The 2020–21 figure skating season began on July 1, 2020, and ended on June 30, 2021. During this season, elite skaters competed at the 2021 World Championships, as well as at elite events such as the Grand Prix series and the Challenger Series.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Skating Union (ISU) cancelled the Junior Grand Prix series and the Grand Prix Final. Additionally, the 2021 European Championships, Four Continents Championships, and World Junior Championships were all cancelled, although the 2021 World Championships were still held.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic On May 1, 2020, the International Skating Union established a working group, chaired by ISU Vice-president for Figure Skating Alexander Lakernik, to monitor the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Its responsibilities included determining the feasibility of holding events as scheduled, possibly behind closed doors, during the first half of the season, and the financial impact of any potential cancellations. On August 31, the ISU published the official Guidelines for ISU Events During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
On July 9, the General Administration of Sport of China announced that no international sporting events would be held in China in 2020 except for 2022 Winter Olympics test events. The Chinese Skating Association was scheduled to host several events during the season, including the Cup of China, the Grand Prix Final, and the World Junior Championships. While the Grand Prix Final, scheduled to be hosted in Beijing, was exempt from the Chinese government's ruling due to its status as the test event for the Olympic Games, the ISU had not yet discussed a contingency plan regarding Grand Prix event cancellations at the time of the Chinese government's announcement. The ISU announced on July 13 that the Cup of China would remain as scheduled in Chongqing due to its connection to the Beijing test event: the Grand Prix Final.
On July 20, the ISU officially cancelled the Junior Grand Prix series, citing increased travel and entry requirements between countries and potentially excessive sanitary & health care costs for hosting members. Over half of the events of the 2020–21 ISU Challenger Series were also either cancelled by the host federations or postponed to an unspecified later date.
On August 4, the ISU confirmed that the Grand Prix series would proceed as scheduled during the fall, with a decision to be made regarding the Grand Prix Final at a later date. The competitions were expected to feature skaters from the home country, skaters already training in the host nation, and skaters assigned to that event for geographic reasons; all officials would also be from the national organizing committee. On September 25, U.S. Figure Skating announced that Skate America would be held without an audience in line with Nevada Gaming Control Board guidelines regarding the pandemic. On September 30, the ISU announced that the Grand Prix Final would not be held as scheduled in Beijing on December 10–13, and that they were searching for an alternate host outside China for the event. On October 14, Skate Canada announced the cancellation of the 2020 Skate Canada International due to the worsening situation in Ontario. The French Federation of Ice Sports informed the ISU of the cancellation of the 2020 Internationaux de France on October 19. In November, the Grand Prix Final was first removed from China altogether, before being definitively cancelled on December 10, 2020. The ISU later rescheduled the Beijing test event to the 2021 Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy in October.
On October 16, the ISU announced the cancellation of the 2021 Four Continents Championships. On November 24, the 2021 World Junior Championships were also cancelled. On December 10, the ISU announced the definitive cancellation of the Grand Prix Final alongside the cancellation of the 2021 European Championships. The 2021 World Championships were held as scheduled in Stockholm, Sweden, on March 22–28, although three positive COVID-19 cases were detected during the event. In addition, the ISU slightly modified the qualification rules to allow additional skaters the opportunity to meet the minimum TES requirements.
Due to the vast difference in skaters' travel restrictions, the ISU determined that it would be unfair to award ISU world standings and season's world ranking points at the Challenger Series and Grand Prix events. Thus, the 2021 World Championships were the only event to affect the 2020–21 ISU world standings. As the Junior Grand Prix and World Junior Championships were cancelled, junior skaters had no opportunities to earn World Standing Points for the season.
Scores earned at the domestic Grand Prix events did not count as official ISU scores for the purposes of achieving minimum TES requirements or as personal/season's bests. Thus, the season's best scores list was composed entirely of scores earned on the Challenger Series, where the 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy and 2020 Budapest Trophy were the only two of ten scheduled events to be held, the 2021 World Championships, and the 2021 World Team Trophy.
ISU member nations' response
Several countries postponed or cancelled their national championships. U.S. Figure Skating relocated the 2021 U.S. Championships to be able to create an isolated bubble environment.
