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 2023/24 skating season, which conclude with the Grand Prix Final in China. The ISU have confirmed that Rostelecom Cup is canceled once again due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Finland has been allocated the event.
- 2023 Skate America
- 2023 Skate Canada
- 2023 Internationaux de France
- 2023 Cup of China
- 2023 Grand Prix Espoo
- 2023 NHK 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 2022/23 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 16 years old before July 1, 2023.
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 |
187.49 |
|
Women |
141.65 |
|
Pairs |
133.30 |
|
Ice Dance |
137.89 |
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:
- Kao Miura (Japan), Naoki Rossi (Switzerland) [likely staying junior], Nozomu Yoshioka (Japan), Nikolaj Memola (Italy)
Mao Shimada (Japan)(age ineligible),Jia Shin (South Korea)(age ineligible),Ami Nakai (Japan)(age ineligible)Baram / Tioumentsev (USA)(age ineligible), Golubeva / Giotopoulos-Moore (Australia),Sierova / Khobta (Ukraine)(implied staying junior)- Mrazkova / Mrazek (Czech Republic), Lim / Quan (South Korea), Bashynska / Beaumont (Canada)
Other rules include:
- the “Comeback” rule (= skaters, who have previously been seeded #1-6 in a World Championship 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)
- the “Split Couple” rule (= if a partnership ended but the couple placed up to 12th at Worlds in the prior two seasons, the skater’s new partnership can be invited based on the previous good results)
- 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, Kaori Sakamoto (#1) cannot attend the same Grand Prix events as Loena Hendrickx (#3)
Predictions 2023/2024
Men
Men guaranteed TWO spots in the 2023/24 season:
- Shoma Uno (Japan)
- Junhwan Cha (South Korea)
- Ilia Malinin (USA)
- Kevin Aymoz (France)
*Jason Brown (USA)[suggested won’t take part in the GP]- Kazuki Tomono (Japan)
*Keegan Messing (Canada)[retired]- Lukas Britschgi (Switzerland)
- Matteo Rizzo (Italy)
- Adam Siao Him Fa (France)
- Vladimir Litvintsev (Azerbaijan)
- Daniel Grassl (Italy)
- Deniss Vasiljevs (Latvia)
- Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan)
Seeded skaters in bold.
Men guaranteed ONE spot in the 2023/24 season:
- Shun Sato (Japan)
- Kao Miura (Japan)
- Sota Yamamoto (Japan)
- Nikolaj Memola (Italy)
*Morisi Kvitelashvili (Georgia)[retired]- Camden Pulkinen (USA)
- Nika Egadze (Georgia)
- Jimmy Ma (USA)
- Arlet Levandi (Estonia)
*Vincent Zhou (USA)[unlikely to compete]- Mihhail Selevko (Estonia)
- Andreas Nordeback (Sweden)
- Koshiro Shimada (Japan)
- Tatsuya Tsuboi (Japan)
- Gabriele Frangipani (Italy)
- Sihyeong Lee (South Korea)
- Takeru Amine Kataise (Japan)
Women
Women guaranteed TWO spots in the 2023/24 season:
Kaori Sakamoto (Japan)
Haein Lee (South Korea)
Loena Hendrickx (Belgium)
Isabeau Levito (USA)
Mai Mihara (Japan)
Chaeyeon Kim (South Korea)
Nicole Schott (Germany)
Kimmy Repond (Switzerland)
Niina Petrokina (Estonia)
Rinka Watanabe (Japan)
Nina Pinzarrone (Belgium)
Amber Glenn (USA)
Seeded skaters in bold.
