Former world champion Miki Ando will once again be looking for redemption and Yukari Nakano, the fourth-place finisher at the world championships last March, will be out to raise her profile even higher as the 2008 Grand Prix season gets under way this weekend with Skate America in Everett, Wash.
Ando, who suffered through a disastrous 2007-08 season which saw her withdraw from the worlds in Sweden with a leg injury, will be aiming to regain the form that made her skating's queen in Tokyo in March 2007.
Nakano, whose controversial placement in Sweden made waves throughout the international skating community, heads into the new campaign hoping she can finally break through and garner her first major international medal.