[2017/18] Senior Men of the Grand Prix circuit

[axelsandwich]

4 hours ago, Fay said:

Aliev's problem is that he lacks stamina - and I do wonder if you can deal with that so soon. 

And I wondered whether this is a competition to watch without getting nervous. Possibly not...

I think if the last two GP events have taught me anything, I don't dare watch a comp feeling comfortable with any particular outcome anymore  

 

It'd be nice for Jason to make the GPF after being the alternate for quite a few years, from what I've read?

[Sombreuil]

I always get nervy about everything but ice dance.  Here I've got the man himself, Miyahara and Sui and Han to fret over.

[xeyra]

What about Voronov? He could challenge for a podium place too. 

[Sombreuil]

1 minute ago, xeyra said:

What about Voronov? He could challenge for a podium place too. 

just done my predictions- might have jinxed him

[xeyra]

2 minutes ago, Sombreuil said:

just done my predictions- might have jinxed him

 

I'm more afraid to have jinxed Satton. Or Yuzu. But crossing all my fingers for my babies. 

[xeyra]

Say Javi wins France next week (unlikely with Shoma there but let's wonder). He gets 20 points. What circumstances would need to happen so he could still be able to go with 20 points? Aside from the ones that have happened so far... 

[Yatagarasu]

 

Tally so far

 

 

Men
Mikhail KOLYADA (RUS) 26 Jason BROWN (USA) 22 Shoma UNO (JPN) 15 Nathan CHEN (USA) 15 Sergei VORONOV (RUS) 15 Yuzuru HANYU (JPN) 13 (R) Boyang JIN (CHN) 13 Adam RIPPON (USA) 13 Max AARON (USA) 11 Alexei BYCHENKO (ISR) 11 Alexander SAMARIN (RUS) 11 Keegan MESSING (CAN) 10 Vincent ZHOU (USA) 9 Misha GE (UZB) 9

[Fay]

Going through this dramatic GP series, now we’re approaching the penultimate event - 2017 Internationaux de France (Grenoble). So now it’s time to introduce the following skaters:

 

Romain Ponsart (25 y.o.) (FRA) (World Standings #96)

 

A French skater, the 2012 Triglav Trophy bronze medallist, coached by Rafael Aratyunyan. His former coaches were Brian Joubert, Nikolai Morozov, Annick Dumont, Pierre Trente, Guillemette Ancelet, Elena Issatchenko

Romain was born on April 27th, 1992. His career has been hampered with frequent coach change and injuries, but he’s been landing 4T and 3A successfully.

According to ISU profile, his personal best overall score is 184.12, his best SP score is 63.51, his best FS score is 120.61, all of them set at the 2015 World Team Trophy. But at the 2017 Cup of Nice he received 143.48 for his FS and 72.31 for his SP, thus resulting at 215.79 overall and finishing fourth in the competition. We hope to see him improve on that result at this Grand Prix event.

His SP is Imagine/Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts’ Club Band

His FP is Moulin Rouge

 

 

Kevin Aymoz (FRA) (20 y.o.) (World Standings #33)

A French skater, the 2015 Coupe du Printemps silver medalist, 2015 Lombardia Trophy bronze medalist, and 2017 French national champion.

Currently coached by Katja Krier, his former coaches were Didier Lucine, Sophie Golaz, Véronique Cartau, Claudine Lucine, Françoise Bonaud, Catherine Faure, Bernard Glesser, Jean-François Balleste

Kevin was born on August 1st, 1997, and started to skate in 2003. Aymoz finished 7th at the 2017 Junior World Championship.

His personal best overall score is 218.63, his best SP score is 77.24, his best FS score is 141.39, all achieved at the 2017 Junior World Championship. He’s improved on these results at the 2017 Denkova Staviski Cup: his FS score was 150.04. and he accumulated 225.29 points overall and placed first.

His SP is Wicked Game, his FP is O by Coldplay, Conquest of Space/Run Boy Run. His programs were choreographed by Silvia Fontana and John Zimmerman.

