Joshua Farris, who starts his quest for his first Junior Grand Prix gold medal later today, is proud to open his official website in cooperation with Figure Skaters Online. Farris started his season earlier this month with a silver medal at Junior Grand Prix Romania. He’s currently competing in Sheffield, Great Britain, with eyes on the gold medal and a berth at the Junior Grand Prix Final in Beijing, China, in December.

The Human Rights Campaign Seattle will honor Johnny Weir with the Visibility Award. He will receive the award at the 11th Annual Pacific Northwest Dinner, September 25, at the Westin Seattle. In 2010, Weir made the U.S. Olympic team for the second time and represented his country in the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, where he finished sixth. Post Games, Johnny has put his fame to good use, appearing at various benefits and charity events across the U.S., including the 88 for AIDS event and Skate for Hope.

U.S. Figure Skating announced today that individual session tickets for the 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships will go on sale Friday, Sept. 17 at 10 a.m. EDT. The event will be held Jan. 22-30, 2011, at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex in Greensboro, N.C.

The third event of the 2010 International Skating Union (ISU) Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (JGP) Series takes place Sept. 15-18 in Graz, Austria. The event, which will be held at the Eishalle Graz Liebenau, begins Thursday, Sept. 16 with the men’s and pairs short programs as well as the short dance. Official practice takes place Wednesday.

U.S. Figure Skating and U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame Chair of Electors Dr. Lawrence Mondschein announced that the 1961 U.S. World Figure Skating Team will comprise the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame Class of 2011. The induction ceremony is tentatively scheduled to take place Friday, Jan. 28 at the 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Greensboro, N.C.

Christina Gao is in Austria for her first Junior Grand Prix event of the season and she is feeling confident after a productive summer in Toronto. “I feel like I’ve made a lot of improvements [this summer],” Gao said. She landed her triple flip-triple toe combination at both Skate Detroit and Thornhill, where she debuted her senior and junior programs, respectively. Look for the triple-triple in both her short and free programs this season.

The second event of the 2010 International Skating Union (ISU) Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (JGP) Series takes place Sept. 8-11 in Brasov, Romania. The event, which will be held at the Olympic Arena, begins Thursday, Sept. 9 with the ladies and men’s short programs. Official practice takes place Wednesday.

Ashley Wagner launched her redesigned official website. In addition to the new look, which features both on and off ice photos, the site also integrates new features like Wagner’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages.

Evan Lysacek, the 2010 Olympic and two-time U.S. champion, announced today he will not compete for the remainder of 2010 and will instead take time off from competition to pursue other interests. He has not ruled out competing at the 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Jan. 22-30 in Greensboro, N.C.