2013-2014 US International Selection Pool

Men

Max Aaron (Senior only)
Jeremy Abbott (Senior only)
Jason Brown
Stephen Carriere (Senior only)
Nathan Chen 
Timothy Dolensky (Senior only)
Richard Dornbush (Senior only)
Joshua Farris
Tomoki Hiwatashi (Junior only)
Grant Hochstein (Senior only)
Spencer Howe
Brian Krentz
Alexander Johnson (Senior only)
Evan Lysacek (Senior only)
Jimmy Ma
Armin Mahbanoozadeh (Senior only)
Oleksiy Melnyk
Keegan Messing (Senior only)
Ross Miner (Senior only)
Jordan Moeller
Brandon Mroz (Senior only)
Shotaro Omori
Nix Phengsy 
Douglas Razzano (Senior only)
Adam Rippon (Senior only)
Daniel Samohin (Junior only)
Nicholas Vrdoljak
Johnny Weir (Senior only)
Vincent Zhou (Novice only)

Ladies

Kiri Baga
Mariah Bell
Ashley Cain
Samantha Cesario (Senior only)
Karen Chen (Junior only)
Alissa Czisny (Senior only)
Polina Edmunds
Morgan Flood
Rachael Flatt (Senior only)
Christina Gao (Senior only)
Amber Glenn (Junior only)
Gracie Gold (Senior only)
Courtney Hicks
Leah Keiser
Vanessa Lam
Brianna Laxson (Junior only)
Amy Lin
Barbie Long
Dyllan McIntee
Hannah Miller
Mirai Nagasu (Senior only)
Elizabeth Nguyen 
Tyler Pierce 
Yasmin Siraj
Bradie Tennell
Madison Vinci
Ashley Wagner (Senior only)
Angela Wang
Agnes Zawadzki (Senior only)
Caroline Zhang (Senior only)

Pairs

Aaron/Settlage
Baga/Toth (Senior only)
Budd/Cheban
Calalang/Sidhu (Senior only)
Castelli/Shnapir (Senior only)
Dai/Fishman
Davis/Brubaker (Senior only)
De la Mora/Wilson (Senior only)
Denney/Coughlin (Senior only)
Denney/Frazier
Donlan/Speroff (Senior only)
Kayne/O'Shea (Senior only)
Leng/LeDuc  (Senior only)
Liu/Perini (Junior only)
Pfund/Reiss (Senior only)
Scimeca/Knierim (Senior only)
Simpson/Blackmer (Senior only)
Takai/Johnson 
Zaitsev/Utah Stevens (Junior only)
Zhang/Bartholomay (Senior only)

Ice Dance

Aldridge/Eaton (Senior only)
Aronow/Brubaker (Senior only)
Biechler/Dodge
Cannuscio/McManus (Senior only)
Chock/Bates (Senior only)
Davis/White (Senior only)
Hawayek/Baker
Hubbell/Donohue (Senior only)
Kriengkrairut/Giuletti-Schmitt (Senior only)
Lewis/Bye (Junior only)
McNamara/Carpenter (Junior only)
Moore/Klaber
Parsons/Parsons
Patsis/Johnson
Pogrebinsky/Gudis
Shibutani/Shibutani (Senior only)
Wren/Shchepetov

US Pairs and Dance Splits

The teams listed below have ended their partnerships.

Pairs
Davis/Ladwig (4th, Senior)
Vise/Baldwin (10th, Senior)
Yankowskas/Reagan (WD, Senior)

Fields/Pacini (7th, Junior)
Belt/Johnson (9th, Junior)
Doherty/Norris (12th, Junior)

Middleton/Hennings (3rd, Novice)
Klopstock/Phillips (8th, Novice)
Thomas/Botero (10th, Novice)
Erickson/Fleming (11th, Novice)

Dance
Olson/Hubbell (7th, Senior)
Tran/Kaplun (13th, Senior)

Miller/MacMillan (6th, Junior)
Rosinski/Jaffe (8th, Junior)
Min/Ogay (11th, Junior)

