Skate Canada – SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, USA: For the first time ever, skaters from Skate Canada and U.S. Figure Skating will come together to compete as Team North America at the inaugural KOSÉ Team Challenge Cup. The event will be held April 22-24 at the Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington, USA.

Team North America will consist of four Canadian and six American entries for a total of 10 entries and 14 skaters in total.

TEAM NORTH AMERICA – 2016 KOSÉ TEAM CHALLENGE CUP

	NAME	HOMETOWN	TRAINING TOWN	COUNTRY
Ladies	Gabrielle Daleman	Newmarket, Ontario	Toronto, Ontario	CAN
	Gracie Gold	Hermosa Beach, California	El Segundo, California	USA
	Ashley Wagner	Alexandria, Virginia	Los Angeles, California	USA
Men	Jason Brown	Highland Park, Illinois	Monument, Colorado	USA
	Nam Nguyen	Toronto, Ontario	Toronto, Ontario	CAN
	Adam Rippon	Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania	Los Angeles, California	USA
Pairs	Meagan Duhamel Eric Radford	Lively, Ontario Balmertown, Ontario	Montreal, Quebec	CAN
	Alexa Scimeca Chris Knierim	Addison, Illinois San Diego, California	Colorado Springs, Colorado	USA
Ice Dance	Madison Chock Evan Bates	Redondo Beach, California Ann Arbor, Michigan	Novi, Michigan	USA
	Kaitlyn Weaver Andrew Poje	Kitchener, Ontario	Bloomfield Hills, Michigan	CAN

An ISU-sanctioned event, the Team Challenge Cup will feature 42 figure skaters competing in a continental team competition (Team Asia vs. Team Europe vs. Team North America). Each Team will consist of three ladies, three men, two pairs teams and two ice dance teams. ISU World Standings (as of Jan. 1, 2016) and the Captain’s Pick Fan Vote were used to determine Team Challenge Cup athletes.

Each team will have a Team Captain, a legend of the sport, who will not compete but help determine team strategy. Team North America will be captained by American Kristi Yamaguchi, the 1992 Olympic champion. Great Britain’s Christopher Dean, the 1984 Olympic ice dance champion with partner Jayne Torvill, will captain Team Europe and Japan’s Shizuka Arakawa, the 2006 Olympic champion, will captain Team Asia.

The Team Challenge Cup will feature two days of competition, opening Friday night with the singles competition as the ladies and men compete in head-to-head matchups for more than $100,000 in prize money. Saturday’s Team Competition (all disciplines) will feature an aggregate scoring format to determine the 2016 Team Challenge Cup winner with a prize purse of nearly $500,000, for a total prize purse of $617,000 (US Dollars).

For more information, please visit the event website.

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Skate Canada is the nation’s governing body for competitive figure skating and is dedicated to creating a nation of skaters, both recreationally and competitively. Over 125 years old, Skate Canada is the world’s oldest skating organization and Canada’s preeminent leader in skating instruction and education. Over 130,000 Canadians participate in Skate Canada educational programs each year, including our flagship CanSkate program that teaches beginners of every age the basic skills of skating and fundamental movements.

As one of Canada’s most successful governing sport bodies, Skate Canada athletes have won 25 Olympic medals and 32 world championships. Today’s Canadian world and Olympic medalists all began at one of our 1,200 local Skate Canada clubs or skating schools. Through our programs, more than 5,500 certified professional coaches encourage Canadians of all ages to skate together as a family, pursue competitive ice sports and enjoy an active lifestyle.

Skate Canada has a National Service Centre in Ottawa, marketing headquarters in Toronto and high performance facilities in Toronto and Calgary.

For Information:

 

Emma Bowie
Communications Manager
+1 (613) 747-1007 ext. 2547
ebowie@skatecanada.ca