The ISU Challenger Series is a series of international figure skating competitions. Established by the International Skating Union in the 2014–15 season, it is a group of senior-level events ranked below the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. Each event consists of at least three disciplines out of four (men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing), and is required to take place between August 1 and December 15.

The ISU Challenger Series Synchronized Skating is a separate competition series in the discipline of synchronized skating.

History

The ISU Council decided to create the series at its February 2014 meeting.[1] Eleven competitions were selected in June 2014.[2] The Triglav Trophy dropped out by October 10, 2014, resulting in a series composed of ten events.[3] The Nebelhorn Trophy, Finlandia Trophy, Ondrej Nepela Memorial, and Golden Spin of Zagreb are the "core group".[4] The event criteria were published in April 2014,[5] and revised in August 2014.[6]

The notice on the ISU Challenger Series Synchronized Skating was announced on May 10, 2019, which is for the discipline of synchronized skating and is held separately from the other ISU Challenger Series.[7]

Asian Open Classic was planned to be included in the 2019–20 season, but ISU transferred the event holding right back to Asian Open Trophy later.[8]

In the 2020–21 season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to hold the Challenger competitions as individual events, rather than as a series.[9] Entry limits per country were also removed.[10]

Events

Title Country 14–15 15–16 16–17 17–18 18–19 19–20 20–21[a] 21–22 22–23 23–24
Asian Open Classic  Chinese Taipei Replaced
Asian Open Trophy  Thailand (2018)
 China (2019[b]–21)		 Yes Added Cancelled Lost status[c]
Autumn Classic  Canada Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Cancelled Yes Yes
Budapest Trophy  Hungary Yes Yes Yes
Cup of Tyrol  Austria Added
Cancelled
Denis Ten Memorial Challenge  Kazakhstan Cancelled Yes Yes Yes
Denkova-Staviski Cup  Bulgaria Yes
Finlandia Trophy  Finland Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Cancelled Yes Yes Yes
Golden Spin of Zagreb  Croatia Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Cancelled Yes Yes Yes
Ice Challenge  Austria Yes Yes Yes[d] Yes Cancelled
Ice Star  Belarus Yes Yes
Inge Solar Trophy  Austria Yes Replaced
Lombardia Trophy  Italy Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mordovian Ornament  Russia Yes
Nebelhorn Trophy  Germany Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Nepela Memorial  Slovakia Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Cancelled Cancelled Yes Yes
Tallinn Trophy  Estonia Yes Yes Yes Yes
Triglav Trophy  Slovenia Dropped
Ukrainian Open  Ukraine Cancelled
U.S. Classic  United States Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Volvo Open Cup  Latvia Yes
Warsaw Cup  Poland Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Cancelled Yes Yes Yes
  1. ^ Held as individual events rather than as a series due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9]
  2. ^ Hosted by the Hong Kong Skating Union in 2019.
  3. ^ Not enough international participants.
  4. ^ Officially named as "the Cup of Austria by IceChallenge".

Top three finishers per season

Each skater or team is permitted to compete in up to three ISU Challenger Series events. Their two highest scores determine the final ranking.[5]

Men

Season 1st 2nd 3rd Refs
2014–15 Czech Republic Michal Březina Russia Alexander Petrov Russia Konstantin Menshov [3]
2015–16 United States Jason Brown United States Max Aaron Russia Mikhail Kolyada [11]
2016–17 United States Jason Brown Russia Alexander Petrov United States Max Aaron [12]
2017–18 Russia Mikhail Kolyada Russia Sergei Voronov Georgia (country) Moris Kvitelashvili [13]
2018–19 Russia Mikhail Kolyada South Korea Cha Jun-hwan United States Jason Brown [14]
2019–20 Russia Dmitri Aliev Italy Daniel Grassl Japan Sota Yamamoto [15]
2020–21 Held as individual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic [9]
2021–22 Russia Petr Gumennik Canada Keegan Messing Russia Mark Kondratiuk [16]
2022–23 France Kévin Aymoz Switzerland Lukas Britschgi Italy Matteo Rizzo [17]

