The 2020–21 ISU Challenger Series will be held from September to December 2020. It will be the seventh season that the ISU Challenger Series, a group of senior-level international figure skating competitions ranked below the ISU Grand Prix, will be held.
Reactions to 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:
"The above calendar, same as the calendar of other ISU series, is subject to a timely normalization of the coronavirus situation allowing the safe organization of ice skating events this Autumn. While the Challenger Series events remain the property of the organizing ISU Members who remain the key decision makers for those events, the ISU is closely monitoring the respective developments with the expectation and hope that the situation will be restored to normal as quickly as possible. The ISU will inform ISU Members in case of any development or related ISU recommendations and/or decision."[1]
On May 1, 2020, the ISU established a working group, chaired by ISU Vice-President for Figure Skating Alexander Lakernik, to monitor the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Its responsibilities include determining the feasibility of holding events as scheduled, possibly behind closed doors, during the first half of the 2020–21 season and the financial impact of any potential cancellations.[2]
On May 16, 2020, 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.[3]
As of May 26, 2020, the initial event schedule announced for the 2020 Asian Open Trophy has been withdrawn.[4] As of July 21, Skate Canada marked the 2020 Autumn Classic as postponed to an unspecified date.[5]
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 will be determined and no prize money will be distributed at the end of the series. However, skaters competing will earn Challenger Series-level points for their World Ranking, as long as the competition meets ISU guidelines to qualify as a Challenger event.[6] The Japan Skating Federation also announced on July 13 that it would not assign any skaters to the Challenger Series, assuming the competitions proceeded as scheduled.[7]
Events
The 2020–21 series will be composed of the following events in autumn 2020.[1]
On May 16, 2020, the ISU announced that the Slovak Figure Skating Association had cancelled the 2020 Nepela Memorial, scheduled for September 16–19 in Bratislava, Slovakia.[3]
2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy
2020 CS Finlandia Trophy
2020 CS Budapest Trophy
2020 CS Denis Ten Memorial
2020 CS Warsaw Cup
2020 CS Inge Solar Trophy
2020 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb
2020 CS Asian Open Trophy
2020 CS Autumn Classic
