COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.– The International Skating Union (ISU) and U.S. Figure Skating announced Saturday the skater selections for the 2009 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series, which will begin Oct. 15-18 with Trophée Eric Bompard in Paris, France. The Grand Prix Series, which enters its 15th season, incorporates six prestigious international figure skating competitions as a unified point-scoring series that awards prize money to eligible skaters.

SKATE AMERICA

Skate America, which historically is the first competition in the ISU Grand Prix Series, occurs later in the calendar this year, as the fifth of six events. This year’s Skate America will take place Nov. 12-15 at the 1980 Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y. This marks the sixth time the state of New York has hosted the event and the fourth time it has been held in Lake Placid (1979, 1981-82).

Skate America will welcome 18 top U.S. athletes in addition to its international field. Those Americans competing in Lake Placid include 2006 Olympic ice dancing silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto and 2006 Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen.

For the complete list of international skaters competing at 2009 Skate America, please visit the ISU web site at www.isu.org. The U.S. athletes competing at Skate America are as follows:

At the conclusion of the six events, athletes’ points are totaled, and the top six ladies, pairs and ice dancing teams are invited to compete at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. This year the Grand Prix Final will be held Dec. 3-6 in Tokyo, Japan.

The ISU Grand Prix Series consists of the following six events:

Trophée Eric Bompard                        Paris, France                             Oct. 15-18

Rostelecom Cup                      Moscow, Russia                        Oct. 22-25

Cup of China                            Beijing, China                            Oct. 29-Nov. 1

NHK Trophy                             Nagano, Japan               Nov. 5-8

Skate America                         Lake Placid, N.Y., USA              Nov. 12-15

Skate Canada                          Kitchener, Ontario, Canada         Nov. 19-22

The complete list of skater selections for the 2009 Grand Prix Series is available at www.isu.org. The list of U.S. skater selections for the remaining Grand Prix Series events is below. Skaters are subject to change.