ISU Challenger Series

For the current season, see 2024-25 ISU Challenger Series.

The ISU Challenger Series is a series of international figure skating competitions. Established by the International Skating Union in the 2014–15 season, it is a group of senior-level events ranked below the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. Each event consists of at least three disciplines out of four (men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing), and is required to take place between August 1 and December 15.

The ISU Challenger Series Synchronized Skating is a separate competition series in the discipline of synchronized skating.

History

The ISU Council decided to create the series at its February 2014 meeting.^[1] Eleven competitions were selected in June 2014.^[2] The Triglav Trophy dropped out by October 10, 2014, resulting in a series composed of ten events.^[3] The Nebelhorn Trophy, Finlandia Trophy, Ondrej Nepela Memorial, and Golden Spin of Zagreb are the "core group".^[4] The event criteria were published in April 2014,^[5] and revised in August 2014.^[6]

The notice on the ISU Challenger Series Synchronized Skating was announced on May 10, 2019, which is for the discipline of synchronized skating and is held separately from the other ISU Challenger Series.^[7]

The Asian Open Classic was planned to be included in the 2019–20 season, but ISU transferred the event holding right back to Asian Open Trophy later.^[8]

In the 2020–21 season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to hold the Challenger competitions as individual events, rather than as a series.^[9] Entry limits per country were also removed.^[10]

Events

Competition	Nation	14–15	15–16	16–17	17–18	18–19	19–20	20–21[a]	21–22	22–23	23–24	24–25
Asian Open Trophy	Varies	Not a Challenger Series event				Yes	Yes	Cancelled	Not a Challenger Series event
Autumn Classic International	Canada	Yes	Not a Challenger Series event	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Cancelled	Yes	—	Yes	—
Budapest Trophy	Hungary	—						Yes	Not a Challenger Series event	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cranberry Cup International	United States	—							Not a Challenger Series event			Yes
Denis Ten Memorial Challenge	Kazakhstan	—					Not a Challenger Series event	Cancelled	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Denkova-Staviski Cup	Bulgaria	Not a Challenger Series event	Yes	Not a Challenger Series event				—		Not a Challenger Series event
Finlandia Trophy	Finland	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Cancelled	Yes	Yes	Yes	A Grand Prix event
Golden Spin of Zagreb	Croatia	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Cancelled	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ice Challenge	Austria	Yes	Yes	—	Not a Challenger Series event	—			Yes	Yes	Cancelled	Not a Challenger Series event
Ice Star	Belarus	—	Not a Challenger Series event		Yes	Not a Challenger Series event	Yes	Not a Challenger Series event		—
Inge Solar Memorial	Austria	—				Yes	—
John Nicks Pairs Challenge	United States	—							Not a Challenger Series event			Yes
Lombardia Trophy	Italy	Yes	Not a Challenger Series event	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mordovian Ornament	Russia	—	Yes	—
Nebelhorn Trophy	Germany	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nepela Memorial	Slovakia	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Cancelled	Cancelled	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tallinn Trophy	Estonia	Not a Challenger Series event	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not a Challenger Series event	—	Not a Challenger Series event			Yes
Trophée Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur	France	Not a Challenger Series event				—			Not a Challenger Series event			Yes
U.S. International Classic	United States	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Not a Challenger Series event	Yes	—
Volvo Open Cup	Latvia	Yes	Not a Challenger Series event					—	Not a Challenger Series event
Warsaw Cup	Poland	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not a Challenger Series event	Yes	Cancelled	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

1. Held as individual events rather than as a series due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[9]

Top three finishers per season

Each skater or team is permitted to compete in up to three ISU Challenger Series events. Their two highest scores determine their final ranking.^[5]

