u/Environmental-Let435

Since we are getting the Xi'an JGP soon, lets take a deep dive into international Junior skating history and see all the events held in china

Junior Grand Prixs (JGP)

1998 JGP Beijing

First ever JGP to be held in China, it happened on October 20–25 and it was the 7th event of the 1998-1999 JGP series, it was judged under the 6.0 System, and there were 44 skaters/teams competing

Some standout name who competed here but didnt medal Jeffrey Buttle (who WD from this event), Stephane Lambiel (placed 8th here) and Massimo Scali (won the ice dance event)

Medalists

Mens: Zhengxin Guo (China), Song Gao (China), Yu Wang (China)

Women: Yoshie Onda (Japan), Gwenaelle Jullien (France), Huan Wang (China)

Pairs:  Xiaodan Zhang/Hao Zhang (China),Melica Brozovich/Anton Nimenko(Russia), Anna Kaverzina/Vitali Dybina (Russia)

Ice dance: Flavia Ottaviani/Massimo Scali (Italy), Melissa Gregory/James Shufford (USA), Nelly Gourvest/Cedric Pernet (France)

Official ISU page of the event

2000 JGP Harbin

Happened in October 12–15, and was also judged under the 6.0 system, was the 5th event of the 2000-2001 JGP season, 47 skaters/teams competed there

Some standout names that competed here but didnt medal Daisuke Takahashi (placed 9th), Jeffrey Buttle (placed 4th)

Medalists:

Mens: Xiaodong MA (China), Johnny WEIR (USA), Yingdi MA (China)

Women: Yukari NAKANO (Japan), Marianne DUBUC (Canada), Stephanie ZHANG (Australia)

Pairs: Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG (China),  Yang DING / Zongfei REN (China), Yuko KAWAGUCHI / Alexander MARKUNTSOV (Japan)

Ice dance: Kendra GOODWIN / Chris OBZANSKY (USA),   Natalie PECHALAT / Fabien BOURZAT (France), Catherine PERREAULT / Charles A. PERREAULT (Canada)

Official ISU page of the event

2002 JGP Beijing

Happened in October 16 - 20 and was Judged under the 6.0 system. It was the 7th event of the 2002-2003 season, It had 56 atlethes/teams competing there

Some standout names that competed here but didnt medal, Carolina Kostner (4th place), Akiko Suzuki (5th place)

Medalists:

Mens: Mikhail Magerovski (Russia), Rui Yi (China), Jialiang Wu (China)

Womens: Miki Ando (Japan), Beatrisa Liang (USA), Ye Bin Mok (USA)

Pairs: Dan Zhang / Hao Zhang (China), Tiffany Vise / Laureano Ibarra (USA),  Tatiana Kokoreva / Egor Golovkin (Russia)

Ice dance: Christina Beier / William Beier (Germany), Ekaterina Rubleva / Ivan Shefer (Russia), Loren Galler-Rabinowitz / David Mitchell (USA)

I couldnt find the Original ISU page for this event, but full results can be found Here

2004 JGP Harbin

It was held in September 16–19, It was the 4th event of the 2004-2005 JGP series, And was the First junior event held in China to use the new scoring, There were 51 skaters/teams competing there

Some standout names that competed here but didnt medal Daisuke Murakami (Placed 11th),

Medalists:

Mens: Mikhail Magerovski (Russia), Jamal Othman (Switzerland), Kazumi Kishimoto (Japan)

Womens: Nana Takeda (Japan), Yu-Na Kim (South Korea), Jessica Dube (Canada)

Pairs: Maria MUKHORTOVA / Maxim TRANKOV (Russia), Jessica DUBE / Bryce DAVISON (Canada),  Elena EFAIEVA / Alexei MENSHIKOV (Russia)

Ice dance:  Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR (Canada), Natalia MIKHAILOVA / Arkadi SERGEEV (Russia), Trina PRATT / Todd GILLES (USA)

Official ISU Event Page

2024 JGP Wuxi

It was held on 9-12 October, it was the 7th and last JGP event of the 2024-2025 series, there were 88 skaters/teams, There was no Pairs event held

Medalists:

Men:Rio Nakata (Japan), Tonghe Tian (China), Yanhao Li (New Zealand)

Women: Ami Nakai (Women), Yuseong Kim (South Korea), Yihan Wang (China)

Ice Dance: Elliana Pearl/Ethan Pearl (USA), Ambre Perrier Gianesini/Samuel Blanc Klaperman (France), Chloe Nguyen/Brendan Giang (Canada)

