Grand Prix Assignments for the upcoming season will usually be released this June, and in the off-season, speculation is rife over which skaters and teams will be getting one or two spots (or maybe left out completely!). So let’s break it down a little…
Grand Prix Events
There are 6 Grand Prix events in the 2025/26 skating season, which conclude with the Grand Prix Final in Japan. There have been some changes to the usual order that the events are in, the schedule is as follows:
- 2025 Grand Prix de France
- 2025 Cup of China
- 2025 Skate Canada International
- 2025 NHK Trophy
- 2025 Skate America
- 2025 Finlandia Trophy
The question is, how is it decided which skaters attend the Grand Prix events in the first place? It’s not an exact formula – because the host federation of a Grand Prix chooses who they want to invite – so always be prepared for some surprises. However, we can make some predictions based on the rules that create the Selection Pool.
Prize Money
The Global Prize Money per individual event of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating in 2024/25 was US$ 180,000.00.
| Place | Singles (prize money) | Pairs / Ice Dance (prize money) |
|---|---|---|
|
1st Place |
US$ 18,000 |
US$ 18,000 |
|
2nd Place |
US$ 13,000 |
US$ 13,000 |
|
3rd Place |
US$ 9,000 |
US$ 9,000 |
|
4th Place |
US$ 3,000 |
US$ 3,000 |
|
5th Place |
US$ 2,000 |
US$ 2,000 |
Selection Pool
Invited Skaters and Seeded Skaters
- Singles skaters who finish in the top 12 at the World Championships are guaranteed TWO spots, the top 6 skaters are called “Seeded Skaters”
- Dance and Pairs teams who finish in the top 10 at the World Championships are guaranteed TWO spots, the top 6 are called “Seeded Skaters”
- Everyone who is in the top 24 in the World Standings is guaranteed ONE spot
- Everyone who is in the in the top 24 Season’s Best total score list is guaranteed ONE spot
other invited Skaters:
The host countries can invite up to 3 skaters per discipline who do not necessarily meet the strict requirements set out by ISU guidelines.
Rules
Only 3 skaters/teams (per discipline) from one country can participate in a Grand Prix.
To compete in the Grand Prix circuit, skaters have to be 17 years old before July 1, 2025.
Since 2011 there is a minimum score requirement. Skaters who were invited by their own host country do not need to fulfil these requirements.
| Discipline | Total Score |
|---|---|
|
Men |
191.14 |
|
Women |
133.78 |
|
Pairs |
131.87 |
|
Ice Dance |
133.24 |
Medalists from the Junior World Championships and winners of the Junior Grand Prix Final, if moving up to the Senior field, will be included in the selection process, although spots are NOT explicitly guaranteed.
This includes:
- Jacob Sanchez (USA) ,
Rio Nakata (Japan)(age ineligible),Minkyu Seo (Republic of Korea)(age ineligible), Adam Hagara (Slovakia) Mao Shimada (Japan)(age ineligible), Jia Shin (Republic of Korea), Elyce Lin-Gracey (USA)- Zhang / Huang (China), Metelkina / Berulava (Georgia), Holichenko / Darenskyi (Ukraine), Ariano Kent / Laliberte-Laurent (Canada)
- Tali / Lafornara (Italy), Wolfkostin / Tsarevski (USA), *
Grimm / Savitskiy (Germany)[split]
Other rules include:
- the “Comeback” rule (= skaters, who have previously been seeded #1-6 in a World Championship within the past 10 years are guaranteed TWO GP spots, even if they skipped one or more seasons, if it is their first “comeback” and they commit to the ISU to participate in two Grand Prix events) [This will apply to the return of Alex and Maia Shibutani]
- the “Split Couple” rule (= if a partnership ended but the couple placed up to 12th at Worlds in the prior three seasons, the skater’s new partnership can be invited based on the previous good results) [This will apply to new team Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.]
- the “Return Skater/Couple” rule (= previously placed up to 12th at Worlds but who have skipped a season due to injury or other reasons)
Successful “Seeded” skaters are allowed to give a preference for the assignments they want to compete. However, skaters/teams who have been seeded from the World Championships spot #1-3 and #4-6 are in the same seeding group and cannot meet each other at the Grand Prix events.
For example, Alysa Liu (#1) cannot attend the same Grand Prix events as Mone Chiba (#3).
