2025 CS John Nicks International Pairs Competition

2025 CS John Nicks International Pairs Competition
Logo of the John Nicks Pairs Challenge
Type:ISU Challenger Series
Date:September 2 – 3
Season:2025–26
Location:New York City, New York,
United States
Host:U.S. Figure Skating
Venue:Skating Club of New York
Previous:
2024 CS John Nicks International Pairs Competition
Previous CS:
2025 CS Cranberry Cup International
Next CS:
2025 CS Kinoshita Group Cup

The 2025 CS John Nicks International Pairs Competition is a figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by U.S. Figure Skating, and the second event of the 2025–26 ISU Challenger Series. It will be held at the Skating Club of New York in New York City, New York, in the United States, on September 2–3, 2025.[1] Medals will be awarded in pair skating only, and skaters will earn ISU World Standing points based on their results.

Background

The ISU Challenger Series was introduced in 2014. It is a series of international figure skating competitions sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU) and organized by ISU member nations. The objective was to ensure consistent organization and structure within a series of international competitions linked together, providing opportunities for senior-level skaters to compete at the international level and also earn ISU World Standing points.[2] The 2025–26 Challenger Series consists of eleven events, of which the John Nicks International Pairs Competition is the second.

Entries

The International Skating Union published the list of entries on August 5, 2025.

Country Pairs[3]
 Armenia
  • Karina Akapova
  • Nikita Rakhmanin
 Austria
 Canada
 Great Britain
  • Neamh Davison
  • Daniel Borisov
 United States
  • Linzy Fitzpatrick
  • Keyton Bearinger

Required performance elements

Couples competing in pair skating first perform a short program on Tuesday, September 2.[4] Lasting no more than 2 minutes 40 seconds,[5] the short program has to include the following elements: one pair lift, one double or triple twist lift, one double or triple throw jump, one double or triple solo jump, one solo spin combination with a change of foot, one death spiral, and a step sequence using the full ice surface.[6]

Skaters perform their free skates on Wednesday, September 3.[4] The free skate performance can last no more than 4 minutes,[5] and has to include the following: three pair lifts, of which one has to be a twist lift; two different throw jumps; one solo jump; one jump combination or sequence; one pair spin combination; one death spiral; and a choreographic sequence.[7]

Judging

For the 2025–2026 season, all of the technical elements in any figure skating performance – such as jumps, spins, and lifts – were assigned a predetermined base point value and were then scored by a panel of nine judges on a scale from -5 to 5 based on their quality of execution.[8] The judging panel's Grade of Execution (GOE) was determined by calculating the trimmed mean (that is, an average after deleting the highest and lowest scores), and this GOE was added to the base value to come up with the final score for each element. The panel's scores for all elements were added together to generate a total element score.[9] At the same time, judges evaluated each performance based on five program components – skating skills, transitions, performance, composition, and interpretation of the music – and assigned a score from .25 to 10 in .25 point increments. The judging panel's final score for each program component was also determined by calculating the trimmed mean. Those scores were then multiplied by the factor shown on the following chart; the results were added together to generate a total program component score.[10]

Program component factoring[11]
Discipline Short progam Free skate
Pairs 1.33 2.67

Deductions were applied for certain violations like time infractions, stops and restarts, or falls.[12] The total element score and total program component score were added together, minus any deductions, to generate a final performance score for each skater or team.[13]

References

  1. ^ "2025 John Nicks Pairs International Challenger Series" (PDF). International Skating Union. Retrieved August 15, 2024.
  2. ^ "Challenger Series". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on March 29, 2025. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  3. ^ "ISU CS John Nicks Pairs Challenge International 2025". International Skating Union. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
  4. ^ a b "2025 John Nicks Pairs International Challenger Series" (PDF). International Skating Union. p. 10. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 16, 2025. Retrieved August 15, 2025.
  5. ^ a b International Skating Union 2024, p. 82.
  6. ^ International Skating Union 2024, p. 119.
  7. ^ International Skating Union 2024, p. 122.
  8. ^ International Skating Union 2024, pp. 83–84.
  9. ^ International Skating Union 2024, pp. 15–16.
  10. ^ International Skating Union 2024, pp. 16–17.
  11. ^ International Skating Union 2024, p. 17.
  12. ^ International Skating Union 2024, pp. 18–19.
  13. ^ International Skating Union 2024, p. 20.

Works cited

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.