Chadwick/Martin (7th, Novice)
Berkovich/Jaffe (10th, Novice)

New Teams

Pairs

Bereswill/Reagan
Davis/Brubaker
Fields/Arcieri (Canada)

Dance

Min/Koleto (Korea)
Miller/Firus (Canada)

US ISU Championships Teams

Worlds

Ladies
Gracie Gold
Ashley Wagner

1st alternate: Agnes Zawadzki
2nd alternate: Christina Gao
3rd alternate: Mirai Nagasu

Men
Max Aaron
Ross Miner

1st alternate: Jeremy Abbott
2nd alternate: Adam Rippon
3rd alternate: Joshua Farris

Pairs
Castelli/Shnapir
Denney/Coughlin

1st alternate: Scimeca/Knierim
2nd alternate: Zhang/Bartholomay
3rd alternate: Davis/Ladwig

Dance
Chock/Bates
Davis/White
Shibutani/Shibutani

1st alternate: Hubbell/Donohue
2nd alternate: Kriengkrairut/Giuletti-Schmitt

Four Continents

Ladies
Christina Gao
Gracie Gold
Agnes Zawadzki

1st alternate: Mirai Nagasu
2nd alternate: Caroline Zhang
3rd alternate: Ashley Cain

Men
Max Aaron
Ross Miner
Adam Rippon

1st alternate: Richard Dornbush
2nd alternate: Brandon Mroz
3rd alternate: Stephen Carriere

Pairs
Castelli/Shnapir
Scimeca/Knierim
Zhang/Bartholomay

1st alternate: Davis/Ladwig
2nd alternate: Donlan/Speroff
3rd alternate: Denney/Frazier

Dance
Chock/Bates
Davis/White
Shibutani/Shibutani

1st alternate: Hubbell/Donohue
2nd alternate: Kriengkrairut/Giuletti-Schmitt
3rd alternate: Cannuscio/McManus

Junior Worlds

Ladies
Samantha Cesario
Courtney Hicks
Yasmin Siraj

1st alternate: Angela Wang
2nd alternate: Hannah Miller
3rd alternate: Leah Keiser

Men
Jason Brown
Joshua Farris
Shotaro Omori

1st alternate: Harrison Choate
2nd alternate: Jay Yostanto

Pairs
Calalang/Sidhu
Denney/Frazier
Simpson/Blackmer

1st alternate: Aaron/Settlage
2nd alternate: Pfund/Reiss

Dance
Aldridge/Eaton
Hawayek/Baker
McNamara/Carpenter

1st alternate: Moore/Klaber
2nd alternate: Pogrebinsky/Gudis
3rd alternate: Miller/MacMillan

2012-2013 US International Selection Pool

These skaters will be considered for international assignments in the upcoming season.  Skaters may be added to this list after being monitored at summer events.  I have also indicated their level of international eligibility (determined by age unless a skater has been competing as a senior even though they are age eligible for junior).

Ladies

Kiri Baga
Mariah Bell
Ashley Cain
Samantha Cesario
Alissa Czisny (Senior only)
McKinzie Daniels
Polina Edmunds
Rachael Flatt (Senior only)
Christina Gao (Senior only)
Gracie Gold
Jenelle Herman
Courtney Hicks
Nina Jiang
Leah Keiser
Katarina Kulgeyko
Vanessa Lam
Barbie Long
Hannah Miller
Mirai Nagasu (Senior only)
Gwendolyn Prescott
Yasmin Siraj
Ashley Wagner (Senior only)
Angela Wang
Agnes Zawadzki (Senior only)
Caroline Zhang (Senior only)

