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.

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

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

Changes in preliminary assignments The International Skating Union published the preliminary list of entrants on 27 September 2025. Date Discipline Withdrew Added 26 September Women 30 September rowspan=3 Ice dance 1 October Men

Required performance elements Single skating Men and women competing in single skating first performed their short programs on 2 October. Lasting no more than 2 minutes 40 seconds, 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.

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.

Women performed their free skates on 3 October, while men performed theirs on 4 October. The free skate could last no more than 4 minutes, 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.

Ice dance Couples competing in ice dance performed their rhythm dances on 3 October. Lasting no more than 2 minutes 50 seconds, the theme of the rhythm dance this season was "music, dance styles, and feeling of the 1990s". Examples of applicable dance styles and music included: 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.

Couples then performed their free dances on 4 October. The free dance could last no longer than 4 minutes, 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.

Judging

Skaters were judged according to the required technical elements of their program (such as jumps and spins), as well as the overall presentation of their program, based on three program components (skating skills, presentation, and composition). Each technical element in a figure skating performance was assigned a predetermined base point value and scored by a panel of nine judges on a scale from −5 to +5 based on the quality of its execution. Each Grade of Execution (GOE) from –5 to +5 was assigned a value as indicated on the Scale of Values. 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. 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. At the same time, the judges evaluated each performance based on the five aforementioned program components and assigned each a score from 0.25 to 10 in 0.25-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 chart below; the results were added together to generate a total Program Component Score.

+Program component factoring Discipline Short program Rhythm dance Free skate Free dance Men 1.67 3.33 Women 1.33 2.67 Ice dance 1.33 2.00 Deductions were applied for certain violations, such as time infractions, stops and restarts, or falls. The Total Elements Score and Program Component Score were then added together, minus any deductions, to generate a final performance score for each skater or team.

Medal summary

+Medalists Discipline Gold Silver Bronze Men Mikhail Shaidorov Nika Egadze Jason Brown Women Lee Hae-in Yun Ah-sun Madeline Schizas Ice dance

Results Men's singles 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. 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." 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 – 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 third. Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea withdrew from the competition after the short program because problems with his boots were adversely affecting his jumps. +Men's results Rank Skater Nation Total points SP FS Mikhail Shaidorov 282.22 1 95.01 1 187.21 Nika Egadze 266.90 2 87.58 2 179.32 Jason Brown 257.81 3 86.61 3 171.20 4 Lee Si-hyeong 242.52 4 78.81 4 163.71 5 Chen Yudong 237.70 8 76.41 5 161.29 6 Vladimir Litvintsev 223.47 5 78.52 6 144.95 7 Matthew Newnham 219.53 6 77.16 7 142.37 8 Cha Young-hyun 218.48 9 76.37 8 142.11 9 Taira Shinohara 213.90 11 74.20 9 139.70 10 Semen Daniliants 209.38 10 74.43 11 134.55 11 Dias Jirenbayev 208.68 7 77.14 12 131.54 12 Andreas Nordebäck 205.66 14 70.11 10 135.55 13 Zhao Qihan 194.62 15 68.79 13 125.83 14John Kim 188.70 12 73.62 15 115.08 15Nikita Krivosheyev 178.83 16 59.33 14 119.50 16Oleg Melnikov 160.20 17 54.19 16 106.01 WD Cha Jun-hwan Withdrew 13 70.78 Withdrew from competition

Women's singles 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 jump combination. 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 ultimately won the silver medal, while Madeline Schizas of Canada won the bronze. +Women's results Rank Skater Nation Total points SP FS Lee Hae-in 196.84 1 64.78 1 132.06 Yun Ah-sun 174.37 4 53.43 2 120.94 Madeline Schizas 164.39 2 55.55 3 108.84 4 Josephine Lee 160.92 3 54.15 5 106.77 5 Zhu Yi 160.83 5 52.75 4 108.08 6 Amira Irmatova 137.15 6 47.22 6 89.93 7 Nuriya Suleimen 124.40 7 44.95 7 79.45 8 Olesja Leonova 118.09 8 43.20 8 74.89 9 Sofiya Farafonova 104.50 9 42.47 9 62.03 10 Veronika Kovalenko 86.12 10 39.57 10 46.55 11 Russalina Shakrova 74.71 11 30.59 11 44.12

Ice dance Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin of Georgia dominated the competition, winning both the rhythm dance and free dance by wide margins, earning themselves the gold. 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. 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.

+Ice dance results Rank Skater Nation Total points RD FD 193.14 1 77.94 1 115.20 178.86 2 73.91 4 104.95 177.25 3 69.22 2 108.03 4 173.34 4 67.84 3 105.50 5 169.60 5 67.80 5 101.80 6 165.61 6 66.09 6 99.52 7 162.77 7 65.39 7 97.38 8 137.68 8 54.50 8 83.18 9 131.59 9 50.56 9 81.03 10 123.13 10 48.65 10 74.48

References

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