Women guaranteed ONE spot in the 2023/24 season:
- Yelim Kim (South Korea)
- Anastasiia Gubanova (Georgia)
- Ekaterina Kurakova (Poland)
- Young You (South Korea)
- Madeline Schizas (Canada)
- Audrey Shin (USA)
- Lindsay Thorngren (USA)
*Jia Shin (South Korea)[age ineligible – too young to compete Senior]- *
Anna Shcherbakova (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Mone Chiba (Japan)
- Mana Kawabe (Japan)
*Kamila Valieva(Russia)[country banned by ISU]- Lara Naki Gutmann (Italy)
*Mao Shimada (Japan)[age ineligible – too young to compete Senior]- Hana Yoshida (Japan)
*Ami Nakai (Japan)[age ineligible – too young to compete Senior]- Bradie Tennell (USA)
- Rion Sumiyoshi (Japan)
*Yujae Kim (South Korea)[age ineligible – too young to compete Senior]- Seoyeong Wi (South Korea)
Pairs
Pairs guaranteed TWO spots in the 2023/24 season:
- Miura/Kihara (Japan)
- *
Knierim/Frazier (USA)[unlikely to compete] - Conti/Macii (Italy)
- Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps (Canada)
- Chan/Howe (USA)
- Pereira/Michaud (Canada)
- Pavlova/Sviatchenko (Hungary)
- Golubeva/Giotopoulos Moore (Australia)
- Hocke/Kunkel (Germany)
*Efimova/Blommart (Germany)[split]- McIntosh/Mimar (Canada)
- Kam/O’Shea (USA)
Seeded teams are bolded.
Pairs guaranteed ONE spot in the 2023/24 season:
- Ghilardi/Ambrosini (Italy)
- Danilova/Tsiba (Netherlands)
- *
Tarasova/Morozov (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Kovalev/Kovalev (France)
- *
Safina/Berulava (Georgia)[split] - Plazas/Fernandez (USA)
- *
Sierova/Khobta (Ukraine)[implied staying junior] - *
Mishina/Galliamov (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - *
Sui/Han (China)[unlikely to compete] - Osipova/Epstein (Netherlands)
- Roscher/Schuster (Germany)
- Caldara/Maglio (Italy)
- Laurin/Ethier (Canada)
- Valesi/Piazza (Italy)
- *
Metelkina/Parkman (Georgia)[split] - *
Baram/Tioumentsev (USA)[age ineligible – Baram is too young to compete senior] - Smirnova/Siianytsia (USA)
- Beccari/Guarise (Italy)
Ice Dance
Ice dance teams guaranteed TWO spots in the 2023/24 season:
- Chock/Bates (USA)
- Guignard/Fabbri (Italy)
- Gilles/Poirier (Canada)
- Fear/Gibson (Great Britain)
- Fournier-Beaudry/Sorensen (Canada)
- Green/Parsons (USA)
- Reed/Ambrulevicius (Lithuania)
- Taschlerova/Taschler (Czech Republic)
- Turkkila/Versluis (Finland)
- Carreira/Ponomarenko (USA)
Seeded teams are bolded.
Ice dance teams guaranteed ONE spot in the 2023/24 season:
- Lajoie/Lagha (Canada)
- Lopareva/Brissaud (France)
*Muramoto/Takahashi (Japan)[retired]- Demougeot/le Mercier (France)
- Hawayek/Baker (USA)
- Kazakova/Revia (Georgia)
- Harris/Chan (Australia)
- Lauriault/le Gac (Canada)
*Papadakis/Cizeron (France)[will not compete in 23/24]- Bashynska/Beaumont (Canada)
*Soucisse/Firus (Canada)[likely switching country representation]- Brown/Brown (USA)
- Lim/Quan (South Korea)
- *
Sinitsina/Katsalapov (Russia)[country banned by ISU] - Zingas/Kolesnik (USA)
- Janse van Rensburg/Steffan (Germany)
- *
Wolfkostin/Chen (USA)[split] - Pate/Bye (USA)
- Bratti/Somerville (USA)
- McNamara/Spiridonov (USA)
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, but it gets a little harder to predict who will get spots the further down the lists you get. 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. Going into next season, skaters or teams who win a Challenger event can be added to the list of eligible replacements.
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.
Replacements for withdrawn skaters/teams are selected from the top 10 highest scored skaters/teams who don’t yet have two assignments.
