ISU Skate America 2022!

By Leslie Urena ('24)

Photo courtesy Of U.S. Figure Skating 

On October 21st, 2022, the International Skating Union's Grand Prix season officially began with Skate America! The Grand Prix is a senior-level series of six different competitions hosted by six different countries, headed by the International Skating Union (ISU). The biggest names of figure skating get to compete against each other on international ice (having been assigned two locations at random), accumulating points as they go, until the top six in each discipline qualify for the Grand Prix Final. These disciplines include ladies’ singles skating, men’s singles skating, pairs skating, and ice dancing.

Since the finals have been canceled the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the medalists of the 2019-2020 season have yet to be dethroned. This makes the stakes for the current Grand Prix season higher, for the ISU considers a Grand Prix Final medal its second-highest honor, next to the World Championships. 


This year, Skate America took place in Norwood, Massachusetts, at the Skating Club of Boston. October 21st was the pairs and men's short program, and October 22nd was the women’s short program and ice dance’s rhythm dance (an equivalent to the short program in skating).

Kao Miura competing in the men's free skate at the Japan Junior Championships.

Photo courtesy Of JAPAN Forward

Sakamoto winning the women's title at Skate America!

Photo Courtesy Of Kyodo News

The singles and pairs short programs are 2 minutes and 40 seconds long, and the rhythm dance is 2 minutes and 50 seconds long. Each discipline has different elements required in the short. Since this program’s time is less than that of the free program, it leaves less room for error, and skaters earn lower scores that are to be tacked onto those earned in the free. The sum of the short and free determine the rankings.

On Saturday, October 22, the pairs and men’s free skate took place. The free skate and free dance are four minutes long and give skaters the freedom to combine the elements of their choice, creating a cohesive program balancing technical elements and personal components. The ISU has different standards for what is considered a “cohesive free program” depending on the discipline.

The free dance, women’s free skate, and the skating spectacular were all held on October 23rd. The skating spectacular is a chance for skaters to showcase their talents in programs of their choice without the pressure of scoring. 


The scores in skating have two categories. The technical component scores, and the personal component scores. The technical component scores judge a skater’s jumps on their takeoff, rotations, and landings. In ice dance, the scores depend on the lifts. All disciplines are judged for their personal component scores, which are determined by the skaters' artistry and emotions during their program. Both scores have equal value in determining a skater’s score; neither one is more important than the other. Once all of the scores are added up at the end of each discipline's free skates, the podiums are determined.

Photo Courtesy Of U.S Figure Skating Fan Zone

Men’s Skating 


Women’s Skating 


Pairs Skating 


Ice Dancing 

If the gold medal pairs and ice dance teams all sound familiar, it may be because they were both at the 2022 Winter Olympics! Madison Chock and Evan Bates, alongside Alexa Knierman and Brandon Frazier, helped earn a silver medal for the U.S. in the team event. Both teams are well-established in U.S. figure skating and seem to be heading in promising directions this season. 

Kaori Sakamoto’s name may also ring a bell because she too was at this year's Olympic Games, as well as Pyeong Chang in 2018. In 2022, Sakamoto earned Japan a bronze medal at the Olympics and a gold at Worlds; a pleasant shock to all those expecting a Russian sweep of both podiums. Sakamoto has made it clear that she is in this game for the long run, having already been through five senior Grand Prix seasons, and fans are excited to see what she will be bringing to the table with the Russian absence this year.

At just 17 years old, Skate America was Ilia Malinin’s first senior Grand Prix competition.  If he was unknown before, he is most definitely not now! At this competition, Malinin landed the second clean quad axel in history, successfully combining figure skating’s most notoriously difficult jumps. The first had already been landed earlier this year at the 2022 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic, by Malinin himself. The self-proclaimed “Quad God” has been the talk of the skating community, with his effortless jumping technique, since his silver medal at the 2022 U.S. Nationals. So long as he is using safe training methods for his quadruple jumps, we can expect to see many great things from him in the future.

Photo Courtesy Of The Washington City Paper

While including a lot of familiar faces, the new Grand Prix season is also an opportunity for many unfamiliar ones to introduce themselves to the international skating scene. After the Olympics, many skaters and skating teams decided to retire after completing their lifelong goals. Most notable in absence are Nathan Chen (USA’s Olympic gold medalist), Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan’s 2-time Olympic Gold Medalist), ice dance team Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron (France’s Olympic Gold Medalists), and pairs team Wenjing Sui/Cong Han (China’s Olympic Gold Medalists). 

As previously mentioned, the usual Russian dominance will also be missing from this Grand Prix season, for the ISU has banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions because of the war in Ukraine. The Rostelecom Cup of Russia and the Cup of China (canceled due to travel restrictions) have also been consequently replaced with the MK John Wilson Trophy in England. 

The next Grand Prix event will be Skate Canada, held from October 28, 2022 – October 30, 2022, with it and all future events leading up to the finals in early December. This season is undoubtedly shaping up to be an exciting one, and surely not one to miss!

Cover photo courtesy of Olympics

Banner photo courtesy of Skate Canada