Sixteen Americans will travel to three competitions this week. The senior international season gets underway this week with two Challenger Series events—the Autumn Classic International in Oakville, Canada, and Lombardia Trophy in Bergamo, Italy. The 2019 International Skating Union (ISU) Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (JGP) Series will continue this week in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
In Canada, Karen Chen, who just moved to Ithaca, New York, to begin schooling at Cornell University, will kick off her season after missing most of the 2018-19 season due to injury. She will be joined by Camden Pulkinen, who is fresh off making the World Junior team in 2019 where he earned a top-10 finish. The competition in Canada begins Thursday and ends on Saturday.
In Bergamo, Starr Andrews and Megan Wessenberg will make their season debuts. Both finished in the top 10 at the 2019 U.S. Championships. In the ice dance competition, Caroline Green and Michael Parsons will make their fall international debut as a new partnership. They placed fifth at Lake Placid Ice Dance International over the summer. Competition in Italy will begin Friday and end on Sunday.
The ISU Challenger Series is a group of 10 senior-level international figure skating competitions held each year to help skaters prepare and qualify for ISU Championship events.
The United States will bring a team of 10 to the Junior Grand Prix in Chelyabinsk, a Russian city over 1,200 miles from Moscow. The event begins Wednesday and concludes on Saturday.
Audrey Shin will compete in her second career JGP, while Kate Wang will make her JGP debut. In the men’s field, William Annis will make his JGP debut, while Eric Sjoberg will return for his third JGP season. Annis is the reigning U.S. novice champion, while Sjoberg finished 10th in the junior division.
Anastasiia Smirnova and Danil Siianytsia will make their JGP debut in the pairs competition after winning the novice bronze medal at the 2019 U.S. Championships.
In ice dance, Oona Brown and Gage Brown, the 2019 U.S. junior pewter medalists, will compete in their second JGP season after finishing 8th and 9th in two JGPs in 2018. Katarina Wolfkostin and Jeffrey Chen will take the ice in their second JGP of the season after placing fifth in France.
Entering its 23rd season, the JGP Series consists of seven international events in a cumulative point-scoring format. Each athlete is eligible to score points in two of the seven scheduled events (pairs can compete in two of four designated events). The top six point-earners in each discipline qualify for the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2019, Dec. 5-8 in Torino, Italy. The ISU will stream the event live on its YouTube page.