Men's singles

Season	First	Second	Third	Refs.
2014–15	Michal Březina	Alexander Petrov	Konstantin Menshov	[3]
2015–16	Jason Brown	Max Aaron	Mikhail Kolyada	[11]
2016–17	Jason Brown	Alexander Petrov	Max Aaron	[12]
2017–18	Mikhail Kolyada	Sergei Voronov	Moris Kvitelashvili	[13]
2018–19	Mikhail Kolyada	Cha Jun-hwan	Jason Brown	[14]
2019–20	Dmitri Aliev	Daniel Grassl	Sota Yamamoto	[15]
2021–22	Petr Gumennik	Keegan Messing	Mark Kondratiuk	[16]
2022–23	Kévin Aymoz	Lukas Britschgi	Matteo Rizzo	[17]
2023–24	Lukas Britschgi	Jin Boyang	Nika Egadze	[18]
2024–25	Daniel Grassl	Mihhail Selevko	Nika Egadze	[19]

Women's singles

Season	First	Second	Third	Refs.
2014–15	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Alena Leonova	Hannah Miller	[20]
2015–16	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Anna Pogorilaya	Adelina Sotnikova	[21]
2016–17	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Mirai Nagasu	Mariah Bell	[22]
2017–18	Carolina Kostner	Stanislava Konstantinova	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	[23]
2018–19	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Bradie Tennell	Elizabet Tursynbayeva	[24]
2019–20	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	You Young	Lim Eun-soo	[25]
2021–22	Alysa Liu	Anastasiia Gubanova	Ekaterina Kurakova	[26]
2022–23	Kim Ye-lim	Ekaterina Kurakova	Lindsay Thorngren	[27]
2023–24	Kim Chae-yeon	Anastasiia Gubanova	Ekaterina Kurakova	[28]
2024–25	Elyce Lin-Gracey	Sarah Everhardt	Isabeau Levito	[29]

Pairs

Season	First	Second	Third	Refs.
2014–15	Alexa Scimeca Chris Knierim	Haven Denney Brandon Frazier	Jessica Calalang Zack Sidhu	[30]
2015–16	Aliona Savchenko Bruno Massot	Evgenia Tarasova Vladimir Morozov	Natalja Zabijako Alexander Enbert	[31]
2016–17	Valentina Marchei Ondřej Hotárek	Nicole Della Monica Matteo Guarise	Kristina Astakhova Alexei Rogonov	[32]
2017–18	Natalia Zabiiako Alexander Enbert	Nicole Della Monica Matteo Guarise	Kristina Astakhova Alexei Rogonov	[33]
2018–19	Aleksandra Boikova Dmitrii Kozlovskii	Kirsten Moore-Towers Michael Marinaro	Alisa Efimova Alexander Korovin	[34]
2019–20	Ashley Cain-Gribble Timothy LeDuc	Tarah Kayne Danny O'Shea	Minerva Fabienne Hase Nolan Seegert	[35]
2021–22	Evgenia Tarasova Vladimir Morozov	Jessica Calalang Brian Johnson	Vanessa James Eric Radford	[36]
2022–23	Rebecca Ghilardi Filippo Ambrosini	Annika Hocke Robert Kunkel	Alisa Efimova Ruben Blommaert	[37]
2023–24	Minerva Fabienne Hase Nikita Volodin	Annika Hocke Robert Kunkel	Lucrezia Beccari Matteo Guarise	[38]
2024–25	Ellie Kam Danny O'Shea	Alisa Efimova Misha Mitrofanov	Rebecca Ghilardi Filippo Ambrosini	[39]