Men's Season Best Scores 2022/23 (up to 75th)
- Mark Gorodnitsky (Israel)
- Nikolaj Memola (Italy)
*Morisi Kvitelashvili (Georgia)[retired]- Mihhail Selevko (Estonia)
- Andreas Nordeback (Sweden)
- Luc Economides (France)
- Boyang Jin (China)
- Maxim Naumov (USA)
- Conrad Orzel (Canada)
- Roman Sadovsky (Canada)
- Robert Yampolsky (USA)
- Liam Kapeikis (USA)
- Jimmy Ma (USA)
- Stephen Gogolev (Canada)
- *Naoki Rossi (Switzerland) [likely staying junior]
- Lucas Broussard (USA)
- Ivan Shmuratko (Ukraine)
- Wesley Chiu (Canada)
- Nozomu Yoshioka (Japan)
- Shunsuke Nakamura (Japan)
- Nikita Starostin (Germany)
- Tomas Llorenc Guarino Sabate (Spain)
- Sena Miyake (Japan)
- Hyungyeom Kim (South Korea)
- Vladimir Samoilov (Poland)
- Francois Pitot (France)
- *
Jaeseok Kyeong (South Korea)[retired] - Aleksandr Selevko (Estonia)
- Andrew Torgashev (USA)
- *
Minkyu Seo (South Korea)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior] *Nikolaj Majorov (Sweden)[retired from singles – switched to ice dance]- Arlet Levandi (Estonia)
- Maurizio Zandron (Austria)
- Yudong Chen (China)
- Daniel Martynov (USA)
- Valtter Virtanen (Finland)
- Landry le May (France)
- Adam Hagara (Slovakia)
- Davide Lewton Brain (Monaco)
- Luc Maierhofer (Austria)
- Kornel Witkowski (Poland)
- Aleksa Rakic (Canada)
- Raffaele Francesco Zich (Italy)
- *
Rio Nakata (Japan)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior] - Hangil Kim (South Korea)
- Dinh Tran (USA)
- Rakhat Bralin (Kazakhstan)
- Younghyun Cha (South Korea)
- Jari Kessler (Croatia)
- Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda (Japan)
*Jaekeun Lee (South Korea)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]
Women's Season Best Scores 2022/23 (up to 75th)
- Rika Kihira (Japan)
- Young You (South Korea)
- Starr Andrews (USA)
*Minsol Kwon (South Korea)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]*Inga Gurgenidze (Georgia)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]- Ekaterina Kurakova (Poland)
- Audrey Shin (USA)
*Ayumi Shibayama (Japan)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]- Madeline Schizas (Canada)
- Ava Marie Ziegler (USA)
*Soho Lee (USA)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]- Seoyeon Ji (South Korea)
- Xiangyi An (China)
- Sarina Joos (Switzerland)
- Lorine Schild (France)
*Yuhana Yokoi (Japan)[retired]- Lara Naki Gutmann (Italy)
- Lea Serna (France)
*Mia Kain (USA)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]*Ikura Kushida (Japan)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]- Janna Jyrkinen (Finland)
- Rino Matsuike (Japan)
- Mae Berenice Meite (France)
- Hanna Harrell (USA)
*Phattaratida Kaneshige (Thailand)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]- Lindsay van Zundert (Netherlands)
- Anna Pezzetta (Italy)
- Sonja Hilmer (USA)
*Gabriella Izzo (USA)[retired from singles – switched to pairs]- Gracie Gold (USA)
*Iida Karhunen (Finland)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]- Olga Mikutina (Austria)
- Clare Seo (USA)
- Kaiya Ruiter (Canada)
*Nikola Fomchenkova (Latvia)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]*Sherry Zhang (USA)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]- Gabrielle Daleman (Canada)
- Sara-Maude Dupuis (Canada)
*Heesue Han (South Korea)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]- Josephine Lee (USA)
