2026/2027 ISU Challenger Series events

victorskid

victorskid

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Core events for this season & possible additional events are described in ISU Communication No. 2780:

Some details:
"In recognition of the long standing tradition and merit of the following International Competitions, there will be a core group of four (4) Challenger Series Competitions, namely:
  • Nebelhorn-Trophy in Oberstdorf (GER)
  • Ondrej Nepela Trophy in Bratislava (SVK)
  • Golden Spin of Zagreb (CRO)
  • One Competition in Canada or the United States to be agreed upon among the ISU Figure Skating Members in Canada and the United States.

The above-mentioned core group of four (4) Challenger Series Competitions remains nevertheless subject to receiving an application from the concerned ISU Members and subject to ISU Council confirmation (see Paragraph 4 below for the details for the applications).
Up to a maximum of six (6) additional International Figure Skating Competitions may be added by the ISU Council at its full discretion based on the applications from organizing ISU Members from all Continents to be submitted to the ISU by the deadline of May 10, 2026."
 
I don’t understand what is so ???? about this. I assume they don’t want to use “permanent”, because that’s not predictable. “Founding” isn’t accurate, nor is “Emeritus.”
 
Disappointing that there is still no requirement for organizing commmittees of CS events to provide livestreams/video of events.

it sounds like these rules will disallow the John Nicks pairs event from being a CS. Unless they give it some special dispensation or something.
 
I was hoping that the Cranberry Cup was going to become an annual CS event. Even though it's only been a CS the past two years, SCoB/Norwood is such a nice rink it seemed destined to become a yearly stop. But I guess it will need to trade off with Canada now and then. There's a chance they could both apply and maybe get one of the open spots.
 
Vagabond said:
:huh: A "core group"? What is this? High school?
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This is the way it's always been with the Challenger Series, though when it was first created, Finlandia Trophy was part of the "core" group. After Finlandia was upgraded to a GP event, it was dropped from the Challenger Series "core" group listing, though I'm sure it will be added back whenever Russia is allowed host international competitions & is given a GP again.
clairecloutier said:
Disappointing that there is still no requirement for organizing commmittees of CS events to provide livestreams/video of events.

it sounds like these rules will disallow the John Nicks pairs event from being a CS. Unless they give it some special dispensation or something.
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That's been the situation the past couple seasons with John Nicks & Cranberry serving as one "CS" event despite being two separate competitions.

What's probably going to stop that from happening going forward is the requirement that the CS events be scheduled between August 15, 2026 and Feb 15, 2027 - unless SCoB moves Cranberry Cup/Open from the current dates of Aug 4-8, 2026. I can't see the John Nicks/Mid-Atlantics organizers wanting to host a full-blown CS for singles also.

Looking over the other NQS competitions that have singles & either pairs or dance...

Skate Detroit (singles, pairs & dance) - Aug 19-22
Greater Chicagoland Fall Invitational (singles, pairs) - Oct 10-13
Boston Open (singles & pairs) - Oct 1-4
Broadmoor Fall Classic (singles, dance) - Oct 1-4

Maybe we could see a hybrid CS with the 4 disciplines split between Boston & Broadmoor that first weekend of October - or Canada steps up and pulls a CS event application together. Who knows?
 
Capt. DeSoto said:
No Golden Spin? The ISU Communication said that was one of the more permanent ones.
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The document I have doesn't list it as applying for a CS, even though I saw that too. It also lists John Nicks in Norwood, which I guess they could move it but I suspect it'd be in NYC again.
 
tony said:
The document I have doesn't list it as applying for a CS, even though I saw that too. It also lists John Nicks in Norwood, which I guess they could move it but I suspect it'd be in NYC again.
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It's possible John Nicks Pairs has moved locations, but I think it's more likely that its unique split-location/split-dates situation for "one event" just confuses even those who put together the list of competitions.

It should also be noted that we're still ~15 days from the application deadline. It's possible that this leaked schedule is preliminary, and should Golden Spin submit a bid then by the nature of them being a core/legacy competition they'll end up kicking someone else out due to the limit of 10 competitions (excluding Nicks Pairs which is technically the same CS event as Cranberry).
 
Last edited:
tony said:
www.instagram.com

The Skating Session by Tony Wheeler on Instagram: "Not yet officially announced - 2026/2027 Challenger Series tentative event schedule"

4 likes, 0 comments - theskatingsession on April 24, 2026: "Not yet officially announced - 2026/2027 Challenger Series tentative event schedule".
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
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You know, if the ISU is going to accept Challenger Series competitions outside the dates listed in their Communication (Cranberry Cup & Challenge Cup fall just before and just after the Aug 15-Feb 15 window) then why don't they just change the window to Aug 1 to Feb 28 for the Communication? :wall:

I do like the idea of giving skaters who don't make it to Euros/4CCs or Worlds/Jr Worlds one opportunity in the second half of the season to post a SB though, so I'm happy at the addition of Challenge Cup, which is almost always a strong event.
 
Stephanie said:
Kind of strange that the announcement says that competition dates should not, if possible, clash with the GP and then the preliminary list has 4 events in November. At least one early October event would be helpful for skaters with later GPs or those who aren’t ready in September.
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To this point - even Zagreb, who can in turn actually apply to be a Challenger again (since they are one of the core 4....) is scheduled Dec 2-5.

Shanghai Trophy Oct 3-5, Budapest Trophy Oct 9-11, Tayside Trophy Oct 10-11, and Trophee Metrope Nice Oct 14-18 are among the 'bigger' yet few non-Grand Prix October events. For now.
 
tony said:
To this point - even Zagreb, who can in turn actually apply to be a Challenger again (since they are one of the core 4....) is scheduled Dec 2-5.

Shanghai Trophy Oct 3-5, Budapest Trophy Oct 9-11, Tayside Trophy Oct 10-11, and Trophee Metrope Nice Oct 14-18 are among the 'bigger' yet few non-Grand Prix October events. For now.
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Shanghai Trophy is an invitational, so it's not as though just any skater can be entered in the event to compete.
 
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