 

 

 

Denis Ten KAZ (23 y.o) (World Standings #32)

 

A Kazakhstani skater, first skater from his country. 2014 Sochi Olympic Bronze medallist, 2013 World Silver medallist, 2015 World Bronze medallist. 2015 Four Continents Championship Champion, 2017 Winter Universiade champion, five-time national champion.

Currently coached by Frank Carroll and Nikolai Morozov. His previous coaches were Elena Buyanova and Tatiana Tarasova.

Denis was born on June 13th, 1993.

He is a gorgeous and expressive skater with a charismatic presence on ice. But, unfortunately, his last two seasons were not as successful as his peak period of 2013-2015 as he was dogged by injuries and had to withdraw from quite a few competitions. His earlier performance at the Rostelecom Cup was probably below what he had been hoping for – he finished 9th overall with 214.35 points.  

His personal best total score is 289.46, personal best SP score is 97.61, personal best FS score is 191.85. He achieved all of these results at the 2015 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, Korea.

His technical arsenal includes 4T and 3A, and last season he tried landing 4S at several competitions.

His SP is Tu Sei by Vittorio Grigolo

His FP is SOS d’un terrain by Dimash Kudaibergen

Both his programs were choreographed by David Wilson

 

 

Moris Kvitelashvili (22 y.o.) (World Standings 30)

 

A Georgian skater, 2015 CS Mordovian Ornament bronze medallist and the 2016 Santa Claus Cup gold medallist.

Currently coached by Eteri Tutberidze, his former coaches were Marina Selitskaya and Elena Kotova.

Moris was born March 17th, 1994, and started skating in 2000. Up to the season of 2016-2017, he skated for Russia, starting with last season, he started competing for Georgia. He was notorious for his inconsistency while he was competing for Russia, but his release to represent Georgia seems to have worked wonders for him, since he performed very well in the 2017 European Championship, where he ranked 6th, and the 2017 World Championship, where he finished 13th overall. Moris has got two quads – 4T and 4S in his repertoire – and landing these successfully allowed him come 11th in the free at the world championship last season.

Moris had quite a good start at the 2017 Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, where he showed two quite strong performances: his SP was 80.67, his FS was 169.59 and thus he accumulated 250.26 points – all these results were his new personal bests.  He placed 5th overall.

His SP is Feeling Good performed by Michael Buble

His FP is Radioactive/Dream/Believer by Imagine Dragons

His programs were choreographed by Daniil Glekhengauz and Alexei Zhelezniakov

 

 

Vincent Zhou (USA) (17 y.o.) (World Standings #22)

 

An American skater, the 2017 World Junior champion, 2017 Bavarian Open champion, and 2017 U.S. national silver medallist.

Vincent is coached by Tammy Gambill, Drew Meekins, Tom Zakrajsek

Vincent was born on October 25th, 2000, and is the youngest skater in this competition. He started to skate at 5 years old.

Vincent is an accomplished jumper who can jump an impressive array of quadruple jumps, which has been instrumental in his being able to finish 1st in the 2017 World Junior Championship.

His personal best is 258.11 at the 2017 World Junior Championship, his best SP score is 80.53 at the Junior Grand Prix event in Yokohama and his best FS is 179.24 at the 2017 World Junior Championship.

Vincent finished fourth at the Audi Cup of China with 256.66 points.

His personal best overall score is 258.11 at the 2017 Junior World Championship, his best SP is 80.53 at the 2016 Yokohama Junior Grand Prix event, his best FS score is 179.24 at the 2017 Junior World Championship.

His SP is Chasing Cars

His FP is Moulin Rouge OST

Both programs were choreographed by Jeffrey Buttle

 

Misha Ge UZB (26 y.o)  (World Standings #21)

 

An Uzbekistani skater, four-times national champion, who has won seven international medals. He has finished in the top-ten at four ISU Championships, including 2015 Worlds (6th), and competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics, finishing 17th.

Currently coached by his father Jun Ge and helped by Alexei Mishin. His former coaches include Frank Carroll and Larisa Ge.

Misha Ge was born on May 17th, 1991, to Larisa and Jun Ge, both skaters. He’s of Russian, Chinese and Korean descent. He started skating when he was three and a half, but he started training seriously when he was 10, after he moved from Moscow to Beijing, China. He started representing Uzbekistan in 2010.