Predictions 2025/2026
Men
Men guaranteed TWO spots in the 2025/26 season:
- Ilia Malinin (USA)
- Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan)
- Yuma Kagiyama (Japan)
- Adam Siao Him Fa (France)
- Kevin Aymoz (France)
- Shun Sato (Japan)
- Junhwan Cha (Republic of Korea)
- Jason Brown (USA)
- Nika Egadze (Georgia)
- Nikolaj Memola (Italy)
- Deniss Vasiljevs (Latvia)
- Lukas Britschgi (Switzerland)
Seeded skaters in bold.
Men guaranteed ONE spot in the 2025/26 season:
- Kao Miura (Japan)
- Matteo Rizzo (Italy)
- Aleksandr Selevko (Estonia)
- Adam Hagara (Slovakia)
- Sota Yamamoto (Japan)
- Gabriele Frangipani (Italy)
- Daniel Grassl (Italy)
- Kazuki Tomono (Japan)
*Rio Nakata (Japan)(age ineligible)- Jacob Sanchez (USA)
- Vladimir Litvintsev (Azerbaijan)
*Minkyu Seo (Republic of Korea)(age ineligible)- Tatsuya Tsuboi (Japan)
- Andrew Torgashev (USA)
- Lucas Broussard (USA)
- Mihhail Selevko (Estonia)
- Jimmy Ma (USA)
Women
Women guaranteed TWO spots in the 2025/26 season:
Alysa Liu (USA)
Kaori Sakamoto (Japan)
Mone Chiba (Japan)
Isabeau Levito (USA)
Amber Glenn (USA)
Wakaba Higuchi (Japan)
Nina Pinzarrone (Belgium)
Niina Petrokina (Estonia)
Haein Lee (Republic of Korea)
Chaeyeon Kim (Republic of Korea)
Madeline Schizas (Canada)
Kimmy Repond (Switzerland)
Seeded skaters in bold.
Women guaranteed ONE spot in the 2025/26 season:
- Anastasiia Gubanova (Georgia)
- Hana Yoshida (Japan)
- Elyce Lin-Gracey (USA)
- Lara Naki Gutmann (Italy)
- Rinka Watanabe (Japan)
- Bradie Tennell (USA)
- Lorine Schild (France)
- Sarah Everhardt (USA)
*Mao Shimada (Japan)[age ineligible]- Ekaterina Kurakova (Poland)
- Anna Pezzetta (Italy)
- Rion Sumiyoshi (Japan)
- Ami Nakai (Japan)
- Rino Matsuike (Japan)
*Yuseong Kim (Republic of Korea)(age ineligible)*Kaoruko Wada (Japan)(age ineligible)*Sophie Jolene von Felten (USA)(age ineligible)
Pairs
Pairs guaranteed TWO spots in the 2025/26 season:
- Miura / Kihara (Japan)
- Hase / Volodin (Germany)
- Conti / Macii (Italy)
- Metelkina / Berulava (Georgia)
- Stellato-Dudek / Deschamps (Canada)
- Efimova / Mitrofanov (USA)
- Kam / O’Shea (USA)
- Pavlova / Sviatchenko (Hungary)
- Golubeva / Giotopoulos Moore (Australia)
- Geynish / Chigirev (Uzbekistan)
Seeded teams are bolded.
Pairs guaranteed ONE spot in the 2025/26 season:
- Ghilardi / Ambrosini (Italy)
- Pereira / Michaud (Canada)
- Hocke / Kunkel (Germany)
- Vaipan-Law / Digby (Great Britain)
- Chtchetinina / Wozniak (Poland)
- Danilova / Tsiba (Netherlands)
- Kovalev / Kovalev (France)
- Laurin / Ethier (Canada)
- Flores / Wang (USA)
*Vaananen / Clerici (Finland)[split]- Beccari / Guarise (Italy)
*Telemaque / Coulon (France)(age ineligible)- Holichenko / Darenskyi (Ukraine)
- Nagaoka / Moriguchi (Japan)
- Chan / Howe (USA)
- Zhang / Huang (China)
- McBeath / Parkman (USA)
- Bombardier / Mimar (Canada)
- Shin / Nagy (USA)
- Vouillamoz / Bouvart (Switzerland)
Ice Dance
Ice dance teams guaranteed TWO spots in the 2025/26 season:
- Chock / Bates (USA)
- Gilles / Poirier (Canada)
- Fear / Gibson (Great Britain)
- Guignard / Fabbri (Italy)
- Carreira / Ponomarenko (USA)
- Smart / Dieck (Spain)
- Lajoie / Lagha (Canada)
- Lopareva / Brissaud (France)
- Green / Parsons (USA)
- Davis / Smolkin (Georgia)
Seeded teams are bolded.
