2025 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge

The 2025 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge was a figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Denis Ten Foundation and the Kazakhstan Skating Union, and the seventh event of the 2025–26 ISU Challenger Series. It was held at the Halyk Arena in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from 1 to 4 October 2025. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, and ice dance, and skaters earned ISU World Standing points based on their results. Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan won the men's event, Lee Hae-in of South Korea won the women's event, and Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin of Georgia won the ice dance event.

The inaugural edition of the Denis Ten Memorial Challenge was held in 2019 in Almaty.^[1] The competition is named in honor of Denis Ten, a former figure skater who competed internationally for Kazakhstan.^[2] He was the 2014 Winter Olympic bronze medalist, a two-time World Championship medalist, the 2015 Four Continents champion, and a eight-time Kazakh national champion.^[3] Ten was murdered on 19 July 2018 in Almaty by carjackers.^[4] The 2025 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge took place from 1 to 4 October at the Halyk Arena in Almaty.^[5]

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.^[6] The 2025–26 Challenger Series consisted of eleven events, of which the Denis Ten Memorial Challenge was the seventh.^[7]

The International Skating Union published the preliminary list of entrants on 27 September 2025.^[8]

Men and women competing in single skating first performed their short programs on Thursday, 2 October.^[5] Lasting no more than 2 minutes 40 seconds,^[12] the short program had to include the following elements:

For men: one double or triple Axel; one triple or quadruple jump; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, two triple jumps, or a quadruple jump and a double jump or triple jump; one flying spin; one camel spin or sit spin with a change of foot; one spin combination with a change of foot; and a step sequence using the full ice surface.^[13]

For women: one double or triple Axel; one triple jump; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, or two triple jumps; one flying spin; one layback spin, sideways leaning spin, camel spin, or sit spin without a change of foot; one spin combination with a change of foot; and one step sequence using the full ice surface.^[13]

Women performed their free skates on Friday, 3 October, while men performed theirs on Saturday, 4 October.^[5] The free skate could last no more than 4 minutes,^[12] and had to include the following: seven jump elements, of which one had to be an Axel-type jump; three spins, of which one had to be a spin combination, one a flying spin, and one a spin with only one position; a step sequence; and a choreographic sequence.^[14]

Couples competing in ice dance performed their rhythm dances on Friday, 3 October.^[5] Lasting no more than 2 minutes 50 seconds,^[12] the theme of the rhythm dance this season was "music, dance styles, and feeling of the 1990s".^[15] Examples of applicable dance styles and music included, but were not limited to: pop, Latin, house, techno, hip-hop, and grunge. The rhythm dance had to include the following elements: one pattern dance step sequence, one choreographic rhythm sequence, one dance lift, one set of sequential twizzles, and one step sequence.^[15]

Couples then performed their free dances on Saturday, 4 October.^[5] The free dance could last no longer than 4 minutes,^[12] and had to include the following: three dance lifts, one dance spin, one set of synchronized twizzles, one step sequence in hold, one step sequence while on one skate and not touching, and three choreographic elements.^[15]

All of the technical elements in any figure skating performance – such as jumps and spins – were assigned a predetermined base value and then scored by a panel of nine judges on a scale from –5 to 5 based on their quality of execution.^[16] Every Grade of Execution (GOE) from –5 to 5 was assigned a value (a percentage of the element's base value) as shown on the Scale of Values (SOV).^[17] For example, a triple Axel was worth a base value of 8.00 points, and a GOE of 3 was worth 2.40 points, so a triple Axel with a GOE of 3 earned 10.40 points.^[18] The judging panel's GOE for each element was determined by calculating the trimmed mean (the average after discarding the highest and lowest scores). The panel's scores for all elements were added together to generate a total elements score.^[17] At the same time, the judges evaluated each performance based on three program components – skating skills, presentation, and composition – and assigned a score from 0.25 to 10 in 0.25-point increments.^[19] 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.^[20]

Deductions were applied for certain violations like time infractions, stops and restarts, or falls.^[22] The total elements score and total program component score were added together, minus any deductions, to generate a final performance score for each skater or team.^[23]

Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan, who had won the gold medal at the 2024 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge, repeated that victory this year, defeating his nearest competitor by a margin of over fifteen points.^[25] Shaidorov credits Denis Ten as a personal hero and continues Ten's efforts to promote figure skating in Kazakhstan. "The most important thing that I can do for my country is to make this sport more popular," Shaidorov stated in an interview. "What matters most to me right now is that many children are coming to this sport, that they are starting to do figure skating and it inspires them ... Even if you are from a country that is not strong in the world of figure skating, you can have big success."^[26] He opened his free skate with a triple Axel-Euler-quadruple Salchow jump combination – Shaidorov is the only skater in the world to have performed a quadruple jump as the second element in a jump combination in competition^[27] – and then followed that with a quadruple Lutz and a quadruple flip. Nika Egadze of Georgia finished in second place, while Jason Brown of the United States finished in third place.^[25] Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea withdrew from the competition after the short program because problems with his boots were adversely affecting his jumps.^[28]

Lee Hae-in of South Korea easily won the women's event with a 22-point lead over her nearest competitor. Lee's free skate featured a triple loop and a triple Lutz-triple toe loop. Competition for second and third place was more fierce, with the four skaters after Lee scored within a margin of three points following the short program. Yun Ah-sun of South Korea won the silver medal, while Madeline Schizas of Canada won the bronze medal.^[30]

Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin of Georgia dominated the competition, winning both the rhythm dance and free dance by wide margins, and the gold medal. The 2025 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge was the first of three competitions in a row for Davis and Smolkin; the following week, they competed at the 2025 Trialeti Trophy, and the week after that, the 2025 Grand Prix de France. Davis and Smolkin won the Trialeti Trophy as well, netting two Challenger Series victories in a row.^[32] Smolkin also described the importance of artistic elements in their free dance: "This season, we really focused on the things that matter to us artistically. For example, our opening element, the [choreographic] hydroblading movement, was a major goal. We wanted to use deep edges and strong leans to show what we’re capable of."^[32] Oona Brown and Gage Brown of the United States finished in second place, and Milla Ruud Reitan and Nikolaj Majorov of Sweden finished in third.^[33]

• "Special Regulations & Technical Rules – Single & Pair Skating and Ice Dance 2024" (PDF). International Skating Union. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 June 2025. Retrieved 15 August 2025.