At the end of last season Misha announced he was considering retirement, but fortunately he reconsidered his plan and stayed on for another season.

He’s set a new set of personal bests at the 2017 Rostelecom Cup: he received 85.02 for his SP, 170.31 for his FS and 255.33 overall. He finished fourth overall.

His SP is Ave Maria

For his FP he selected Meditation of Thais by Massenet

Misha choreographed both his programs himself.

He speaks Russian, Mandarin, and English, so we’ve seen him do some work as an interpreter for Boyang Jin at the Helsinki World Championship. He often also offers thanks and says hello to his fans in these three languages at major competitions.

Ge has taken choreography courses at the Beijing Dance Academy and the Hollywood Dance Academy. He’s known to choreograph his own programs, and lately has been choreographing for quite a few competitive skaters, among them Anna Pogorilaya, Elena Radionova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Kevin Reynolds, Gracie Gold, Alexander Petrov, Sergei Voronov etc.

[Fay]

Max Aaron (USA) (25 y.o.) (World Standings #12)

An American skater, the 2013 U.S. national champion, the 2015 Skate America champion, the 2011 U.S. national junior champion

Currently coached by Tom Zakrajsek and Becky Calvin, his previous coach was Doug Ladret

Maxwell Theodor Aaron was born on February 25th, 1992, and he began skating as a hockey skater at the age of four and took up figure skating at 9 to improve his skating skills. He continued to pursue both sports until 2008, when he was injured. His powerful and athletic skating along with his open-hearted charisma have charmed quite a lot of fans, but he’s been quite inconsistent too.

Max finished third at the Audi Cup of China after winning the FS with a new best result – 176.58 points

His personal best overall score is 261.56 at the 2017 US International Classic, his best SP score is 87.03 at the 2015 Tallinn Trophy,

His SP is Les Miserables

His FP is The Phantom of the Opera

Both his programs were choreographed by Katherine Hill

 

 

Alexander Samarin (RUS) (19 y.o.) (World Standings #11)

 

A Russian skater, 2017 Junior World Championship bronze medallist, 2016-2017 Junior Grand Prix silver medallist, 2017 Russian Championship silver medallist. 2015 CS Warsaw Cup gold medallist.

Currently coached my Svetlana Sokolovskaya, his former coaches were Elena Buyanova, Inna Goncharenko and Lubov Fedorchenko.

Alexander was born on June 15th, 1998 and started skating in 2002.

An ambitious skater eager to make his presence known, Alexander has done his best to acquire as many quads as possible, though many find fault with the way he jumps them. He’s surely got a long way to go to develop his artistry too, but his first outing at the 2017 Skate Canada International was a pleasant surprise for many Russian fans: he improved all his personal bests – he got 84.02 for his SP,  166.04 for FS and 250.06 overall.

His SP is Moonlight Sonata/I’m No Angel

His FP is La Naissance de Yaha/Unforgiven Ill/The House of The Rising Sun

His choreographers were Maxim Zavozin, Irina Tagaeva, Tatiana Rozanova

 

 

Alexei Bychenko (29 y.o.) (World Standings 9)

An Israeli skater,  He is the 2016 European silver medalist and 2016 Rostelecom Cup bronze medalist. Winner of the 2016 Golden Spin of Zagreb.

Currently coached by Galit Chait Moracci, Roman Serov, Nikolai Morozov, his former coaches were Craig Maurizi, Vakhtang Murvanidze, Galina Kukhar, Elena Amosova

Alexei was born on February 5th, 1988 and began skating in 1993. Up to 2010, he represented Ukraine, but then he moved to the USA and decided to skate for Israel. He’s the first Israeli skater to win medals at the European championship. Last year, he was able to win two spots for Israel at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyongchang.

Alexei had quite a strong performance at his first GP event – NHK Trophy – where he placed third with 252.07 points.

