han Wang and Lei Wang, who took home a pair of bronze medals last season from Cup of China and Trophée Bompard. Making their Grand Prix debut for Team USA
are Gretchen Donlan and Nathan Bartholomay, and reigning U.S. bronze medalists Tarah Kayne and Daniel O’Shea, who withdrew from their Grand Prix assignments last season while Kayne recovered from hip surgery. “Our first Grand Prix is meaningful to us after not being able to compete in the ones assigned to us last year,” O’Shea said. “We have had to persevere through a lot of adversity to get to this stage in com- petition, and that makes being able to have our Grand Prix debut at home in America even more meaning- ful. It is always a true honor to be able to represent our country, and we are excited to be able to do so with the home crowd behind us.”
I CE D AN CE Chock and Bates will face tough competition
Jason Brown M E N
Olympic bronze medalist Denis Ten of Kazakh- stan will make his fourth Skate America appearance, squaring off against 2014 Skate Canada champion Takahito Mura of Japan and his teammate Shoma Uno, who won the 2014 Junior Grand Prix Final. Taking on the deep international field, Brown will be joined on Team USA by 2013 U.S. silver medalist Ross Miner and 2013 U.S. champion Max Aaron, who won bronze at this event in 2013. “I am super honored and excited to be heading
back to Skate America a second time,” Aaron said. “I absolutely love competing on home soil and per- forming in front of a home crowd. I was also able to witness a Badgers hockey game many years ago and I know how crazy the fans can be. I am definitely look- ing forward to it and hoping that the energy they had back then will be present that weekend.” Aaron has earned two career Grand Prix Series medals in as many seasons, securing bronze at Skate Canada last year. Tis season, he hopes to build his programs to the level of his impressive arsenal of el- ements, presenting the judges with a total package performance. “My main goal for this event is to skate two
well-executed performances,” Aaron continued. “I have been working on the integrity of my perfor- mance and I can’t wait to show my programs.” Miner will compete at Skate America for the first time, in hope of returning to the Grand Prix Se- ries podium, a feat he last accomplished by earning bronze at NHK Trophy in 2012.
PA IRS Russia’s Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov, and
China’s Wenjing Sui and Cong Han, the reigning Grand Prix Final silver and bronze medalists, respec- tively, will join Scimeca and Knierim in the medal chase.
Stolbova and Klimov, the 2014 Olympic silver medalists, won gold at Rostelecom Cup and Trophée Eric Bompard last year before opting out of the World Championships to prepare for the 2015–16 season. Sui and Han represent a force to be reckoned with, being joined in Milwaukee by teammates Xue-
with Anna Yanovskaia and Sergey Mozgov of Rus- sia, and Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada in the field. Yanovskaia and Mozgov make their senior Grand Prix debut at the event after back-to-back undefeated seasons on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, while Gilles and Poirier will fight for their first gold after finishing second at Skate Canada and Trophée Bompard last year. Team USA’s Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc
Baker, who placed fourth at the 2015 U.S. Champi- onships, will skate for their second Grand Prix Series medal after earning bronze at NHK Trophy — just their second Grand Prix event — last season. “We are so honored to be chosen to represent the U.S. at our first Skate America,” Hawayek said. “We are beyond excited to compete on home soil. Te fans at nationals this past year were incredible and we can’t wait to experience the same support again.” Rounding out the U.S. ice dance contingent are Anastasia Cannuscio and Colin McManus, who will make their third Skate America appearance. Te duo placed fifth in 2014, earning the minimum technical score to qualify for the 2015 World Championships in the short dance — a personal goal they had been working toward for three seasons. Tey placed fifth at the 2015 U.S. Championships in January.
Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim
2015 SKATE AMERICA COMPETIT ORS
LADIES Alaine Chartrand, Canada Haruka Imai, Japan Satoko Miyahara, Japan Miyu Nakashio, Japan Elizabet Tursynbayeva, Kazakhstan So Youn Park, Korea Julia Lipnitskaia, Russia Evgenia Medvedeva, Russia Nicole Rajicova, Slovakia Mariah Bell, United States Karen Chen, United States Gracie Gold, United States MEN Brendan Kerry, Australia Han Yan, China Florent Amodio, France Alexei Bychenko, Israel Takahito Mura, Japan Shoma Uno, Japan Denis Ten, Kazakhstan Konstantin Menshov, Russia Adian Pitkeev, Russia Max Aaron, United States Jason Brown, Unites States Ross Miner, United States PAIRS
Julianne Seguin/Charlie Bilodeau, Canada Wenjing Sui/Cong Han, China Xuehan Wang/Lei Wang, China Kristina Astakhova/Alexei Rogonov, Russia Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov, Russia Gretchen Donlan/Nathan Bartholomay, United States
Tarah Kayne/Daniel O’Shea, United States Alexa Scimeca/Chris Knierim, United States ICE DANCE Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier, Canada Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Liu, China Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov, Russia Anna Yanovskaia/Sergey Mozgov, Russia Alexandra Nazarova/Maxim Nikitin, Ukraine Madison Chock/Evan Bates, United States Anastasia Cannuscio/Colin McManus, United States
Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker, United States
EV E N TS S C H E DUL E
Friday, Oct. 23 3:30–4:05 p.m. – Pairs Short Program 4:25–6 p.m. – Ladies Short Program 7:30–8:35 p.m. – Short Dance 8:55–10:25 p.m. – Men’s Short Program Saturday, Oct. 24 12:30–1:55 p.m. – Pairs Free Skate 2:05–3:55 p.m. – Ladies Free Skate 7:30–8:45 p.m. – Free Dance 9:05–10:55 p.m. – Men’s Free Skate Sunday, Oct. 25 2–4:30 p.m. – Smucker’s Skating Spectacular
SKATING 21
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