The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series 2021/22 continues this week with the Internationaux de France in Grenoble. Several top stars are back in action in France and aiming to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. Among the skaters taking to the ice are ISU World Champion Anna Shcherbakova (RUS), four-time ISU World Ice Dance Champions Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) and 2021 ISU World silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama (JPN). The Internationaux de France is the fifth of six events in the series, before December’s Final in Osaka, Japan.
Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) © International Skating Union (ISU)
Overview of the competitors
Coming off a victory at the Gran Premio d’Italia, 2021 ISU World Champion Anna Shcherbakova (RUS) continues her Grand Prix season in France. Competition should come from 2020 European Champion Alena Kostornaia (RUS) and 2018 World silver medalist Wakaba Higuchi (JPN). Mariah Bell (USA) will compete in her first Grand Prix this season. Other competitors include Haein Lee (KOR), Kseniia Sinitsyna (RUS) and Karen Chen (USA).
Anna Shcherbakova (RUS) © International Skating Union (ISU)
2021 World silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) leads the Men, looking to book his ticket to Osaka for the Final following his win in Turin two weeks ago. He is up against 2021 Skate Canada silver medalist Jason Brown (USA) and 2020 European Champion Dmitri Aliev (RUS), who hopes to improve on his 9th-place finish in Italy. Other contenders include 2020 ISU World Junior Champion Andrei Mozalev (RUS), 2020 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champion Shun Sato (JPN), Deniss Vasiljevs (LAT) and Keegan Messing (CAN). 2019 ISU Grand Prix Final bronze medalist Kevin Aymoz (FRA) is back after withdrawing from Skate America due to injury.
Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) on his way to gold in Turin © International Skating Union (ISU)
In the Pairs event, 2021 ISU World bronze medalists Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii (RUS) are looking to improve on their 3rd-place finish at Skate America. They will compete against US Champions Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier, Vanessa James/Eric Radford (CAN) and 2021 Gran Premio d’Italia bronze medalists Iuliia Artemeva/Mikhail Nazarychev (RUS), who still have a chance to make it to the Final.
Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier (USA) in action at Skate America © International Skating Union (ISU)
Four-time World Champions Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) headline the Ice Dance competition. 2021 Skate Canada Champions Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier (CAN) and 2021 Gran Premio d’Italia bronze medalists Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin (RUS) are looking for another podium finish and their chance to make it to the Final. Other competitors include 2021 Nebelhorn Trophy Champions Juulia Turkkila/Matthias Versluis (FIN), Allison Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius (LTU) and Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA).
Sixty competitors representing 13 ISU members have been entered for the event.
Schedule of the event
Friday, November 19 Women’s Short Program, Rhythm Dance, Men’s & Pairs Short
Saturday, November 20 Women’s Free Skating, Free Dance, Men’s & Pairs Free Skating
Sunday, November 21 Exhibition Gala
Viewers will be able to watch the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series either via their national broadcaster / channel or via the Skating ISU YouTube Channel for countries where there is no broadcaster agreement in place. For more information please see here.
The General Announcement of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series is available at the ISU website. The individual announcements are published under the respective events. For full entry lists and further information regarding the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series please visit here. The ISU has an anti-Covid protocol in place to keep all participants of the events as safe as possible.
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series consists of six events: Guaranteed Rate Skate America in Las Vegas (USA) October 22-24, Skate Canada International in Vancouver (CAN) October 29-31, Gran Premio d’Italia in Turin (ITA) November 5-7, NHK Trophy in Tokyo (JPN) November 12-14, Internationaux de France in Grenoble (FRA) November 19-21 and Rostelecom Cup in Sochi (RUS) November 26-28. The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final will take place in Osaka (JPN) December 9-12.
