Grand Prix of Finland

For the ISU Challenger Series event, see Finlandia Trophy.

Grand Prix of Finland
Status	Active
Genre	Grand Prix competition
Frequency	Annual
Country	Finland
Inaugurated	2018
Previous event	2024 Finlandia Trophy
Next event	2025 Finlandia Trophy
Organized by	Finnish Figure Skating Association

The Grand Prix of Finland is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU). It is organized and hosted by the Finnish Figure Skating Association, and part of the ISU Grand Prix Series. The first competition was held in 2018 in Helsinki as a replacement for the Cup of China. It returned in 2022 as a replacement for the Rostelecom Cup after Russia was banned from international figure skating competitions. The Grand Prix of Finland has been held under several names: the Grand Prix of Helsinki, the Grand Prix of Espoo, and the Finlandia Trophy. The 2025 Finlandia Trophy is scheduled to be held in November in Helsinki.

Medals are awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Skaters earn points based on their results at the qualifying competitions each season, and the top skaters or teams in each discipline are invited to then compete at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.

History

Beginning with the 1995–96 season, the International Skating Union (ISU) launched the Champions Series – later renamed the Grand Prix Series – which, at its inception, consisted of five qualifying competitions and the Champions Series Final. This allowed skaters to perfect their programs earlier in the season, as well as compete against the skaters with whom they would later compete at the World Championships. ^[1] This series also provided the viewing public with additional televised skating, which was in high demand. ^[1] Skaters earned points based on their results in their respective competitions and the top skaters or teams in each discipline were invited to compete at the Champions Series Final. ^[1]

The first edition of the Grand Prix of Finland was held in 2018 in Helsinki as a replacement event for the Cup of China – a long-time event in the Grand Prix series – after the Chinese Skating Association declined to host any international skating events in order to prepare its venues for the 2022 Winter Olympics. ^{[2] [3]} Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan won this inaugural men's event, while Alina Zagitova of Russia won the women's event. Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert of Russia won the pairs event, and Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin, also of Russia, won the ice dance event. ^[4]

The gold, silver, and bronze medalists in the men's event at the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki: Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan (center), Michal Březina of the Czech Republic (left), and Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea (right)

The gold, silver, and bronze medalists in the women's event at the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki: Alina Zagitova of Russia (center), Stanislava Konstantinova of Russia (left), and Kaori Sakamoto of Japan (right)

The gold, silver, and bronze medalists in the pairs event at the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki: Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert of Russia (center), Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise of Italy (left), and Daria Pavliuchenko and Denis Khodykin of Russia (right)

The gold, silver, and bronze medalists in the ice dance event at the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki: Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin of Russia (center), Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy (left), and Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Carpenter of the United States (right)

No competitions were held from 2019 to 2021 since the Grand Prix of Finland – at that point called the Grand Prix of Helsinki – had been a one-time substitute for the Cup of China. Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian and Belarusian athletes were banned from participating in international figure skating competitions. ^{[5] [6]} The ISU also ordered that no international competitions would be held in Russia or Belarus. Therefore, the Rostelecom Cup, which had been scheduled for that November, was cancelled. ^[7] As such, the Grand Prix of Finland – now retitled the Grand Prix of Espoo – was staged to serve as a replacement. ^[8]

In 2024, the Grand Prix of Finland adopted the name Finlandia Trophy, ^[9] which had previously been the name of Finland's Challenger Series event. ^[10] The 2025 Finlandia Trophy is scheduled to be held 21–23 November in Helsinki. ^[11]

Medalists

The reigning Grand Prix of Finland champions: Yuma Kagiyama of Japan (men's singles); Hana Yoshida of Japan (women's singles); Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada (pair skating); and Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain (ice dance)

Men's singles

Men's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
2018	Helsinki	Yuzuru Hanyu	Michal Březina	Cha Jun-hwan	[4]
2019–21	No competitions held
2022	Espoo	Ilia Malinin	Shun Sato	Kévin Aymoz	[12]
2023		Kao Miura			[13]
2024	Helsinki	Yuma Kagiyama	Kévin Aymoz	Daniel Grassl	[9]

Women's singles

Women's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
2018	Helsinki	Alina Zagitova	Stanislava Konstantinova	Kaori Sakamoto	[4]
2019–21	No competitions held
2022	Espoo	Mai Mihara	Loena Hendrickx	Mana Kawabe	[12]
2023		Kaori Sakamoto	Rion Sumiyoshi	Amber Glenn	[13]
2024	Helsinki	Hana Yoshida	Rino Matsuike	Lara Naki Gutmann	[9]

