The 2020–21 ISU Challenger Series was scheduled to be held from September 9 to December 5, 2020. It was the seventh season that the ISU Challenger Series, a group of senior-level international figure skating competitions, was held. Originally meant to be a series of ten events, the 2020–21 Challenger Series ended up featuring only two individual events, when eight events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic The International Skating Union announcement on April 22, 2020 for the 2020–21 ISU Challenger Series issued the following caveat regarding the scheduling of the events:
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. The ISU announced that a host federation must make a decision regarding potential cancellation of their event at least twelve weeks prior to the event.
On May 16, the Slovak Figure Skating Association informed the ISU that it had cancelled all upcoming events that it was scheduled to host due to the ongoing pandemic, including the 2020 Nepela Memorial in Bratislava.
On July 13, the ISU announced that the 2020–21 Challenger Series events would be regarded as separate individual competitions, rather than as a series; as a result, no Challenger Series ranking would be determined and no prize money would be distributed at the end of the series. However, skaters competing would still earn Challenger Series-level points for their world rankings, as long as the competition met ISU guidelines to qualify as a Challenger event. The decision was later revised by the ISU council on August 3, announcing that world standing and ranking points would not be awarded for the sake of fairness due to the limited nature of the competitions.
On July 13, the Japan Skating Federation announced that it would not assign any skaters to the Challenger Series, assuming the competitions proceeded as scheduled.
On August 25, the German Ice Skating Union confirmed that 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy would be held as scheduled, but without spectators and would include extensive social distancing guidelines and procedures for the athletes and coaches in attendance.
On August 28, the ISU removed the maximum entry limit of skaters or teams per country.
Competitions The series was intended to include the following events this season. However, all but two competitions were ultimately cancelled.
On May 16, the ISU announced that the Slovak Figure Skating Association had cancelled the 2020 Nepela Memorial. As of May 26, the event schedule announced for the 2020 Asian Open Trophy had been withdrawn. On August 20, the Finnish Figure Skating Association cancelled the 2020 Finlandia Trophy. On September 1, the 2020 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge was cancelled. On November 3, Skate Austria cancelled the 2020 Cup of Tyrol. On November 6, the ice dance portion of the 2020 Warsaw Cup was cancelled, and on November 10, the Polish Figure Skating Association cancelled the Warsaw Cup entirely. On February 13, the 2020 Autumn Classic International, originally described as having been "postponed", was removed from the official Skate Canada calendar.
Date Event Location Notes September 9–13 2020 Asian Open Trophy Cancelled September 16–19 2020 Nepela Memorial September 17–19 2020 Autumn Classic International September 23–26 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy Oberstdorf, Germany Details October 8–11 2020 Finlandia Trophy Cancelled October 15–17 2020 Budapest Trophy Budapest, Hungary No pairs Details October 29 – November 1 2020 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge Cancelled November 12–15 2020 Warsaw Cup November 25–28 2020 Cup of Tyrol December 2–5 2020 Golden Spin of Zagreb
Medal summary
Men's singles Competition Gold Silver Bronze Results Nebelhorn Trophy Deniss Vasiļjevs Gabriele Frangipani Nikolaj Majorov Details Budapest Trophy Daniel Grassl Burak Demirboğa Aleksandr Selevko Details
Ladies’ singles Competition Gold Silver Bronze Results Nebelhorn Trophy Eva-Lotta Kiibus Alexia Paganini Jenni Saarinen Details Budapest Trophy Loena Hendrickx Eva-Lotta Kiibus Alexandra Feigin Details
Pairs Competition Gold Silver Bronze Results Nebelhorn Trophy Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini Annika Hocke / Robert Kunkel Cléo Hamon / Denys Strekalin Details
Ice dance Competition Gold Silver Bronze Results Nebelhorn Trophy Natálie Taschlerová / Filip Taschler Sasha Fear / George Waddell Darya Popova / Volodymyr Byelikov Details Budapest Trophy Alexandra Nazarova / Maxim Nikitin Katharina Müller / Tim Dieck Sasha Fear / George Waddell Details
Medal standings
Challenger Series rankings Out of fairness to skaters impacted by travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ISU Council decided there would be no Challenger Series ranking this season.