ISU Official Page of the event

Junior Grand Prix Final (JGPF)

2010 Beijing JGPF

It was held on December 8–12, Along side the senior one. There were 32 (junior) Skaters/Teams competing there, during this time 8 skaters/teams qualified for JGPF instead of 6

Some standout names that competed here but didnt medal: Max Aaron (placed 4th), Keeagan Messing (placed 5th, at this time still competed for the USA), Joshua Ferris (placed 6th)

Medalists:

Mens: Richard Dornbush (USA), Yan Han (China), Andrei Rogozine (Canada)

Womens: Adelina Sotnikova (Russia), Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (Russia), Li Zijun (China)

Ice Dance: Ksenia Monko / Kirill Khaliavin (Russia), Victoria Sinitsina / Ruslan Zhiganshin (Russia), Alexandra Stepanova / Ivan Bukin (Russia)

Pairs: Narumi Takahashi / Mervin Tran (Japan), Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov (Russia), Yu Xiaoyu / Jin Yang (China)

As a plus here the video of the Gala of that event

Official ISU Event Page

2023 Beijing JGPF

Was held on  7 – 10 December alongside the senior one, There were 24 (junior) skaters/teams competing

Medalists:

Mens: Rio Nakata (Japan), Kim Hyun-gyeom (South Korea), Adam Hagara (Slovakia)

Womens: Mao Shimada (Japan), Shin Ji-a (South Korea), Rena Uezono (Japan)

Ice Dance: Leah Neset / Artem Markelov (USA), Elizabeth Tkachenko / Alexei Kiliakov (Israel), Darya Grimm / Michail Savitskiy (Germany)

Pairs: Anastasiia Metelkina / Luka Berulava (Georgia), Ava Kemp / Yohnatan Elizarov (Canada), Jazmine Desrochers / Kieran Thrasher (Canada)

Heres the video of the Gala of that event

Official ISU Event Page

The first Version i did was full of mistakes and had no dance or pairs, so im making this 2.0 list

All Sbs here are from the 2025-2026 Season and aquired in either a Challenger, a Championship or a Grand Prix

Ice dance

1- Holly Hariss/Jason Chan (Australia) (Second spot, First is at Skate america)-SB:183.50

2- Sofia Val /Asaf Kazimov (Spain) (Second spot, First is at Grand prix france)-SB:181.45

3- Phebe Bekker/James Hernandez (Great Britain) (second spot,First is at Skate america)-SB:179.45

4-Milla Ruud Reitan/Nikolaj Majorov (Sweden) (second spot,first is at Finlandia Throphy)-SB:175.02

5- Natacha LAGOUGE / Arnaud CAFFA (France) (second spot, first is at Skate america)-SB: 175.02

6-Utana YOSHIDA / Masaya MORITA (Japan) (second spot, first is at NHK Throphy)-SB:173.49

7-Shira Ichilov and Mikhail Nosovitskiy (Israel)-SB: 173.38

8- Victoria Manni/Carlo Röthlisberger (italy)-SB:172.32

9-Mariia Ignateva/ Danyil Szemko (hungary)-SB: 171.63

10- Charise Matthei/Max Liebers (germany) - SB: 171.56

Pairs

1- Naomi Williams/Lachlan Lewer (USA) (Second spot, first at NHK throphy)-SB: 159.63*

2-Tae Ok Ryom/Kum Chol Han (north korea)-SB: 158.20

3-Megan WESSENBERG / Denys STREKALIN (france) (second spot, first Grand Prix d France)-SB: 154.86

4-Louise EHRHARD / Matthis PELLEGRIS (france) (second spot, first Finlandia Throphy)- SB:143.14

