The International Challenge Cup is an annual figure skating competition, organized by the Royal Dutch Skating Federation () and held at the IJssportcentrum Tilburg in Tilburg, Netherlands. Originally known as the Ennia Challenge Cup, the first installment was held in Heerenveen in 1976 and featured only an event for women. The following year, the competition relocated to The Hague, and in addition to the men's, women's, and ice dance events, it featured a team award. The competition in 1984 was the last for many years. It returned in 2007, and since 2017, the Dutch Figure Skating Championships have been contested as part of the International Challenge Cup; the top Dutch competitors are then recognized as the Dutch national champions.

Medals are awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance at the senior and junior levels, although each discipline may not necessarily be held every year due to a lack of participants. Brian Joubert of France holds the record for winning the most titles in men's singles (with two), while four skaters are tied for winning the most titles in women's singles (also with two each): Rika Kihira of Japan, Carolina Kostner of Italy, Kaori Sakamoto of Japan, and Katarina Witt of East Germany. Three teams are tied for winning the most titles in pair skating (with two each): Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii of Italy, Larisa Selezneva and Oleg Makarov of the Soviet Union, and Irina Vorobieva and Igor Lisovsky of the Soviet Union. Loïcia Demougeot and Théo le Mercier of France hold the record in ice dance (with three).

History Originally known as the Ennia Challenge Cup, the first installment of this competition was held in November 1976 at the Thialf in Heerenveen. It was sponsored by the Heerenveen Figure Skating Club and the Ennia insurance company, and was a competition only for women. Eleven women representing Australia, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and West Germany, as well as the Netherlands, competed. Jel Geldof, secretary of the Heerenveen Figure Skating Club, explained that Ennia wanted to sponsor the competition in order to give figure skating more prominence in the Netherlands. However, as planning began late, it was not included on the calendar of the International Skating Union (ISU), and it was too late for many nations, especially those in the Eastern Bloc, to schedule their skaters. Though the competition was considered a success, Ennia made certain demands in exchange for their continued sponsorship: the competition in 1977 had to be expanded to include the men's and pairs' events, had to be placed on the official ISU calendar and scheduled such that it did not conflict with the Richmond Trophy in Great Britain, and had to attract top-tier skaters, including those from Eastern Europe.

In 1977, the Ennia Challenge Cup was relocated to The Hague. Herman van Laer, chairman of the Royal Dutch Skating Federation, cited Dianne de Leeuw as the source of inspiration for a resurgence of interest in skating in the Netherlands, and hoped to capitalize on that. In addition to events in men's singles, women's singles, and ice dance, a special event was staged on the last day of the Ennia Challenge Cup, where team members from the different disciplines competed together to accumulate points based on their performances.

Due to a request from the ISU, the Ennia Challenge Cup omitted compulsory figures and compulsory dances from the competition beginning in 1978. The ISU explained that the omission was a trial experiment to help guide future decision-making. Compulsory figures were eventually discontinued internationally after the 1990 World Figure Skating Championships. At the 1978 competition, Denise Biellmann of Switzerland, winner of the women's event, had her name given to a new strain of tulip, and a bouquet of her namesake tulips was presented to her by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.

In 1983, Ennia announced a merger with AGO to form Aegon; the competition was renamed the Aegon Challenge Cup. However, the 1984 event was the last for several years. The competitionnow called the International Challenge Cupreturned in 2007, and instead of being held in the fall, it was now held in the spring. It also featured events for junior-level skaters, but did not include the team event. Since 2017, the Dutch Figure Skating Championships have been held in conjunction with the International Challenge Cup, and the top Dutch competitors are recognized as the Dutch national champions. In 2023, the competition was relocated to Tilburg.