His personal best overall score is 255.52, his personal best SP score is 86.81, his best FS score is 168.81, all of the set at the 2016 Rostelecom Cup

His SP is Hava Nagila

His FS is Pagliacci 

Both of his programs were choreographed by Galit Chait Moracci

 

 

Javier Fernandez (ESP) (World Standings #3)

 

A Spanish skater, a two-time World champion (2015, 2016), a five-time European champion (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), a three-time Grand Prix Final medalist (2014–15, 2015–16, 2011–12), and a seven-time Spanish national champion. He is the second man after Yuzuru to break the 100-point barrier in the short program, the 200-point barrier in the long program, and the 300-point barrier in the total score. He’s the first Spanish skater to ever achieve so much success in figure skating – and in 2016, they were recognised when he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit by the Spanish government

Currently sharing training sessions with Yuzu under the watchful eyes of Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson, Javi is also coached by Daniel Peinado. His previous coaches were C. Sanz, J. Lafarga, Nikolai Morozov, Ivan Saez

Javi is a charismatic and artistic skater with the flair for comedy on ice, and is a skilled and powerful jumper, landing beautiful 4S and 4T. He has landed a few 4Lo in shows too, but seems to have decided against introducing the jump into his competitive programs, thus choosing safety and security over risk.

He had a disappointing short skate and a disastrous free skate at the Cup of China, where he finally placed 6th with 253.06 points due to a stomach trouble and thus losing his chance to qualify for the Grand Prix Final. But he can certainly put up a pair of strong skates at the Internationaux de France and upset the results for other hopefuls.

His personal best overall score is 314.93 at the 2016 World Championship, his best SP score is 109.05 at the 2017 World Championship, his best FS score is 216.41 at the 2016 World Championship.

His SP is Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin soundtrack) choreographed by Antonio Najarro

His FP is Man of La Mancha choreographed by David Wilson.

 

 

Shoma Uno (JPN) (19 y.o) (World Standings #2)

 

A Japanese skater, 2017 World Championship silver medallist, 2017 4 Continents Championship bronze medallist, two-time Grand Prix Final bronze medallist, 2016-2017 Japanese National Champion, 2015 Junior World Champion and 2014-2015 Junior Grand Prix Final champion.

Coached by Machika Yamada and Mihoko Higuchi.

Shoma was born on December 17th, 1997 and started to skate at five thanks to Mao Asada. His skating idol is Daisuke Takahashi.

Shoma has got gorgeous skating skills and incredible flow across the ice, but his jumping technique has been the subject of heated discussions all over the figure skating world about the amount of prerotation in them and the suspect landings. Nonetheless, he’s been adding loads of new quads over these two seasons and has landed four quads at competitions – 4T, 4F, 4Lo and 4S. He’s also got wonderful musicality and interpretation abilities, and has rightly been seen as the top contender for any competition.

He won his first Grand Prix event - the Skate Canada International – and is probably the favourite to win at this event too.

His best overall score is 319.84, his best SP score is 104.87 and his best FP score is 214.97, all of them set at the 2017 Lombardia Trophy.

His SP is Vivaldi’s Winter

In his FP he revisits his Turandot program of the season of 2015-2016.

Both programs were choreographed by Mihoko Higuchi.

 

[Yatagarasu]

 

Tally so far

 

 

Men
Shoma UNO (JPN) 28 Mikhail KOLYADA (RUS) 26 Jason BROWN (USA) 22 Javier FERNANDEZ (USA) 20 Misha GE (UZB) 20 Alexander SAMARIN (RUS) 20 Alexei BYCHENKO (ISR) 18 Nathan CHEN (USA) 15 Sergei VORONOV (RUS) 15 Max AARON (USA) 15 Yuzuru HANYU (JPN) 13 (R) Boyang JIN (CHN) 13 Adam RIPPON (USA) 13

[Fay]

And lastly, we're here at the start of the last GP event - Skate America. After a whole array of withdrawals, the final set of men taking the ice seems to be the following: 

 

 

Roman Sadovsky (CAN) (18 y.o.) (World Standings 57)

 

A Canadian skater, winner of two gold Junior Grand Prix medals.