5-Isabella Gamez / Aleksandr Korovin (philippines)- SB: 143.05

6- Anitta Mapelli/Noah Quesada Grau (spain)"-SB: 135.76

7- Irina Napolitano/Edoardo Comi (italy)"-SB: 133.27

8-Neah Davison/Daniel Borisov (Great Britain)-SB: 130.42

9- Linzy Fitzpatrick/Keyton Bearinger (USA)-SB: 125.91*

10- Julia Mauder/Johannes Wilkinson (south africa)-121.49

Men

1- Petr Gummenik (AIN)-SB: 271.21

2-Vladimir Samoilov (Poland) (second Spot, First NHK) - SB: 240.38

3- Georgii RESHTENKO (Czechia) (second Spot, First Skate America)-SB: 238.27

4-Yudong CHEN (China) (second Spot, First Cup of China)-SB: 237.70

5- Andreas NORDEBACK (Sweden) (second Spot, first Finlandia Throphy)-SB:230.37

6- Tamir KUPERMAN (israel) (second Spot, First Skate America)- SB: 230.17

7- Luc ECONOMIDES (France)- SB: 229.19

8-Hyungyeom KIM (South Korea) (Second Spot, First Skate Canada)- SB: 228.60

9-Arlet LEVANDI (estonia) (second Spot, first Finlandia Throphy)- SB: 228.52

10- Liam KAPEIKIS (USA) (Second Spot, First Skate Canada)- SB: 227.45*

Women

1- Yuseong KIM (South Korea) (second spot, first Grand Prix d France)- SB: 198.66

2-Adeliia Petrosian (AIN)- SB: 214.53

3- Young YOU (South Korea) (second Spot, First NHK) - SB: 198.82

4- Saki MIYAKE (Japan) (Second Spot, First Skate Canada)-SB: 196.79*

5- Olivia LISKO (Finland) (second Spot, first Finlandia Throphy)- SB: 196.23

6- Rino Matsuike (japan) (second Spot, First Skate America)- SB: 193.21*

7- Julia SAUTER (Romania) (second Spot, First NHK)- SB: 190.93

8-Sophie Joline VON FELTEN (USA) (second Spot, First Cup of China)-SB: 190.67*

9- Seoyoung KIM (south korea) (second Spot, first Finlandia Throphy)- SB: 190.12

10- Mariia SENIUK (Israel) (second Spot, First Skate America)- SB: 185.50

*-Skaters/teams that might get host spots

"= teams that are still junior eligible but have not recieved any Junior Grand prix assigments yet

The ISU Challenger Series was created in 2014, as a way to help atlethes have more oportunities to earn World standing points, The annoucement of this decision came in the form of the ISU Comunications N0.1854)

"Mindful that the ISU support towards the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating is restricted to a limited group of organizing Members, to a limited number of skaters and to a limited number of Officials, the ISU Council agreed to financially support a group of identified Members traditionally staging International Figure Skating Competitions starting with the season 2014/15. This ISU support has the objective to ensure the proper and consistent organization and conduct of the identified International Competitions, to give adequate opportunities for all skaters to compete at the international senior level and earn World Standing points and to increase the opportunity for Officials to officiate at an international level"

In the Beginning they were actually 11 international competitions instead of the 10 we now have, out of those 11 competitions, 6 are still challengers, and only 4 have never lost Challenger status

This was the original Challenger series line up

2014 U.S. International Classic

2014 Lombardia Trophy

2014 Nebelhorn Trophy

2014 Ondrej Nepela Trophy

2014 Finlandia Trophy

2014 Autumn Classic International

2014 Volvo Open Cup

2014 Ice Challenge

2014 Warsaw Cup

2014 Golden Spin of Zagreb

In 2016 the ISU created a "Core group" that would have to be present in every CS line up and stated the mandatory inclusion of a North American Challenger every line up, heres the exerpt from ISU Communications No.1994)

"In recognition of the long standing tradition and merit of the following International Competitions, there will be a core group of four (4) ISU Challenger Series events, namely: - Nebelhorn-Trophy in Oberstdorf (GER) - Finlandia Trophy (FIN) - Ondrej Nepela Trophy in Bratislava (SVK) - Golden Spin of Zagreb (CRO)"

"In addition, in order to ensure one Challenger Series event in North America, there will be one ISU Challenger Series event in Canada or the United States to be announced after consultation with the respective ISU Members. The above-mentioned core group of 4 ISU Challenger Series events plus the above-mentioned North American Challenger Series event remains nevertheless subject to receiving an application from the concerned Members and subject to ISU Council confirmation"

\---------------------------*Challengers rules and regulations-------------------*

For this segment im using the data and exerpts found in the ISU Communication No. 2780 and the 2025-2026 Challenger announcements

One of the most important requirements for a challenger is that it contains at least three diferent disciplines

"Each International Competition as part of the Challenger Series in Figure Skating must consist of “Senior” categories and must include entries in at least three disciplines of the Figure Skating Branch (Men, Women, Pair Skating, Ice Dance) from a minimum of ten different ISU Members, in all disciplines combined."

And every event to earn and keep a challenger status must have a minimum of entries in the disciplines

* Men / Women: minimum of eight entries each, from at least four ISU Members;

* Pair Skating: minimum of five entries from at least three ISU Members;

* Ice Dance: minimum of six entries from at least four ISU Members.

