The ISU Junior Grand Prix in Slovakia – also known as Skate Slovakia – is an international figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Slovak Figure Skating Association (). It is held periodically as an event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (JGP), a series of international competitions exclusively for junior-level skaters. Medals may be awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Skaters earn points based on their results at the qualifying competitions each season, and the top skaters or teams in each discipline are invited to then compete at the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.
History
The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (JGP) was established by the International Skating Union (ISU) in 1997 and consists of a series of seven international figure skating competitions exclusively for junior-level skaters. The locations of the Junior Grand Prix events change every year. While all seven competitions feature the men's, women's, and ice dance events, only four competitions each season feature the pairs event. Skaters earn points based on their results each season, and the top skaters or teams in each discipline are then invited to compete at the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.
Skaters are eligible to compete on the junior-level circuit if they are at least 13 years old before 1 July of the respective season, but not yet 19 (for single skaters), 21 (for men and women in ice dance and women in pair skating), or 23 (for men in pair skating). Competitors are chosen by their respective skating federations. The number of entries allotted to each ISU member nation in each discipline is determined by their results at the prior World Junior Figure Skating Championships.
Slovakia hosted its first Junior Grand Prix event in 1997 in Banská Bystrica. Ivan Dinev of Bulgaria won the men's event, Viktoria Volchkova of Russia won the women's event, Victoria Maksyuta and Vladislav Zhovnirski of Russia won the pairs event, and Flavia Ottaviani and Massimo Scali of Italy won the ice dance event.
The International Skating Union officially cancelled all scheduled Junior Grand Prix events for the 2020–21 season, which included the competition in Košice, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, citing increased travel and entry requirements between countries and potentially excessive sanitary and health care costs for those hosting competitions. Slovakia has hosted this competition numerous times since 1997; the most recent event was in 2021.
Medalists Men's singles +Men's event medalists Year Location Gold Silver Bronze 1997 Banská Bystrica Ivan Dinev Pavel Kersha Juraj Sviatko 1998 Johnny Weir Lukáš Rakowski Matthew Davies 2002 Bratislava Alexander Shubin Nobunari Oda Yannick Ponsero 2003 Andrei Griazev Christopher Mabee 2005 Alexander Uspenski Stephen Carriere Philipp Tischendorf 2013 Košice Keiji Tanaka Zhang He Mikhail Kolyada 2015 Bratislava Roman Sadovsky Vincent Zhou Denis Margalik 2018 Stephen Gogolev Mitsuki Sumoto Daniel Grassl 2020 Košice Competition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Kirill Sarnovskiy Ilya Yablokov William Annis
Women's singles +Women's event medalists Year Location Gold Silver Bronze 1997 Banská Bystrica Viktoria Volchkova Amber Corwin Erin Pearl 1998 Tamara Dorofejev 2002 Bratislava Lina Johansson Alissa Czisny Natalie Mecher 2003 Mai Asada Katy Taylor Olga Naidenova 2005 Yuna Kim Aki Sawada Elene Gedevanishvili 2013 Košice Karen Chen Alexandra Proklova Riona Kato 2015 Bratislava Polina Tsurskaya Mai Mihara Vivian Le 2018 Anna Shcherbakova Anna Tarusina You Young 2020 Košice Competition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Veronika Zhilina Sofia Muravieva Adeliia Petrosian
Pairs Oksana Nagalati and Maxim Bobrov of Russia originally won the bronze medal at the 2013 competition, but were later disqualified due to a positive doping test from Nagalati.
In 2021, Karina Safina and Luka Berulava became the first pairs team from Georgia to win a Junior Grand Prix medal.
+Pairs event medalists Year Location Gold Silver Bronze 1997 Banská Bystrica 1998 2002 Bratislava 2003 2005 2013 Košice 2015 Bratislava No pairs competition 2018 2020 Košice Competition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021
Ice dance +Ice dance event medalists Year Location Gold Silver Bronze 1997 Banská Bystrica 1998 2002 Bratislava 2003 2005 2013 Košice 2015 Bratislava 2018 2020 Košice Competition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021
References
External links ISU Junior Grand Prix at the International Skating Union Slovak Figure Skating Association JGP Slovakia at Skating Scores