2021-22 ISU Challenger Series announced

Sylvia

TBD
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Autumn Classic International men's field is Canadian only now: https://results.isu.org/events/cscan2021_Men.htm
1 Samuel ANGERS CAN 1 (added)
2 Beres CLEMENTS CAN 1 (added)
3 Nam NGUYEN CAN 1
4 Conrad ORZEL CAN 1
5 Bennet TOMAN CAN 1 (added)
WD: Joseph Phan, Camden Pulkinen (I heard he may turn up at U.S. Classic)

ETA - also added in Pairs today (Sept. 8): https://results.isu.org/events/cscan2021_Pairs.htm
8 Ashley CAIN-GRIBBLE / Timothy LEDUC USA 5 (ETA they are not listed on USFS' updated Assignments page, however)
9 Katie MCBEATH / Nathan BARTHOLOMAY USA 5

Women/Ice Dance unchanged since Sept. 1: https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00110961.htm

ETA: 12 countries total are represented as of Sept. 8: AUT CAN CHN CYP CZE ESP JPN KOR NZL SUI TPE USA
 
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AngieNikodinovLove

Frangi & Piazza & Paul & Hektor & Theo. Oh My! 😝
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Autumn Classic International men's field is Canadian only now: https://results.isu.org/events/cscan2021_Men.htm
1 Samuel ANGERS CAN 1 (added)
2 Beres CLEMENTS CAN 1 (added)
3 Nam NGUYEN CAN 1
4 Conrad ORZEL CAN 1
5 Bennet TOMAN CAN 1 (added)
WD: Joseph Phan, Camden Pulkinen (I heard he may turn up at U.S. Classic)

ETA - also added in Pairs today (Sept. 8): https://results.isu.org/events/cscan2021_Pairs.htm
8 Ashley CAIN-GRIBBLE / Timothy LEDUC USA 5
9 Katie MCBEATH / Nathan BARTHOLOMAY USA 5

Women/Ice Dance unchanged since Sept. 1: https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00110961.htm

Wow what is it do you think that Canada was not able to attract any other skaters in men’s outside of Canada? I’d be curious to know what happened there…
 

danafan

Canadian ladies über
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Can the men still get TES minimums and/or season best scores if athletes are only from one country?
 

Sylvia

TBD
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79,989
Can the men still get TES minimums and/or season best scores if athletes are only from one country?
Not sure about ISU TES minimums or SB scores for the 5 Canadian men at Autumn Classic - can someone confirm?

From ISU Communication No. 2372: https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/rules/fsk-communications/25481-isu-communication-2372/file

The International Competition must include entries in at least 3 disciplines of the Figure Skating Branch
(Men, Ladies, Pair Skating, Ice Dance) from minimum ten (10) different ISU Members, all disciplines
combined.
In addition, the minimum number of entries per discipline are as follows:
• Ladies/Men: minimum of eight (8) entries each, from at least four (4) ISU Members [ACI has 13 women from 7 countries];
• Pair Skating: minimum of five (5) entries from at least three (3) ISU Members; [ACI now has 9 entries/5 countries]
• Ice Dance: minimum of six (6) entries from at least four (4) ISU Members [ACI has 9 teams/5 countries].

7. MINIMUM TOTAL ELEMENTS SCORE
Provided that all requirements of the composition of the Technical Panel as per point 3 above and of the
panel of Judges are fulfilled, the Challenger Series Competition will count for the required Minimum
Total Element Score to be eligible for participation in ISU Figure Skating Championships (See 2018*
Special Regulations Single & Pair Skating/Ice Dance, Rule 378, paragraph 3).
 
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Colonel Green

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Wow what is it do you think that Canada was not able to attract any other skaters in men’s outside of Canada? I’d be curious to know what happened there…
Crossing borders in the current environment is usually a pain in the ass, so if you don’t have to do it (and there are several other Challengers and comparable events happening in the US and Europe), there’s not much incentive. There also aren’t many foreign skaters, and in particular foreign men, training here at the moment.
 

Andrea82

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837
I don't thinK ISU envisaged competitions going from Challenger status to having only skaters from one country.
And clarity is not ISU greatest feature when writing the rules.

Senior/Junior Bs without skaters from 2 ISU Members have not been considered for minimum TES in the past.
Indeed, the definition of International Competitions includes "Competitors from at least two ISU Members participate".
They have applied this "competitors from at least 2 ISU Members" rule looking at each discipline rather than whole events. So for instance, last year's scores from Celje Open 2021 were counted for minimum TES for Women (9 entries, from 5 countries) but not for Men (2 entries, from the same country).

Season Best Scores from Challenger Series events had been recognised even when the competitions didn't get enough entries to qualify to be a Challenger - see for example Challenger Series - Budapest Trophy 2020 in Ice Dance (3 entries, from 3 countries) - because the panel of officials met the requirements for Challenger Series which are stricter than those for other lower level International competitions (also valid to achieve minimum TES)*.
However, there has never been an occasion in previous CS events in which only entries from 1 country were left.

Both Communication No. 2372 and ISU Announcement of Challenger Series mention "all requirements of the composition of the Technical Panel as per point 3 above and of the panel of Judges are fulfilled" also in relation to counting scores towards minimum TES. However, those requirements in terms of panel/judges are those of Challenger Series panels (which are more demanding). Therefore, it doesn't make sense asking for them when other International competitions are valid for minimum TES without needed them. It does make sense to ask for them for Season Bests being valid, not for minimum TES. I suppose there may be some "cut and paste" issues when drafting all these documents.
At the same time they don't explicitly mention the requirements in terms of number of entries (included in the same point 3).

