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Following six weeks of exciting competition in six countries on three continents, skaters and couples representing eight ISU members have qualified for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya (JPN).
Nathan Chen (USA) tops the standings in the Men’s and is the only competitor to have won his two events – Rostelecom Cup and Bridgestone Skate America. He is joined by Shoma Uno (JPN), who won Skate Canada International and came second at Internationaux de France de Patinage. Mikhail Kolyada (RUS) and Sergei Voronov (RUS) booked their ticket to Japan with a gold and a bronze medal each from their two events. Adam Rippon (USA) advances to the Final with two silver medals and Boyang Jin (CHN) made it with a silver medal at Audi Cup of China and a fourth place finish in Lake Placid.
Chen and Uno have been to the Final before and are the defending silver and bronze medalist respectively. Voronov, Rippon and Jin have competed in the Final before while Kolyada is the only newcomer.
The substitutes are: Jason Brown (USA), Javier Fernandez (ESP) and Misha Ge (UZB).
Evgenia Medvedeva (RUS) and Alina Zagitova (RUS) collected two gold medals each on the circuit and top the table. Kaetlyn Osmond (CAN) earned her spot with a gold from Canada and bronze from France, while Carolina Kostner (ITA) and Maria Sotskova (RUS) come with two silver medals each to Nagoya. Wakaba Higuchi (JPN) qualified with a silver and a bronze medal.
Medvedeva is the two-time and reigning ISU Grand Prix Final Champion. Zagitova and Higuchi will debut in the Final at the senior level.
The substitutes are: Satoko Miyahara (JPN), Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) and Polina Tsurskaya (RUS).
In the Pairs, Wenjing Sui/Cong Han (CHN) and Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov (RUS) struck gold in their two events and are the top qualifiers. Aljona Savchenko/Bruno Massot (GER) collected one gold and one silver en route to the Final while Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford (CAN) have a gold and a bronze medal from their events. Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov (RUS) as well as Xiaoyu Yu/Hao Zhang (CHN) qualified with two silver medals.
All teams except for the Germans competed in the Final before. Savchenko/Massot had qualified a year ago, but had to withdraw due to injury. Savchenko competed with former partner Robin Szolkowy in the Final before as well.
The substitutes are: Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres (FRA), Kristina Astakhova/Alexei Rogonov (RUS) and Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise (ITA).
Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron (FRA), Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN) and Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani (USA) lead the Ice Dance standings following two victories on the circuit. Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA) picked up two silver medals on their way to Nagoya. Madison Hubbell/ Zachary Donohue (USA) and Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ITA) qualify with a silver and a bronze medal for the Final. All couples have competed in the Final before.
The substitutes are: Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev (RUS), Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje (CAN) and Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin (RUS).
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series consisted of six events, starting with Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, followed by Skate Canada International in Regina, Audi Cup of China in Beijing and NHK Trophy in Osaka (JPN). The last two stops were the Internationaux de France de Patinage in Grenoble and Bridgestone Skate America in Lake Placid.
45 Men, 41 Ladies, 27 Pairs and 36 Ice Dance couples competed in the series.
Full entry lists and results of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2017/18 are available here. Follow the discussion on social media by using #GPFigure #FigureSkating.