*Maria Eliise Kaljuvere (Estonia)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]- Justine Miclette (Canada)
*Kara Yun (Canada) [age ineligible – too young to compete senior]*Jihyun Hwang (South Korea)[age ineligible – too young to compete senior]- Alexia Paganini (Switzerland)
- Julia Sauter (Romania)
- Eva-Lotta Kiibus (Estonia)
- Julia Lang (Hungary)
- Ahsun Yun (South Korea)
- Kristina Isaev (Germany)
Pairs Season Best Scores 2022/23 (up to 75th)
*Cho/Adcock (South Korea)[split]*McBeath/Bartholomary (USA)[potential split]*Safina/Berulava (Georgia)[split]- Mokhova/Mokhov (USA)
- Zhang/Yang (China)
*Sierova/Khobta (Ukraine)[implied staying junior]- Vouillamoz/Giniaux (France)
*Murakami/Moriguchi (Japan)[age ineligible] [split]- Valesi/Piazza (Italy)
*Zukova/Bidar (Czech Republic)[split]- Vaipan-Law/Digby (Great Britain)
*Smith/Deng (USA)[age ineligible] [split]*Kemp/Elizarov (Canada)[age ineligible]- Gamez/Korovin
*Williams/Lewer (USA)[staying junior]- Piegad/Strekalin (France)
*Wang/Jia (China)[split]*Yunoki/Ichihashi (Japan)[split]- Panetta/Thrasher (Canada)
*Wessenberg/Eisenach (USA)[split]- Simioli/Zarbo (Czech Republic)
*Alteryd/Farand (Canada)[split]
Ice Dance Season Best Scores 2022/23 (up to 75th)
- Mrazkova/Mrazek (Czech Republic)
*Soucisse/Firus (Canada)[likely switching country representation]- Ignateva/Szemko (Hungary)
- Wang/Liu (China)
- Brown/Brown (USA)
- Orihara/Pirinen (Finland)
- Dupayage/Nabais (France)
- Bashynska/Beaumont (Canada)
- Harris/Chan (Australia)
*Sales/Wamsteeker (Canada)[split]- Bekker/Hernandez (Great Britain)
- Fabbri/Ayer (Canada)
- Lanaghan/Razgulajevs (Canada)
- Komatsubara/Koleto (Japan)
- Manni/Roethlisberger (Italy)
- Nosovitskaya/Nosovitskiy (Israel)
- Neset/Markelov (USA)
- Holubtsova/Bielobrov (Ukraine)
*Grimm/Savitskiy (Germany)[implied staying junior]- Lagouge/Caffa (France)
- Simova/Aksenov (Slovakia)
- Fradji/Fourneaux (France)
- Gauthier/Thieren (Canada)
- Dozzi/Papetti (Italy)
- Hensen/Lickers (Canada)
- Leccardi/Dalla Torre (Italy)
- Terreaux/Perron (France)
- Polibina/Golovishnikov (Poland)
- Hauer/Starr (USA)
*Lafond-Fournier/Kam (New Zealand)[split]*Oliver/Graham (Poland)[split]- Cesanek/Yehorov (USA)
- Bronsard/Richmond (Canada)
*Luft/Pfisterer (Germany)[split]- Pinchuk/Pogorielov (Ukraine)
- Carhart/Horovyi (USA)
- Kudryavtseva/Karankevich (Cyprus)
- Lewis/McMillan (Canada)
*Kida/Morita (Japan)[split]- Hancock/Fourati (Hungary)
- Carhart/Kolosovskyi (Azerbaijan)
- *
Portesi Peroni/Chrastecky (Italy)[split] *Pham/Rogers (USA)[split]- Tkachenko/Kiliakov (Israel)
- Azroian/Gruzdev (Armenia)
- Ramanauskaite/Kizala (Lithuania)
*Yu/Giang (Canada)[split]- Pucherova/Lysak (Slovakia)
- Nauryzova/Datiev (Kazakhstan)
*Ipolito/Russell (Latvia)[split]*Pidgaina/Koval (Ukraine)[age ineligible]
Grand Prix Final
The Grand Prix Final 2023/2024 will take place from December 7 – 10, 2023 in Beijing, China. 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 2022/23 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 |
3 Replies to “A Guide to Grand Prix Assignments 2023/24”
Very helpful
Hi! I’m wondering, do you have any idea when we will find out the grand prix assignments? 🙂
They’re out now! You can see them on our other post here https://anythinggoe.com/grandprix2324/