2023-24 Challenger Series

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

With the Grand Prix starting soon who are some of the higher ranked skaters and teams we did not see on the Challenger circuit this year and thus really haven’t seen them yet at all?

Madison Chock and Evan bates
Amber Glenn
Kaitlyn Hawayek and JL Baker
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier
Daniel Grassl for obvious reasons

 

[Sylvia]

Shoma Uno.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Shoma Uno.

I was about to put him in, and I could not remember if he was in the Japan open. I thought we had seen him. But yes, he was originally on my list.

 

[Karen-W]

With the Grand Prix starting soon who are some of the higher ranked skaters and teams we did not see on the Challenger circuit this year and thus really haven’t seen them yet at all?

Madison Chock and Evan bates
Amber Glenn
Kaitlyn Hawayek and JL Baker
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier
Daniel Grassl for obvious reasons

Lindsay Thorngren

 

[Andrea82]

Litvintsev and Shaidorov haven't competed yet IIRC.

Another men MIA so far (but they don't have GPs) are Demirboga, Oktar and Newberry

 

[Holy Headband]

Call me cheap, but I’m very disappointed that almost all of these competitions require payments to stream, especially considering the exchange rates. Paying close to CA$30 per week is out of the question for me (not to mention the pain of separate registrations).

I don't think it makes you cheap to baulk at having to pay €100 to watch ~40 hours of sub-GP level figure skating. I understand this sport requires a lot of investment and is losing popularity by the year, but putting competitions behind a paywall and asking for such unreasonable fees only contributes to figure skating's death spiral at a time when the ISU should be thinking of ways to make it more accessible and attractive to more people.

Which, forget about the fees for a second (even though they're absurd). How was a new/prospective fan supposed to learn about Lombardia or Budapest or Finlandia and watch? They were all streamed on different websites that were advertised at the last minute and required a real-name registration. What the heck? You want everything to be easily accessible on or at least via your big accounts on YouTube, Instagram, etc. You want to promote attractive narratives like Kagiyama's return from injury or Malinin's 4A or Lim/Quan's first senior competition AHEAD OF TIME. You want everything to be easy to find. And you want it to be free, FFS.

 

[Frau Muller]

Lindsay Thorngren

She was at Cranberry Open. Not a CS Challenger but an important competition.

 

[Sylvia]

And we didn't even have the OPTION to watch a livestream of Cranberry Cup International (Senior/Junior B) because there wasn't one. Lindsay WD from her 1 CS - Autumn Classic, the only one that had a free livestream (she also competed in a NQS that was not livestreamed).

 

[Sylvia]

There is no mention of a livestream requirement in the initial ISU CS Announcement that was published in February 2023 (Communication no. 2539): https://www.isu.org/inside-isu/isu-communications/communications/30784-isu-communication-2539/file

Some excerpts:

4. APPLICATION & SELECTION PROCEDURE FOR THE ORGANIZING ISU MEMBERS OF THE CHALLENGER SERIES COMPETITIONS
ISU Members interested to have an International Competition regularly being organized in their country to become a Challenger Series Competition, must apply to the ISU Secretariat for inclusion into the Challenger Series of their planned International Competition scheduled between August 1 and December 15. The Competitions, included in the “Challenger Series”, should not, if possible, clash with the dates of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating events.
The application must reach the ISU Secretariat ([email protected]) by March 10, 2023 and needs to include:
• Description of the venue
• Description of the hotel(s)
• Structure of the Organizing Committee• History/tradition of the International Competition.
After evaluation of the applications received, the ISU Council will decide upon up to 5 additional International Competitions (in addition to those indicated [Nebelhorn-Trophy in Oberstdorf (GER), Finlandia Trophy (FIN), Ondrej Nepela Trophy in Bratislava (SVK), Golden Spin of Zagreb (CRO)] to be included in the Challenger Series giving preference to International Competitions having a certain tradition and continuity. The selected International Competitions included in the Challenger Series will be published through an ISU Communication.

9. PRIZE MONEY
The top three placed Skaters/Couples of the annual Challenger Series Ranking will receive ISU Prize Money as follows which will be paid to the concerned Skaters by the ISU through their respective ISU Members:
Men and Women:
1st place CHF 4’000.00
2nd place CHF 3’000.00
3rd place CHF 2’000.00

Pair Skating and Ice Dance:
1st place CHF 5’000.00
2nd place CHF 4’000.00
3rd place CHF 3’000.00

12. ISU CONTRIBUTION
Each ISU Member, organizing a Challenger Series Competition will receive an ISU contribution of CHF 20’000. This contribution will be paid when the Competition has been successfully completed in line with the requirements included in this Communication and the ISU Statutes. The contribution must be used to cover the costs of the Technical Panel in each Competition and the remuneration of the Officials. Any remaining funds may cover ice costs or other organizational expenses.