Ice dance

Season	First	Second	Third	Refs.
2014–15	Maia Shibutani Alex Shibutani	Charlène Guignard Marco Fabbri	Nelli Zhiganshina Alexander Gazsi	[40]
2015–16	Charlène Guignard Marco Fabbri	Isabella Tobias Ilia Tkachenko	Natalia Kaliszek Maksym Spodyriev	[41]
2016–17	Ekaterina Bobrova Dmitri Soloviev	Madison Chock Evan Bates	Charlène Guignard Marco Fabbri	[42]
2017–18	Ekaterina Bobrova Dmitri Soloviev	Charlène Guignard Marco Fabbri	Tiffany Zahorski Jonathan Guerreiro	[43]
2018–19	Piper Gilles Paul Poirier	Charlène Guignard Marco Fabbri	Christina Carreira Anthony Ponomarenko	[44]
2019–20	Charlène Guignard Marco Fabbri	Madison Chock Evan Bates	Laurence Fournier Beaudry Nikolaj Sørensen	[45]
2021–22	Charlène Guignard Marco Fabbri	Diana Davis Gleb Smolkin	Olivia Smart Adrián Díaz	[46]
2022–23	Lilah Fear Lewis Gibson	Marjorie Lajoie Zachary Lagha	Allison Reed Saulius Ambrulevičius	[47]
2023–24	Lilah Fear Lewis Gibson	Allison Reed Saulius Ambrulevičius	Diana Davis Gleb Smolkin	[48]
2024–25	Lilah Fear Lewis Gibson	Evgeniia Lopareva Geoffrey Brissaud	Christina Carreira Anthony Ponomarenko	[49]

Top scoring skaters per season

Men's singles

Season	Skater	Nation	First event	Score	Second event	Score	Total score	Ref.
2014–15	Michal Březina	Czech Republic	2014 Nebelhorn Trophy	228.48	2014 Golden Spin of Zagreb	239.62	468.10	[3]
2015–16	Jason Brown	United States	2015 Ondrej Nepela Trophy	239.37	2015 Ice Challenge	240.65	480.02	[11]
2016–17	Jason Brown	United States	2016 Lombardia Trophy	256.49	2016 U.S. International Classic	254.04	510.53	[12]
2017–18	Mikhail Kolyada	Russia	2017 Ondrej Nepela Trophy	247.81	2017 Finlandia Trophy	248.50	496.31	[13]
2018–19	Mikhail Kolyada	Russia	2018 Ondrej Nepela Trophy	274.37	2018 Golden Spin of Zagreb	253.14	527.51	[14]
2019–20	Dmitri Aliev	Russia	2019 Lombardia Trophy	249.62	2019 Nepela Memorial	255.32	504.94	[15]
2021–22	Petr Gumennik	Russia	2021 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge	263.14	2021 Warsaw Cup	242.91	506.05	[16]
2022–23	Kévin Aymoz	France	2022 U.S. International Classic	236.17	2022 Warsaw Cup	258.02	494.19	[17]
2023–24	Lukas Britschgi	Switzerland	2023 Budapest Trophy	246.12	2023 Warsaw Cup	246.22	492.34	[18]
2024–25	Daniel Grassl	Italy	2024 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge	237.70	2024 Nepela Memorial	267.08	504.78	[19]

Women's singles

Season	Skater	Nation	First event	Score	Second event	Score	Total score	Ref.
2014–15	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Russia	2014 Finlandia Trophy	193.31	2014 Warsaw Cup	196.66	389.97	[20]
2015–16	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Russia	2015 Warsaw Cup	192.93	2015 Golden Spin of Zagreb	201.33	394.26	[21]
2016–17	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Russia	2016 Nebelhorn Trophy	185.93	2016 Golden Spin of Zagreb	192.03	377.96	[22]
2017–18	Carolina Kostner	Italy	2017 Lombardia Trophy	198.36	2017 Finlandia Trophy	193.76	392.12	[23]
2018–19	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Russia	2018 Lombardia Trophy	206.07	2018 Finlandia Trophy	202.85	408.92	[24]
2019–20	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Russia	2019 Lombardia Trophy	214.38	2019 Golden Spin of Zagreb	221.15	435.53	[25]
2021–22	Alysa Liu	United States	2021 Lombardia Trophy	219.24	2021 Nebelhorn Trophy	207.40	426.64	[26]
2022–23	Kim Ye-lim	South Korea	2022 U.S. International Classic	190.64	2022 Finlandia Trophy	213.97	404.61	[27]
2023–24	Kim Chae-yeon	South Korea	2023 Lombardia Trophy	180.78	2023 Nepela Memorial	202.26	383.04	[28]
2024–25	Elyce Lin-Gracey	United States	2024 Cranberry Cup International	193.99	2024 Nebelhorn Trophy	213.33	407.32	[29]