Pairs

Pairs event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
2018	Helsinki	Natalia Zabiiako Alexander Enbert	Nicole Della Monica Matteo Guarise	Daria Pavliuchenko Denis Khodykin	[4]
2019–21	No competitions held
2022	Espoo	Rebecca Ghilardi Filippo Ambrosini	Alisa Efimova Ruben Blommaert	Anastasia Metelkina Daniil Parkman	[12]
2023		Minerva Fabienne Hase Nikita Volodin	Sara Conti Niccolò Macii	Maria Pavlova Alexei Sviatchenko	[13]
2024	Helsinki	Deanna Stellato-Dudek Maxime Deschamps	Maria Pavlova Alexei Sviatchenko	Rebecca Ghilardi Filippo Ambrosini	[9]

Ice dance

Ice dance event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
2018	Helsinki	Alexandra Stepanova Ivan Bukin	Charlène Guignard Marco Fabbri	Lorraine McNamara Quinn Carpenter	[4]
2019–21	No competitions held
2022	Espoo	Piper Gilles Paul Poirier	Kaitlin Hawayek Jean-Luc Baker	Juulia Turkkila Matthias Versluis	[12]
2023		Madison Chock Evan Bates	Laurence Fournier Beaudry Nikolaj Sørensen		[13]
2024	Helsinki	Lilah Fear Lewis Gibson	Piper Gilles Paul Poirier		[9]

Cumulative medal count

Men's singles

Total number of Grand Prix of Finland medals in men's singles by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Japan	3	2	0	5
2	United States	1	0	0	1
3	France	0	1	2	3
4	Czech Republic	0	1	0	1
5	Italy	0	0	1	1
	South Korea	0	0	1	1
Totals (6 entries)		4	4	4	12

Women's singles

Total number of Grand Prix of Finland medals in women's singles by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Japan	3	2	2	7
2	Russia	1	1	0	2
3	Belgium	0	1	0	1
4	Italy	0	0	1	1
	United States	0	0	1	1
Totals (5 entries)		4	4	4	12

Pairs

Total number of Grand Prix of Finland medals in pairs by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Italy	1	2	1	4
2	Germany	1	1	0	2
3	Russia	1	0	1	2
4	Canada	1	0	0	1
5	Hungary	0	1	1	2
6	Georgia	0	0	1	1
Totals (6 entries)		4	4	4	12

Ice dance

Total number of Grand Prix of Finland medals in ice dance by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Canada	1	2	0	3
2	United States	1	1	1	3
3	Great Britain	1	0	0	1
	Russia	1	0	0	1
5	Italy	0	1	0	1
6	Finland	0	0	3	3
Totals (6 entries)		4	4	4	12

Total medals

Total number of Grand Prix of Finland medals by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Japan	6	4	2	12
2	Russia	3	1	1	5
3	Canada	2	2	0	4
4	United States	2	1	2	5
5	Italy	1	3	3	7
6	Germany	1	1	0	2
7	Great Britain	1	0	0	1
8	France	0	1	2	3
9	Hungary	0	1	1	2
10	Belgium	0	1	0	1
	Czech Republic	0	1	0	1
12	Finland	0	0	3	3
13	Georgia	0	0	1	1
	South Korea	0	0	1	1
Totals (14 entries)		16	16	16	48

References

1. Hines, James R. (2006). Figure Skating: A History. University of Illinois Press. pp. 246–247, 332–335. ISBN   978-0-252-07286-4.
2. "China will not host any ISU event during 2018–19 season, CSA says". Xinhuanet . 13 June 2018. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
3. "ISU announces 2018-19 Grand Prix assignments". Figure Skaters Online. 28 June 2018. Archived from the original on 16 December 2024. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
4. "2018 GP Helsinki". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
5. Dunbar, Graham; Ellingworth, James (1 March 2022). "Russia excluded from more sports as sanctions mount". ABC News . Archived from the original on 22 March 2022.
6. Meyers, Dvora (21 March 2022). "Russia's Figure Skating Ban Will Reverberate For Years To Come". FiveThirtyEight . Archived from the original on 2 July 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
7. "Russia Stripped of Hosting Grand Prix Figure Skating Event Due to the Invasion in Ukraine". Voice of America . 25 April 2022. Archived from the original on 2 July 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
8. Sharma, Hritika (15 July 2022). "Finland replaces Russia as host of Grand Prix event". Reuters . Archived from the original on 2 July 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
9. "2024 GP Finlandia Trophy". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on 17 December 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
10. "2023 Finlandia Trophy". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on 17 December 2024. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
11. "Uutiset" [News]. Finlandia Trophy (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 28 March 2025. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
12. "2022 GP Espoo". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
13. "2023 GP Espoo". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on 3 December 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2025.

External links

• Finlandia Trophy
• ISU Grand Prix
• Grand Prix of Finland at Skating Scores