Roman is coached by Tracy Wainman and Grzegorz Filipowski, his former coaches were Brian Orser, Lee Barkell, Allen Carson

Roman was born on May 31st, 1999, and started to skate at 5 to learn to play hockey, but his interest in figure skating took over. He had some success as a junior skater, but his transition into the senior skating hasn’t been so easy – he placed 10th at the 2017 Finlandia Trophy. This is the very first senior GP event for this young (and tall) skater, so let’s wish him good luck! He can jump 4S and 3A.

His personal best overall score is 221.21at the 2016 Tallinn Cup Junior Grand Prix, his best SP score is 76.27 at the 2017 Junior World Championship and his personal best FS score is 149.25 at the 2016 Tallinn Cup Junior Grand Prix.

His SP is The Vampire Masquerade choreographed by C. Lane, J. Razguljaevs 

His FP is Sword Art Online OST choreographed by David Wilson

 

 

Liam Firus (CAN) (25 y.o.) (World Standings 53)

 

A Canadian skater, the 2016 Triglav Trophy winner and three time Canadian National medallist.

Currently coached by Bruno Marcotte, his former coaches were Christy Krall, Damon Allen, Erik Schulz, Lorna Bauer, Rod Mackie, Scott Davis

Liam was born on July 2nd, 1992, and started to skate in 1999 as a hockey skater first and then switched over to figure skating. Liam is a smooth skater with excellent skating skills, but he hasn’t been competing internationally that much. He has 4T and 3A under his belt, but he hasn’t been able to land these very consistently.

His personal best overall score is 248.29, his best SP score is 83.46 and his best FS score is 164.83, all of these set at the 2017 US International FS Classic, where he won the bronze medal.  

His SP is Happy Ending by Mika

His FP is La La Land

 

 

 

Ross Miner (USA) (26 y.o.) (World Standings 44)

 

An American skater, the 2012 Four Continents Championship bronze medallist, the 2011 and 2012 NHK Trophy and 2015 Rostelecom Cup bronze medallist, the 2013 US National Championship bronze medallist. The 2013 National silver medallist.

Ross is currently coached by Peter Johansson, Mark Mitchell, his former coach was Edmund Nesti

He was born on January 24th, 1991 and started skating at the age of three. He had to relearn all his jumps at the age of 12, as his jumping technique was very poor at the beginning. But he has improved on that dramatically – he can jump 4S and 3A.  

His personal best overall score is 248.92, his best SP score is 85.36 and his best FS score is 163.56, all of them set at the 2015 Rostelecom Cup.

His SP is Cosmic Superhero/Magic Cure/Downtown

His FS is Somebody To Love/Love Of My Life/Crazy Little Thing Called Love

His choreographers are Jamie Isley, Adam Blake

 

 

 

Takahito Mura (JPN) (26 y.o) (World Standings #33)

 

A Japanese skater, the 2014 Four Continents champion, 2014 Skate Canada champion, and 2012 Trophée Éric Bompard champion. Nationally, he is a four-time Japan Championships bronze medallist and 2008 Japan Junior champion.

Currently coached by Takashi Mura, his former coaches were Hiroshi Nagakubo, Yoriko Naruse, Naoki Shigematsu

Takahito Mura was born on February 11th, 1991 and comes from a figure skating family: his father and coach Takashi Mura competed internationally and his mother also was a figure skater.

Takahito is a beautiful skater with flair for unusually colourful and sometimes dubious clothing, and he has been working hard to keep up with the incredible progress in men’s skating we’ve been seeing these couple of years. Last season, his plans were curtailed by injuries and mishaps, so he didn’t make it into the Japanese Team for the Four Continents Championship and World Championship. This season, he’s undoubtedly fired by competition and a desire to make it to Pyongchang, but his first outing at Skate Canada was nearly disastrous for him as he only got 188.66 points overall, way below his capacities, and finished last in the competition. Let’s hope he vindicates himself in this competition and prove he can do far better than that.  

His personal best overall score is 268.43, his best SP score is 89.08, and his best FS score is 179.35, all achieved at the 2016 Four Continents Championship.