Women

Season 1st 2nd 3rd Refs
2014–15 Russia Elizaveta Tuktamysheva Russia Alena Leonova United States Hannah Miller [18]
2015–16 Russia Elizaveta Tuktamysheva Russia Anna Pogorilaya Russia Adelina Sotnikova [19]
2016–17 Russia Elizaveta Tuktamysheva United States Mirai Nagasu United States Mariah Bell [20]
2017–18 Italy Carolina Kostner Russia Stanislava Konstantinova Russia Elizaveta Tuktamysheva [21]
2018–19 Russia Elizaveta Tuktamysheva United States Bradie Tennell Kazakhstan Elizabet Tursynbayeva [22]
2019–20 Russia Elizaveta Tuktamysheva South Korea You Young South Korea Lim Eun-soo [23]
2020–21 Held as individual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic [9]
2021–22 United States Alysa Liu Georgia (country) Anastasiia Gubanova Poland Ekaterina Kurakova [24]
2022–23 South Korea Kim Ye-lim Poland Ekaterina Kurakova United States Lindsay Thorngren [25]

Pairs

Season 1st 2nd 3rd Refs
2014–15 United States Alexa Scimeca / Chris Knierim United States Haven Denney / Brandon Frazier United States Jessica Calalang / Zack Sidhu [26]
2015–16 Germany Aliona Savchenko / Bruno Massot Russia Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov Russia Natalja Zabijako / Alexander Enbert [27]
2016–17 Italy Valentina Marchei / Ondřej Hotárek Italy Nicole Della Monica / Matteo Guarise Russia Kristina Astakhova / Alexei Rogonov [28]
2017–18 Russia Natalia Zabiiako / Alexander Enbert Italy Nicole Della Monica / Matteo Guarise Russia Kristina Astakhova / Alexei Rogonov [29]
2018–19 Russia Aleksandra Boikova / Dmitrii Kozlovskii Canada Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro Russia Alisa Efimova / Alexander Korovin [30]
2019–20 United States Ashley Cain-Gribble / Timothy LeDuc United States Tarah Kayne / Danny O'Shea Germany Minerva Fabienne Hase / Nolan Seegert [31]
2020–21 Held as individual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic [9]
2021–22 Russia Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov United States Jessica Calalang / Brian Johnson Canada Vanessa James / Eric Radford [32]
2022–23 Italy Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini Germany Annika Hocke / Robert Kunkel Germany Alisa Efimova / Ruben Blommaert [33]

Ice dance

Season 1st 2nd 3rd Refs
2014–15 United States Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani Italy Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri Germany Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gazsi [34]
2015–16 Italy Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri Israel Isabella Tobias / Ilia Tkachenko Poland Natalia Kaliszek / Maksym Spodyriev [35]
2016–17 Russia Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev United States Madison Chock / Evan Bates Italy Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri [36]
2017–18 Russia Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev Italy Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri Russia Tiffany Zahorski / Jonathan Guerreiro [37]
2018–19 Canada Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier Italy Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri United States Christina Carreira / Anthony Ponomarenko [38]
2019–20 Italy Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri United States Madison Chock / Evan Bates Canada Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Nikolaj Sørensen [39]
2020–21 Held as individual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic [9]
2021–22 Italy Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri Russia Diana Davis / Gleb Smolkin Spain Olivia Smart / Adrián Díaz [40]
2022–23 United Kingdom Lilah Fear / Lewis Gibson Canada Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha Lithuania Allison Reed / Saulius Ambrulevičius [41]

Top finishers standings

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Russia1481032
2 United States68721
3 Italy66214
4 Canada1326
5 South Korea1214
6 Germany1135
7 Czech Republic1001
 France1001
 Great Britain1001
10 Poland0123
11 Georgia0112
12 Israel0101
  Switzerland0101
14 Japan0011
 Kazakhstan0011
 Lithuania0011
 Spain0011
Totals (17 entries)32323296

Top scores per season

Men

Season Name 1st event Points 2nd event Points Total points
2014–15[3] Czech Republic Michal Březina 2014 CS Nebelhorn Trophy 228.48 2014 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 239.62 468.10
2015–16[11] United States Jason Brown 2015 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy 239.37 2015 CS Ice Challenge 240.65 480.02
2016–17[12] United States Jason Brown 2016 CS Lombardia Trophy 256.49 2016 CS U.S. International Classic 254.04 510.53
2017–18[13] Russia Mikhail Kolyada 2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy 247.81 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy 248.50 496.31
2018–19[14] Russia Mikhail Kolyada 2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy 274.37 2018 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 253.14 527.51
2019–20[15] Russia Dmitri Aliev 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy 249.62 2019 CS Nepela Memorial 255.32 504.94
2020–21[9] Held as individual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021–22[16] Russia Petr Gumennik 2021 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge 263.14 2021 CS Warsaw Cup 242.91 506.05
2022–23[17] France Kévin Aymoz 2022 CS U.S. International Figure Skating Classic 236.17 2022 CS Warsaw Cup 258.02 494.19