Ice dance teams guaranteed ONE spot in the 2025/26 season:
- Reed / Ambrulevicius (Lithuania)
- Turkkila / Versluis (Finland)
- Zingas / Kolesnik (USA)
- Demougeot / le Mercier (France)
- Taschlerova / Taschler (Czech Republic)
- Mrazkova / Mrazek (Czech Republic)
- Orihara / Pirinen (Finland)
- Lim / Quan (Republic of Korea)
- Neset / Markelov (USA)
- Lauriault / le Gac (Canada)
- Tali / Lafornara (Italy)
- Fradji / Fourneaux (France)
- Janse van Rensburg / Steffan (Germany)
*Grimm / Savitskiy (Germany)[split]- Bratti / Somerville (USA)
- Brown / Brown (USA)
- Fabbri / Ayer (Canada)
- Pate / Bye (USA)
- Bekker / Hernandez (Great Britain)
There are 12 spots available in Singles at the Grand Prix events, 8 spots available for Pairs and 10 for Ice Dance. This means there are 72 spots available for the women and the men, 48 spots for Pairs teams and 60 for Ice Dance teams. There are many more spots available than skaters and teams mentioned above. Spots can be assigned from the top 75 season best scores list provided the skater or team has reached the minimum required score. It’s also likely that some skaters and teams who are assigned spots will withdraw from the event as they get closer as teams can split up or skaters can become injured. This then means other skaters or teams will get invited in their place, they have to go down the Season Best score list chronologically to fill these spots. Skaters or teams who win a Challenger event next season can be added to the list of eligible replacements as long as they’ve reached the minimum score (all Pairs teams at these events can be added to the list pending minimum score, not just the winners).
Though being top 24 on the season best score list only guarantees you one initial spot, as the spots are filled predominantly based on that list it’s likely that those skaters/teams will receive two.
Men's Season Best Scores 2024/25 (up to 75th)
- Kazuki Tomono (Japan)
*Minkyu Seo (Republic of Korea)(age ineligible)- Roman Sadovsky (Canada)
- Daiwei Dai (China)
- Luc Economides (France)
- Aleksandr Selevko (Estonia)
- Adam Hagara (Slovakia)
*Koshiro Shimada (Japan)[retired from singles]- Vladimir Samoilov (Poland)
- Corey Circelli (Italy)
- Boyang Jin (China)
- Jacob Sanchez (USA)
*Yanhao Li (New Zealand)(age ineligible)- Andreas Nordeback (Sweden)
*Sena Takahashi (Japan)(age ineligible)- Francois Pitot (France)
- Lev Vinokur (Israel)
*Habin Choi (Republic of Korea)(age ineligible)- Camden Pulkinen (USA)
- Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA)
- Hyungyeom Kim (Republic of Korea)
- Shunsuke Nakamura (Japan)
- Aleksa Rakic (Canada)
- Patrick Blackwell (USA)
- Jaekeun Lee (Republic of Korea)
- Genrikh Gartung (Germany)
- Arlet Levandi (Estonia)
- Ivan Shmuratko (Ukraine)
- Tomas Llorenc Guarino Sabate (Spain)
- Semen Daniliants (Armenia)
- Stephen Gogolev (Canada)
- Edward Appleby (Great Britain)
- Maxim Naumov (USA)
- Nozomu Yoshioka (Japan)
- Mark Gorodnitsky (Israel)
- Juheon Lim (Republic of Korea)
- Fedir Kulish (Latvia)
- Daniel Martynov (USA)
- Nikita Starostin (Germany)
- Kornel Witkowski (Poland)
- Joseph Klein (USA)
- Tamir Kuperman (Israel)
*Tonghe Tian (China)(age ineligible)- Haru Kakiuchi (Japan)
- Kyrylo Marsak (Ukraine)
- Liam Kapeikis (USA)
- Donovan Carrillo (Mexico)
- Lukas Vaclavik (Slovakia)
- Wesley Chiu (Canada)
- Yaroslav Paniot (USA)
- Yu-Hsiang Li (Chinese Taipei)
Women's Season Best Scores 2024/25 (up to 75th)
- Yuna Aoki (Japan)
*Yihan Wang (China)(age ineligible)- Sofia Samodelkina (Kazakhstan)