Men

Max Aaron (Senior Only)
Jeremy Abbott (Senior Only)
Jason Brown
Stephen Carriere (Senior Only)
Jonathan Cassar (Senior Only)
Nathan Chen (Junior Only)
Harrison Choate
Timothy Dolensky (Senior Only)
Richard Dornbush (Senior Only)
Scott Dyer (Senior Only)
Joshua Farris
Grant Hochstein (Senior Only)
Spencer Howe
Alexander Johnson (Senior Only)
Lukas Kaugars
Evan Lysacek (Senior Only)
Armin Mahbanozzadeh (Senior Only)
Keegan Messing (Senior Only)
Ross Miner (Senior Only)
Brandon Mroz (Senior Only)
Shotaro Omori
Douglas Razzano (Senior Only)
Adam Rippon (Senior Only)
James Schetelich
Kevin Shum
Troy Tomasello
David Wang
Philip Warren (Senior Only)
Johnny Weir (Senior Only)
Jay Yostanto

Pairs

Madeline Aaron & Max Settlage
Caitlin Belt & Michael Johnson
Jessica Noelle Calalang & Zack Sidhu
Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir (Senior Only)
Lindsay Davis & Mark Ladwig (Senior Only)
Brianna de la Mora & Taylor Wilson (Junior Only)
Caydee Denney & John Coughlin (Senior Only)
Haven Denney & Brandon Frazier
Gretchen Donlan & Andrew Speroff (Senior Only)
Kylie Duarte & Colin Grafton (Senior Only)
Audrey Goldberg & Joseph Dolkiewicz
Mary Beth Marley & Rockne Brubaker (Senior Only)
Olivia Oltmanns & Joshua Santillan
Jessica Pfund & AJ Reiss
Britney Simpson & Matthew Blackmer
Tiffany Vise & Don Baldwin (Senior Only)
Caitlin Yankowskas & Joshua Reagan (Senior Only)
Christina Zaitsev & Ernie Stevens (Junior Only)
Felicia Zhang & Nathan Bartholomay (Senior Only)

Dance

Alexandra Aldridge & Daniel Eaton
Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus (Senior Only)
Madison Chock & Evan Bates (Senior Only)
Meryl Davis & Charlie White (Senior Only)
Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker
Madeline Heritage & Nathaniel Fast
Madison Hubbell & Zach Donohue (Senior Only)
Lynn Kriengkrairut & Logan Giulietti-Schmitt (Senior Only)
Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter (Junior Only)
Whitney Miller & Kyle MacMillan (Junior Only)
Holly Moore & Daniel Klaber
Anastasia Olson & Keiffer Hubbell
Rachel Parsons & Michael Parsons
Elliana Pogrebinsky & Ross Gudis
Hannah Rosinski & Jacob Jaffe
Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani (Senior Only)

U.S. Worlds, Four Continents and Junior Worlds Teams

Ladies

2012 World Championships
Alissa Czisny 
Ashley Wagner

Alternate 1 - Agnes Zawadzki
Alternate 2 - Caroline Zhang
Alternate 3 - Mirai Nagasu

2012 Four Continents Championships
Ashley Wagner
Agnes Zawadzki
Caroline Zhang

Alternate 1 - Rachael Flatt
Alternate 2 - Mirai Nagasu
Alternate 3 - Christina Gao

2012 World Junior Championships
Christina Gao
Gracie Gold 
Vanessa Lam

Alternate 1 - Ashley Cain
Alternate 2 - Hannah Miller
Alternate 3 - Angela Wang

Ice Dancing

2012 World Championships
Meryl Davis & Charlie White
Madison Hubbell & Zach Donohue
Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani

Alternate 1 - Lynn Kriengkrairut & Logan Giulietti-Schmitt
Alternate 2 - Madison Chock & Evan Bates
Alternate 3 - Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus

2012 Four Continents Championships
Meryl Davis & Charlie White
Madison Hubbell & Zach Donohue
Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani

Alternate 1 - Lynn Kriengkrairut & Logan Giulietti-Schmitt
Alternate 2 - Madison Chock & Evan Bates
Alternate 3 - Anastasia Olson & Jordan Cowan

2012 World Junior Championships
Alexandra Aldridge & Daniel Eaton
Lauri Bonacorsi & Travis Mager
Rachel Parsons & Michael Parsons

