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!). We try to make this list as accurate as possible. There are an incredible amount of rumours about retirements, splits, and new partnerships around right now, and we don’t want to report unannounced or false information, so we keep it as close to accurate as possible.
So let’s break it down a little…
Grand Prix Events
There are 6 Grand Prix events in the 2026/27 skating season, which conclude with the Grand Prix Final in China. The schedule is as follows:
- 2026 Grand Prix de France
- 2026 Skate Canada International
- 2026 Cup of China
- 2026 Skate America
- 2026 Finlandia Trophy
- 2026 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 2025/26 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 Teams”
- Everyone who is in the top 24 in the World Standings is guaranteed ONE spot (pending available spots, in recent seasons one or two lower-ranked pairs teams haven’t made the cut)
- 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, 2026.
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 |
197.64 |
|
Women |
142.97 |
|
Pairs |
137.00 |
|
Ice Dance |
138.49 |
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:
- Rio Nakata (Japan), Minkyu Seo (Republic of Korea),
Taiga Nishino (Japan)(age ineligible) - Mao Shimada (Japan),
Hana Bath (Australia)(age ineligible),Mayuko Oka (Japan)(age ineligible) - Kemp / Elizarov (Canada), Desrochers / Thrasher (Canada), Herrera / Khobta (Ukraine),
Guo / Zhang (China)(age ineligible) Aboian / Veselukhin (USA)(age ineligible),Perrier Gianesini / Blanc Klaperman (France)(allegedly staying junior), Pidagina / Koval (Ukraine)
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)
- 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 can be applied to new team Starr Andrews/Daniil Parkman, as Parkman placed 12th at 2026 Worlds with his former partner Katie McBeath
- 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, Hase / Volodin (#1) cannot attend the same Grand Prix events as Pereira / Michaud (#3).
Predictions 2026/2027
Men
Men guaranteed TWO spots in the 2026/27 season:
- *Ilia Malinin (USA) [may be taking the season off, or compete just a partial season]
*Yuma Kagiyama (Japan)[taking the season off]- Shun Sato (Japan)
- Stephen Gogolev (Canada)
- Adam Siao Him Fa (France)
- Aleksandr Selevko (Estonia)
- Kevin Aymoz (France)
- Daniel Grassl (Italy)
- Lukas Britschgi (Switzerland)
- Andrew Torgashev (USA)
- Nika Egadze (Georgia)
- Jacob Sanchez (USA)
- Kyrylo Marsak (Ukraine)
*If Ilia Malinin does take the Grand Prix series off, Daniel Grassl becomes seeded, and Vladimir Samoilov (Poland) is next in line to qualify for TWO spots
Seeded skaters in bold.
Men guaranteed ONE spot in the 2026/27 season:
- Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan)
- Junhwan Cha (Republic of Korea)
- Kao Miura (Japan)
*Petr Gumennik (Russia)[currently banned from competing]- Sota Yamamoto (Japan)
- Kazuki Tomono (Japan)
- Rio Nakata (Japan)
- Nikolaj Memola (Italy)
- Boyang Jin (China)
- Jason Brown (USA)
- Matteo Rizzo (Italy)
- Minkyu Seo (Republic of Korea)
*Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA)[retired]- Roman Sadovsky (Canada)
- Mihhail Selevko (Estonia)
- Adam Hagara (Slovakia)
Women
Women guaranteed TWO spots in the 2026/27 season:
*Kaori Sakamoto (Japan)[retired]Mone Chiba (Japan)
Nina Pinzarrone (Belgium)
Isabeau Levito (USA)
Lara Naki Gutmann (Italy)
Amber Glenn (USA)
Niina Petrokina (Estonia)
Jia Shin (Republic of Korea)
Ami Nakai (Japan)
Anastasiia Gubanova (Georgia)
Sarah Everhardt (USA)
Sofia Samodelkina (Kazakhstan)
Haein Lee (Republic of Korea)
Seeded skaters in bold.
