# 2020–21 ISU Challenger Series

The 2020–21 ISU Challenger Series was scheduled to be held from September 9 to December 5, 2020. It was the seventh season that the ISU Challenger Series, a group of senior-level international figure skating competitions, was held. Originally meant to be a series of ten events, the 2020–21 Challenger Series ended up featuring only two individual events, when eight events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Impact of 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."
On May 1, 2020, the International Skating Union established a working group, chaired by ISU Vice-president for Figure Skating Alexander Lakernik, to monitor the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Its responsibilities included determining the feasibility of holding events as scheduled, possibly behind closed doors, during the first half of the season, and the financial impact of any potential cancellations. The ISU announced that a host federation must make a decision regarding potential cancellation of their event at least twelve weeks prior to the event.
On May 16, 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.
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 would be determined and no prize money would be distributed at the end of the series. However, skaters competing would still earn Challenger Series-level points for their world rankings, as long as the competition met ISU guidelines to qualify as a Challenger event. The decision was later revised by the ISU council on August 3, announcing that world standing and ranking points would not be awarded for the sake of fairness due to the limited nature of the competitions.
On July 13, the Japan Skating Federation announced that it would not assign any skaters to the Challenger Series, assuming the competitions proceeded as scheduled.
On August 25, the German Ice Skating Union confirmed that 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy would be held as scheduled, but without spectators and would include extensive social distancing guidelines and procedures for the athletes and coaches in attendance.
On August 28, the ISU removed the maximum entry limit of skaters or teams per country.

### Competitions

The series was intended to include the following events this season. However, all but two competitions were ultimately cancelled.
On May 16, the ISU announced that the Slovak Figure Skating Association had cancelled the 2020 Nepela Memorial. As of May 26, the event schedule announced for the 2020 Asian Open Trophy had been withdrawn. On August 20, the Finnish Figure Skating Association cancelled the 2020 Finlandia Trophy. On September 1, the 2020 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge was cancelled. On November 3, Skate Austria cancelled the 2020 Cup of Tyrol. On November 6, the ice dance portion of the 2020 Warsaw Cup was cancelled, and on November 10, the Polish Figure Skating Association cancelled the Warsaw Cup entirely. On February 13, the 2020 Autumn Classic International, originally described as having been "postponed", was removed from the official Skate Canada calendar.
| Date | Event | Location | Notes | Ref. |
| September 9–13 | 2020 Asian Open Trophy | Cancelled | Cancelled | |
| September 16–19 | 2020 Nepela Memorial | Cancelled | Cancelled | |
| September 17–19 | 2020 Autumn Classic International | Cancelled | Cancelled | |
| September 23–26 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy | Oberstdorf, Germany | | Details |
| October 8–11 | 2020 Finlandia Trophy | Cancelled | Cancelled | |
| October 15–17 | 2020 Budapest Trophy | Budapest, Hungary | No pairs | Details |
| October 29 – November 1 | 2020 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge | Cancelled | Cancelled | |
| November 12–15 | 2020 Warsaw Cup | Cancelled | Cancelled | |
| November 25–28 | 2020 Cup of Tyrol | Cancelled | Cancelled | |
| December 2–5 | 2020 Golden Spin of Zagreb | Cancelled | Cancelled | |

## Medal summary
### Men's singles

| Competition | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Results |
| Nebelhorn Trophy | Deniss Vasiļjevs | Gabriele Frangipani | Nikolaj Majorov | Details |
| Budapest Trophy | Daniel Grassl | Burak Demirboğa | Aleksandr Selevko | Details |

### Ladies’ singles

| Competition | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Results |
| Nebelhorn Trophy | Eva-Lotta Kiibus | Alexia Paganini | Jenni Saarinen | Details |
| Budapest Trophy | Loena Hendrickx | Eva-Lotta Kiibus | Alexandra Feigin | Details |

### Pairs

| Competition | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Results |
| Nebelhorn Trophy | Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini | Annika Hocke / Robert Kunkel | Cléo Hamon / Denys Strekalin | Details |

### Ice dance

| Competition | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Results |
| Nebelhorn Trophy | Natálie Taschlerová / Filip Taschler | Sasha Fear / George Waddell | Darya Popova / Volodymyr Byelikov | Details |
| Budapest Trophy | Alexandra Nazarova / Maxim Nikitin | Katharina Müller / Tim Dieck | Sasha Fear / George Waddell | Details |

### Medal standings

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Italy | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | Estonia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Ukraine | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Belgium | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Czech Republic | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Latvia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Germany | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | Great Britain | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | Switzerland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Turkey | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Bulgaria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Finland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | France | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Sweden | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (14 entries) | Totals (14 entries) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 |

## Challenger Series rankings

Out of fairness to skaters impacted by travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ISU Council decided there would be no Challenger Series ranking this season.

