four Continents Champions Wenjing Sui/Cong Han (CHN) were silver medalists at Skate Canada and want to challenge the Russians. Xuehan Wang/Lei Wang (CHN) claimed the bronze at Cup of China and have a shot at another medal. Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres (FRA) want to improve on their fifth-place finish at Skate Canada. Also competing are Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer (AUT), Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro (CAN), Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise (ITA) and Alexa Scimeca/Chris Knierim (USA).

In the Ice Dance event, Lexus Cup of China Champions Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) will face Skate Canada silver medalists Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier (CAN). Both teams have a good shot of qualifying for Barcelona here in Bordeaux. Skate Canada bronze medalists Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA) also want to challenge for the top spot on the podium. The other teams are Alexandra Paul/Mitchell Islam (CAN), Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA), Rebeka Kim/Kirill Minov (KOR) and Sara Hurtado/Adrian Diaz (ESP).

For full entry lists and results of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2014/15 please refer to www.isu.org/en/single-and-pair-skating-and-ice-dance/series/isu-grand-prix-of-figure-skating.

The schedule of Trophée Eric Bompard Cup is as follows:
Friday, November 21: Ladies, Pairs, Men’s Short Program, Short Dance
Saturday, November 22: Ladies, Pairs, Men’s Free Skating, Free Dance
Sunday, November 23: Exhibition Gala