The Grand Prix (formerly known as the Champion Series) wrapped up in December, and the results after all six events have the following skaters heading to the Grand Prix Final in St. Petersburg - the top six qualifiers in the ladies and men's fields, and the top five pairs and dance teams. The skaters with the seventh and eighth place totals in singles, and sixth and seventh place totals in pairs/dance, are named alternates and will compete in the final in case of any withdrawals/injuries to the top six/five. LADIES (Top six qualify for the Final) 1. Elena Sokolova RUS 24 pts. 2. Maria Butyrskaya RUS 24 pts. 3. Elena Liashenko UKR 17 pts. 4. Tatyana Malinina UZB 16 pts. 5. Fumie Suguri JPN 16 pts. 6. Irina Slutskaya RUS 16 pts. ------------------------------------------------ 7. Nicole Bobek USA 14 pts. 8. Vanessa Gusmeroli FRA 11 pts. MEN (Top six qualify for the Final) 1= Evgeny Plushenko RUS 24 pts. 1= Alexei Yagudin RUS 24 pts. 3. Alexei Urmanov RUS 19 pts. 4. Michael Weiss USA 18 pts. 5. Alexander Abt RUS 16 pts. 6. Elvis Stojko CAN 14 pts. ----------------------------------------------- 7. Takeshi Honda JPN 13 pts. 8. Andrejs Vlascenko GER 12 pts. PAIRS (top five qualify for Final) 1. Elena Berezhnaya/Anton Sikharulidze RUS 24 pts. 2. Maria Petrova/Alexei Tikhonov RUS 21 pts. 3. Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao CHN 18 pts. 4. Kyoko Ina/John Zimmerman USA 16 pts. 5. Sarah Abitbol/Stephane Bernadis FRA 15 pts. ---------------------------------------------- 6. Kristy Sargeant/Kris Wirtz CAN 14 pts. 7. Jamie Sale/David Pelletier CAN 14 pts. DANCE (top five qualify for Final) 1= Marina Anissina/Gwendal Peizerat FRA 24 pts. 1= Anjelika Krylova/Oleg Ovsiannikov RUS 24 pts. 3. Shae-Lynn Bourne/Victor Kraatz CAN 21 pts. 4. Irina Lobacheva/Ilia Averbukh RUS 18 pts. 5= Barbara Fusar-Poli/Maurizio Margaglio ITA 16 pts. 5= Margarita Drobiazko/Povilas Vanagas LTU 16 pts. ---------------------------------------------- 7. Sylwia Nowak/Sebastian Kolasinski POL 12 pts. 8. Kati Winkler/Rene Lohse GER 12 pts.
New News ... January 25th! The season is in full-swing and about to hit high gear as the Canadian and U.S. National Championships both take place in late January/early February. The Bank of Montreal Canadian Championships take place in Ottawa, Ontario, January 27-31. Canuck stars Elvis Stojko and Bourne and Kraatz are shoo-ins to regain their respective titles, but the pairs and women's events remain wide open. Watch for newcomers Sale and Pelletier to battle Sargeant and Wirtz for the pairs title. Former national champs Savard-Gagnon and Bradet may be forced to withdraw as a back injury has sidelined Bradet and kept him off the ice for some time. In the women's event, 1998 silver medallist Keyla Ohs has been forced to withdraw due to illness. She was diagnosed with mononucleosis and pulled out of the competition today. Last year's champ, Angie Derochie, is now left with former champ Jennifer Robinson as her main competitor. In the men's and dance event, it's the battles for the silver which will heat up the competition behind the ever-present leaders Stojko and Bourne and Kraatz. Young rising star Emaneul Sandhu will have to conquer consistency programs to beat the more experienced Jeff Langdon for the second world team berth, while dancers Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe will fight perennial silver-medallists Chantal Lefebvre and Michel Brunet to join Shae and Vic in Helsinki. South of the border, the U.S. National Championships will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 7-14. Not one field seems to have a clearly predicted winner, which should make for an exciting competition. In the men's event, Michael Weiss should take home his first national title with relative ease, but youngster (and quadster) Tim Goebel, among others, will challenge him if he falters. The pairs event will be a competition between two brother-sister teams - Danielle and Steve Hartsell, and Tiffany and Johnnie Steigler - against the new pairing of Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman. Ina and Zimmerman have easily been the busiest team this season, competing in three Grand Prix events as well as several pro-ams - it will be interesting to see if the experience has paid off, or lead to exhaustion. The dance event will be interesting with Liz Punsallen and Jerod Swallow gone to the pro ranks and last year's runners-up, Jessica Joseph and Charles Butler, split. Many believe the winners will be Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev, who have made rapid progress on the Grand Prix scene ealier this season. Lastly, the women's event will feature Michelle Kwan in her first strictly eligible event of the season. Will her competitive strategy for the fall - eschewing Grand Prix events and concentrating on pro-ams - give her the edge, or will her lack of "real" competitions hurt her? Up against Kwan will be former champ Nicole Bobek, Angela Nikidinov, Amber Corwin, and many others.