ISU

The Junior skaters are back! The World’s best up and coming young skaters will have the opportunity to compete at the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series 2021/22. The series is back after it had to be cancelled in the past season due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ISU was informed of the cancellation of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating – Cup of China, that was scheduled to take place from November 4-7, 2021 in Chongqing (CHN).

You can see quite a few bi-national Ice Dance and Pair Skating couples in the world of Figure Skating, however, Russian Ice Dancers Tiffani Zagorski/Jonathan Guerreiro probably set the record when it comes to a multi-national background: Tiffani is originally British, then first moved to France to train and compete before coming to Russia. Jonathan’s mother is Russian and his father is Portuguese, but he was born in Australia as his parents were working there. He then moved with his family to Russia to pursue his skating career. So that makes five countries: Russia, Great Britain, France, Australia and Portugal. “I think with the two of us combined you don't get more nationalities,” Zagorski joked. “If you count backgrounds, you've got also Polish and Irish.”

Like most Skaters, Jason Brown (USA) looks back at a strange and challenging season, but now he is gearing up for an exciting Olympic year. “As skaters and athletes we are just so used to the schedule and the predictability of the routine of what we do”, the 26-year-old said.

Johnny Weir has just about done it all. He is one of the USA’s most celebrated male Figure Skaters of all time, an ISU World Figure Skating Championships medal winner, a highly regarded sports commentator and a TV star in his own right. But spend five minutes with him and you soon realise that one thing means more to him than anything else.

A number of Speed Skaters compete in summer sports and even compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. French Figure Skater Kevin Aymoz (FRA) also competed in a summer sport called Baton Twirling and became rather good at it. He is also the latest guest on The Ice Skating Podcast. 

The International Skating Union (ISU) has published the International Speed Skating & Short Track Speed Skating Competitions for the season 2021/22.

Figure skating is an individual sport while rivalry exists, the skating world is in fact a closely-knit community where most people know and support each other. True friendship even among direct competitors is not a rare thing to see.

The end of one chapter is the beginning of a new one. This is certainly true for U.S. Pair Skaters Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, who started their career as a team a little over a year ago after their long-time partners retired.

Italy’s Matteo Rizzo has changed his life completely and he is not stopping at this. For the upcoming Olympic season, the 2019 ISU European bronze medalist is exploring a new style for his programs.

Spanish ice dancers Sara Hurtado and Kirill Khaliavin not only had to overcome the challenges of a pre-Olympic season during the worldwide pandemic, but also injury. They came back strong and placed 11th at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm (SWE) last March. Now the team continues to train in Moscow (RUS) to get ready for the Olympic season.

It is with regret and sorrow that the ISU learned of the death of 1952 Olympic Champion Jeanette Altwegg (GBR) who passed away on June 18, 2021 at the age of 90.

Living legends Jayne Torvill/Christopher Dean (GBR), Tamara Moskvina (RUS) and Alexei Mishin (RUS) received the ISU Lifetime Achievement Award.

She had struggled with injuries and missed the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in 2019 and 2020, but then she came back strong at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm (SWE) to place fifth – the highest result of a female Single Skater from Belgium and the best result of a Belgium Skater for decades: Loena Hendrickx has shown remarkable resilience and strength.

The four-part short-form documentary series, which follows the stories of five athletes who competed in the 2021 Speed Skating is now available on ISU.ORG.