SPORTS — Gabrielle Daleman will be Canada’s only entrant when the senior Grand Prix figure-skating season opens in Angers, France, this weekend.

Skate Canada’s current international-assignment list places Daleman in the women’s event at Grand Prix de France from October 23 to 25. The six-stop circuit then moves to Kelowna, British Columbia, for Skate Canada International from October 30 to November 1.

Post-Olympic field looks different

The new circuit begins eight months after the Milano Cortina Games with several Olympic headliners absent. Reuters reports that U.S. women’s champion Alysa Liu will sit out the season, Japanese silver medallist Kaori Sakamoto has retired, and Japanese men’s silver medallist Yuma Kagiyama is taking the season off.

Pairs champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara have also retired from competition. American Ilia Malinin and Olympic men’s champion Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan are among the prominent skaters returning.

Canada’s Olympic ice-dance bronze medallists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are sitting out the Grand Prix circuit. That is a season decision, not an announced retirement.

Canada hosts the second stop in Kelowna

Skate Canada International is scheduled for Prospera Place in Kelowna. The current Canadian roster includes Stephen Gogolev, Wesley Chiu and David Bondar in men’s singles; Madeline Schizas, Sara-Maude Dupuis and Fée Ann Landry in women’s singles; and three Canadian pairs and three Canadian ice-dance teams.

The pairs are Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud, Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov, and Miyu Yunoki and Tristan Taylor. The ice-dance entries are Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac, Layla Veillon and Alexander Brandys, and Alyssa Robinson and Jacob Portz.

Entries remain subject to change. Skaters earn points across their assigned events, with the top six in each discipline qualifying for the Grand Prix Final in Chongqing, China, from December 10 to 13.

Sources: Reuters season preview, published October 21 at 8:32 a.m. Toronto time; Skate Canada international assignments; Skate Canada International event schedule; International Skating Union event calendar.

Editorial illustration of competitive figure skating; not a photograph of Daleman, the Grand Prix de France or Skate Canada International.