A U.S. figure skating drought can end this week.
It has been five years since an American man qualified for the sport’s most exclusive event, the Grand Prix Final. Never before in the event’s two-decade history had the U.S. men been shut out of back-to-back Grand Prix Finals.
The last of six qualifying competitions for December’s Grand Prix Final is this week’s NHK Trophy in Sapporo, Japan. Three U.S. men are still in the running for the three remaining Grand Prix Final berths, including two who are competing at NHK.
First, there is Jason Brown, a 2014 Olympian and 2015 U.