Every federation can send 3 skaters max to every discipline in a challenger event, exception is the host country who has unlimited spots

"Participation is open to all Skaters/Couples of ISU Members with a maximum of 3 entries per category (except for the Host ISU Member), who are eligible for International “Senior” Competitions by age (Rule 108) and by citizenship (109) and entered through the respective ISU Member. There is a limitation for the Skaters/Couples to three (3) participations in the Challenger Series Competitions. The participation of Skaters from the organizing ISU Member into the respective Challenger Series Competition is not limited."

Each skater/team can also only Participate in maximum of 3 challengers events in a season,

"There is a limitation for the Skaters/Couples to three participations in the events of the Challenger Series in Figure Skating. If a Skater/Couple does not complete an event after initially drawn for starting order of the Short Program/Rhythm Dance due to illness, injury or other circumstances, such an event will count as one participation in the Challenger Series."

Winners of challengers will be placed high in the Grand Prix series Alternates list

"each winner of a competition/discipline in an event included in the Challenger Series in Figure Skating will be awarded with a position on the alternate list for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating of that season, provided the respective timing makes such inclusion still possible. Such Skaters/Couples will be listed in the order of their current “ISU World Standing” ranking respectively the “Seasons Best Score”.

World Records set on Challengers are not reconized by the ISU, however skaters can earn SB and PBs in them

"The scores achieved at an event of the Challenger Series in Figure Skating will be recognized as Skaters/Couples Personal Best Scores, Season Best Scores and also count for the required Minimum Total Element Score to be eligible for participation in ISU Figure Skating Championships."

WORLD POINTS TABLE

SINGLES PAIRS ICE DANCE

1st place 300 points (250) 300 points (250) 300 points (250)

2nd place 270 points (225) 270 points (225) 270 points (225)

3rd place 243 points (203) 243 points (203) 243 points (203)

4th place 219 points (182) 219 points (182) 219 points (182)

5th place 198 points (164) 198 points (164) 198 points (164)

6th place 178 points --- 178 points

7th place 160 points --- ---

8th place 144 points --- ---

ISU Challengers Ranking

This is a Rank done by the ISU in the end of the season which takes each skaters/team 2 best Challengers results and adds them together their two scores, the three best ranked skaters of each discipline get prize money

Just as little fun fact here are the top scores ever

Womens: Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (2019-2020)- 435.53

Mens: Nika Egadze (2025-2026)- 527.92

Pairs: Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (2025-2026)- 443.97

Ice dance: Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (2024- 2025)- 417.66

This seasons prize money:

Men and Women:

1st place USD 4’500.00

2nd place USD 3’500.00

3rd place USD 2’300.00

Pair Skating and Ice Dance:

1st place USD 5’500.00

2nd place USD 4’500.00

3rd place USD 3’500.00

Every ISU Member who hosts an event also gains some Contribution money

"Each ISU Member, organizing an event included in the Challenger Series in Figure Skating, will receive an ISU contribution of USD 22’500, The contribution must be used to cover the costs for the Officials Remuneration and the Expenses for accommodation and travel (see Any remaining funds may cover ice costs or other organizational expenses of the organizing ISU Member."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I think that covers all the important stuff, i really apologize for the amount of posts about challengers today, this was supposed to be all one big post but reddit didnt let me post it, For informations about the expecifics events of the challenger series this season you can find Here

Feel free to leave questions here!

2026-2027 Challenger Series Events

Cranberry Cup International

The Cranberry cup was created in 2021, and is hosted every year at the Skating Club of Boston on Norwood, Massachusetts, USA. It became a challenger on 2024, and never left the CS line up since then

The event never contained Ice dance, but it did hold an pairs one once in its debut year, event which was won by Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov. A junior event has been hosted since its creation and only contains singles

First Ever Senior Winners: Vincent Zhou (mens), Alysa Liu (womens)

First ever Junior Winners: Matthew Nielsen (mens), Ava Marie Ziegler (women)

USA is the country to win the most medals at this event, with 23 medals total, 7 of those being gold

Funfact: We never had a repeated winner on Cranberry, every year was won by a different skater both in seniors and juniors

The 2026 Cramberry Cup has alredy happened and was held on 5 Aug-9 Aug, and was won by Aleksandr Selevko (mens) and Kim Yu-seong (womens, first ever non american to win the women event there) on seniors and Lia Cho (women) and Henry Gao (men) on juniors