*Challenger Series requires at least 7 judges with 6 in exceptional cases (instead of minimum 5), all from different ISU members (rather than simply not having any ISU Members with a majority of the panel) and Technical Panel with at least 2 members with ISU qualification (instead of International qualification being enough for everybody).
 
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Stephanie

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angi

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Are we expecting Asian Open to happen? Cup Of China was canceled so it feels unlikely that Asian Open will happen.
 

Frau Muller

From Puerto Rico…With Love! Not LatinX!
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Are we expecting Asian Open to happen? Cup Of China was canceled so it feels unlikely that Asian Open will happen.
Well, let’s pray that it happens because the Olympics will be next in that venue.
 

sk8nlizard

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USFS assignments are up for Finlandia and the Asian Open (Olympic Test Event): https://usfigureskatingfanzone.com/...22-international-assignments-and-results.aspx

Finlandia: Karen Chen, Amber Glenn, Jason Brown, Maxim Naumov, Cain-Gribble/Leduc, Calalang/Johnson, Chock/Bates, Carreira/Ponomarenko

Asian Open: Mariah Bell, Gabriella Izzo, Jimmy Ma, Lu/Mitrofanov, Chan/Howe, Hawayek/Baker
It’s interesting to me that K/F don’t have a challenger. I figured they would want at least one but maybe since they are front runners they are trying to save themselves a bit (health and stamina wise).
 

Karen-W

Checking Senior Bs for TES mins...
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It’s interesting to me that K/F don’t have a challenger. I figured they would want at least one but maybe since they are front runners they are trying to save themselves a bit (health and stamina wise).
They might decide to do Warsaw Cup or Golden Spin if they don't qualify for the GPF. Plus, they've already competed against TarMor at Cranberry Cup and are doing the John Nicks Pairs Challenge this weekend, so they are getting more competition experience under their belts.

I'm a bit more concerned that Bradie doesn't have one, especially after she withdrew from US Classic next weekend.
 

yeslek

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It’s interesting to me that K/F don’t have a challenger. I figured they would want at least one but maybe since they are front runners they are trying to save themselves a bit (health and stamina wise).
I thought it was weird too. Maybe because their gp starts earlier?
 

AngieNikodinovLove

Frangi & Piazza & Paul & Hektor & Theo. Oh My! 😝
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USFS assignments are up for Finlandia and the Asian Open (Olympic Test Event): https://usfigureskatingfanzone.com/...22-international-assignments-and-results.aspx

Finlandia: Karen Chen, Amber Glenn, Jason Brown, Maxim Naumov, Cain-Gribble/Leduc, Calalang/Johnson, Chock/Bates, Carreira/Ponomarenko

Asian Open: Mariah Bell, Gabriella Izzo, Jimmy Ma, Lu/Mitrofanov, Chan/Howe, Hawayek/Baker

I'm glad Amber is on and hopefully she stays. I also would like to see another match up between Amber and Karen and see how it pans out. Lombardia was happening today as I was out and about in Spain so I watch the videos tonight
 

MacMadame

Doing all the things
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I swear when I first started paying attention to such things that the top skaters rarely did Challengers. Am I wrong?
 

Peepsquick

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I swear when I first started paying attention to such things that the top skaters rarely did Challengers. Am I wrong?
Olympic year? More opportunities to hone and fine tune your skills before the Olympics? I remember that P/C did Finlandia before the Oly in 2018.
 

Gris

不做奴才做公民
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Cup Of China was canceled so it feels unlikely that Asian Open will happen.

Asian Open, as the Olympic Test Event, is organized by the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games while Cup of China is not. In CoC's case, I think it's likely that the local (Chongqing) government decided to quit.

While I'm not sure Asian Open will 100% happen, I don't think the two are that comparable.
 

yeslek

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Olympic year? More opportunities to hone and fine tune your skills before the Olympics? I remember that P/C did Finlandia before the Oly in 2018.
A lot of them skip them in the Olympic year to save their energy if they have enough points to get into final groups.
 

Vagabond

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I swear when I first started paying attention to such things that the top skaters rarely did Challengers. Am I wrong?
The Challenger Series came into existence in the 2014-15 season. Here you can see the top finishers from that season. It's not a Who's Who of skating at that period except in Ice Dance, but on the other hand Elizaveta Tuktamysheva did use the Challengers Series that season to make her triple axel reliable and prepare herself to win the World Championship.
 
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Panja

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vesperholly

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I swear when I first started paying attention to such things that the top skaters rarely did Challengers. Am I wrong?
Agree. Prior to the Challenger Series, top elites doing a senior B was fairly unusual. I think Tuk was one of the people who popularized going to them and winning with her run up to the 2015 World title.
 

Karen-W

Checking Senior Bs for TES mins...
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Agree. Prior to the Challenger Series, top elites doing a senior B was fairly unusual. I think Tuk was one of the people who popularized going to them and winning with her run up to the 2015 World title.
Yes, and as popular as they have become, I'd like to see at least a couple more added to the permanent roster. Make both Autumn Classic and US Classic into Challengers every season - they can trade off each season on the one that hosts a pairs event; and add a third one to the Asia/Oceania region - it would be nice to see South Korea or Australia host one every few years. Southeast Asia is where the most growth potential for the sport exists at this time and the ISU should be pouring some additional support into another annual competition in the region.
 

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