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(05/30/2009) - COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The International Skating Union 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 Cachemire in Paris, France. The Grand Prix Series, which enters its 15th season, incorporates six prestigious international figure skating competitions in 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 world champion Evan Lysacek, 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, go here. The U.S. athletes competing at Skate America are as follows:

Skate America — Lake Placid, N.Y. — Nov. 12-15
Ladies	Men	Pairs	Ice Dancing
Sasha Cohen	Ryan Bradley	Keauna McLaughlin Rockne Brubaker	Tanith Belbin Ben Agosto
Rachael Flatt	Evan Lysacek	TBD	Madison Chock Greg Zuerlein
TBA	Brandon Mroz	TBD	Kimberly Navarro Brent Bommentre

At the conclusion of the six events, athletes' points are totaled, and the top six ladies, men, 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 complete list of skater selections for the 2009 Grand Prix Series is available here. The list of U.S. skater selections for the remaining Grand Prix Series events is below. Skaters are subject to change.

Trophee Eric Bompard Cachemire — Paris, France — Oct. 15-18
Ladies	Men	Pairs	Ice Dancing
Sasha Cohen	Ryan Bradley	Marissa Castelli Simon Shnapir	Madison Hubbell Keiffer Hubbell
Alexe Gilles	Adam Rippon		Kimberly Navarro Brent Bommentre
Caroline Zhang			Emily Samuelson Evan Bates

Rostelecom Cup — Moscow, Russia — Oct. 22-25
Ladies	Men	Pairs	Ice Dancing
Alissa Czisny	Brandon Mroz	Keauna McLaughlin Rockne Brubaker	Meryl Davis Charlie White
Kimmie Meissner	Johnny Weir
Ashley Wagner

Cup of China — Beijing, China — Oct. 29-Nov. 1
Ladies	Men	Pairs	Ice Dancing
Rachael Flatt	Stephen Carriere	Amanda Evora Mark Ladwig	Tanith Belbin Ben Agosto
Bebe Liang	Evan Lysacek		Madison Chock Greg Zuerlein
Mirai Nagasu	Armin Mahbanoozadeh

NHK Trophy — Nagano, Japan — Nov. 5-8
Ladies	Men	Pairs	Ice Dancing
Becky Bereswill	Jeremy Abbott	Caydee Denney Jeremy Barrett	Meryl Davis Charlie White
Kimmie Meissner	Adam Rippon	Rena Inoue John Baldwin	Jane Summersett Todd Gilles
Ashley Wagner	Johnny Weir

Skate Canada — Kitchener, Canada — Nov. 19-22
Ladies	Men	Pairs	Ice Dancing
Alissa Czisny	Jeremy Abbott	Caydee Denney Jeremy Barrett	Madison Hubbell Keiffer Hubbell
Mirai Nagasu	Stephen Carriere	Caitlin Yankowskas John Coughlin	Emily Samuelson Evan Bates
Caroline Zhang	Armin Mahbanoozadeh