Italian Grand Prix of figure skating starts this month

The Italian Ice Sports Federation has announced the creation of the Italian Grand Prix of figure skating. Italy will host four stages in different locations between October and December, as the top skaters in each discipline will attempt to qualify for the Final – scheduled to be held in mid-February.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic worldwide, many competitions have been cancelled or it is difficult to travel to them. With that in mind, the head of figure skating in the federation, Paolo Pizzocari, noted that the creation of an event, such as a local Grand Prix series, is important for athletes in order to maintain the habit of competing.

All of the best Italian figure skaters are expected to participate, as well as some foreign participants based on invitations. Those participants will be made public after the federations for which the skaters are members of receive the communication.

STAGE ONE (October 24-25), Bergamo

LADIES:
Kristen Spours (Great Britain)
Elisabetta Leccardi
Ginevra Lavinia Negrello
Chenny Paolucci
Francesca Poletti
Greta Morkite (Lithuania)

MEN:
Mattia Dalla Torre
Gabriele Frangipani
Daniel Grassl
Matteo Rizzo
Alberto Vanz
Philip Warren (France)

PAIRS:
Sara Conti & Niccolo Macii
Nicole Della Monica & Matteo Guarise
Rebecca Ghilardi & Filippo Ambrosini
Dorota Broda & Pedro Betegon (Spain)

STAGE TWO (November 21-22), Turin

LADIES:
Greta Baldan
Lucrezia Beccari
Lucrezia Gennaro
Roberta Rodeghiero
Alice Orrù
Alessia Tornaghi

ICE DANCE:
Chiara Calderone & Aleksei Dubrovin
Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri
Carolina Moscheni & Francesco Fioretti
(2 foreign couples by invitation)

JUNIOR ICE DANCE:
Nicole Calderari & Marco Cilli
Sara Campanini & Francesco Riva
Carolina Portesi Peroni & Michael Chrastecky
Noemi Tali & Stefano Frasca
Giulia Tuba & Andrea Tuba

STAGE THREE (November 28-29), Egna

LADIES:
Lucrezia Beccari
Lara Naki Gutmann
Elisabetta Leccardi
Ginevra Negrello
Chenny Paolucci
(1 foreign athlete by invitation)

MEN:
Mattia Dalla Torre
Alessandro Fadini
Gabriele Frangipani
Daniel Grassl
Matteo Rizzo
(1 foreign athlete by invitation)

PAIRS:
Irma Caldara & Marco Santucci
Vivienne Contarino & Marco Pauletti
Nicole Della Monica & Matteo Guarise
Rebecca Ghilardi & Filippo Ambrosini

STAGE FOUR (December 5-6), Trento

LADIES:
Lucrezia Gennaro
Lara Naki Gutmann
Roberta Rodeghiero
Alessia Tornaghi
(2 foreign athletes by invitation)

ICE DANCE:
Chiara Calderone & Aleksei Dubrovin
Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri
Carolina Moscheni & Francesco Fioretti
Katrine Roy & Claudio Pietrantonio
(1 foreign couple by invitation)

JUNIOR ICE DANCE:
Nicole Calderari & Marco Cilli
Sara Campanini & Francesco Riva
Giogia Galimberti & Matteo Mandelli
Carolina Portesi Peroni & Michael Chrastecky
Giulia Tuba & Andrea Tuba