All US champions to compete at Skate America in October

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) All six U.S. champions will compete at Skate America to kick off the Grand Prix season.

World champion Nathan Chen, U.S. women's titlist Bradie Tennell, pairs champs Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim, and ice dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue have committed to the event Oct. 19-21 at Everett, Washington.

Two-time U.S. champion Chen also will skate at Internationaux de France in Grenoble from Nov. 23-25, as will Tennell. The Knierims' other competition on the six-event circuit will be NHK Trophy at Hiroshima, Japan from Nov. 9-11. Hubbell and Donohue, second at worlds, also will skate at Skate Canada, the second event on the schedule, in Laval, Quebec from Oct. 26-28.

The Grand Prix Series features a unified point-scoring system that awards prize money to eligible skaters. At the conclusion of the series, athletes' points are totaled, and the top six women, men, pairs and ice dance teams qualify for the Grand Prix Final, set for Dec. 6-9 in Vancouver.

Also on Thursday, the ISU announced that the third Grand Prix event will take place in Helsinki rather than in China.