- Jia Shin (Republic of Korea)
- Livia Kaiser (Switzerland)
*Mei Okada (Japan)(age ineligible)*Shuxian Jin (China)(age ineligible)- Yo Takagi (Japan)
- Ahsun Yun (Republic of Korea)
- Anna Pezzetta (Italy)
*Stefania Gladki (France)(age ineligible)*Inga Gurgenidze (Georgia)(age ineligible)- Lorine Schild (France)
*Elina Goidina (Estonia)(age ineligible)- Katherine Medland Spence (Canada)
- Lea Serna (France)
*Rena Uezono (Japan)(age ineligible)*Nayeon Ko (Republic of Korea)(age ineligible)*Leandra Tzimpoukakis (Switzerland)(age ineligible)- Lindsay Thorngren (USA)
*Hana Bath (Australia)(age ineligible)- Uliana Shiryaeva (Canada)
*Yujae Kim (Republic of Korea)(age ineligible)- Sara-Maude Dupius (Canada)
- Iida Karhunen (Finland)
- Mai Mihara (Japan)
*Seoyeong Wi (Republic of Korea)[retired]- Mariia Seniuk (Israel)
- Julia Sauter (Romania)
*Arina Kalugina (Azerbaijan)(age ineligible)- Seoyoung Kim (Republic of Korea)
- Ekaterina Kurakova (Poland)
*Anastasia Brandenburg (Switzerland)(age ineligible)*Shiqi Gao (China)(age ineligible)- Olga Mikutina (Austria)
- Fee Ann Landry (Canada)
- Janna Jyrkinen (Finland)
- Marina Piredda (Italy)
- Alexandra Feigin (Bulgaria)
- Kristen Spours (Great Britain)
*Sophia Shifrin (Israel)(age ineligible)*Lulu Lin (Canada)(age ineligible)- Josephine Lee (USA)
*Seojin Youn (Republic of Korea)(age ineligible)- Yi Zhu (China)
- Ikura Kushida (Japan)
- Kaiya Ruiter (Canada)
- Minchae Kim (Republic of Korea)
- Linnea Ceder (Finland)
Pairs Season Best Scores 2024/25 (up to 75th)
- Holichenko / Darenskyi (Ukraine)
- Kovalev / Kovalev (France)
*Vaananen / Clerici (Finland)[split]- Roscher / Schuster (Germany)
- Desrochers / Thrasher (Canada)
- Schaller / Mayr (Austria)
- Gamez / Korovin (Philippines)
- Flores / Wang (USA)
- Ariano Kent / Laliberte-Laurent (Canada)
- Faula / Belle (France)
- Crafoord / Crafoord (Sweden)
- Williams / Lewer (USA)
- Izzo / Maierhofer (Austria)
- Caldara / Maglio (Italy)
- Digerness / Sadusky (USA)
*Telemaque / Coulon (France)(age inelegible)*Shimizu / Honda (Japan)[split]*Zhang / Feng (China)(age ineligible)- Kemp / Elizarov (Canada)
- Ryom / Han (North Korea)
*Martins / Bedard (USA)[split]*Quattrocchi / Desmarais (Canada)[split]- Napolitano / Comi (Italy)
- Wang / Zhu (China)
*Kucianova / Bidar (Czech Republic)[split]- Ehrhard / Pellegris (France)
- Fitzpatrick / Bearinger (USA)
*Hansen / Church (USA)(age ineligible) [split]*Polman / Renoldi (Italy)(age ineligible)
Ice Dance Season Best Scores 2024/25 (up to 75th)
- Harris / Chan (Australia)
- Neset / Markelov (USA)
- Lauriault / le Gac (Canada)
- Tali / Lafornara (Italy)
*Morozov / Chen (USA)[split, Chen temporarily suspended by Safesport]- Ignateva / Szemko (Hungary)
*Flores / Desyatov (USA)[unofficially split, Desyatov temporarily suspended by Safesport]- Lagouge / Caffa (France)
- Reitan / Majorov (Sweden)
- Yoshida / Morita (Japan)
- Soucisse / Firus (Ireland)
*Pucherova / Lysak (Slovakia)[split]- Manni / Roethlisberger (Italy)
- Val / Kazimov (Spain)
- Larson / Kapran (Ukraine)
*Pidgaina / Koval (Ukraine)(age ineligible)- Wolfkostin / Tsareski (USA)
- Tkachenko / Kiliakov (Israel)
- Matthaei / Liebers (Germany)
- Dupayage / Nabais (France)
- Hensen / Lickers (Canada)
*Grimm / Savitskiy (Germany)[split]- Fradji / Fourneaux (France)
- Paolino / Tuba (Italy)
- Pinchuk / Pogorielov (Ukraine)
*Nosovitskaya / Nosovitskiy (Israel)[split]- Mullen / Mullen (USA)
- Gauthier / Thieren (Canada)
*Simova / Aksenov (Slovakia)[split]- Peal / Peal (USA)