Women guaranteed ONE spot in the 2026/27 season:
- Alysa Liu (USA)
- Mao Shimada (Japan)
- Yuna Aoki (Japan)
- Rion Sumiyoshi (Japan)
- Rinka Watanabe (Japan)
*Adeliia Petrosian (Russia)[currently banned from competing]- Rinka Watanabe (Japan)
*Hana Bath (Australia)[age ineligible]- Loena Hendrickx (Belgium)
- Yujae Kim (Republic of Korea)
- Bradie Tennell (USA)
*Mayuko Oka (Japan)[age ineligible]- Anna Pezzetta (Italy)
- Lorine Schild (France)
- Chaeyeon Kim (Republic of Korea)
- Ahsun Yun (Republic of Korea)
- Madeline Schizas (Canada)
- Kimmy Repond (Switzerland)
Pairs
Pairs guaranteed TWO spots in the 2026/27 season:
- Hase / Volodin (Germany)
- Metelkina / Berulava (Georgia)
- Pereira / Michaud (Canada)
- Nagaoka / Moriguchi (Japan)
- Pavlova / Sviatchenko (Hungary)
- Efimova / Mitrofanov (USA)
- Hocke / Kunkel (Germany)
- Akopova / Rakhmanin (Armenia)
- Zhang / Huang (China)
- Vouillamoz / Bouvart (Switzerland)
Seeded teams are bolded.
Pairs guaranteed ONE spot in the 2026/27 season:
*Miura / Kihara (Japan)[retired]*Conti / Macii (Italy)[split, Macii retired]- Stellato-Dudek / Deschamps (Canada)
*Sui / Han (China)[retired]- Chan / Howe (USA)
- Kam / O’Shea (USA)
*Shin / Nagy (USA)[split]*Ghilardi / Ambrosini (Italy)[split, Ghilardi retired]*Laurin / Ethier (Canada)[split]*McBeath / Parkman (USA)[split]*Chtchetinina / Wozniak (Poland)[split, Chtchetinina retired]- Plazas / Fernandez (USA)
- Beccari / Guarise (Italy)
- Kemp / Elizarov (Canada)
*Vaipain-Law / Digby (Great Britain)[split, Digby retired]- Desrochers / Thrasher (Canada)
- Danilova / Tsiba (Netherlands)
Ice Dance
Ice dance teams guaranteed TWO spots in the 2026/27 season:
- Fournier Beaudry / Cizeron (France)
- Gilles / Poirier (Canada)
- Zingas / Kolesnik (USA)
- Fear / Gibson (Great Britain)
- Smart / Dieck (Spain)
- Lopareva / Brissaud (France)
- Reed / Ambrulevicius (Lithuania)
- Carreira / Ponomarenko (USA)
*Lajoie / Lagha (Canada)[split]- Davis / Smolkin (Georgia)
- Mrazkova / Mrazek (Czechia)
Seeded teams are bolded.
Ice dance teams guaranteed ONE spot in the 2026/27 season:
*Chock / Bates (USA)[unofficially retired]- Guignard / Fabbri (Italy)
- Lauriault / le Gac (Canada)
- Turkkila / Versluis (Finland)
- Green / Parsons (USA)
- Janse van Rensburg / Steffan (Germany)
- Demougeot / le Mercier (France)
- Taschlerova / Tascher (Czechia)
- Brown / Brown (USA)
*Lim / Quan (Republic of Korea)[split]- Bratti / Somerville (USA)
- Pate / Bye (USA)
*Shibutani / Shibutani (USA)[unofficially retired]- Orihara / Pirinen (Finland)
*Aboian / Veselukhin (USA)[age ineligible]- Pidgaina / Koval (Ukraine)
*Fabbri / Ayer (Canada)[split]
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 2025/26 (25th to 75th)
- Roman Sadovsky (Canada)
*Sihyeong Lee (Republic of Korea)[retired]*Taiga Nishino (Japan)[age ineligible]- Vladimir Samoilov (Poland)
- Georgii Reshtenko (Czechia)
- Yudong Chen (China)
- Francois Pitot (France)
