Just eight months before the Olympic Winter games, the International Skating Union (ISU) announced skating events leading up to the Milano Cortina 2026 for the world’s top figure skaters.
In its schedule advisory, the ISU announced the preliminary assignments for the 2025-26 Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. Assigned to each of the six events on the season calendar are 12 men, 12 women, eight pairs and 10 ice dance teams.
Skaters and teams will compete in up to two Grand Prix events, not including the Final.
Two-time men’s world champion Ilia Malinin will skate at the season-opening Grand Prix de France (October 17-19) and Skate Canada (October 31 – November 2).
Women’s world champion Alysa Liu and ice dance title holders Madison Chuck and Evan Bates are assigned to the Cup of China (October 24-26) and Skate America (November 14-16).
Japanese pair skating world championship winners Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi are set to compete at their home NHK Trophy (November 9-7) and also at Skate America.
After a three-season hiatus, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, reigning Olympic pairs champions from Beijing 2022, are returning to competition and will skate at the Cup of China and the NHK Trophy with an eye to defending their title in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
After a seven-year absence, siblings and Olympic medalists Maia and Alex Shibutani are also returning to competitive skating, with scheduled appearances at the NHK Trophy and Finlandia Trophy (November 21-23).
Following the Finlandia Trophy, the top six skaters of each event will qualify for the Grand Prix Final, taking place in Nagoya, Japan, from December 5-8.
Here are some of the figure skaters competing at each event:
Grand Prix de France in Angers, France (October 17-19)
Ilia Malinin (USA), Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA), Sakamoto Kaori (JPN), Isabeau Levito (USA), Miura Riku / Kihara Ryuichi (JPN), Deanna Stellato-Dudek / Maxime Deschamps (CAN), Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri (ITA), Lilah Fear / Lewis Gibson (GBR), Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Guillaume Cizeron (FRA)
Cup of China in Chongqing, People’s Republic of China (October 24-26)
Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ), Cha Junhwan (KOR), Alysa Liu (USA), Amber Glenn (USA), Sara Conti / Niccolò Macii (ITA), Anastasiia Metelkina / Luka Berulava (GEO), Sui Wenjing / Han Cong (CHN), Madison Chock / Evan Bates (USA), Olivia Smart / Tim Dieck (ESP)
Skate Canada in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada (October 31-November 2)
Malinin, Kévin Aymoz (FRA), Levito, Chiba Mone (JPN), Stellato-Dudek / Deschamps, Minerva Fabienne Hase / Nikita Volodin (GER), Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier (CAN), Christina Carreira / Anthony Ponomarenko (USA)
NHK Trophy in Osaka, Japan (November 7-9)
Kagiyama Yuma (JPN), Cha, Sakamoto, Loena Hendrickx (BEL), Sui / Han, Conti / Macii, Guignard / Fabbri, Fear / Gibson, Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani (USA)
Skate America in Lake Placid, New York, USA (November 14-16)
Shaidorov, Aymoz, Jason Brown (USA), Liu, Lee Haein (KOR), Metelkina / Berulava, Miura / Kihara, Chock / Bates, Carreira / Ponomarenko (USA)
Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, Finland (November 21-23)
Kagiyama, Siao Him Fa, Brown, Hendrickx, Glenn, Hase / Volodin, Alisa Efimova / Misha Mitrofanov (USA), Gilles / Poirier, Fournier Beaudry / Cizeron, Shibutani / Shibutani