Just two events left to go in the 2025-2026 Grand Prix Series. This week, the series heads to Lake Placid, New York, for Skate America. Lake Placid is a quaint Adirondack village that has played host to two Winter Olympics. The first Skate America was actually held in Lake Placid in 1979, just a year prior to the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid. When the ISU launched the Champions Series, which later became the Grand Prix Series, in 1995, Skate America was one of the five qualifying events. It has been a Grand Prix event every year since. This is Lake Placid’s fifth time hosting Skate America. The last time they held the event was in 2017, which was also an Olympic season.
Men
The reigning U.S. Champion usually competes at Skate America, but that’s not the case at this year’s event in three of the four disciplines. One of those disciplines is the men as three-time U.S. Champion and two-time World Champion Ilia Malinin has already competed in two Grand Prix events – Grand Prix de France and Skate Canada International. So competing on home ice is Jason Brown, who is a nine-time Grand Prix medalist. This season, Brown did back-to-back Challenger Series events, winning bronze at Denis Ten Memorial and silver at Trialeti Trophy, and he will do back-to-back Grand Prixs as he will compete at Finlandia Trophy next week. This is Brown’s first time competing at Skate America since 2019. He will be joined by Liam Kapeikis, who is returning to the Grand Prix Series this season after previously competing at Skate America in 2022, and Skate Canada and in Finland in 2023. This season, Kapeikis has earned eighth and sixth place finishes at Cranberry Cup and Nebelhorn Trophy respectively.
2025 World silver Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan looks to take home another medal on the Grand Prix and punch his ticket to the Grand Prix Final. He won bronze at Cup of China this season. He also won Denis Ten Memorial this fall.
Italy’s Daniel Grassl, who finished ahead of Shaidorov in China, is also looking for another podium finish in his second Grand Prix series event of the season. He is also looking to qualify for his third consecutive Grand Prix Final. Grassl will also be joined by two other Italian skaters — Nikolaj Memola and Corey Circelli. Memola competed in Canada and finished in sixth place. For Circelli, Skate America marks his Grand Prix debut competing for Italy. Circelli did compete on the Grand Prix when he represented Canada. He was tenth at John Wilson Trophy in 2022. Circelli has not yet competed internationally this season.
For Japan, Kazuki Tomono, who was in second after the short program at Skate Canada, but dropped to fourth overall, is looking to put together two clean programs at Skate America and earn himself a medal. He has not won a medal on the Grand Prix since he won bronze in France in 2022. He will be joined by teammate Tatsuya Tsuboi, who finished seventh at Grand Prix de France.
France’s Kevin Aymoz has won silver at the last two Skate America competitions. He’s hoping to finish better in Lake Placid than his tenth-place finish at Skate Canada International. He will be joned by teammate Luc Economides, who finished 11th at Grand Prix de France.
Also competing are Azerbaijan’s Vladimir Litvintsev and China’s Dai Daiwei, who were sixth and 11th respectively at Cup of China.
Event Info: The men’s short program is at 8:20 p.m. eastern on Friday, Nov. 14, while the men’s free skate is at 8:04 p.m. eastern on Saturday, Nov. 15.
Women
2025 World Champion Alysa Liu is looking to win her first Grand Prix event title this weekend in Lake Placid, and qualify for her first-ever Grand Prix Final. Just a few weeks ago, Liu won her first Grand Prix medal, a silver, at Cup of China.
She will face competition from two skaters that she competed against in China — Japan’s Rinka Watanabe, who finished just behind Liu at Cup of China, and Georgia’s Anastasiia Gubanova, who was just behind Watanabe in fourth place. Watanabe won the silver medal at Skate America last year. Watanabe will be joined by teammates Hana Yoshida and Wakaba Higuchi who are both looking to recover from tenth and ninth place finishes respectively at their previous Grand Prix events. Higuchi just competed last week at NHK Trophy, while Yoshida competed at Cup of China.
Italy’s Lara Naki Gutmann is hoping to reach the podium in Lake Placid. She was fifth at Skate Canada International two weeks ago and has been training in North America since the conclusion of that event. She also won Nepela Memorial this season and finished fifth at Lombardia Trophy. Last season, she won the bronze at Finlandia Trophy.
Korea’s Chaeyeon Kim and Haein Lee are both looking to finish out their Grand Prix events on a high note. Kim was sixth at Grand Prix de France, while Lee was ninth at Cup of China. Lee was third at Trialeti Trophy and won Denis Ten Memorial Challenge, while Kim was twelfth at Nepela Memorial.
Also competing in Lake Placid is France’s Lea Serna, who was tenth at Grand Prix de France, and Poland’s Ekaterina Kurakova, who will be competing in her first Grand Prix event of the season. She won gold at Budapest Trophy and was fourth at the Swiss Ice Skating Open.
In addition to Liu, Team USA will be represented by Starr Andrews and Josephine Lee. For Andrews, this is her first Grand Prix event since 2023, and for Lee, this will be her senior Grand Prix debut.
Event Info: The women’s short program is at 6:17 p.m. eastern on Saturday, Nov. 15, while the women’s free skate is at 4:05 p.m. eastern on Sunday, Nov. 16.
Pairs
2025 World Champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara will look to win their second consecutive Skate America title and qualify for their third Grand Prix Final. The two won gold at Grand Prix de France last month. They will go head-to-head with two-time Junior World Champions Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava, who won gold at Cup of China this season. They are looking to also qualify for the Final.
While those two teams will most likely claim the top two spots on the podium, the third spot is a bit unpredictable.
Team USA has three teams competing at Skate America. Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandez will make their return to the Grand Prix after sitting out last season while Fernandez recovered from knee surgery. In their return to competition, they finished fourth at both Kinoshita Group Cup and Tayside Trophy. Plazas and Fernandez will be joined by Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy, who are making their Grand Prix debut this season. They finished 5th at Grand Prix de France. They also finished sixth at the Skate to Milano Olympic Qualifying event and seventh at John Nicks Pairs Challenge. Also competing in Lake Placid is 2024 World Junior silver medalists Olivia Flores and Luke Wang, who are making their senior Grand Prix debut. They only competed once internationally this season. They finished 12th at John Nicks Pairs Challenge.
Armenia’s Karina Akopova and Nikita Rakhmanin are the last minute replacements for Italy’s Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise, who withdrew from the event due to injury. This is Akopova and Rakhmanin’s first Grand Prix event. They were second at the Skate to Milano Olympic Qualifier. They also were fourth at Trialeti Trophy and fifth at John Nicks Pairs Challenge.
Also competing in Lake Placid is Germany’s Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel, who were sixth at Cup of China, and Canada’s Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Ethier, who were fifth at Skate Canada International.
Event Info: The pairs’ short program is Friday, Nov. 14 at 6:58 p.m. eastern, and the pairs’ free skate is Saturday, Nov. 15 at 3:39 p.m.
Dance
For a preview of the dance event, visit Ice-Dance.com
Event Info: The rhythm dance is Saturday, Nov. 15 at 2:03 p.m. eastern, and the free dance is Sunday, Nov. 16 at 2:16 p.m.