 

[Frau Muller]

Small clip of Thorngren at Cranberry:

Lindsay Thorngren 2023 Cranberry Open SP (choreography by Sandra Bezic)

www.youtube.com

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Lindsay Thorngren

wait, we saw her earlier in the season…

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

She was at Cranberry Open. Not a CS Challenger but an important competition.

yeah, I was also including that and Japan open Although I don’t think I mentioned that in my post. I was just trying to remember and think of people who we have not even seen anything of yet.

 

[Karen-W]

wait, we saw her earlier in the season…

I'm sorry but no one has seen her programs in full yet because she competed at NQS Charleston Open and Cranberry Cup, neither of which have public video emerge. I thought we were talking about skaters who've competed on the Challenger or at least somewhere with video at least once.

 

[Gris]

Warsaw Cup entries: https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00117434.htm

Copying out:

Men
Entries
No. Name Nation
1 Maurizio ZANDRON AUT 1
2 Roman SADOVSKY CAN 2
3 Filip SCERBA CZE 3
4 Pablo GARCIA ESP 4
5 Arttu JUUSOLA FIN 5
6 Valtter VIRTANEN FIN 5
7 Samy HAMMI FRA 6
8 Francois PITOT FRA 6
9 Xan ROLS FRA 6
10 Edward APPLEBY GBR 7
11 Denis GURDZHI GER 8
12 Kai JAGODA GER 8
Nikita STAROSTIN GER 8 S
13 Mark GORODNITSKY ISR 9
14 Lev VINOKUR ISR 9
15 Edrian Paul CELESTINO PHI 10
16 Vladimir SAMOILOV POL 11
17 Kornel WITKOWSKI POL 11
18 Milosz WITKOWSKI POL 11
19 Matvii YEFYMENKO POL 11
20 David GOUVEIA POR 12
21 Noah BODENSTEIN SUI 13
22 Lukas BRITSCHGI SUI 13
23 Naoki ROSSI SUI 13
24 Adam HAGARA SVK 14
25 Gabriel FOLKESSON SWE 15
26 Andrii KOKURA UKR 16
27 Kyrylo MARSAK UKR 16
28 Ivan SHMURATKO UKR 16
29 Jason BROWN USA 17
30 Daniel MARTYNOV USA 17

Women
Entries
No. Name Nation
1 Sophia Natalie DAYAN ARG 1
2 Barbora VRANKOVA CZE 2
3 Eva-Lotta KIIBUS EST 3
4 Gerli LIINAMAE EST 3
5 Linnea CEDER FIN 4
6 Olivia LISKO FIN 4
7 Emmi PELTONEN FIN 4
8 Maia MAZZARA FRA 5
9 Mae Berenice MEITE FRA 5
10 Lea SERNA FRA 5
11 Nina POVEY GBR 6
12 Kristen SPOURS GBR 6
13 Kristina ISAEV GER 7
14 Regina SCHERMANN HUN 8
15 Daria ZSIRNOV HUN 8
16 Tara PRASAD IND 9
17 Elizabet GERVITS ISR 10
18 Mariia SENIUK ISR 10
19 Anna PEZZETTA ITA 11
20 Seoyeon JI KOR 12
21 Angelina KUCHVALSKA LAT 13
22 Aleksandra GOLOVKINA LTU 14
23 Karolina BIALAS POL 15
24 Ekaterina KURAKOVA POL 15
25 Julija POLNIUK POL 15
26 Agnieszka REJMENT POL 15
27 Laura SZCZESNA POL 15
28 Sara FRANZI SUI 16
29 Livia KAISER SUI 16
30 Alexia PAGANINI SUI 16
31 Ema DOBOSZOVA SVK 17
32 Vanesa SELMEKOVA SVK 17
33 Mariia ANDRIICHUK UKR 18
34 Yelizaveta BABENKO UKR 18
35 Tetiana FIRSOVA UKR 18
36 Elyce LIN-GRACEY USA 19

Ice Dance
Entries
No. Name Nation
1 Holly HARRIS / Jason CHAN AUS 1
2 Olivia Josephine SHILLING / Leo BAETEN BEL 2
3 Marie DUPAYAGE / Thomas NABAIS FRA 3
4 Evgeniia LOPAREVA / Geoffrey BRISSAUD FRA 3
5 Lou TERREAUX / Noe PERRON FRA 3
Natacha LAGOUGE / Arnaud CAFFA FRA 3 S
6 Layla KARNES / Liam CARR GBR 4
7 Charise MATTHAEI / Max LIEBERS GER 5
8 Lucy HANCOCK / Ilias FOURATI HUN 6
9 Shira ICHILOV / Dmytriy KRAVCHENKO ISR 7
10 Mariia NOSOVITSKAYA / Mikhail NOSOVITSKIY ISR 7
11 Victoria MANNI / Carlo ROETHLISBERGER ITA 8
12 Hannah LIM / Ye QUAN KOR 9
13 Hanna JAKUCS / Alessio GALLI NED 10
14 Chelsea VERHAEGH / Sherim VAN GEFFEN NED 10
15 Olexandra BORYSOVA / Aaron FREEMAN POL 11
16 Sofiia DOVHAL / Wiktor KULESZA POL 11
17 Olivia OLIVER / Filip BOJANOWSKI POL 11
18 Anastasia POLIBINA / Pavel GOLOVISHNIKOV POL 11
19 Maria Sofia PUCHEROVA / Nikita LYSAK SVK 12
20 Anna SIMOVA / Kirill AKSENOV SVK 12
21 Mariia HOLUBTSOVA / Kyryl BIELOBROV UKR 13
22 Zoe LARSON / Andrii KAPRAN UKR 13

 

[Karen-W]

Warsaw Cup results page (including the non-CS pairs)

ISU CS Warsaw Cup 2023

Event results for ISU CS Warsaw Cup 2023

page.pfsa.com.pl

Golden Spin entries should be published this week as they were due last Friday.

