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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 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.
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.
^ Gallagher, Jack (February 13, 2021). "[ICE TIME] Exclusive: Legendary Choreographer David Wilson Calls for New Leadership at Skate Canada". Japan Forward. Following the cancellation of last year's world championships in Montreal...Skate Canada proceeded to cancel the Junior Grand Prix in British Columbia in August, the Autumn Classic International in Oakville, Ontario, in September, and Skate Canada International in Ottawa in October, before pulling the plug on the nationals.
2020 Asian Open Trophy
2020 Nepela Memorial
2020 Autumn Classic International
2020 Nebelhorn Trophy
2020 Finlandia Trophy
2020 Budapest Trophy
2020 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge
2020 Warsaw Cup
2020 Cup of Tyrol
2020 Golden Spin of Zagreb
Deniss Vasiļjevs
Gabriele Frangipani
Nikolaj Majorov
Burak Demirboğa
Aleksandr Selevko
Alexia Paganini
Loena Hendrickx
Alexandra Feigin
Cléo Hamon / Denys Strekalin
Natálie Taschlerová / Filip Taschler
Sasha Fear / George Waddell
Darya Popova / Volodymyr Byelikov
Switzerland