Season notes Age eligibility Skaters were eligible to compete in International Skating Union (ISU) events at the junior or senior levels according to their age. These rules may not have applied to non-ISU events such as national championships.
Level Date of birth Junior Born between July 1, 2001 & June 30, 2007 Junior Born between July 1, 1999 & June 30, 2007 Junior Born between July 1, 2000 & June 30, 2007 Junior Born between July 1, 1998 & June 30, 2007 Senior Born before July 1, 2005
Changes If skaters of different nationalities team up, the ISU requires that they choose one country to represent.Date refers to date when the change occurred or, if not available, the date when the change was announced.
Partnership changes Date Skaters Type Notes July 3, 2020 Lorraine McNamara / Anton Spiridonov Ice dance Formed July 6, 2020 Federica Zamponi / Marco Zandron Pairs Dissolved July 16, 2020 Chiara Calderone / Aleksei DubrovinIce danceFormed July 18, 2020 Polina Kostiukovich / Aleksei Briukhanov Pairs July 24, 2020 Amanda Peterson / Maximilian Pfisterer Ice dance Dissolved Lara Luft / Maximilian PfistererFormed July 26, 2020 Alena Kanysheva / Andrei Pylin August 2, 2020 Justine Brasseur / Zachary DalemanPairs *August 16, 2020 Lina Kudriavtseva / Ilia Spiridonov Dissolved Valeria Ponosova / Dmitrii Ialin Formed August 21, 2020 Isabella Gamez / David-Alexandre Paradis Dissolved Paradis retired. August 27, 2020 Emily Rose Brown / James Hernandez Ice dance Brown retired. August 28, 2020 Charlotte Lafond-Fournier / Richard Kam Formed For New Zealand September 15, 2020 Elena Pavlova / Ruben Blommaert Pairs Dissolved Alisa Efimova / Ruben Blommaert Formed For Germany September 16, 2020 Anastasia Shpilevaya / Grigory Smirnov Ice dance Dissolved September 21, 2020 Wang Xuehan / Wang Lei Pairs Yu Xiaoyu / Zhang Hao Yu Xiaoyu / Wang LeiFormed October 8, 2020 Maria Pavlova / Ilia Spiridonov Valeria Ponosova / Dmitrii Ialin Dissolved Stanislava Vislobokova / Dmitrii Ialin Formed October 26, 2020 Yuliia Zhata / Berk Akalın Ice dance For Turkey November 3, 2020 Patricia Andrew / Steven Adcock Pairs November 13, 2020 Villő Marton / Danijil Szemko Ice dance Dissolved November 20, 2020 Chiara Calderone / Aleksei Dubrovin Chiara Calderone / Francesco Riva Formed November 22, 2020 Darja Netjaga / Marko Jevgeni Gaidajenko Dissolved December 4, 2020 Viktoria Yatsenko / Daniil Parkman Pairs Anastasiia Metelkina / Daniil Parkman Formed For Georgia Paulina Ramanauskaitė / Deividas Kizala Ice dance December 7, 2020 Kate Finster / Balazs Nagy Pairs Dissolved December 10, 2020 Tarah Kayne / Danny O'Shea December 14, 2020 Shari Koch / Christian NüchternIce dance Nüchtern retired. December 24, 2020 Laura Barquero / Marco Zandron PairsFormed For Spain January 2, 2020 Kateryna Dzitsiuk / Ivan Pavlov Dissolved Pavlov retired. January 3, 2021 Solène Mazingue / Marko Jevgeni Gaidajenko Ice dance Formed For Estonia January 11, 2021 Liubov Efimenko / Dmitry Epstein Pairs Dissolved Nika Osipova / Dmitry Epstein Formed For the Netherlands January 17, 2021 Phebe Bekker / James Hernandez Ice dance January 18, 2021 Utana Yoshida / Shingo Nishiyama Dissolved January 27, 2021 Liu Jiaxi / Xie Zhong Pairs January 30, 2021 Mariia Ignateva / Danijil Szemko Ice danceFormed For Hungary February 12, 