Alternate 1 - Madeline Heritage & Nathaniel Fast
Alternate 2 - Kaitlin Hawayek & Michael Bramante
Alternate 3 - Amanda Bertsch & Sam Kaplun

MEN'S

2012 World Championships
Jeremy Abbott 
Adam Rippon

Alternate 1 - Ross Miner 
Alternate 2 - Armin Mahbanoozadeh 
Alternate 3 - Douglas Razzano

2012 Four Continents Championships
Jeremy Abbott 
Ross Miner 
Adam Rippon

Alternate 1 - Richard Dornbush 
Alternate 2 - Armin Mahbanoozadeh 
Alternate 3 - Douglas Razzano

2012 World Junior Championships
Jason Brown 
Timothy Dolensky 
Joshua Farris

Alternate 1 - Philip Warren 
Alternate 2 - Harrison Choate 
Alternate 3 - Jay Yostanto

PAIRS

2012 World Championships
Caydee Denney & John Coughlin
Mary Beth Marley & Rockne Brubaker

Alternate 1 - Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig
Alternate 2 - Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir 
Alternate 3 - Gretchen Donlan & Andrew Speroff

2012 Four Continents Championships
Caydee Denney & John Coughlin 
Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig 
Mary Beth Marley & Rockne Brubaker

Alternate 1 - Gretchen Donlan & Andrew Speroff 
Alternate 2 - Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir
Alternate 3 - Ashley Cain & Joshua Reagan

2012 World Junior Championships
Haven Denney & Brandon Frazier 
Kylie Duarte & Colin Grafton 
Britney Simpson & Matthew Blackmer

Alternate 1 - Jessica Noelle Calalang & Zack Sidhu 
Alternate 2 - Jessica Pfund & AJ Reiss 
Alternate 3 - Madeline Aaron & Max Settlage

US Skating Off Season News

Rachael Flatt has been fined and reprimanded by USFSA for not disclosing her stress fracture at Worlds.  She has also left Broadmoor and Tom Z to attend college at Stanford, but no coach has been announced yet.

Adam Rippon has left Brian Orser and will train in Detroit under Jason Dungjen.  He is working on a quad lutz.

Johnny Weir has announced he will not compete this season.

Yankowskas and Coughlin split and Denney and Coughlin paired up.  They will skate their short to East of Eden and their long to Nessun Dorma. 

Alexe Gilles left Tom Zakrajsek and moved to Detroit to train with Yuka Sato & Jason Dungjen.  Becky Bereswill is returning to her singles career and will train with them as well.

Ashley Wagner left Priscilla Hill and moved to California to train with John Nicks.  Her free skate is to Black Swan and is choreographed by Philip Mills.  Her short program is also by Mills and to Pollock.

Agnes Zawadzki left Tom Zakrajsek and will train in Colorado Springs with David Santee & Christy Krall.

Joshua Farris left Tom Zakrajsek and will train in Colorado Springs with Christy Krall & Damon Allen.

Felicia Zhang/Nate Bartholomay have paired up and are scheduled to compete at Liberty.

Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein split and he is retired.


Madison and Keiffer Hubbell split.  He is rumored to be retired and she'll skate with Zachary Donohue.

Ryan Bradley has retired.


Jeremy Abbott's short program is being choreographed by SYTYCD champ Benji Schwimmer.


Grant Hochstein's short program is to Clair de Lune.

Gretchen Donlan/Andrew Speroff will skate to "O mio babbino caro" (SP) and Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky (FS); choreographers are Sheryl Franks and Deidre Williams with footwork by Carrie Wall.

Stephen Carriere has chosen "La Vie En Rose" and "Mack the Knife" for his short program; Swan Lake (FS).

Wesley Campbell will skate to Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" (SP) and The Mission (FS).

Alexander Johnson has chosen "O mio babbino caro" (SP) and the Khachaturian ballet Gayane (FS).

Brandon Mroz's new short program will be to "Mack the Knife," and Max Aaron will be skating to a medley of "Assassin's Tango" and "Oblivion" both choreographed by Jeffrey Buttle.