*Aboian / Veselukhin (USA)(age ineligible)*Terreaux / Perron (France)[split]*Bashynska / Beaumont (Canada)[split]- Xiao / He (China)
- Ramanauskaite / Kizala (Lithuania)
- Ren / Xing (China)
- Tanaka / Nishiyama (Japan)
- Dozzi / Papetti (Italy)
- Kudryavtseva / Karankevich (Cyprus)
- Perrier Gianesini / Blanc Klaperman (France) [likely staying junior]
- Bordet / Chardain (France)
- Zehnder / Sieber (Switzerland)
- Dovhal / Kulesza (Poland)
*Mouaden / Bigot (France)(age ineligible)- Finelli / Bucciarelli (Italy)
- Nguyen / Giang (Canada)
- Karl / Hoferichter (Germany)
- Veillon / Brandys (Canada) [likely staying junior]
- Csiszer / Shapiro (Hungary)
- Pallu-Neves / Panesar (Brazil)
- Argentieri / Riva (Italy)
Grand Prix Final
The Grand Prix Final 2025/2026 will take place from December 4 – 7, 2025 in Nagoya, Japan. You need to qualify during the Grand Prix circuit for the Final.
Qualification
Qualification is pretty simple and depends on your performance in your one or two Grand Prix events. Because it is a points system, where each place gets awarded a certain amount of points, it is almost impossible to qualify with just one event. The six skaters or teams with the highest total points in each discipline can compete at Grand Prix Final.
| Place | Singles (points) | Pairs / Ice Dance (points) |
|---|---|---|
|
1st Place |
15 |
15 |
|
2nd Place |
13 |
13 |
|
3rd Place |
11 |
11 |
|
4th Place |
9 |
9 |
|
5th Place |
7 |
7 |
|
6th Place |
5 |
5 |
|
7th Place |
4 |
|
|
8th Place |
3 |
This system does not take into account the actual Total Score a skater achieved at an event. As a result, skaters at a weaker event could get into the Final over skaters who had a higher score at a more competitive event.
Tiebreaker
Because of the nature of the points system, very often the results will end up in a tie. There are several rules on how to decide in these situations:
- Highest place at a Grand Prix Event (a skater placing 1st and 3rd beats a skater placing 2nd at both of their events)
- Highest added up Total Score from both events (the total score of both events will be combined and compared)
- Skaters who participated in 2 events over just 1 event will win the tie
- Highest combined score in the Free Skate/Dance in both events
- Highest individual score in the Free Skate/Dance from one event
- Highest combined score in the Short Skate/Dance from both events
- Highest individual score in the Short Skate/Dance at one event
Prize Money
The prize money you can win at the Grand Prix Final is higher compared to the individual events. In 2024/25 the Global Prize Money for the Grand Prix Final was U.S. $272,000.00
| Place | Singles (prize money) | Pairs / Ice Dance (prize money) |
|---|---|---|
|
1st Place |
US$ 25,000 |
US$ 25,000 |
|
2nd Place |
US$ 18,000 |
US$ 18,000 |
|
3rd Place |
US$ 12,000 |
US$ 12,000 |
|
4th Place |
US$ 6000 |
US$ 6000 |
|
5th Place |
US$ 4000 |
US$ 4000 |
|
6th Place |
US$ 3000 |
US$ 3000 |
2 Replies to “A Guide to Grand Prix Assignments 2025/26”
You have completely left out Loena Hendrickx. As per your explanation, shouldn’t she be eligible for two spots?
Things are a little iffy regarding Loena’s status as she did actually compete last season at Shanghai Trophy so it may not be considered a season missed. However Wakaba Higuchi received two spots in 23/24 after only competing at Lombardia the season prior when she missed the rest of the season due to injury so there may be precedence for Loena getting assignments, we’ll have to wait and see.