His SP is Too Close by Alex Clare choreographed by Massimo Scali

 

His FP is The Phantom of the Opera choreographed by Charlie White

 

 

Kevin Reynolds (CAN) (27 y.o.) (World Standings #28)

 

A Canadian skater, the 2013 Four Continents champion, four times Canadian national medallist, the first man to have landed two quadruple jumps in the short program, and five quadruple jumps in the short program and free program, which he achieved in the 2013 Four Continents Championship.

Kevin is coached by Joanne MacLeod. He started skating at the age of five and started training with Joanne at 9. One of the most recognisable and lovable skaters, Kevin is one of the skaters who can proudly wear the badge of beating Yuzuru Hanyu – he won his 2013 Four Continents title over Yuzu. He’s been struggling with quite a few injuries, though, so lately his performance level has somewhat lowered down, but he was able to finish 9th in a highly competitive field. He can jump 4S and 4T, has tried 4Lo quite few times, never landing it clean and rotated.

His personal best overall score is 253.84 at the 2017 World Championship, his best SP score is 85.16 at the 2013 World Championship, his best FS score is 172.21 at the 2013 Four Continents Championship.

This season, he has taken part in Finlandia Trophy where he placed 11th.

At his first GP event, Cup of China, Kevin finished in the 8th place with 226.50 point, let’s see how he does this time.

His SP is Whiplash OST choreographed by Shae Lynn Bourne,

His FP is The Armed Man: The Mass For Peace choreographed by Mark Pillay

 

 

Han Yan (CHN) (21 y.o.) (World Standings #23)

 

A Chinese skater, a three-time Four Continents bronze medalist (2013, 2015, 2016), the 2017 Asian Winter Games bronze medalist, 2013 Cup of China champion, 2012 World Junior champion, and a two-time (2009, 2010) Chinese national champion.

Coached by Mingzhu Li, previously coached by Shuguang Jia

Han Yan was born on March 6th, 1996, and started to skate when he was 5. After he won the 2012 World Junior championship, many people expected him to be a major competition to the likes of Yuzuru Hanyu as soon as he started his senior career in the autumn of 2013, as Yan Han can compete with anyone in the quality of his jumps, especially 3A, his expressivity and his wonderful skating skills. These hopes were substantiated in the season of 2013-2014, when Yan Han won the Cup of China gold medal and made it to the Grand Prix Final in Fukuoka, and finished in the respectable 7th place in the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2014 World Championship.

Unfortunately, ever after the infamous Cup of China collision with Yuzuru, his skating career went rather downhill and he’s been dogged with injuries, but his recent outing at the Cup of Nice, which he won decisively, seems to show he’s got lots of competitive fire in him for now. Undoubtedly, we will see him at the 2018 Olympic Games, so for now we wish him to do well in the Grand Prix events.

According to the ISU biography, his personal best overall score is 271.55 at the 2016 Four Continents Championship, his best SP score is 90.14 at the 2013 Cup of China and his best FS score is 181.98 at the 2016 Four Continents. In the 2017 Cup of Nice, he went over these figures in the SP, accumulating 94.29 points.

In his first GP event, Cup of China, Han Yan finished 5th with 254.61 points, potentially he has the ability to go to the GPF if he can win the event. The likelihood of him winning is not terribly high, though, but less probable things have happened during this Grand Prix series.

His SP is A Thousand Years

His FP is I’ll Take Care Of You

Both programs have been choreographed by Lori Nichol

[Fay]

Sergei Voronov (30 y.o.) (World Standings #21)

 

A Russian skater, a two-time European medalist (2014 silver, 2015 bronze), the 2014–15 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, a two-time World Junior medalist (2006 silver, 2007 bronze), and a two-time Russian national champion (2008, 2009).

Currently coached by Inna Goncharenko, his previous coaches were Eteri Tutberidze, Sergei Dudakov, Nikolai Morozov, M. Voitsekhovskaia, Alexei Urmanov, Galina Kashina and Rafael Arutunian

Sergei is the veteran of this competition – he was born on October 3rd, 1987. He started to skate in 1991, and went through a long and tortuous process of growth and disappointment, but never gave up the sport. He isn’t the most technically advanced or the most artistic skater in the world, but he certainly does have fun if the skate is good enough. His heyday was probably the season of 2014-2015, when he won two silver medals at the Grand Prix events (the Rostelecom Cup and NHK Trophy) and made it to the 2014 Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, where he ended up being 3rd. At the start of this season, he improved his personal best score and won the Challenger Series Minsk Arena Ice Star. He improved on his results furthermore at the NHK Trophy.

