Team U.S. Prepares for Season Finale: World Team Trophy

After receiving three medals from the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2019 in Saitama, Japan, Team USA will jet back around the globe for one last competition of the season.
 
Held biannually by the Japan Skating Federation, World Team Trophy features the top six figure skating teams from the 2018–19 season: Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. For the first time, the event will move from its birthplace in Tokyo to Fukuoka, Japan.

Unlike typical ISU events, World Team Trophy is a competition in which each skater/team receives points based on placements in the short program/rhythm dance and free skate/free dance. The points are combined across the four disciplines; those countries finishing with the highest-point totals earn medals and prize money.
 
Each team consists of two ladies, two men, one pairs team and one ice dance team.
 
Representing the men for Team USA are two-time and reigning World champion Nathan Chen and 2019 World and Four Continents bronze medalist Vincent Zhou.
 
After defending his World title and setting World records with his 216.02-point free skate and 323.42 overall score, Chen arrives as the heavy favorite in the men's field. Zhou, who claimed his first World medal in Saitama, hopes to continue riding a wave of momentum. Japan's Shoma Uno, fourth at the World Championships, figures to be the primary competition for Chen and Zhou.
 
U.S. ladies Mariah Bell and Bradie Tennell will also skate against some familiar faces from Worlds, including Japan's Rika Kihira and Kaori Sakamoto, who placed fourth and fifth, respectively. The U.S. also faces tough competition from Russia's Sofia Samodurova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. Kihira and Tuktamysheva are the only skaters in the field who have triple Axels in their arsenals.
 
While Bell and Tennell finished below their Japanese competitors at Worlds, both earned personal-best scores for their free skates, placing them in the top 10. Bell and Tennell hope to build on those impressive performances in Fukuoka.
 
Placing in the top 10 at their first World Championships and earning a second spot at 2020 Worlds for Team USA, U.S. pairs champions Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc are primed for a move up in the results. With the exception of a fall in both of their short and free skates, their programs were otherwise nearly perfect.  "We're only going to go up from here," Cain said in an interview with Team USA.

The pairs competition should be tight, with five of six teams having finished in the top 10 at Worlds. Russia's Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert headline the field, having won the bronze medal at Worlds. The French team of Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres, the 2019 European champions, figure to be in the chase for the top spot as well.
 
 
Ice dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue complete the U.S. team, coming off two personal-best performances and a bronze medal from Worlds. With four titles this season at Skate America, Skate Canada International, the Grand Prix Final and U.S. Championships, the two-time and reigning U.S. champions hope to close out a stellar campaign with another strong showing.

All three World ice dance medalists will compete in Japan. Four-time and reigning World champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France arrive as the team to beat. Russia's Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov earned silver at Worlds, 1.36 points ahead of Hubbell and Donohue. Additionally, five of the six couples at World Team Trophy finished in the top 10 in Saitama.
 
Coming off its strong showing at Worlds, Team USA should have a good chance to reclaim the title in Fukuoka. The United States secured gold in the first-ever event in 2009 and has earned a medal at all five World Team Trophy events (including three gold). Japan is the only other county to top the podium, earning the title in 2012 and 2017.

The event will run April 11-13 and will be aired live on the Figure Skating Pass on NBC Sports Gold. See the schedule below.