Figure skating-Britain to host Grand Prix event for the first time

Britain will host a round of the Grand Prix of Figure Skating for the first time in November after the Cup of China event was cancelled for the second straight year due to COVID-19, the International Skating Union (ISU) said.

The Nov. 11-13 event will be held in Sheffield, the ISU said on Thursday, as the fourth of the six regular Grand Prix events in the 2022-23 programme.

The event will be staged at the 1,500 capacity Ice Sheffield venue. The last global figure skating event in Britain was the 1995 World Championships in Birmingham.

China hosted the Winter Olympics under strict health protocols in February but almost every other international sporting event in the country this year has been cancelled or postponed.

Last week, the ISU replaced the Russian leg of the Grand Prix series with a round in Finland following the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special military operation".

The United States, Canada, France and Japan will stage the other four Grand Prix events while Turin, Italy will host the Final from Dec. 8-11.