Senior medalists

Men's singles +Senior men's event medalists Year Location Gold Silver Bronze 1976 Heerenveen No senior men's competition 1977 The Hague David Santee Fumio Igarashi Daniel Béland 1978 Scott Cramer Jean-Christophe Simond Dennis Coi 1979 Robin Cousins Gordon Forbes Robert Wagenhoffer 1980 Jean-Christophe Simond Mark Cockerell Daniel Béland 1981 Rudi Cerne James Santee Dennis Coi 1982 Brian Boitano Jozef Sabovčík Falko Kirsten 1983 Brian Orser Takashi Mura Rudi Cerne 1984 Petr Barna Viktor Petrenko Christopher Bowman 2007The Hague No senior men's competitors 2008 Kristoffer Berntsson Samuel Contesti Clemens Brummer 2009 Samuel Contesti Kevin van der Perren Jamal Othman No competitions held 2012 Brian Joubert Jeremy Abbott Samuel Contesti 2013 Alexander Johnson Chafik Besseghier 2014 Takahito Mura Douglas Razzano 2015 Ivan Righini Javier Raya Ryuju Hino 2016 No competition held 2017 Jorik Hendrickx Jordan Moeller Morisi Kvitelashvili 2018 Adrien Tesson Daniel Grassl Valtter Virtanen 2019 Sōta Yamamoto Yuma Kagiyama Lukas Britschgi 2020 Shoma Uno Keiji Tanaka Adrien Tesson 2021 Mikhail Kolyada Romain Ponsart Adam Siao Him Fa 2022 Ilia Malinin Mihhail Selevko Sōta Yamamoto 2023 Tilburg Shun Sato Sōta Yamamoto Matteo Rizzo 2024 Mikhail Shaidorov Tatsuya Tsuboi Kazuki Tomono 2025 Sena Miyake Donovan Carrillo Mark Gorodnitsky 2026 No senior men's competitors

Women's singles +Senior women's event medalists Year Location Gold Silver Bronze 1976 Heerenveen Bibiana Pruyn Annemarie Verlaan Belinda Coulthard 1977 The Hague Emi Watanabe Susan Broman Kristiina Wegelius 1978 Denise Biellmann Renata Baierová Natalia Strelkova 1979 Renata Baierová Elaine Zayak Heather Kemkaran 1980 Jackie Farrell Katarina Witt Megumi Yanagihara 1981 Katarina Witt Elaine Zayak Diane Ogibowski 1982 Vikki de Vries Janina Wirth Charlene Wong 1983 Katarina Witt Midori Ito Sachie Yuki 1984 Constanze Gensel Yukari Yoshimori Yvonne Gómez 2007The Hague Karen Venhuizen Kathrin Freudelsperger Viviane Käser 2008 Akiko Suzuki Tuğba Karademir Becky Bereswill 2009 Viktoria Helgesson Joshi Helgesson Constanze Paulinus No competitions held 2012 Carolina Kostner Valentina Marchei Alissa Czisny 2013 Maé-Bérénice Méité Kerstin Frank 2014 Isabelle Olsson Haruka Imai Anna Ovcharova 2015 Kanako Murakami Joshi Helgesson Niki Wories 2016 No competition held 2017 Loena Hendrickx Caroline Zhang Larkyn Austman 2018 Wakaba Higuchi Rika Hongo Marin Honda 2019 Rika Kihira Starr Andrews Wakaba Higuchi 2020 Yuhana Yokoi Madeline Schizas 2021 Loena Hendrickx Emmy Ma Emilea Zingas 2022 Rino Matsuike Lindsay Thorngren Júlia Láng 2023 Tilburg Kaori Sakamoto Mai Mihara Mana Kawabe 2024 Yuna Aoki Lorine Schild 2025 Rinka Watanabe Rion Sumiyoshi Mako Yamashita 2026 Niki Wories Sarah Marie Pesch Jolanda Vos

Pairs +Senior pairs' event medalists Year Location Gold Silver Bronze 1976 Heerenveen No senior pairs competitions 1977 The Hague 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 The Hague No senior pairs competitions 2013 2014 2015 2016 No competition held 2017 No other competitors 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Tilburg 2024 2025 2026 No senior pairs competitors