 

[4rkidz]

Some really interesting skaters for the Warsaw cup

 

[Sylvia]

Some really interesting skaters for the Warsaw cup

Link to the competition thread in Kiss & Cry: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/2023-warsaw-cup-nov-16-19-cs-8-senior-b-in-pairs.111236/

Roman Sadovsky is listed on Skate Canada's website for Golden Spin (only Canadian entry).

 

[Karen-W]

Still waiting on the official entry lists, but...

Gamez/Korovin and Sofia Frank from the Philippines have been assigned to Golden Spin.

https://instagram.com/stories/isabellaandalexander/3236736697251471010?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

Japan has assigned 2 ice dance teams to Golden Spin (presumably aiming for TES mins) - Utana Yoshida/Masaya Morita and Azusa Tanaka/Shingo Nishiyama.

Japanese figure skating 2023-24 season news & updates

Kao Miura wrote a short essay for the digital Japanese newspaper website, Asahi-shinbun. (their articles in Japanese are usually behind the paywall but it is accessible for a limited time now) https://digital.asahi.com/articles/ASRC94W7BRC5UNHB00B.html?ptoken=01HF817HH491E38NE5VA2KY20G Here...

www.fsuniverse.net

 

[Amy L]

I still miss Yoshida/Nishiyama, it's not common for me to remember a Don Quixote program fondly! I just think it's kind of funny they're still at competitions together but with their new separate partnerships.

 

[Lara]

No idea what the issues were but still sorry they broke up too. Hopefully both have success in the future!

 

[Karen-W]

Olga Mikutina appears to be competing at Golden Spin per her IG story -

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[YukiNieve]

If I am not mistaken Mark said during the broadcasting GPS Espoo that Amber Glenn and Zingas/Kolesnik will be at Golden Spin. Anybody else heard it?

 

[Karen-W]

If I am not mistaken Mark said during the broadcasting GPS Espoo that Amber Glenn and Zingas/Kolesnik will be at Golden Spin. Anybody else heard it?

On the one hand, it wouldn't surprise me, on the other hand does either really need a 4th international?

 

[skatfan]

On the one hand, it wouldn't surprise me, on the other hand does either really need a 4th international?

I can imagine Amber wanting to put out two good programs before Nationals.

 

[ice coverage]

If I am not mistaken Mark said during the broadcasting GPS Espoo that Amber Glenn and Zingas/Kolesnik will be at Golden Spin. Anybody else heard it?

Although I missed whatever Mark H said, I read the same in GoldenSkate's reports via Instagram (and "X" platform) from the post-FS/FD mixed zone.

... a 4th international?

BTW: For Amber, Golden Spin would be her third international of the season.
My two cents re Z/K are that Golden Spin would be an opportunity for the relatively new partnership to gain more competition experience. And more World Standings points (to offset having only one international before this season).

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

On the one hand, it wouldn't surprise me, on the other hand does either really need a 4th international?

would only be ambers third

 

[kwanfan1818]

It would be Glenn’s third this season, but she has one full WS internationals slot open and one incremental, ie, could replace the 189 pts. she earned two seasons ago.

It would be Zingas/Kolesnik’s fourth this season, and they, too, have an open WS internationals slot. They could use the points and the mileage, and, at a CS event, they could earn an SB that puts them higher on the list.

 

[Karen-W]

The USFS has sent a pretty good-sized contingent to Golden Spin in past years. I'm expecting 2-3 competitors in each discipline.

Thorngren could also use the WS points and she has one Senior B points slot for this season still open since she had to WD from ACI.

If they're ready, I could see the USFS assigning ChanHowe and HawBak to Golden Spin since they haven't been in front of any judges yet this season. And, of course, McBeath/Parkman and Flores/Desyatov could use the opportunity to get TES mins and on the SB list too. Third pairs team, if they send one, best bet would be either Kam/O'Shea or Martins/Bedard, but maybe the Mokhovs would be sent to try and improve their SB since it's really low.

Among the men - I'd wager on Lucas Broussard & Tomoki Hiwatashi.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I was thinking of who could get sent and I was thinking, perhaps

Women - Amber, Lindsay, EliseLin and ….Ava has already had two or three this season?

Men torgy and Lucas

Pairs heck send five if possible

Dance Z&K, Browns

 

[Rukia]

Send Torgy I need to spend a weekend fretting over someone's skating once again