At last year’s Grand Prix Final, American figure skaters were on the podium in all four events for the first time (thanks to the first pair of medals in history). All medals were silver or bronze.
This week, American athletes will compete in three competitions, giving them a chance to climb the highest step in the sport’s most exclusive competition. It could be a leap to favorite status ahead of the world championships in March, the halfway point of the Olympic cycle.
Single skaters Ilia Marinin and Isabeau Levit and ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates will compete in Beijing from Thursday to Saturday. The world’s top skaters (six from each discipline) will gather for the first time this season.
Despite their youth, Marinin, 19, and Levit, 16, have won numerous international medals and are already reigning U.S. champions. The gold medal at the Grand Prix Final would be their most prestigious yet.
Grand Prix Final: Broadcast schedule
Marinin became the first skater to cleanly land a quad axel last season (and did so in all eight competitions), but shelved that element this fall.
His commitment to artistry paid off at Skate America in October. Marinin beat his best total score by 22.03 points and became the champion again. With this score, he would have won last season’s world championships by 9.33 points (Malinin was the only teenager in the top 13 to win bronze at those world championships).
He was nearly as strong at his second Grand Prix (and most recent start) in France last month. But there, Frenchman Adam Hsiao Him Hua won with a personal best, but his score was 3.69 points lower than Marin’s score at Skate America.
Marin Ning and 22-year-old Xiao Him Hua, who placed 10th at last season’s world championships, have the best combined score of the season, about 20 points ahead of the rest of the world’s athletes. The group behind them includes two-time world champion Shoma Uno of Japan, who finished runner-up in two starts this fall after going undefeated last season.
Levit won a silver medal at last year’s Grand Prix Final in her debut season on the senior national team, making her the third-youngest U.S. woman to reach the finals podium, joining Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan.
After winning his first U.S. title in January, he placed fourth at the world championships and second at Skate America. She then won the Grand Prix de France in November, making her the biggest international title by an American woman in seven years.
She advances to the finals ranked third in the field with her highest total score of the season. Two-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan is seeded No. 1.
Then there’s Chock and Bates, who are looking to cap off 2023 after being undefeated so far.
The couple, now in their 13th season of engagement, will be aiming for their first Grand Prix Final title after winning silver medals in the past four times. This is the only major annual international title they have yet to win since finishing the world championships last March.
They rank 4th in the season’s best total score despite winning two starts at the Autumn Grand Prix.
The United States will not win a pair of medals. Last year’s silver medalists and 2022 world champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier did not compete in the Grand Prix series, saying the 2022-23 season would likely be their last.
This week marks the 10th different pair of champions in the last 10 Grand Prix Finals, but there is a clear favorite: Canadians Diana Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps start the Grand Prix. They both won by a 12.13 point difference, the highest score in the field this season.
Stellat Dudek, 40, was the 2000 World Junior Singles silver medalist and is already the oldest skater to win a Grand Prix event.