Kinoshita Group Cup

The Kinoshita GC was founded in 2025, and was held at the Kanku Ice Arena on Osaka, Japan. And was immediatly added as a chanleger event that season

This event should not be confused with the Kinoshita Summer cup, which is a japanese domestic event that always happens before the CS Kinoshita as a way to prepare their skaters for the upcoming season

First (and for the moment only) Winners: Cha Jun-hwan (men), Mone Chiba (Women), Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (pairs), Marie-Jade Lauriault/Romain Le Gac (ice dance)

Japan is the country to win the most medals at this event, with 6 medals total, 2 of those being gold

The 2026 Kinoshita Group Cup will be held on 4 Sep - 6 Sep, Entries have alredy been released you can find them on [here](https://isu-skating.com/figure-skating/events/eventdetail/challenger-series-kinoshita-group-cup/?tab=entries_3), Schedule and other information can be found on [here](https://www.skatingjapan.or.jp/cs2026/#schedule) on Skating japan offical website, The line up is extremelly stacked and its an event to look foward to!

John Nicks Pairs International

Like the Cranberry cup it was Created in 2021,. The event like the name sugests is a pairs only competition, being the only Challenger event to only contain a single discipline. It was added do the CS series in 2024, and has remained in it ever since

The Competition is named after Legendary British Coach John Nicks, who was one of the people responsible for building back the american skating program after the 1961 plane crash that killed most of the USA olympic team. He got added to the skating hall of fame in 2000.

First Winners: Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier (seniors), Chloe Panetta/Kieran Thrasher (juniors)

USA is the country to win the most medals at this event, with 10 medals total, 2 of those being gold

We never had a repeated winner on John nicks, every year was won by a different team both in seniors and juniors

The 2026 John Nicks will be held on 11 Sept-12Sept on the Tenley E. Albright Performance Center at The Skating Club of Boston on Norwood, Massachusetts. We still dont have the line up but the deadline of them being submited is on August 14 so we should be getting entries a few days after that date, will be found in the [ISU page](https://www.isu.org/events/isu-cs-john-nicks-pairs-international-2026/) , Tickets can be bought [here](https://scboston.org/event/isu-cs-john-nicks-pairs-international-2026/)

Lombardia Trophy (Memorial Anna Gradolfi)

The event debuted in 2009, in the beggining it was held in Sesto San Giovanni, but beginning in 2016 it started being held in Bergamo at the IceLab Bergamo Palaghiaccio. Its a part of the original Challengers series line up, and its only not been a part of the CS once year (2015).

In 2015, the Trophy became a memorial to Anna Gradolfi, Who founded the Sesto Ice Club and served as its president for 14 year until she passed away due to cancer in 2015

Events hosted all disciplines, Ice dance was introduced in 2015 and pairs in 2013, which with few exceptions (Mens in 2010, Pairs in 2019, all disciplines in 2020 due to covid) have happened all years since its creation. The event debuted with a junior competitions, that has since been discontinued in 2016

First senior Winners: Thomas Paulson (men), Sofia Curci (women), Stefania Berton/Ondřej Hotárek (pairs), Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ice dance)

First juniors Winners: Giorgio Settembrini (men), Carlotta Ortenzi (women) Carolina Gillespie/Luca Demattè (Pairs, were the only competitors)

Italy is the country to win the most medals at this event, with 45 medals total, 24 of those being gold

Charlène Guignard/Marco Fabbri are the people/team to hold the most titles to this event, they won it 5 times

The 2026 Lombardia will be held on 17 Sep - 20 Sep, we still dont have the entries but deadline was on 14 august, so they should come out not long after, they will be present on the [ISU event page](https://www.isu.org/events/lombardia-trophy-2026/), to buy tickets contact [**tickets@ice-lab.it*](mailto:tickets@ice-lab.it)

Nebelhorn Throphy

The event Debuted in 1969 on Oberstdorf, on what on the time was West Germany, , Nebelhorn is of the few events that never lost Challenger status and never had a competition canceled since its creation (yes, not even on covid), and its part of the Original CS line up

Nebelhorn was used as a olympic qualifying, in 2009, 2013 and 2021, where the top placed (not necessarly medalists in some disciplines) of those years would gain their country a spot at the next years Olympic games, That ended in 2025 when the ISU decided to create their own Qualifying event "skate to milano" which we nicknamed "Chinese Nebelhorn" in the community

ISU also used Nebelhorn as a way to test and experiment new rules many times, one exemple in 2002 after the Huge scandal on pairs on that years olympics, The ISU started developing the New Judging system, and they decided to use Nebelhorn that year as a experiment, The official results of that even were still on 6.0 tough since it was just a test for the new system. But in 2003 they were the first ever international event to use the New Judging system on official results.

