Although Torino (or Turin or the place where that stare took place in 2006) has hosted the Grand Prix Final twice, this is the first time the city or Italy indeed has staged a fully-fledged stand alone Grand Prix event. Grazie China!

When is it on?

The competition begins Friday, 5 November with the rhythm dance and short programmes and concludes Saturday, 6 November with the free dance and free skating segments.

Who is skating?

World silver medallist Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) is the top seed in the men’s event and he has already won the Asian Open Figure Trophy, the Beijing Olympics test event, this season. Boyang Jin (CHN) shared the podium with Kagiyama in Beijing where he claimed bronze. Mikhail Kolyada (RUS) and Dmitri Aliev finished second and third respectively at Finlandia Trophy last month. Daniel Grassl (ITA) will have the crowd behind him in the Palavela.

Anna Shcherbakova (RUS) was riding high after being crowned World champion in March, but in October at Budapest Trophy she was defeated by Maiia Khromyk (RUS) with whom she trains alongside under the tutelage of Eteri Tutberidze. They will face off against each other again in Torino. Loena Hendrickx (BEL) broke into the top five at the World Championships in Stockholm and set personal bests at Finlandia Trophy last month. In her Grand Prix comeback last weekend, Mai Mihara (JPN) just missed out on the podium when she came fourth at Skate Canada International. Satoko Miyahara (JPN) placed a disappointing seventh at Skate America and will be hoping for an improved result this weekend.

For the second week in a row, Wenjing Sui and Cong Han will headline the pairs event. Another Grand Prix victory should be a mere formality for the two-time World champions with their closest rivals likely to be teammates Cheng Peng and Yang Jin (CHN). This category may represent the best opportunity for a home medal with Italian veterans Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise (ITA) in the hunt. No doubt they will be challenged by the young Russians Iuliia Artemeva and Mikhail Nazarychev (RUS) who finished fourth at the 2019 Junior Grand Prix Final at the same venue.

Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) decided to sit out the entirety of last season and this will be their first Grand Prix event since 2019. The four-time World champions won Finlandia Trophy four weeks ago. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue (USA) have already tasted victory this season on the Grand Prix circuit when they captured the Skate America title in Las Vegas. Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin make their international season debut in Torino this weekend.

Everything you need to know (and some things you did not) about the skaters, the competition schedule and results can be viewed here.

When is the skating on?

Late at night if you are in Asia, just the right time in Europe and early morning to middle of the day depending what coast in North America. The times listed for Gran Premio D’Italia are local and if you want to know what the time difference is between where you are and Torino/Turin then this link is your friend.

Where can I watch the pretty skaters?

The wonderful and very helpful people at the ISU have compiled a handy guide as to where you can view this season’s Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series in a whole host of countries and territories. For everyone else, there is the ISU Skating YouTube channel.

What are the hashtags?

#GPFigure #GPItalia #FigureSkating