Top scores
Men's singles +Top 5 best scores in the men's combined total Skater Nation Score Event 1 Deniss Vasiļjevs 233.08 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 2 Daniel Grassl 233.04 2020 Budapest Trophy 3 Gabriele Frangipani 231.65 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 4 Nikolaj Majorov 218.07 5 Maurizio Zandron 217.65 +Top 5 best scores in the men's short program Skater Nation Score Event 1 Daniel Grassl 82.27 2020 Budapest Trophy 2 Paul Fentz 81.86 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 3 Gabriele Frangipani 79.13 4 Matteo Rizzo 77.15 5 Maurizio Zandron 74.61 +Top 5 best scores in the men's free skating Skater Nation Score Event 1 Deniss Vasiļjevs 159.83 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 2 Gabriele Frangipani 152.52 3 Daniel Grassl 150.77 2020 Budapest Trophy 4 Nikolaj Majorov 145.53 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 5 Lukas Britschgi 143.53
Ladies' singles +Top 5 best scores in the ladies' combined total Skater Nation Score Event 1 Loena Hendrickx 198.87 2020 Budapest Trophy 2 Eva-Lotta Kiibus 184.27 3 Alexandra Feigin 172.68 4 Alexia Paganini 168.85 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 5 Júlia Láng 166.55 2020 Budapest Trophy +Top 5 best scores in the ladies' short program Skater Nation Score Event 1 Loena Hendrickx 72.18 2020 Budapest Trophy 2 Eva-Lotta Kiibus 65.37 3 Alexia Paganini 63.60 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 4 Nicole Schott 61.21 5 Alexandra Feigin 60.90 2020 Budapest Trophy +Top 5 best scores in the ladies' free skating Skater Nation Score Event 1 Loena Hendrickx 126.69 2020 Budapest Trophy 2 Eva-Lotta Kiibus 118.90 3 Alexandra Feigin 111.78 4 Júlia Láng 108.35 5 Jenni Saarinen 106.62 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy
Pairs +Top 5 best scores in the pairs' combined total Team Nation Score Event 1 Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini 154.61 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 2 Annika Hocke / Robert Kunkel 154.26 3 Cléo Hamon / Denys Strekalin 144.06 4 Elizaveta Zhuk / Martin Bidař 143.03 5 Coline Keriven / Noël-Antoine Pierre 130.27 +Top 5 best scores in the pairs' short program Team Nation Score Event 1 Minerva Fabienne Hase / Nolan Seegert 63.97 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 2 Annika Hocke / Robert Kunkel 60.55 3 Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini 58.32 4 Cléo Hamon / Denys Strekalin 51.27 5 Elizaveta Zhuk / Martin Bidař 51.20 +Top 5 best scores in the pairs' free skating Team Nation Score Event 1 Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini 96.29 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 2 Annika Hocke / Robert Kunkel 93.71 3 Cléo Hamon / Denys Strekalin 92.79 4 Elizaveta Zhuk / Martin Bidař 91.83 5 Coline Keriven / Noël-Antoine Pierre 88.26
Ice dance +Top 5 best scores in the combined total (ice dance) Team Nation Score Event 1 Alexandra Nazarova / Maxim Nikitin 178.97 2020 Budapest Trophy 2 Katharina Müller / Tim Dieck 164.99 3 Natálie Taschlerová / Filip Taschler 163.62 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 4 Sasha Fear / George Waddell 152.34 2020 Budapest Trophy 5 Darya Popova / Volodymyr Byelikov 148.60 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy +Top 5 best scores in the rhythm dance Team Nation Score Event 1 Alexandra Nazarova / Maxim Nikitin 71.75 2020 Budapest Trophy 2 Natálie Taschlerová / Filip Taschler 64.28 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 3 Sasha Fear / George Waddell 62.69 2020 Budapest Trophy 4 Katharina Müller / Tim Dieck 62.23 5 Darya Popova / Volodymyr Byelikov 61.55 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy +Top 5 best scores in the free dance Team Nation Score Event 1 Alexandra Nazarova / Maxim Nikitin 107.22 2020 Budapest Trophy 2 Katharina Müller / Tim Dieck 102.76 3 Natálie Taschlerová / Filip Taschler 99.34 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 4 Sasha Fear / George Waddell 93.29 5 Darya Popova / Volodymyr Byelikov 87.05
References
External links ISU Challenger Series at the International Skating Union