His personal best overall score is 271.12 at the 2017 NHK Trophy, his best SP score is 90.33 at the 2014 Rostelecom Cup, his best FS score is 181.06 at the 2017 NHK Trophy.

Sergei won the NHK Trophy with two strong skates, which brought him two personal bests – for his FS and the overall accumulative score and is highly likely to make it to the Grand Prix Final if he can place at least 5th. We wish this veteran good luck!

His SP is Adios Nonino by Astor Piazzolla

His FP is Sarabande Suite

Both his programs were choreographed by Misha Ge.

 

 

Daniel Samohin ISR (#17)

 

An Israeli skater, the 2016 World Junior champion. He has won two ISU Challenger Series medals, including gold at the 2015 U.S. International Classic.

Currently coached by Igor Samohin, his father, his former coach was Igor Pashkevich. He lives and trains in the USA. His skating idol was Evgeni Plushenko. His brother, Stanislav, is 7½ years older and competed in figure skating for Russia and Israel.

He was born on March 12th, 1998 and started skating very young. He could have skated for the US team, but he chose to skate for Israel in the end. He started to compete internationally in 2013, but it was only last season that he moved on to the senior circuit. Unfortunately, the season of 2016-2017 put a bit of a damper on his ambitious plans, as he was dogged by inconsistency and sometimes by bad luck – everyone is sure to remember that his skates got lost with his luggage just before the 2017 European Championship, and he had to skate in a pair of skates he borrowed from his brother, and as a result, he didn’t make it into the free program skate. But nevertheless, Daniel is one of the few skaters to have landed two quad jumps in a short program, three quads in a free program, and five quads in one competition, which makes him a contender for a medal at this event.

The first GP event this season, turned out to be tumultuous for Daniel - he finished last in the field of 12, with 183.79 points. Let’s hope he does better at Skate America.

His personal best total score is 236.65 at the 2016 Junior World Championship, his personal best SP score is 83.47 at 2016 Cup of China, and his personal best FS score is 165.63 at the 2016 Junior World Championship.  

His SP is It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World

His FP is Two Angels

 

 

 

Maxim Kovtun (RUS) (22 y.o.) (World Standings 16)

 

A Russian skater, a three-time European medallist and three-time Russian national champion (2014, 2015, 2016).

Currently coached by Inna Goncharenko, his former coaches were Elena Buianova, Tatiana Tarasova, Maxim Zavozin, Nikolai Morozov, Marina Voitsekhovskaia

Maxim was born on June 18th, 1995, and started to skate at the age of four. He wanted to be a hockey skater at first, but stuck with figure skating. He was one of the first skaters to try jumping two quads in his short program and three quads in his free program, and as such, he soon became the centre of fevered expectations of the Russian Federation and Russian fans alike, who expected him to quickly rise in the ranks of top men and start winning medals. These expectations might have contributed to his problems both with his nerves and unfortunately with his body too. He was expected to take part in two GP events this season, but SA is his first outing – and his coach Inna Goncharenko intimated that while he does take part in it, his issues are not quite over and this is just a trial competition for him.

His personal best overall score is 266.80, his best SP score is 94.53, his best FS score is 172.27, all of them set at the 2017 European Championship.

His SP is Flamenco selection

His FP is Hey You by Pink Floyd

 

 

 

Adam Rippon (USA) (28 y.o.) (World Standings 10)

 

An American skater, the 2010 Four Continents champion and 2016 U.S. national champion. Earlier in his career, he won the 2008 and 2009 World Junior Championships, the 2007–08 Junior Grand Prix Final, and the 2008 U.S junior national title.

