ISU

Russian rookie Mark Kondratiuk skated off with the gold medal at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn (EST) Friday in what was an exciting event with many movements in the standings. Italy’s Daniel Grassl came from fifth to claim the silver medal while Deniss Vasiljevs climbed from sixth to earn the bronze, a historic first medal for Latvia.

Reigning World Champions Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov of Russia took a slim lead of 1.44 points over teammates Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin in the Rhythm Dance at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships Friday in Tallinn (EST). Italy’s Charlene Guignard/ Marco Fabbri are currently ranked third.

The ISU Council allotted the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2022 which will also include the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2022 to the Federazione Italiana Sport del Ghiaccio (FISG).

Russia’s reigning World Champions Anastasia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov added the European title to their collection with another perfect skate at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships Thursday in Tallinn. Silver medalists Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov and bronze medalists Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitri Kozlovskii completed the 15th Russian podium sweep in Pair Skating at the ISU European Championships.

Russia’s spectacular Kamila Valieva stormed to the lead in the Women’s Short Program at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn (EST) on Thursday, setting a new highest score en route. Loena Hendrickx of Belgium managed to break through the Russian phalanx to come second while Alexandra Trusova of Russia is currently ranked third.

Russia’s reigning World Champions Anastasia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov shone in the Pairs Short Program at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships Wednesday to take the lead ahead of teammates Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov and  Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitri Kozlovskii.

2020 World Junior Champion  Andrei Mozalev of Russia came to Tallinn as a last minute replacement and took the lead in the Men’s Short Program as the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2022 opened in Tallinn (EST).

Europe’s best figure skaters are getting ready for the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Tallinn, Estonia (January 10-16), the last opportunity to test themselves at a major stage before the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (CHN). Tallinn will host the ISU European Figure Skating Championships for the second time since 2010 and has hosted as well the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in 2015 and 2020. The ISU European Championships are back after the event had to be cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.     

The year 2022 kicked off with the exciting National Championships of Canada, the United States of America and the Republic of Korea. Canada, the USA and Korea named their Olympic and ISU Championships teams following Nationals.

Spain has two world class Ice Dance couples in Olivia Smart/Adrian Diaz and Sara Hurtado/Kirill Khaliavin, but only one spot for the Olympic Winter Games in February and the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in March. Hurtado/Khaliavin finished 11th at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021 and would have needed to have placed 10th at least in order to give Spain the chance to earn a second spot at the Olympic qualifying competition last September.

The International Skating Union (ISU), together with its partner Art on Ice, will present the third edition of the ISU Skating Awards in 2023 by way of an exciting show featuring spectacular performances, exclusive musical entertainment, as well as a unique ceremony.

When a top skater comes out of retirement it is always an interesting story. And it is even more interesting when two top skaters come back and team up – which is what Pair Skaters Vanessa James and Eric Radford did. She is the 2019 European Champion and 2018 World bronze medalist with her former partner Morgan Ciprès, competing for France. He is a two-time World Champion, 2018 Olympic bronze medalist and Olympic Team Champion with Meagan Duhamel, representing Canada. He retired in 2018, her career with Ciprès ended in 2019, but in 2021 they decided to come back. Together.

Traditionally, Japan is boasting a deep field in Single Skating, just think of superstars like two-time Olympic Champion Yuzuru Hanyu or of Olympic silver medalist Mao Asada. However, Pair Skating and Ice Dance are growing as well in the country of the rising sun and Japan has a realistic medal chance in the team event at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Japanese skating stars are going where no man has gone before.

With the Russian and Japanese Championships, two spectacular Figure Skating events highlighted the Christmas holidays. Japan announced their teams for the Olympic Winter Games and for the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships (Tallinn, January 18-23, 2022) while Russia named their Skaters for the ISU European Championships (Tallinn, January 10-16, 2022).

Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron of France needed only one season to soar to the top of the Ice Dance World back in 2014/15. They are France’s hope for an Olympic gold medal in Figure Skating in Beijing and want to crown their career with this medal that eluded them in 2018 when they came a close second to Tessa Virtue/ Scott Moir (CAN). France will also be represented in the Men’s event with two entries, most likely Kevin Aymoz and Adam Siao Him Fa.