Women

Season Name 1st event Points 2nd event Points Total points
2014–15[18] Russia Elizaveta Tuktamysheva 2014 CS Finlandia Trophy 193.31 2014 CS Warsaw Cup 196.66 389.97
2015–16[19] Russia Elizaveta Tuktamysheva 2015 CS Warsaw Cup 192.93 2015 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 201.33 394.26
2016–17[20] Russia Elizaveta Tuktamysheva 2016 CS Nebelhorn Trophy 185.93 2016 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 192.03 377.96
2017–18[21] Italy Carolina Kostner 2017 CS Lombardia Trophy 198.36 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy 193.76 392.12
2018–19[22] Russia Elizaveta Tuktamysheva 2018 CS Lombardia Trophy 206.07 2018 CS Finlandia Trophy 202.85 408.92
2019–20[23] Russia Elizaveta Tuktamysheva 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy 214.38 2019 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 221.15 435.53
2020–21[9] Held as individual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021–22[24] United States Alysa Liu 2021 CS Lombardia Trophy 219.24 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy 207.40 426.64
2022–23[25] South Korea Kim Ye-lim 2022 CS U.S. International Figure Skating Classic 190.64 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy 213.97 404.61

Pairs

Season Name 1st event Points 2nd event Points Total points
2014–15[26] United States Alexa Scimeca / Chris Knierim 2014 CS U.S. International Classic 163.24 2014 CS Nebelhorn Trophy 166.10 329.34
2015–16[27] Germany Aliona Savchenko / Bruno Massot 2015 CS Tallinn Trophy 214.42 2015 CS Warsaw Cup 209.60 424.02
2016–17[28] Italy Valentina Marchei / Ondřej Hotárek 2016 CS Lombardia Trophy 179.56 2016 CS Warsaw Cup 189.26 368.82
2017–18[29] Russia Natalia Zabiiako / Alexander Enbert 2017 CS Lombardia Trophy 196.06 2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 202.96 399.02
2018–19[30] Russia Aleksandra Boikova / Dmitrii Kozlovskii 2018 CS Lombardia Trophy 191.99 2018 CS Finlandia Trophy 188.54 380.53
2019–20[31] United States Ashley Cain-Gribble / Timothy LeDuc 2019 CS U.S. International Classic 205.58 2019 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 199.43 405.01
2020–21[9] Held as individual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021–22[32] Russia Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy 213.72 2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 228.49 442.21
2022–23[33] Italy Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini 2022 CS U.S. International Figure Skating Classic 189.22 2022 CS Warsaw Cup 184.21 373.43

Ice dance

Season Name 1st event Points 2nd event Points Total points
2014–15[34] United States Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani 2014 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy 162.98 2014 CS Ice Challenge 166.34 329.32
2015–16[35] Italy Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri 2015 CS Warsaw Cup 169.72 2015 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 172.28 342.00
2016–17[36] Russia Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev 2016 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial 178.84 2016 CS Warsaw Cup 183.60 362.44
2017–18[37] Russia Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev 2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy 181.92 2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 186.66 368.58
2018–19[38] Canada Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier 2018 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 201.27 2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy 194.12 395.39
2019–20[39] Italy Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy 202.10 2019 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb 202.18 404.28
2020–21[9] Held as individual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021–22[40] Italy Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri 2021 CS Lombardia Trophy 205.36 2021 CS Cup of Austria 208.88 414.24
2022-23[41] United Kingdom Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson 2022 CS U.S. International Figure Skating Classic 190.80 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy 206.60 397.40

Prize money

At the end of the series, prize money is awarded to skaters who finished in the top three in each discipline in the final ranking. In pairs and ice dancing, the partners split the prize money.