Currently coached by Rafael Arutunian, Vera Arutunian, Nadia Kanaeva, his previous coaches were Jason Dungjen, Yuka Sato, Brian Orser, Ghislain Briand, N. Morozov, E. Sergeeva

Adam was born on November 11th, 1989, and started to skate quite late when he was 10. He’s also the only male skater to have won the Junior World Championship twice. He’s a lyrical skater with nice choreography and some trademark moves like the way to jump his triple lutzes with both hands above his head (the move is colloquially known as rippon) and his layback spins, but he’s been held low by his inability to jump quads. He’s been trying to jump and land 4Lz for quite a while, but he hasn’t really tried many of the others.

Last year, he had to withdraw from competitions due to a fracture, but now he’s ready to join the fray and try and make it to Pyongchang.

His personal best overall score is 267.53 at the 2016 Trophee de France, his best SP score is 87.86 at the 2016 US International FS Classic, his best FS score is 182.28 at the 2016 Trophee de France.

Adam finished 2nd at the NHK Trophy with 261.99 points and has good chances of making it to the Grand Prix Final now though he’d probably best finish at least in the third position for that.

His SP is Advice Of Tomorrow/Let Me Think About It choreographed by Jeffrey Buttle

His FP is Arrival Of The Birds choreographed by Benji Schwimmer.

 

 

 

Nathan Chen (USA) (18 y.o) (World Standings #7)

 

An American skater,  the 2017 Four Continents champion, 2016–17 Grand Prix Final silver medallist, and 2017 U.S. national champion. Earlier in his career, he won bronze at the 2014 World Junior Championships and gold at the 2015–16 Junior Grand Prix Final.

Currently coached by Rafael Arutunyan. Genia Chernyshova, Karl Kovar and Marina Zouyeva were his former coaches.

Nathan was born on May 5th, 1999, and started skating at the age of three. He moved to Arutunyan in 2011. His junior years proved he was about to become a major threat to all the elite skaters, but he has been dogged with injuries and has had to undergo a couple of surgeries.

Nathan is the only skater in the world who landed both the quad lutz and quad flip jumps in competitions. He is also the first man to land five quads in the free program and is the current record holder of scoring the most amount of points on one element (the quad lutz-triple toe loop combination). His technical prowess made him capable of beating the other top senior figure skaters, which he decisively proved by finishing ahead of Yuzuru at the 2017 Four Continents Championship and winning the gold medal there.

His personal best total score is 307.46, his personal best SP score is 103.12, and his personal best FS score is 204.34, all of which were achieved at the 2017 Four Continents Championship.

Nathan won the Rostelecom Cup with 293.79 and is a favourite to win Skate America too.

His SP is Nemesis by Benjamin Clementine choreographed by Shae Lynn Bourne

His FP is Mao’s Last Dancer by Christopher Gordon choreographed by Lori Nichol

In addition to figure skating, as a kid, Chen trained in ballet with Ballet West Academy as well as competing in gymnastics at the state and regional levels for seven years.

 

Boyang Jin (CHN) (20 y.o.) (World Standings #5)

 

A Chinese skater, a two-time World bronze medallist (2016–2017), the 2016 Four Continents silver medallist, the 2017 Asian Winter Games silver medallist, and a four-time (2014–2017) Chinese national champion.On the junior level, he is the 2015 World Junior silver medallist and the 2013 JGP Final champion.

Currently coached by Zhaoxiao Xu and Caishu Fu, his previous coach was Xiujing Chen

Boyang Jin was born on October 3rd, 1997 and started to skate at the age of seven and a half. He soon developed as a jumping talent and a technical wiz – Boyang Jin became the first skater to ever land a quad lutz-triple toe loop combination in international competition,the first skater to have landed four quad jumps in a free skate and six quads in a competition. He’s been kept relatively low by his less than stellar skating skills, but he’s been working hard on catching up in that respect as well, so it’ll be exciting to see how he develops.

He’s got a brilliant set of personal bests – his best overall score is 303.58, his best SP score is 98.64 and his best FS score is 204.94, all set by his clean skates at the 2017 World Championship, where he won his second World bronze medal. He started the season well by winning the 2017 Finlandia Trophy.

Boyang came second in the Cup of China with 264.48 and he is a likely candidate for the Grand Prix Final.

His SP is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

His FP is Star Wars soundtrack

 Both of his programs were choreographed by Lori Nichol.