*Tatsuya Tsuboi (Japan)[taking the season off]*Habin Choi (Republic of Korea)[age ineligible]- Mihhail Selevko (Estonia)
*Vladimir Litvintsev (Azerbaijan)[retired]- Andreas Nordeback (Sweden)
- Adam Hagara (Slovakia)
- Tamir Kuperman (Israel)
- Luc Economides (France)
- Hyungyeom Kim (Republic of Korea)
- Arlet Levandi (Estonia)
- Deniss Vasiljevs (Latvia)
- Liam Kapeikis (USA)
- Maxim Naumov (USA)
- Jaekeun Lee (Republic of Korea)
- Lucius Kazanecki (USA)
*Sena Takahashi (Japan)[age ineligible]*Denis Krouglov (Belgium)[age ineligible]- Samy Hammi (France)
- Donovan Carrillo (Mexico)
- Patrick Blackwell (USA)
- Grayson Long (Canada)
- Aleksa Rakic (Canada)
- Wesley Chiu (Canada)
- Matthew Newnham (Canada)
- Genrikh Gartung (Germany)
- Jimmy Ma (USA)
- Younghyun Cha (Republic of Korea)
- Yanhao Li (New Zealand)
- Daiya Ebihara (Japan)
- Zhimeng Peng (China)
- Daniel Martynov (USA)
- Yu-Hsiang Li (Chinese Taipei)
- Davide Lewton Brain (Monaco)
*Jari Kessler (Croatia)[retired]- Taira Shinohara (USA)
- Shun Uemura (Japan)
- Corey Circelli (Italy)
- Caleb Farrington (USA)
- Semen Daniliants (Armenia)
- Ivan Shmuratko (Ukraine)
- Tomas Guarino Sabate (Spain)
- Dias Jirenbayev (Kazakhstan)
Women's Season Best Scores 2025/26 (25th to 75th)
- Young You (Republic of Korea)
- Yuseong Kim (Republic of Korea)
- Saki Miyake (Japan)
- Olivia Lisko (Finland)
*Mei Okada (Japan)[age ineligible]*Starr Andrews (USA)[retired from singles, now partnered with Daniil Parkman in pairs]*Sumika Kanazawa (Japan)[age ineligible]*Sophia Shifrin (Israel) [age ineligible]- Rino Matsuike (Japan)
- Anna Pezzetta (Italy)
- Iida Karhunen (Finland)
*Alica Lengyelova (Slovakia)[age ineligible]- Julia Sauter (Romania)
- Sophie Joline von Felten (USA)
- Seoyoung Kim (Republic of Korea)
- Lorine Schild (France)
- Madeline Schizas (Canada)
- Chaeyeon Kim (Republic of Korea)
*Elisabeth Dibbern (Switzerland)[age ineligible]*Jiyu Huh (Republic of Korea)[age ineligible]- Haruna Murakami (Australia)
- Mariia Seniuk (Israel)
- Sara-Maude Dupuis (Canada)
- Olga Mikutina (Austria)
*Yihan Wang (China)[age ineligible]- Seojin Youn (Republic of Korea)
- Mako Yamashita (Japan)
- Alina Bonillo (USA)
- Gabrielle Daleman (Canada)
- Inga Gurgenidze (Georgia)
*Viktoriia Safonova (Belarus)[currently banned from competition]- Sarina Joos (Italy)
- Kaoruko Wada (Japan)
*Hana Yoshida (Japan)[retired]- Ahsun Yun (Republic of Korea)
- Ruiyang Zhang (China)
*Valeriya Ezhova (Switzerland)[age ineligible]- Marina Piredda (Italy)
*Angela Shao (USA)[age ineligible]*Jeongyul Hwang (Republic of Korea)[age ineligible]- Kaiya Ruiter (Canada)
- Kimmy Repond (Switzerland)
- Stefania Yakovleva (Cyprus)
- Fee Ann Landry (Canada)
*Leandra Tzimpoukakis (Switzerland)[age ineligible]- Elyce Lin-Gracey (USA)
*Elina Goidina (Estonia)[age ineligible]*Annika Chao (USA)[age ineligible]- Maria Eliise Kaljuvere (Estonia)
- Ekaterina Kurakova (Poland)
- Lea Serna (France)