2021 Stanislava Vislobokova / Dmitrii Ialin Pairs Dissolved March 5, 2021 Alena Kanysheva / Andrei Pylin Ice dance March 14, 2021 Ayumi Takanami / Shingo NishiyamaFormed March 28, 2021 Nadine Wang / Francis Boudreau-AudetPairs Dissolved Wang retired. March 30, 2021 Lana Petranović / Antonio Souza-Kordeiru April 1, 2021 Sofía Val / Nikita Vitryanyuk Ice dance Formed For Spain April 2, 2021 Yu Xiaoyu / Wang Lei Pairs Dissolved Yu retired. April 21, 2021 Vanessa James / Eric RadfordFormed For Canada April 30, 2021 Alena Kanysheva / Andrei Pylin Ice dance May 3, 2021 Diana Mukhametzianova / Ilya Mironov Pairs Dissolved Diana Mukhametzianova / Vladislav AntonyshevFormed Ekaterina Geinish / Ilya Mironov May 5, 2021 Ksenia Konkina / Pavel Drozd Ice dance Dissolved Konkina retired. Angélique Abachkina / Pavel Drozd Formed For Russia May 10, 2021 Utana Yoshida / Seiji Urano For Japan May 20, 2021 Alyssa Montan / Manuel PiazzaPairs Dissolved Anna Valesi / Filippo Clerici Alyssa Montan / Filippo Clerici Formed Anna Valesi / Manuel Piazza June 11, 2021 Aljona Savchenko / TJ Nyman For the United States June 25, 2021 Anna Vernikov / Evgeni Krasnopolski Dissolved Hailey Kops / Evgeni Krasnopolski Formed June 26, 2021 Chelsea Liu / Danny O'Shea For the United States June 30, 2021 Kate Finster / Matej Silecky
Retirements Date Skater(s) July 8, 2020 Maria Sotskova Ladies July 15, 2020 Polina Edmunds July 23, 2020 Yuri Hulitski Ice dance July 27, 2020 Viveca Lindfors Ladies August 3, 2020 Sofia Sula September 1, 2020 Valentina Marchei Pairs September 2, 2020 Daria Panenkova Ladies September 11, 2020 Sergei Voronov Men September 22, 2020 Elena Radionova Ladies September 29, 2020 Vanessa James / Morgan Ciprès Pairs October 15, 2020 Sofia Evdokimova Ice dance October 17, 2020 Kyarha van Tiel Ladies November 7, 2020 Igor Reznichenko Men Justyna Plutowska / Jérémie Flemin Ice dance November 13, 2020 Sean Rabbitt Men December 2, 2020 Anna Litvinenko Ladies December 14, 2020 Christian Nüchtern Ice dance December 15, 2020 Yuka Nagai Ladies December 26, 2020 Ryuju Hino Men January 2, 2021 Ivan Pavlov Pairs January 3, 2021 Shari Koch Ice dance January 29, 2021 Anastasia Shpilevaya February 18, 2021 Zhang Hao Pairs March 19, 2021 Sondre Oddvoll Bøe Men April 2, 2021 Yu Xiaoyu Pairs April 30, 2021 Aljona Savchenko / Bruno Massot May 3, 2021 Lee June-hyoung Men May 12, 2021 Alexei Krasnozhon May 19, 2021 Ksenia Konkina Ice dance May 26, 2021 Alaine Chartrand Ladies May 28, 2021 Camille Ruest / Andrew Wolfe Pairs June 16, 2021 Rika Hongo Ladies June 22, 2021 Alexandra Herbríková / Nicolas Roulet Pairs
Coaching changes Date Skater(s) From To July 2, 2020 Alexey Erokhov Men Eteri Tutberidze & Sergei Dudakov Viktoria Butsaeva Yaroslav Paniot Tammy Gambill Todd Eldredge July 8, 2020 Allison Reed / Saulius Ambrulevičius Ice dance Marina Zoueva, Rostislav Sinicyn & Martin Skotnický Romain Haguenauer & Maurizio Margaglio July 17, 2020 Courtney Hicks Ladies Christy Krall Tammy Gambill July 31, 2020 Alena Kostornaia Eteri Tutberidze, Sergei Dudakov & Daniil Gleikhengauz Evgeni Plushenko & Sergei Rozanov August 21, 2020 Bradie Tennell Denise Myers & Jeremy Allen Tom Zakrajsek September 16, 2020 Evgenia Medvedeva Brian Orser & Tracy Wilson Eteri Tutberidze, Sergei Dudakov & Daniil Gleikhengauz