First Winners (1969): Günter Anderl (men), Ľudmila Bezáková (women), Frigge Drzymalla/Michael Weingart (pairs), Angelika Buck/Erich Buck (ice dance)

USA is the country to win the most medals at this event, with 175 medals total, 63 of those being gold

Aljona Savchenko is the person to win the most titles of this event with of them, Aljona won those titles with 3 different partners (Stanislav Morozov RobinRobin Szolkow and, Bruno Massot and representing two different countries (ukraine and germany)

The 2026 Nebelhorn Throphy will be held on 24 Sep-26 Sep on the Eissportzentrum Oberstdorf Arena, we dont have the entries yet, Deadline is on August 28th so we can expect them to come not long after that, they will be avaible on their [ISU Page](https://www.isu.org/events/isu-cs-nebelhorn-trophy-2026/), more information can be found on their [Official Website](https://www.eissportzentrum-oberstdorf.de/events/nebelhorn-trophy.html)

Always nice to remember that Nebelhorn Always Hosts a Gala event which doesnt happen in many Challengers, and it always a very fun event

Nepela Memorial

It was founded in 1993 that with the exception of one year (2009) is always held on the Ondrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava. The event was part of the original CS line up. In its 33 year history the event was only canceled twice in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid

The event was created in Memory and in Homage to legendary Slovak skater Ondrej Nepela who passed away in 1989 (age 38) and was the 1979 Olympic champion and a three time world champion

In its Debut the competition only hosted singles, pairs were added in 1996 and ice dance in 1995, Nepela hasnt hosted pairs since 2018 while ice dance is still happening every edition.

First Winners (1993): Michael Shmerkin (mens), Mojca Kopač (women), Victoria Maksyuta/Vladislav Zhovnirski (pairs,1996), Marianne Haguenauer/Romain Haguenauer (ice dance, 1995)

Russia is the country to win the most medals at this event, with 51 medals total, 22 of those being gold

The 2026 Nepela Memorial will be held on 24 Sep - 27 Sep, We still dont have the entries but the deadline is 28th of August, entries should come out in the following days, they will be found on the [ISU Page](https://www.isu.org/events/34th-nepela-memorial/), tickets can be bought [here](https://predpredaj.zoznam.sk/en/tickets/34th-nepela-memorial/)

Trialeti Trophy

The event debuted in 2025 at the Ice Palace Tbilisi on Tbilisi, Georgia and right of its creation was given challenger status.

First (and to the moment only)Winners (2025): Nika Egadze (men) Anastasiia Gubanova (women), Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava (Pairs), Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin (ice dance)

Georgia is the country to win the most medals at this event, with 4 medals total, 4 of those being gold

2026 Trialeti Throphy will be held in 1 Oct - 4 Oct at the Batumi Ice Arena in Batumi, Georgia. We dont have the line up announced yet but deadline is on 4th September, entries should come out close to that and will be found on the [ISU Page](https://www.isu.org/events/isu-cs-trialeti-trophy/), and tickets can be bought [here](https://tkt.ge/en/show/34885/trialeti-trophy-2026)

Denis Ten Memorial

Debuted in 2019 at the Halyk Arena in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It gained Challengers status in 2021 and has been part of every single year CS line up ever since

The event was created by the Denis Ten Foundation in Memory and Honour to Denis Ten, Beloved and Iconic Single Skater from Kazakhstan who was tragically murdered in 2018 by robbers who were trying to steal his cars mirrors, Denis was the first person from Kazakhstan to ever win a medal in figure skating which happened in 2008, hes also a olympic and world medalist, Denis also a huge advocate for the growth of figure skating in his country, doing stuff like creating his own ice show there, and helping the campain for Kazakhstan to host the 2022 winter olympics. I highly reccomend reading [This](https://adivinesport.com/2018/08/02/remembering-denis-ten-1993-2018/) article which is a beautiful homage to Denis and his legacy

"One of Denis’s main goals was to develop figure skating in Kazakhstan and represent the country on the world sports arena. Therefore, we are very proud that our country has the honour of organising a tournament of this scale for the first time... We are very happy to give unforgettable emotions to all lovers of figure skating."-Oksana Ten (Denis mom)

Since its creation the event hosts a junior event which in the begging only contained singles but in 2021 and 2023 an junior ice dance event was held. Senior Pairs competition has only happened twice in 2019 and 2021 and has been discontinued

Denis ten Memorial also always hosts a gala!