Pairs Season Best Scores 2025/26 (25th to 75th)
*Vaipan-Law / Digby (Great Britain)[split, Digby retired]- Kovalev / Kovalev (France)
*Guo / Zhang (China)[age ineligible]- Faula / Belle (France)
*Zhang / Feng (China)[age ineligible]- Izzo / Maierhofer (Austria)
- Valesi / Bidar (Czechia)
- Holichenko / Darenskyi (Ukraine)
- Liu / Bedard (USA)
- Caldara / Maglio (Italy)
- Desrochers / Thrasher (Canada)
- Gunnarsdottir / Piazza (Iceland)
*Flores / Wang (USA)[split]- Danilova / Tsiba (Netherlands)
- Herrera / Khobta (Ukraine)
- Williams / Lewer (USA)
- Ryom / Han (North Korea)
*Chen / Dong (China)[age ineligible]- Schaller / Mayr (Austria)
- Wessenberg / Strekalin (France)
*Roscher / Schuster (Germany)[split]*Quattrocchi / Lacasse (Canada)[split]*Jarmoc / Witkowski (USA)[age ineligible]- Moss / Galbavy (USA)
- Ehrhard / Pellegris (France)
- Gamez / Korovin (Philippines)
*Golubeva / Giotopoulos Moore (Australia)[split, Giotopoulos Moore taking time away]
Ice Dance Season Best Scores 2025/26 (25th to 75th)
- Harris / Chan (Australia)
*Fabbri / Ayer (Canada)[split]- Wolfkostin / Tsarevski (USA)
- Val / Kazimov (Spain)
*Dupayage / Nabais (France)[retired]- Bekker / Hernandez (Great Britain)
- Reitan / Majorov (Sweden)
- Orihara / Pirinen (Finland)
- Neset / Markelov (USA)
- Lagouge / Caffa (France)
- Yoshida / Morita (Japan)
- Ichilov / Nosovitskiy (Israel)
- Manni / Roethlisberger (Italy)
*Soucisse / Firus (Ireland)[retired]- Ignateva / Szemko (Hungary)
- Matthaei / Liebers (Germany)
- Wang / Liu (China)
- Paolino / Tuba (Italy)
*Aboian / Veselukhin (USA)[age ineligible]- Pinchuk / Pogorielov (Ukraine)
- Fradji / Fourneaux (France)
- Kudryavtseva / Karankevich (Cyprus)
*Perrier Gianesini / Blanc Klaperman (France)[allegedly staying junior]*Hensen / Lickers (Canada)[split]- Pidgaina / Koval (Ukraine)
- Larson / Kapran (Ukraine)
- Veillon / Brandys (Canada)
- Flores / Jepsen (USA)
*Mouaden / Bigot (France)[age ineligible]- Cui / Rogers (USA)
- Tali / Lafornara (Italy)
- Ren / Xing (China)
- Dovhal / Kulesza (Poland)
*Robertson / Rohner (USA)[likely staying junior]- Kazakova / Kasinskij (Georgia)
- Zehnder / Sieber (Switzerland)
- Xiao / He (China)
- Schubert / Remeshivskiy (Germany)
- Bordet / Chardain (France)
- Sassi / Morini (Switzerland)
*Anderson / Dawson (Canada)[on Canada’s NextGen team, likely staying junior]- Karl / Hoferichter (Germany)
*Finelli / Bucciarelli (Italy)[split]- Ritter / Brykalov (Azerbaijan)
- Grzegorzewska / Muratov (Poland)
*Bianchi / Basile (Italy)[likely staying junior]- Argentieri / Riva (Italy)
*Soldati / Tagliabue (Italy)[age ineligible]- Kushida / Shimada (Japan)
- Csiszer / Shapiro (Hungary)
*Homick / Buelow (Canada)[on Canada’s NextGen team, likely staying junior]
Grand Prix Final
The Grand Prix Final 2026/2027 will take place from December 10 – 13, 2026 in Chongqing, 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 2025/26 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 |