Anastasia Cannuscio and Colin McManus's short dance will be to "Mas Que Nada" by Sergio Mendes (feat. The Black Eyed Peas) and "Magalenha" by Sergio Mendes. Their free dance will be "The Way You Look Tonight" by Adam Levine, "Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole and Natalie King Cole and "Get Me To The Church" by Frank Sinatra. 

Nathan Chen is working on his triple axel and triple triple combinations in preparation for his move to the junior ranks this season.  He is still too young to compete internationally.

US Figure Skating International Selection Pool

The International Selection Pool contains athletes that are eligible for Grand Prix, Junior Grand Prix and Senior B assignments.

Ladies

Kiri Baga
Mariah Bell
Ashley Cain
Samantha Cesario
Alissa Czisny (Senior only)
McKinzie Daniels
Lauren Dinh
Amanda Dobbs (Senior only)
Haley Dunne
Polina Edmunds (Junior only)
Rachael Flatt (Senior only)
Joelle Forte (Senior only)
Christina Gao
Alexe Gilles (Senior only)
Gracie Gold
Courtney Hicks
Nina Jiang (Junior only)
Ellie Kawamura
Leah Keiser (Junior only)
Katarina Kulgeyko
Vanessa Lam
Barbie Long
Mary Beth Marley
Hannah Miller (Junior only)
Mirai Nagasu (Senior only)
Yasmin Siraj
Ashley Wagner (Senior only)
Angela Wang
Agnes Zawadzki (Senior only)
Caroline Zhang (Senior only)
Felicia Zhang

Men

Max Aaron (Senior only)
Jeremy Abbott (Senior only)
Alexander Aiken (Senior only)
Jason Brown
Wesley Campbell (Senior only)
Stephen Carriere (Senior only)
Jonathan Cassar (Senior only)
Harrison Choate
Timothy Dolensky
Richard Dornbush (Senior only)
Scott Dyer (Senior only)
Joshua Farris
Grant Hochstein (Senior only)
Alexander Johnson (Senior only)
Evan Lysacek (Senior only)
Armin Mahbanoozadeh (Senior only)
Keegan Messing (Senior only)
Ross Miner (Senior only)
Jordan Moeller
Brandon Mroz (Senior only)
Shotaro Omori
Nix Phengsy
Douglas Razzano (Senior only)
Adam Rippon (Senior only)
Emmanuel Savary (Junior only)
David Wang
Philip Warren
Jason Wong (Senior only)
Jay Yostano
Alexander Zahradnicek (Senior only)

Pairs

Madeline Aaron & Max Settlage
Cassie Andrews & Timothy LeDuc (Senior only)
Ashley Cain & Joshua Reagan (Senior only)
Jessica Noelle Calalang & Zack Sidhu
Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir (Senior only)
Caydee Denney & John Coughlin (Senior only)
Haven Denney & Brandon Frazier
Gretchen Donlan & Andrew Speroff (Senior only)
Kylie Duarte & Colin Grafton
Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig (Senior only)
Audrey Goldberg & Joseph Dolkiewicz
Mary Beth Marley & Rockne Brubaker (Senior only)
Olivia Oltmanns & Joshua Santillan (Junior only)
Andrea Poapst & Chris Knierim (Senior only)
Alexandria Shaughnessy & James Morgan (Senior only)
Britney Simpson & Matthew Blackmer
Tiffany Vise & Don Baldwin (Senior only)

Ice Dance

Alexandra Aldridge & Daniel Eaton
Amanda Bertsch & Semen Kaplun
Lauri Bonacorsi & Travis Mager
Isabella Cannuscio & Ian Lorello (Senior only)
Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus (Senior only)
Madison Chock & Evan Bates (Senior only)
Meryl Davis & Charlie White (Senior only)
Danielle Gamelin & Alexander Gamelin 
Kaitlin Hawayek & Michael Bramante (Junior only)
Madeline Heritage & Nathaniel Fast
Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohoe (Senior only)
Lynn Kriengkrairut & Logan Giulietti-Schmitt (Senior only)
Charlotte Lichtman & Dean Copely (Senior only)
Jessica Mancini & Tyler Brooks (Junior only)
Anastasia Olson & Jordan Cowan (Senior only)
Rachel Parsons & Michael Parsons (Junior only)
Elliana Pogrebinsky & Ross Gudis (Junior only)
Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani (Senior only)
Shannon Wingle & Timothy McKernan (Senior only)

Junior World Championships: Pairs Preview

This is a unique event as all of the medalists from last year are back this season.

