The 2012/2013 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating continues Friday with Skate Canada International in Windsor, Ontario. Skate Canada is the second of six events in the series. The skaters compete for a global prize money of US $ 180, 000 per individual event of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating and receive points according to their placements.
50 skaters representing 11 ISU members are competing this week in Windsor. Reigning World Champions Patrick Chan (CAN), Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy (GER) and Tessa Virtue/ Scott Moir (CAN) are starting their season in Canada.
World Champion Chan leads the Men's event. The challenge should come from ISU Grand Prix Final bronze medalist Javier Fernandez of (ESP), 2011 European Champion Florent Amodio (FRA) and Nobunari Oda (JPN). Other contenders include Denis Ten (KAZ), 2011 World bronze medalist Artur Gachinski (RUS) and Ross Miner (USA).
World and Olympic Champions Virtue/Moir headline the Ice Dance competition. Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ITA), Ekaterina Riazanova/Ilia Tkachenko (RUS), Pernelle Carron/Lloyd Jones (FRA), Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA), Julia Zlobina/Alexei Sitnikov (AZE) and Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier (CAN) all are hoping for a podium finish here in Windsor.
Four-time and reigning World Champions Savchenko/Szolkowy lead the Pairs. Competition should come from Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford (CAN), Paige Lawrence/Rudi Swiegers (CAN) and Stefania Berton/Ondrej Hotarek (ITA). Also competing are Daria Popova/ Bruno Massot (FRA), Lindsay Davis/Mark Ladwig (USA) and Tiffany Vise/Don Baldwin (USA).
World bronze medalist Akiko Suzuki (JPN) will meet defending Skate Canada Champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS), 2012 World Junior silver medalist Gracie Gold (USA) and Kanako Murakami (JPN). The other competitors are Amelie Lacoste (CAN), Kaetlyn Osmond (CAN), Elene Gedevanishvili (GEO), Ksenia Makarova (RUS), Polina Shelepen (RUS) and Caroline Zhang (USA).
For full entries and results please refer to www.isu.org.
The schedule of Skate Canada International is as follows:
Friday, October 26: Ladies and Pairs Short Program, Men's Short Program, Short Dance
Saturday, October 27: Ladies, Pairs Free Skating, Free Dance, Men's Free Skating
Sunday, October 28: Exhibition Gala