Approximately 65 figure skaters from 16 countries will compete for points and prize money during the six 2005 Grand Prix Series events. Skaters can compete in two of the six events, and the top six point-earners in all four disciplines – ladies, men’s, pairs and ice dancing – earn a spot at the Grand Prix Final. Athletes will vie for a total of $1.35 million in prize money throughout the series and the Grand Prix Final.

Sasha Cohen took home the silver medal for the U.S. team at last weekend’s Trophée Eric Bompard in Paris, France. The current U.S. medal count for the 2005 Grand Prix Series stands at six medals, two of them gold.

U.S. TEAM AT CUP OF RUSSIA

LADIES

Emily Hughes (Great Neck, N.Y.) comes to St. Petersburg following a fifth-place finish at Smart Ones Skate America last month. She finished sixth in her other event of the season, the Campbell’s International Figure Skating Classic in St. Paul, Minn. Hughes is the current World Junior bronze medalist and finished sixth at the 2005 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Joining her in Russia is Amber Corwin (Hermosa Beach, Calif.). Corwin enters her second event of the season after a 10th-place finish at Cup of China. This will be Corwin’s 11th Grand Prix event in 10 seasons, with her best finish coming at 1999 Skate Canada, where she finished fourth. Corwin also finished eighth at the 2005 U.S. Championships and sixth at the 2005 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships.

MEN

Johnny Weir (Newark, Del.) comes to Russia looking to improve upon his seventh-place finish at Skate Canada last month, at which he struggled with an injury. The two-time defending U.S. champion won two Grand Prix events last season, 2004 Trophée Eric Bompard and the 2004 NHK Trophy, before just missing the podium with a fourth-place finish at the 2005 World Figure Skating Championships. Weir began the season with a fourth-place finish at the Campbell’s Classic.

PAIRS

Brooke Castile (Groose Point Woods, Mich.) & Ben Okolski (Ann Arbor, Mich.) will tackle their second Grand Prix event in as many weeks after a sixth-place finish last weekend at Trophée Eric Bompard. The pair finished seventh at the 2005 U.S. Championships and seventh at the 2005 Four Continents Championships in Korea. Last season the pair competed in the Junior Grand Prix, finishing third at 2004 JGP France and fifth at 2004 JGP China. This will be the second career Grand Prix competition for Brittany Vise (Colorado Springs, Colo.) & Nicholas Kole (Littleton, Colo.), who finished seventh last year at 2004 Skate Canada. Vise & Kole won a silver medal at the 2004 Junior Grand Prix Final and finished sixth at the 2004 World Junior Championships. The pair finished eighth at the 2005 U.S. Championships.

ICE DANCING

Melissa Gregory (Northbrook, Ill.) & Denis Petukhov (Kirov, Russia & Hartford, Conn.) hope to find themselves atop the medals stand again this year after a third-place finish at Skate Canada. They finished second at the 2005 U.S. Championships and second at the 2005 Four Continents Championship before going on to finish 10th at the World Championships in Moscow. Also competing in Russia are Loren Galler-Rabinowitz (Brookline, Mass.) & David Mitchell (Cortland, N.Y.), who return to the Grand Prix Series for a third season after ninth-place finishes at both Skate America and Skate Canada in 2004. The 2004 U.S. bronze medalists finished eighth at the 2004 Four Continents Championships. The pair did not compete at the 2005 U.S. Championships after Mitchell underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

– U.S. Figure Skating –

U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the International Skating Union. U.S. Figure Skating is comprised of more than 585 member clubs representing nearly 160,000 members. U.S. Figure Skating is charged with the development of the sport on all levels within the United States, including athletes, officials, sanctioning of events and exhibitions, and establishing the rules and guidelines by which the sport is governed.