First senior winners (2019): Morisi Kvitelashvili (mens) Serafima Sakhanovich (womens), Lina Kudriavtseva/Ilia Spiridonov (pairs), Katharina Müller/Tim Dieck (ice dance)

First Junior winners (2019): Daniil Samsonov (mens), Daria Usacheva (womens), Vasilisa Kaganovskaia/Valeriy Angelopol (ice dance, 2021)

Russia is the country to win the most medals at this event, with 13 medals total, 5 of those being gold

Mikhail Shaidorov is the person with the most titles in this competition, he won it 2 times, Also will mention Artur Smagulov who also it two times but on the junior competition

The 2026 Denis Ten memorial will be held at the “Halyk Arena” Ice Palace at Almaty, Kuldzhinsky on 7 Oct-11Oct . Entries deadline is 11th of September, so they should be released some days after that, and will be found on the [ISU page](https://isu-skating.com/figure-skating/events/eventdetail/isu-cs-denis-ten-memorial/), for more information you can check the [Denis Ten Foundation Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/denistenfoundation/), Last year the competition had free entrance with only the gala needing a ticket!

Budapest Trophy

The event Debuted in 2020, It gained Challenger status that same year and alongside Nebelhorn were the only Challengers that happened that year due to Covid, it didnt get the status in 2021and 2025, but were present in all the other years on the CS line up, The competition is held every year at the Vasas Jégcentrum Arena in Budapest, Hungary

The competition has hosted all disciplines, and it all of the years the only discipline that hasnt been held every year was pairs who was only introduced in 2021, and has only been present twice in 2021 and 2023. Junior event have present since the beggining, and contains all the disciplines hosted every year, with the exception of junior pairs who like seniors was only hosted twice but in 2021 and 2024

First senior Winners (2020): Daniel Grassl (mens), Loena Hendrickx (womens), Karina Akopova/Nikita Rakhmanin (Pairs, 2021) and Oleksandra Nazarova/Maksym Nikitin (ice dance)

First junior Winners (2020): Arlet Levandi (mens), Anastasiia Shabotova (ladies), Ekaterina Geynish/Ilya Mironov (pairs, 2021), Mariia Holubtsova/Kyryl Bielobrov (ice dance)

USA is the country to win the most medals at this event, with 8 medals total, 4 of those being gold, Italy is the country to win the most golds with 5 of their 6 being that colour

Matteo Rizzo is the skater with the most titles in this competition, he won it 3 times

Budapest Throphy 2026 will be held on 15 Oct - 18 Oct, we still have no official information on the deadline for entriees or about the tickets sale, but keep an eye on the event [ISU page](https://www.isu.org/events/isu-cs-budapest-trophy/)

Tallinn Trophy

It was created in 2002, but as a domestic competition only, it was only in 2011 that it became a international event, it takes place at the Tondiraba Ice Hall in Tallin, The Trophy gained Challenger status in 2015 and was part of all the previous years line up until 2018, it would only be back as a Challenger in 2024 ans hasnt left the CS since

In the 2011 Debut the event only hosted singles and ice dance, pairs was only included in 2015, but it was disconuined in 2018, Singles is the only discipline to since the event creation be present every year, since ice dance didnt happen in 2012 and 2013, and trought out all of 2019 to 2023, only returning in 2024.

Juniors have been present ever since the competition beggining with singles and ice dance, Junior pairs were introduced in 2016, and only happened twice (2016,2017) and funnily enough were won by the same team both times, Singles have happened every year since the debut and junior ice dance has only not happened in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

First Winners Seniors (2011): Sarkis Hayrapetyan (mens), Yulia Starikova (womens), Aljona Savchenko/Bruno Massot (pairs, 2015), Irina Štork/Taavi Rand (ice dance)

First Winners Juniors (2011): Samuel Koppel (mens), Sindra Kriisa (womens), Daria Kvartalova/Alexei Sviatchenko (pairs, 2016), Victoria-Laura Löhmus/Andrei Davõdov (ice dance)

Russia is the country to win the most medals at this event, with 21 medals total, 11 of those being gold

Aleksandr Selevko is the skater to hold the most titles for this event, he won it 3 times

