by Matteo Morelli

It is official: the 2024 Grand Prix season is ready to start! As always, Skate America will kick off the 6 Grand Prix events that will lead to the Grand Prix Final, this year taking place in Grenoble, France, from December 5-8.

Skate America will be entering its 42nd edition, having started in 1979 as a test event for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games to then be added to the Grand Prix circuit in 1995. Allen, Texas, will be hosting the event for a second consecutive year, welcoming the 10 entries in each of the four disciplines, with the ice dance promising to provide an exciting competition.

Teams at the event

Two-time world champions Madison Chock & Evan Bates will be debuting their new programmes on home soil, trying to secure a third consecutive win at their home Grand Prix. Their rhythm dance is on a mix of different styles and music, including the Bee Gees, Village People and Donna Summer, while their free is on a medley of a classic and contemporary version of “Take five”. Needless to say, there will be a lot of interest in seeing their costumes and understanding if Chock will have, once again, inputted into their designs. But remember: do not get too attached to them, we know that they might change and evolve throughout the season!

Also from the USA, we will see two teams at their Grand Prix debut: the Junior World Champions Leah Neset & Artem Markelov, who were also at Lake Placid International and won a bronze medal at Lombardia Trophy, and Annabelle Morozov and Jeffrey Chen, called last minute to replace Isabella Flores and Ivan Desyatov.

Great Britain’s Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson will be back to Skate America after their first ever Grand Prix debut there in 2018. Back then, they ended in 5th place, but this time they will be contending one of the top medals at the event. This season, they have already won a gold medal at Nebelhorn Trophy, where they showcased their new programmes, including their free on music by Beyoncé.

Georgia’s Diana Davis & Gleb Smolkin will be presenting their new programmes at Skate America, after they were due to kick off the season at Denis Ten Memorial Challenge but had to withdraw because of an injury. This will be their debut as students of the Ice Academy of Montreal, a change that was made official in July.

Kateřina Mrázková & Daniel Mrázek of the Czech Republic are coming back to Skate America for a second year in a row. They debuted their new programmes at the Denis Ten Memorial Challenge, where they ended in fourth place with just a couple of points separating them from the medal positions.

In their second year of their new partnership, Spain’s Olivia Smart & Tim Dieck are going back to Allen after having started the season at Nebelhorn Trophy, where they presented their new free programme on music from the movie Dune.

Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac of Canada won their first Grand Prix medal (a bronze) at Skate America in 2022, and will aim to show their best again this year after starting the season with a gold medal from Lake Placed International. Also from Canada and added last minute to replace Germany’s Jennifer Janse Van Rensburg and Benjamin Steffan, Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer will be competing at the third Grand Prix of their career.

Silver Junior World medallists Elizabeth Tkachenko & Alexei Kiliakov of Israel will be debuting at their first Grand Prix event of their senior carrer.

Event info: The rhythm dance kicks off on Saturday, October 19, at 1:03pm (CDT); the free dance occurs on Sunday, October 20, at 1:22pm (CDT).