## Top scores
### Men's singles

Top 5 best scores in the men's combined total :
| No. | Skater | Nation | Score | Event |
| 1 | Deniss Vasiļjevs | Latvia | 233.08 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 2 | Daniel Grassl | Italy | 233.04 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 3 | Gabriele Frangipani | Italy | 231.65 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 4 | Nikolaj Majorov | Sweden | 218.07 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 5 | Maurizio Zandron | Austria | 217.65 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
Top 5 best scores in the men's short program :
| No. | Skater | Nation | Score | Event |
| 1 | Daniel Grassl | Italy | 82.27 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 2 | Paul Fentz | Germany | 81.86 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 3 | Gabriele Frangipani | Italy | 79.13 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 4 | Matteo Rizzo | Italy | 77.15 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 5 | Maurizio Zandron | Austria | 74.61 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
Top 5 best scores in the men's free skating :
| No. | Skater | Nation | Score | Event |
| 1 | Deniss Vasiļjevs | Latvia | 159.83 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 2 | Gabriele Frangipani | Italy | 152.52 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 3 | Daniel Grassl | Italy | 150.77 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 4 | Nikolaj Majorov | Sweden | 145.53 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 5 | Lukas Britschgi | Switzerland | 143.53 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |

### Ladies' singles

Top 5 best scores in the ladies' combined total :
| No. | Skater | Nation | Score | Event |
| 1 | Loena Hendrickx | Belgium | 198.87 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 2 | Eva-Lotta Kiibus | Estonia | 184.27 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 3 | Alexandra Feigin | Bulgaria | 172.68 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 4 | Alexia Paganini | Switzerland | 168.85 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 5 | Júlia Láng | Hungary | 166.55 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
Top 5 best scores in the ladies' short program :
| No. | Skater | Nation | Score | Event |
| 1 | Loena Hendrickx | Belgium | 72.18 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 2 | Eva-Lotta Kiibus | Estonia | 65.37 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 3 | Alexia Paganini | Switzerland | 63.60 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 4 | Nicole Schott | Germany | 61.21 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 5 | Alexandra Feigin | Bulgaria | 60.90 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
Top 5 best scores in the ladies' free skating :
| No. | Skater | Nation | Score | Event |
| 1 | Loena Hendrickx | Belgium | 126.69 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 2 | Eva-Lotta Kiibus | Estonia | 118.90 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 3 | Alexandra Feigin | Bulgaria | 111.78 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 4 | Júlia Láng | Hungary | 108.35 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 5 | Jenni Saarinen | Finland | 106.62 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |

### Pairs

Top 5 best scores in the pairs' combined total :
| No. | Team | Nation | Score | Event |
| 1 | Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini | Italy | 154.61 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 2 | Annika Hocke / Robert Kunkel | Germany | 154.26 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 3 | Cléo Hamon / Denys Strekalin | France | 144.06 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 4 | Elizaveta Zhuk / Martin Bidař | Czech Republic | 143.03 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 5 | Coline Keriven / Noël-Antoine Pierre | France | 130.27 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
Top 5 best scores in the pairs' short program :
| No. | Team | Nation | Score | Event |
| 1 | Minerva Fabienne Hase / Nolan Seegert | Germany | 63.97 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 2 | Annika Hocke / Robert Kunkel | Germany | 60.55 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 3 | Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini | Italy | 58.32 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 4 | Cléo Hamon / Denys Strekalin | France | 51.27 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 5 | Elizaveta Zhuk / Martin Bidař | Czech Republic | 51.20 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
Top 5 best scores in the pairs' free skating :
| No. | Team | Nation | Score | Event |
| 1 | Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini | Italy | 96.29 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 2 | Annika Hocke / Robert Kunkel | Germany | 93.71 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 3 | Cléo Hamon / Denys Strekalin | France | 92.79 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 4 | Elizaveta Zhuk / Martin Bidař | Czech Republic | 91.83 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 5 | Coline Keriven / Noël-Antoine Pierre | France | 88.26 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |

### Ice dance

Top 5 best scores in the combined total (ice dance) :
| No. | Team | Nation | Score | Event |
| 1 | Alexandra Nazarova / Maxim Nikitin | Ukraine | 178.97 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 2 | Katharina Müller / Tim Dieck | Germany | 164.99 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 3 | Natálie Taschlerová / Filip Taschler | Czech Republic | 163.62 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 4 | Sasha Fear / George Waddell | Great Britain | 152.34 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 5 | Darya Popova / Volodymyr Byelikov | Ukraine | 148.60 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
Top 5 best scores in the rhythm dance :
| No. | Team | Nation | Score | Event |
| 1 | Alexandra Nazarova / Maxim Nikitin | Ukraine | 71.75 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 2 | Natálie Taschlerová / Filip Taschler | Czech Republic | 64.28 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 3 | Sasha Fear / George Waddell | Great Britain | 62.69 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 4 | Katharina Müller / Tim Dieck | Germany | 62.23 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 5 | Darya Popova / Volodymyr Byelikov | Ukraine | 61.55 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
Top 5 best scores in the free dance :
| No. | Team | Nation | Score | Event |
| 1 | Alexandra Nazarova / Maxim Nikitin | Ukraine | 107.22 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 2 | Katharina Müller / Tim Dieck | Germany | 102.76 | 2020 Budapest Trophy |
| 3 | Natálie Taschlerová / Filip Taschler | Czech Republic | 99.34 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 4 | Sasha Fear / George Waddell | Great Britain | 93.29 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |
| 5 | Darya Popova / Volodymyr Byelikov | Ukraine | 87.05 | 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy |