With the releasing of the assignments, it appears the rumors that France would not have a Grand Prix event haven't played out as Grand Prix Paris is slated to be the final Grand Prix stop this upcoming season.
Amongst the men's entrants I'm kind of surprised to see Kevin Van der Perren, Evgeny Plushenko, and Johnny Weir. Johnny, at this point, scheduled for both Skate Canada and Grand Prix Paris. Plushenko is currently only scheduled for Rostelecom Cup. Van der Perren, who by all accounts was retiring, is scheduled to compete at NHK Trophy and Skate America.In Ice Dance the only surprising entrants are the Kerr's. If they opt to not retire and compete they are scheduled at Skate Canada and Rostelecom Cup.
In Pairs, Olympic Silver Medalists and World Champs Pang and Tong are scheduled to back next season competing at NHK Trophy and Samsung Anycall Cup of China. Oddly, Inoue and Baldwin are slated to compete, only at NHK Trophy. Japanese farewell for Rena?
Amongst the women, Kim Yu-Na IS slated to compete in both China and Russia. Uber veterans Kostner and Suguri are also on the list of entrants. Also, like her husband Van der Perren, Jenna McCorkell has found her way onto the list. Also of interest...Mao Asada and Kim Yu-Na will NOT face one another in regular Grand Prix events unlike last season.
You can see all the entrants on this page (downloads a PDF file).
2 comments:
I am sure we will see Weir, Plushenko, and probably Van der Perren removed from their events by the time the season starts. It's my understanding that Van der Perren wants to compete at the major internationals (Euros, Worlds) but nothing in the fall season. We shall see..
The Kerrs, again AFAIK, always planned on skating until at least 2012. There was a lot of talk that Vancouver was their "last Olympics", which would technically be right if they stick to that plan.
Jenna McCorkell never planned on retiring, either, and I'm pretty sure she'd love to skate at home at Euros in a few years. She hasn't had anyone pushing her in Great Britain, and had a good Worlds result this season.
Asada and Kim can't face each other because they were both seeded in the 1-3 group from Worlds. That means that Asada, Kim, and bronze medalist Lepisto will never face each other during the actual series. The same follows for skaters in the 4-6 group: Ando, Phaneuf, Kostner, and the 7-9 and 10-12 group. Skaters that finish in the top 12 at Worlds are automatically guaranteed two assignments. In 2009, Kim was 1st and Asada 4th, hence the early match-up at the beginning of the Olympic season.
My guess is Plushy will stay around for a bit until Russian men gets their house in order for the next Olympic. Good to see Weir back. Hopefully he'll pull nice programs (harder footwork, cough cough) together this season.
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