Leading the pack are Sui and Han who rocked the senior circuit this season, medaling at both of their Grand Prix assignments and qualifying for the Grand Prix Final where they won bronze.  They have a throw quad that they've been landing more consistently in their free skate throughout the season.  This team is also caught up in the falsification of age scandal which might take away their focus here.  If they skate like they have been all season, they should repeat as champions here.

Takahashi and Tran took the silver medal at this event last season and also had a good senior debut, medaling in both of their Grand Prix assignments.  They are the only pairs team in Japan and they are really taking advantage of their eligibility, competing in two JGP, two GP, JGPF, Four Continents, Junior Worlds and Worlds this season.  I thought they showed this strain at 4Cs and were sloppier than normal.  They're also training two programs at the same time and are likely not getting enough reps in on either one.

Stolbova and Klimov are the only junior team to have defeated both Sui/Han and Takahashi/Tran this season.  They were nine points from gold at the JGPF, but have had the over two months since to focus solely on their programs.  I think they have a really good shot to pull up here, and with the deep pairs field in Russia, they'll have to really pull out all the stops if they want a place on the senior teams next season.

Yu and Jin from China have not been able to excel to the same level as their teammates and are also caught up in the age scandal.  They had good scores on the JGP and took home a medal from the JGPF but they're far behind the top three teams and will need some mistakes at the top to make it onto the podium here.

Cain and Reagan are leading the U.S. teams here and a top 5 finish is well within their sights.  They showed a maturity to their programs at nationals that was not matched in the field and put out two clean programs.  If they can repeat that here, they should have a strong finish to their first international season.


Silaeva and Minchuk qualified for the JGPF and placed 11th at this event last season but are not on the Russian team here.  Steele and Schultz also qualified for the JGPF but did not make the Canadian team.

My podium predictions:
Gold: Sui/Han
Silver: Stolbova/Klimov
Bronze: Takahashi/Tran

The teams:

Martini/Kiefer, AUT: They placed 15th at Europeans with personal best scores across the board.  They placed 20th at Junior Worlds last season.

Palyakova/Fomichev, BLR:

Jones/Gaskell, CAN: They placed 6th at Cup of Austria and 4th at Pokal der Blauen to qualify for the JGPF where they placed 6th.  They placed 7th at the World Junior Championships last season. 

Purich/Schultz, CAN: They won bronze at J. Curry Memorial and Czech Skate to qualify for the JGPF where they placed 7th.

Sui/Han, CHN: Sui and Han are the reigning World Junior Champions. They won the silver medal at Cup of China with personal best scores across the board and bronze at Skate America with a personal best free skate to qualify for the Grand Prix Final where they won bronze.  They won bronze at JGP Austria and gold at JGP Czech Republic to qualify for the JGPF but withdrew to focus on the senior event.

Yu/Jin, CHN: They won bronze at JGP Cup of Austria and gold at Czech Skate to qualify for the JGPF where they won bronze.

Kadlecova/Bidar, CZE:  They placed 7th at Europeans with personal best scores across the board.  They finished 7th at both their Junior Grand Prix assignments and placed 6th at Trophee Eric Bompard with a personal best short program.  They finished 14th at the World Junior Championships last season.

Clement/Hunt, GBR: They placed 13th at JGP Great Britain.  They finished 19th at Junior Worlds last season.

