ISU

Mindful of the escalating negative COVID-19 developments, the resulting world-wide human tragedy and the measures taken by the public authorities as well as logistical challenges the ISU Council during its on-line meeting held on April 16, 2020 concluded that a postponement of the pending 2020 ISU Championships is not possible.

In November 2019, the International Skating Union (ISU) launched #UpAgain, an emotional and inspiring campaign based on one simple principle: we must overcome life’s challenges to achieve our full potential. Today, the campaign takes a greater meaning as we currently face one of the biggest challenges humankind has encountered in decades. Through this campaign, the ISU aims to encourage people to stay strong, to support each other in creative and mindful ways and together we will get #UpAgain.

Avonley Nguyen/Vadym Kolesnik (USA) edged out Maria Kazakova/Georgy Reviya (GEO) in what was an exciting battle in the Ice Dance event at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn (EST) and, actually, throughout the whole season.

If you keep heading home with silver, gold cannot be far away, as exciting young Short Track Speed Skating prospect Steven Dubois (CAN) proved at the penultimate 2019/20 ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating stop in Dresden, Germany.

To kick-off a spectacular second day of competition at the ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships in Salt Lake City, Graeme Fish (CAN) won the grueling Men's 10,000m.

The ISU Council is proud to announce the Hosts for the Challenger Series in Synchronized Skating for the season 2020/21.

Wenjing Sui/Cong Han continue the tradition of successful Chinese Pair Skating, once founded by their coach Hongbo Zhao and his partner Xue Shen. At the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Seoul (KOR) in February, the Olympic silver medalists once again proved their class.

One of Short Track Speed Skater Park Ji Won’s final utterances of the 2019/20 season was: “People need to respect me.” Given he is the Men’s World No.1, topped both the 1000m and 1500m ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating rankings and claimed the overall ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating title, it is fair to say the Korean has earned that respect.

Today, April 6, 2020, the International Skating Union (ISU) proudly celebrates the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace for the third consecutive year. Sport, peace and unity is more important than ever in these times of crisis. This year, the ISU Athletes Commission, who represents the views of the athletes and makes their voices heard within the ISU, conveys the message of commitment to Sport for Development and Peace.

If you thought you had no more Skating to watch, think again! The ISU is offering streams of all the 2018 and 2019 ISU World Championships across all disciplines.

A Speed Skating blade needs to be sharp to provide maximum grip on the ice at 60 km/h, but when a skater crashes the blades become dangerous weapons. In October 2015, Håvard Lorentzen's left skate slipped away when he entered a corner in a fast training lap at the Max Aicher Arena in Inzell. When he hit the cushions, his left skate cut into his right leg almost from the knee to the ankle. When he looked down, the 2012 ISU World Junior Speed Skating Champion was not sure whether he would be able to ever skate again.

At the beginning of the season, the skating world was curious to see how the Russian “triple A team” of Alena Kostornaia, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova would fare in their international senior-level debut.

There is no doubting the identity of the current world-leading female Short Track Speed Skater. Suzanne Schulting has been in sparkling form since grabbing 1000m gold at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games but the Dutchwoman took her level to new heights in 2019/20.

The joyful Thialf crowd had already heard the Dutch national anthem eight times and the Russian national anthem five times, when the Men's Mass Start bunch entered the rink for the final event at the ISU European Speed Skating Championships 2020. However, never in history, had La Brabançonne, the Belgian national anthem, been played at a major international Speed Skating tournament before. Bart Swings changed it all.

Alysa Liu (USA) made headlines already last year when, at age 13, she became the youngest US Ladies’ Champion in history, but she was still too young to compete at the international junior level, as her birthday is in August. The whirlwind from California then entered the junior scene with a bang and jumped right into skating history when she became the first female skater to land a triple Axel and a quadruple jump (Lutz) in one program at her very first ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating event in Lake Placid (USA).