The 2026 Tallin Throphy will be held on 16 Nov-21Nov, Entriees Deadline is October 12th so they will be announced close to that date at the [ISU page](https://isu-skating.com/figure-skating/events/eventdetail/isu-cs-tallinn-trophy-2026/), more information can be found on [Official website](https://www.tallinntrophy.eu/event/isu-cs-tallinn-trophy-2026-15/register)

PGE Warsaw Cup

The cup debuted in 2002, but it was at that time as a junior singles only competition, in 2010 Senior pairs was added to it and only in 2012 Single Seniors events were added and ice dance in 2014, a very unusual progression. The cup was a part of the OG Challenger Series Line up, and until 2017 has a part of the CS every year, in 2018 it didnt gain status, but got it back in 2019 and has never lost the status again since then.

Junior pairs were added in 2010 alongside their senior counterpart and junior ice dance only actually happened once (2018) and was won by Polina Ivanenko/Daniil Karpov. The junior competitions which were the ones that started the event, were discontinued in 2018.

First Winners Seniors: Alexander Majorov (mens, 2012), Isabelle Olsson (women,2012), Mari Vartmann/Aaron Van Cleave (pairs, 2010) and Federica Testa/Lukáš Csölley (ice dance, 2014)

First Winners Juniors: Dzmitry Malocnikav(mens,2002),LauraLepistö(women,2002), Magdalena Klatka/Radosław Chruściński (pairs, 2010) and Polina Ivanenko/Daniil Karpov (ice dance, 2018)

Russia is the country to win the most medals in this competiton, with 32 total medals, 16 of those being gold

Evgeniia Lopareva/Geoffrey Brissaud and Ekaterina Kurakova are tied as the skaters/team to win the most titles with 2 each

2026 Warsaw cup will be held at the Arena COS Torwar in Warsaw on 25 Nov - 29 Nov, theres still no official deadline for entries and no information about the tickets, but keep an eye on the [ISU page](https://www.isu.org/events/isu-cs-pge-warsaw-cup-2026/)

Golden Spin of Zagreb

The event was founded in 1967 when Yugoslavia was still a country, in 1991 while the croatian war of independecy was happening the event was suspended and would return in 1992. It is the oldest event to ever be a challenger, was part of the original line up and one of the few events to never leave the CS line up

The Golden spin single events has ever been canceled twice in its 63 year old history, which happened in 2020 due to the Covid-19 and in 1991 like i said before. Pairs have been present since the beggining of the competition history, ice dance was added in 1981, they have been both not been held every year

In 1992, Croatia was still in war with Yugoslavia, but the croatian goverment was very insistent in still holding the event, as they would hope that the competition would help bring a more positive look into the country and stop the public perception that croacia was a dangerous place to travel to.

First Winners Seniors (1967): Günter Anderl (mens), Wilfriede Reiter (women) Miroslava Sáblíková/Pavel Komárek (pairs), Judit Péterfy/Csaba Bálint (ice dance, 1981)

USA is the country to win the most medals at this event, with 86 medals total, 29 of those being gold

Sanda Dubravčić is the Person to win the most titles in this competition, she won it 5 times

2026 Golden Spin of Zagreb will be held on 2 Dec - 5 Dec, theres still no official deadline for entries and no information about the tickets, but keep an eye on the [ISU page](https://www.isu.org/events/golden-spin-of-zagreb-2026/)

Ice challenge

Event was founded in 1971 as a regional competition, in 2006 it became a national competition and on 2009 it became a ISU official international competition. Ice challenge was part of the Original Challenger series and was a CS 4 times (2014,2015,2021,2022), the event was canceled in 2016,2019,2020 and 2023.

Since its beggining the event does host Junior events, and still hosts it every year!

First Winners Seniors (2009): Tomáš Verner (mens), Kanako Murakami (womens), Caitlin Yankowskas/John Coughlin (pairs) and Nóra Hoffmann/Maxim Zavozin (ice dance)

First Juniors Seniors (2009): Franz Streubel (mens), Gerli Liinamäe (women), Klára Kadlecová/Petr Bidař (pairs), Stefanie Frohberg/Tim Giesen (ice dance)

USA is the country to win the most medals at this event, with 40 medals total, 22 of those being gold

Anna Pezzeta is the skater to win the most titles in this competition, she won it 2 times

2026 Ice challenge will be held on 10 Feb - 13 Feb at the Eisstadion Liebenau, theres still no official deadline for entries and no information about the tickets, but keep an eye on the [ISU page](https://www.isu.org/events/isu-cs-icechallenge/)