Khnychenkova/Magyar, HUN: They finished 15th at their Junior Grand Prix assignment.  They placed 7th at Trophee Eric Bompard.  They finished 15th at the World Junior Championships last season.
Gillespie/Dematte, ITA: They placed 12th at Europeans.  They finished 8th and 11th at their two JGP assignments this season.

Takahashi/Tran, JPN: They are the reigning Junior World silver medalists.  They placed 7th at Four Continents. They won silver at J. Curry Memorial and Pokal der Blauen to qualify for the JGPF where they won gold.  They won bronze at NHK Trophy and silver at Rostelecom Cup.

Epstein/Epstein, NED: They won the Junior event at Ice Challenge and NRW Trophy.

Klatka/Chruscinski, POL: They placed 12th at JGP Austria and 11th at JGP Germany.

Astakhova/Bochkov, RUS: They finished 9th at JGP Austria.

Stolbova/Klimov, RUS: They are the reigning Junior World bronze medalists.  They won JGP Cup of Austria and J. Curry Memorial to qualify for the JGPF where they won silver. They placed 5th at Skate America. 

Vasilieva/Shevchuk, RUS: They finished 9th at JGP Great Britain.

Morand/Leemann, SUI:

Labrentieva/Rudik, UKR: They placed 13th at JGP Austria.

Andrews/LeDuc, USA: They are the reigning national junior silver medalists.

Cain/Reagan, USA: They finished 6th at J. Curry Memorial and won silver at Czech Skate to qualify for the JGPF where they finished 5th.

US Figure Skating International Teams

U.S. Figure Skating has named the following athletes to the Four Continents, World Juniors and World Teams.

Four Continents Championships: February 15-20, Chinese Taipei
Men: Jeremy Abbott, Armin Mahbanoozadeh, Adam Rippon
Ladies: Alissa Czisny, Rachael Flatt, Mirai Nagasu
Pairs: Denney/Barrett, Evora/Ladwig, Yankowskas/Coughlin
Dance: Chock/Zuerlein, Davis/White, Shibutani/Shibutani

World Junior Championships: February 28-March 6, Republic of Korea
Men: Max Aaron, Jason Brown, Keegan Messing
Ladies: Christina Gao, Courtney Hicks, Agnes Zawadzki
Pairs: Cain/Reagan, Andrews/LeDuc
Dance: Bonacorsi/Mager, Cannuscio/McManus, Lichtman/Copely

World Championships: March 21-27, Japan
Men: Ryan Bradley, Richard Dornbush, Ross Miner
Ladies: Alissa Czisny, Rachael Flatt
Pairs: Evora/Ladwig, Yankowskas/Coughlin
Dance: Chock/Zuerlein, Davis/White, Shibutani/Shibutani

Welcome and Skate Canada Picks

Welcome to my new blog!  Here I'll be previewing upcoming events, posting my thoughts and reactions and breaking down the different disciplines.  Stay tuned for figure skating news and updates as well as we lead up to the Grand Prix Final, 2011 Nationals, 2011 Four Continents and 2011 Worlds.

The first Grand Prix event of the season was last weekend and I'll be posting some of my thoughts from the NHK Trophy over the course of the week. 

Skate Canada will be taking place this weekend and I have just submitted my picks for the USFSA Fantasy Skating Challenge.  Barring any changes in the lineup, my team is:

Ladies: A) Fumie Suguri, JPN     B) Sarah Meier, SUI     C) Agnes Zawadzki, USA
Men: A) Patrick Chan, CAN     B) Javier Fernandez, ESP     C) Grant Hochstein, USA
Pairs: A) Iliushechkina/Maisuradze, RUS     B) Duhamel/Radford     C) Moore-Towers/Moscovitch, CAN
Dance: A) Kerr/Kerr, GBR     B) Chock/Zuerlein, USA     C) Tibbetts/Brubaker, USA   

You can follow me as Skategate or play yourself at http://www.usfigureskating.org/fantasyskating.asp.  I'm also competing for bragging rights with Backstage Barbie and you can follow her reactions at backstagebarbie.blogspot.com.