From the 2014–15 season through to the 2023–2024 season:[5][42][4][43][44][45][46][47][48]

Final rank Men's and ladies' singles Pairs and ice dance
1st CHF 4,000 CHF 5,000 (2,500 per partner)
2nd CHF 3,000 CHF 4,000 (2,000 per partner)
3rd CHF 2,000 CHF 3,000 (1,500 per partner)

References

  1. ^ "Communication No. 1854: Decisions of the ISU Council" (PDF). International Skating Union. March 6, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 9, 2014.
  2. ^ "Communication No. 1876: Decisions of the ISU Council" (PDF). International Skating Union. June 25, 2014. pp. 4–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 6, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2014/2015: Men". International Skating Union.
  4. ^ a b "Communication No. 1994 ISU Challenger Series in Figure Skating Season 2016/17" (PDF). International Skating Union. February 26, 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 9, 2016.
  5. ^ a b c "Communication No. 1858: ISU Challenger Series in Figure Skating" (PDF). International Skating Union. April 4, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 6, 2014.
  6. ^ "Communication No. 1894: Revision of minimum entry criteria to qualify as Challenger Series event" (PDF). International Skating Union. August 26, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 3, 2014.
  7. ^ "Communication No. 2248 Challenger Series in Synchronized Skating Season 2019/20". International Skating Union. May 10, 2019. Archived from the original on December 18, 2019.
  8. ^ "Challenger Series Announcement". International Skating Union. July 22, 2019. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Communication No. 2335 Decisions of the Council". International Skating Union. July 13, 2020. Archived from the original on July 13, 2020.
  10. ^ "Communication No. 2345: Decisions of the Council". International Skating Union. August 28, 2020.
  11. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2015/2016: Men". International Skating Union.
  12. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2016/2017: Men". International Skating Union.
  13. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2017/2018: Men". International Skating Union.
  14. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2018/2019: Men". International Skating Union.
  15. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2019/2020: Men". International Skating Union. December 10, 2020.
  16. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2021/2022: Men". International Skating Union. March 29, 2022.
  17. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2022/2023: Men". International Skating Union.
  18. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2014/2015: Ladies". International Skating Union.
  19. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2015/2016: Ladies". International Skating Union.
  20. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2016/2017: Ladies". International Skating Union.
  21. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2017/2018: Ladies". International Skating Union.
  22. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2018/2019: Ladies". International Skating Union.
  23. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2019/2020: Ladies". International Skating Union. December 12, 2019.
  24. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2021/2022: Women". International Skating Union. March 29, 2022.
  25. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2022/2023: Women". International Skating Union.
  26. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2014/2015: Pairs". International Skating Union.
  27. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2015/2016: Pairs". International Skating Union.
  28. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2016/2017: Pairs". International Skating Union.
  29. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2017/2018: Pairs". International Skating Union.
  30. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2018/2019: Pairs". International Skating Union.
  31. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2019/2020: Pairs". International Skating Union. December 12, 2019.
  32. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2021/2022: Pairs". International Skating Union. March 29, 2022.
  33. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2022/2023: Pairs". International Skating Union.
  34. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2014/2015: Ice dance". International Skating Union.
  35. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2015/2016: Ice dance". International Skating Union.
  36. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2016/2017: Ice dance". International Skating Union.
  37. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2017/2018: Ice dance". International Skating Union.
  38. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2018/2019: Ice dance". International Skating Union.
  39. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2019/2020: Ice Dance". International Skating Union. December 12, 2019.
  40. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2021/2022: Ice Dance". International Skating Union. March 29, 2022.
  41. ^ a b "ISU Challenger Series Ranking 2022/2023: Ice Dance". International Skating Union.
  42. ^ "Communication No. 1928 ISU Challenger Series in Figure Skating Season 2015/16" (PDF). International Skating Union. February 6, 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 13, 2015.
  43. ^ "Communication No. 2074 ISU Challenger Series in Figure Skating Season 2017/18". International Skating Union. February 27, 2017. Archived from the original on August 17, 2019.
  44. ^ "Communication No. 2151 Challenger Series in Figure Skating Season 2018/19". International Skating Union. April 3, 2018. Archived from the original on August 17, 2019.
  45. ^ "Communication No. 2227 Challenger Series in Figure Skating Season 2019/20". International Skating Union. January 25, 2019. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019.
  46. ^ "Communication No. 2372 Challenger Series in Figure Skating Season 2021/22". International Skating Union. February 5, 2021. Archived from the original on October 22, 2023.
  47. ^ "Communication No. 2457Communication No. 2372 Challenger Series in Figure Skating Season 2022/23". International Skating Union. February 15, 2022. Archived from the original on January 1, 2023.
  48. ^ "Communication No. 2539 Challenger Series in Figure Skating Season 2023/24". February 20, 2023. Archived from the original on June 5, 2023.

External links

ISU Challenger Series
Figure skating
Categories