Archive

20 Oct.  - The ISU announced that "based on information received from US Figure Skating, suggesting a different venue, the Council decided to move the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2019. Accordingly, the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships will be held in Anaheim, CA, USA on February 4-10, 2019."

26 Oct. - Skate Canada announces that 2018 Skate Canada International will be held in Laval, Canada, October 25 - 28, 2018.  The IUS Grand Prix Final will also be held in Canada, December 5-8, 2018 in Vancouver, Canada.

28 Oct. - Brian Orser underwent emergency Gall Bladder surgery this morning in Regina, SK while attending the Skate Canada International Grand Prix.  A full recovery from the surgery is expected.

3 Nov. - Canadian figure skater Patrick Chan has withdrawn from the NHK Trophy Grand Prix event, Skate Canada announced today.

Chan's withdrawal comes less than a week after his fourth-place finish at the Skate Canada competition in Regina.

The fourth place finish in his first Grand Prix assignments offers Chan virtually no change of making the final.

Rather than being distracted by training for his now superfluous second Grand Prix assignment Chan can now focus his full attention on training for the Canadian National Championships in January and the Olympics in February.

16 Nov. - 2018 Skate America to be held in Everett, Washington, 19-21 Oct. 2018, back to being the first competition of the ISU Grand Prix.  Skate Canada International will be the following weekend in Laval, Ontario, followed by Cup of China, NHK Trophy, Rostelcom, and ending with the International of France, 23-25 November 2018.

17 Nov. - U.S. Figure Skating announced that Gracie Gold has withdrawn from the 2018 National Figure Skating Championships.  Gold has not competed this season as she seeks treatment for personal issues, including anxiety, depression and an eating disorder.

23 Nov. - The German skating federation today received a message from the immigration office in Sonthofen (capital town of the small county to which Oberstdorf belongs) saying that French pair skater Bruno Massot, who was second at the World Championships 2017 with Aljona Savchenko, will receive German citizenship immediately. This means that he passed the German language and grammar test which he did on November 10 for the third time after having failed two times in spring and summer 2017.

This test may be taken only every three months and it was his last chance before the Olympic Games. He needs German citizenships for participation at the 2018 Games in South Korea. After returning from Skate America he will get his passport and the other documents next week in Sonthofen which is about 10 miles from Oberstdorf.

1 Dec. - U.S. Figure Skating announced the 2018 inductees for the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.  Inductions to take place Jan. 5, 2018 at the 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

• Michael Weiss - Three times U.S. Champion and two times World bronze medalist, first American to land a quad toe loop in competition (at the 1999 World Championships).

• Kyoko Ina & John ZImmerman - three time(consecutive) U.S. Champions,  World bronze medalists.

• Claire Ferguson - first female president of U.S. Figure Skating, first American woman elected to the ISU council.

• Sarah Kawahara - choreographer of television specials, films and touring shows, two-time Emmy award winner, choreographer of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

5 Dec. - Injured Boyang Jin (CHN) is replaced in the Grand Prix Final by Jason Brown (USA).  This gives the U.S. three entries in the Men's final.

Injured Evgenia Medvedeva (RUS) is replaced in the Ladies Final by Sotoko Miahara (JPN).  This will give the home audience in Nagoya a second Japanese skater to root for, the first being Shomo Uno who qualified for the Men's Final.