UPDATE 8/7/15: Elizaveta Tuktamysheva has been added to Team Europe!
UPDATE 8/6/15: Shoma Uno and Brian Joubert have been added to the lineup!
UPDATE 7/24/15: Jeremy Abbott and Patrick Chan have been added to Team North America!
As has become the tradition for the past decade, the Japan Open will bring together some of the biggest names in skating right now in a one-day free-skate only super competition. This year's event, held in Saitama, will take place on 3 October.
The event features three teams - Japan, North America, and Europe - of four skaters each (two men, two women), and is usually a mix of Olympic-eligible skaters and superstars who no longer compete. Patrick Chan won this men's competition last year in his sole competitive outing of the season. And Elena Radionova won the ladies' competition on her way to a fantastic first full senior season.
Even though a few smaller international competitions take place in before it, for many - and definitely for me - the Japan Open marks the unofficial beginning of the skating season. Why? Just look at the invited skaters.
2015 Japan Open
List of entrants
TEAM JAPAN
Mao Asada JPN
- 2010 Olympic silver medalist
- 2008, 2010, 2014 World champion
- 6-time Japanese champion
Satoko Miyahara JPN
- 2015 World silver medalist
- 2-time Four Continents silver medalist
- 2015 Japanese champion
Daisuke Murakami JPN
- 2015 NHK Trophy champion
- 2015 Four Continents - 4th
- 2015 Japan Nationals - 7th
Shoma Uno JPN
- 2015 World Junior champion
- 2014 Junior Grand Prix Final champion
- 2015 Japanese silver medalist
TEAM NORTH AMERICA
Jeremy Abbott USA
- 2014 Olympic team bronze medalist
- 2014 World Championships - 5th
- 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 U.S. champion
Patrick Chan CAN
- 2-time 2014 Olympic silver medalist (individual and team)
- 2011, 2012, 2013 World champion
- 7-time Canadian champion
Gracie Gold USA
- 2014 Olympic team bronze medalist
- 2015 World Championships - 4th
- 2014 U.S. champion
Ashley Wagner USA
- 2014 Olympic team bronze medalist
- 2015 World Championships - 5th
- 2012, 2013, 2015 U.S. champion
TEAM EUROPE
Javier Fernandez ESP
- 2015 World champion
- 2014 Olympics - 4th
- 2013, 2014, 2015 European champion
Brian Joubert FRA
- 2007 World champion
- 6-time World medalist
- 2004, 2007, 2009 European champion
Adelina Sotnikova RUS
- 2014 Olympic champion
- 2013, 2014 European silver medalist
- 4-time Russian champion
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva RUS
- 2015 World champion
- 2015 European champion
- 2015 Grand Prix Final champion