What to know for figure skating's Grand Prix Final

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The most important annual event on the international figure skating calendar is the world championships. Second is the Grand Prix Final, which begins tomorrow in Grenoble, France.

Here's what to know:

It's not easy to get in.

The Grand Prix of Figure Skating's regular season consists of six events held around the world in October and November. Skaters can compete in a maximum of two of these. They earn points based on where they finish, and those points decide who gets to compete in the Final. Only the top six in each discipline — men's, women's, pairs and ice dance — are invited.

The only other time we'll see this many of the world's best figure skaters gathered in one place this season is at the world championships in Boston at the end of March. The Grand Prix Final should give us a pretty good idea of who will contend for the podium there.

Canada has three two entries.

For the fifth straight time, no Canadian singles skaters qualified for the Final. But three Canadian duos finished in the top six in either pairs or ice dance to earn a spot in Grenoble.

Unfortunately, Canada's best tandem dropped out. Reigning pairs world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps announced Monday they're unable to compete because Deschamps is recovering from an illness.

WATCH | That Figure Skating Show previews the Grand Prix Final:

Who will podium at Grand Prix Final? | That Figure Skating Show

Stellato-Dudek, 41, and Deschamps, 32, captured Canada's first figure skating world title since 2018 last March in Montreal, where they live and train. They've remained at