Preview Skating Grand Prix Final

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating’s last competition of the series this season takes place December 15-17, 2006.

St. Petersburg, Russia hosts the final event, after six qualifying events (Skate America, Skate Canada, Cup of China, Trophee Eric Bombpard, Cup of Russia, and NHK Trophy. In order for skaters to advance to this weekend’s finals, they had to place in the top six at their qualifying competition.

At the final, skaters compete for top honors, world standings points, and $272,000 in prize money. First place finishers take home $25,000. Second place earns athletes $18,000. Third place is $12,000, and fourth place takes $6,000. Fifth place is worth $4,000, while a sixth place finisher makes $3,000. Pairs and ice dance couples split the loot. Those taking the top spots on the World Standings chart earn an additional bonus check. First place in the world at the conclusion of this season is worth an additional $45,000 for singles, or $67,500 for couples. Second place skaters go home with $27,000 (for ladies or men) or $40,500 for pairs or ice dancers. Third place is worth $18,000 to the singles skaters, and $27,000 to dance or pairs teams.

You can catch the action on December 24, 2006. ESPN will rebroadcast the final from 4-7pm, EST. Check your local listings, especially if you’re on the West Coast. The schedule for the final runs something like this: Friday, December 15, 2006, is the OD and SPs for ladies, men and pairs. Saturday is the free dance and free skate. As is typical, the exhibition gala rounds out the event on Sunday.

You might notice the athletes are quite fatigued after this long run of competitions – especially because several of the top skaters spent the summer touring. Many have fallen to injury and had to withdraw already. Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto withdrew this week due to Ben’s back injury after qualifying for the final. Most skaters tough it out, but the ice dancers have higher priorities; they want to be healthy at Nationals, which are only a month away and lead straight into Worlds.

When you watch the rebroadcast, however, you will hear a laundry list of injuries connected to most of the top skaters. At what point should we be asking if the series should be shortened for the sake of the health of the participants?

What you won’t see are Russian and US ladies, and this is a Grand Prix first since the likes of Kwan, Lipinski, Slutskaya and Cohen. The current US golden girl, Kimmie Meissner, didn’t even qualify for the final competition.

For a complete roster, including World Standings points and Grand Prix points, go to www.isu.org.