Ice dance +Senior ice dance event medalists Year Location Gold Silver Bronze 1976 Heerenveen No senior ice dance competition 1977 The Hague 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 The Hague No senior ice dance competitions 2020 No other competitors 2021 2022 2023 Tilburg 2024 2025 2026

Team event +Team event champions Year Location Gold 1977 The Hague United States 1978 Czechoslovakia 1979 1980 United States 1981 1982 1983 Canada 1984 Soviet Union

Junior medalists Men's singles +Junior men's event medalists Year Location Gold Silver Bronze 2007 The Hague No junior men's competitors 2008 Andrew Gonzales Daniel O'Shea Yukihiro Yoshida 2009 Daisuke Murakami Joshua Farris Jorik Hendrickx No competitions held 2012 Peter James Hallam Osman Akgün Charlie Parry-Evans 2013 No junior-level competition held 2014 Sei Kawahara Kazuki Tomono Joti Polizoakis 2015 Tomoki Hiwatashi Juho Pirinen Héctor Alonso Serrano 2016 No competition held 2017 Nurullah Sahaka Aleix Gabara Xanco Thomas Junski 2018 Taichiro Yamakuma Yuto Kishina Kai Jagoda 2019 Shun Sato Daniel Sapozhnikov Tim England 2020 Nozomu Yoshioka Denis Gurdzhi Edward Appleby 2021 No junior-level competition held 2022 Shunsuke Nakamura Naoki Rossi Taira Shinohara 2023 Tilburg Haruya Sasaki Haru Kakiuchi Georgii Pavlov 2024 Hugo Bostedt Robert Wildt Nikolay di Tria 2025 Gianni Motilla Tobia Oellerer Lorenzo Elano 2026 Denis Krouglov Cody Kock André Zapata

Women's results +Junior women's event medalists Year Location Gold Silver Bronze 2007 The Hague Rachael Flatt Alexe Gilles Chrissy Hughes 2008 Brittney Rizo Shoko Ishikawa Amanda Dobbs 2009 Kanako Murakami Ellie Kawamura Isabelle Olsson No competitions held 2012 Leah Keiser Gabrielle Daleman Giada Russo 2013 No junior-level competition held 2014 Kaori Sakamoto Elena Taylor Emmi Peltonen 2015 Rebecca Peng Kyarha van Tiel Loena Hendrickx 2016 No competition held 2017 Emmy Ma Olivia Gran Smilla Szalkai 2018 Nana Araki Yuhana Yokoi Stefanie Pesendorfer 2019 Yuhana Yokoi Maria Aimeé Renne Selma Välitalo 2020 Mone Chiba Ginevra Lavinia Negrello Shiika Yoshioka 2021 No junior-level competition held 2022 Mone Chiba Ayumi Shibayama Anna Pezzetta 2023Tilburg Ayumi Shibayama Ikura Kushida Yurina Okuno 2024 Alexandra Ödman Julia Grabowski Danielle Verbinnen 2025 Sherry Zhang Angela Shao Lucca Dijkhuizen 2026 Lilou Remeysen Stefania Gladki Anna Gerke

Pairs +Junior pairs' event medalists Year Location Gold Silver Bronze No junior pairs competitions prior to 2012 2012 The Hague 2013 No junior-level competition held 2014 2015 2016 No competition held No junior pairs competitions 2019 No other competitors 2020–22 No junior pairs competitions 2023Tilburg 2024 No other competitors 2025 2026

Ice dance +Junior ice dance event medalists Year Location Gold Silver Bronze 2007 The Hague No junior ice dance competitors 2008 No junior ice dance competitions 2023 Tilburg 2024 2025 2026

Records

+ Discipline Most titles Skater(s) Years Men's singles 2 2012–13 Women's singles 2 2019–20 2012–13 2023–24 1981,1983 Pairs 2 2023–24 1982,1984 1978–79 Ice dance 3 2024–26

Cumulative medal count (senior medalists) Men's singles

Women's singles

Pairs

Ice dance

Total medals

References

External links Royal Dutch Skating Federation (KNSB) International Challenge Cup at Skating Scores