Pairs

Season	Team	Nation	First event	Score	Second event	Score	Total score	Ref.
2014–15	Alexa Scimeca Chris Knierim	United States	2014 U.S. International Classic	163.24	2014 Nebelhorn Trophy	166.10	329.34	[30]
2015–16	Aliona Savchenko Bruno Massot	Germany	2015 Tallinn Trophy	214.42	2015 Warsaw Cup	209.60	424.02	[31]
2016–17	Valentina Marchei Ondřej Hotárek	Italy	2016 Lombardia Trophy	179.56	2016 Warsaw Cup	189.26	368.82	[32]
2017–18	Natalia Zabiiako Alexander Enbert	Russia	2017 Lombardia Trophy	196.06	2017 Golden Spin of Zagreb	202.96	399.02	[33]
2018–19	Aleksandra Boikova Dmitrii Kozlovskii	Russia	2018 Lombardia Trophy	191.99	2018 Finlandia Trophy	188.54	380.53	[34]
2019–20	Ashley Cain-Gribble Timothy LeDuc	United States	2019 U.S. International Classic	205.58	2019 Golden Spin of Zagreb	199.43	405.01	[35]
2021–22	Evgenia Tarasova Vladimir Morozov	Russia	2021 Finlandia Trophy	213.72	2021 Golden Spin of Zagreb	228.49	442.21	[36]
2022–23	Rebecca Ghilardi Filippo Ambrosini	Italy	2022 U.S. International Classic	189.22	2022 Warsaw Cup	184.21	373.43	[37]
2023–24	Minerva Fabienne Hase Nikita Volodin	Germany	2023 Lombardia Trophy	194.52	2023 Nebelhorn Trophy	194.96	389.48	[38]
2024–25	Ellie Kam Danny O'Shea	United States	2024 John Nicks International	191.62	2024 Nebelhorn Trophy	184.38	376.00	[39]

Ice dance

Season	Team	Nation	First event	Score	Second event	Score	Total score	Ref.
2014–15	Maia Shibutani Alex Shibutani	United States	2014 Ondrej Nepela Trophy	162.98	2014 Ice Challenge	166.34	329.32	[40]
2015–16	Charlène Guignard Marco Fabbri	Italy	2015 Warsaw Cup	169.72	2015 Golden Spin of Zagreb	172.28	342.00	[41]
2016–17	Ekaterina Bobrova Dmitri Soloviev	Russia	2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial	178.84	2016 Warsaw Cup	183.60	362.44	[42]
2017–18	Ekaterina Bobrova Dmitri Soloviev	Russia	2017 Ondrej Nepela Trophy	181.92	2017 Golden Spin of Zagreb	186.66	368.58	[43]
2018–19	Piper Gilles Paul Poirier	Canada	2018 Golden Spin of Zagreb	201.27	2018 Nebelhorn Trophy	194.12	395.39	[44]
2019–20	Charlène Guignard Marco Fabbri	Italy	2019 Lombardia Trophy	202.10	2019 Golden Spin of Zagreb	202.18	404.28	[45]
2021–22	Charlène Guignard Marco Fabbri	Italy	2021 Lombardia Trophy	205.36	2021 Cup of Austria	208.88	414.24	[46]
2022–23	Lilah Fear Lewis Gibson	Great Britain	2022 U.S. International Classic	190.80	2022 Nebelhorn Trophy	206.60	397.40	[47]
2023–24	Lilah Fear Lewis Gibson	Great Britain	2023 Nebelhorn Trophy	207.84	2023 Nepela Memorial	200.46	408.30	[48]
2024–25	Lilah Fear Lewis Gibson	Great Britain	2024 Nebelhorn Trophy	207.01	2024 Nepela Memorial	210.65	417.66	[49]