#2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial

[figureskatingcostumes]

Julia Lipnitskaia's Kill Bill costume at the 2016 Rostelecom Cup and 2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial.

(Sources: 1, 2 and 3)

[allekha]

It’s Pride month, so let’s celebrate some of our LGBT skaters!

While skating is stereotyped as a ‘gay sport’ for men in the US and Canada, homophobia, transphobia, and a strong push for conformity to old-fashioned gender norms remain a huge problem. But despite the bullying and disgusting comments, and even the ravages of the AIDS pandemic, queer skaters have been out there making their mark on the sport for decades, and there have been more out skaters at the elite level than can fit in one gifset (or even several!). And of course, there are many more at the recreational and adult levels as well. The skaters featured here are:

Jason Brown (2019 Worlds SP) - Beloved by fans for his skating skills, graceful and complex programs, flexibility, and ray of sunshine personality, Brown is the 2015 US champion and has finished in the top 10 at two Olympics eight years apart. After competitions, he visits Ronald McDonald houses to personally share the toys thrown at him with the kids or make meals for families. Rumor has it that the Greensboro Coliseum had to be shut down for repairs after he skated there in 2014 because the crowd blew the roof off the building in their excitement for his Riverdance.

Fleur Maxwell (2006 Olympics SP) - A 3-time Luxembourg national champion, and the only competitor from Luxembourg in any sport at the 2006 Olympic games, Maxwell’s international senior career spanned more than a decade, even excluding the three years she retired in the middle. With flexibility, lovely arms, and fast spins, she was a beautiful skater to watch. She now runs a fitness business out of New York City. The asteroid 255019 Fleurmaxwell was named in her honor.

Axel Médéric (1988 Olympics FS) - Médéric was a French national champion and one of the earliest black skaters to go to the Olympics when he competed there in 1988. While he sometimes struggled with his jumps, commentators praised the quality of his transitional movements and his flow over the ice, and he was a lively performer. After he retired, he toured and performed for many years, doing shows and competing in pro tournaments.

Ondrej Nepela (1973 Worlds FS) - The 1972 Olympic champion, 3-time World champion, and 5-time European champion, Nepela became interested in skating as a child in when he watched a fellow Czechoslovakian win the men’s European title on the television. While not the most artistically inclined, he was known for his precision and working very hard at practice. After retirement, he performed in shows and coached a student to become European champion in her own right. He died in 1989 due to complications of AIDS; the Ondrej Nepela Memorial competition is named in honor of him.

Kaitlyn Weaver (On Ice Perspectives solo) - With her partner Andrew Poje, she won three world medals and two GPF championships in ice dance. The team were known for their emotional skating and interesting, innovative programs. She came out in June 2021 and openly discussed how she was afraid that coming out while competing would hurt her and Poje’s scores. Since then, she has been one of several skaters consulted by the ISU on how to make skating more inclusive and is on Skate Canada’s working group for equality and inclusion.

Rachel Parsons (2017 GP Russia FD) - In the 2016-2017 season, Parsons, along with her brother, was the National, GPF, and World champion at the junior level in ice dance. As a team, they brought interesting positions and sense of ease to their skating. She retired in 2019 due to an eating disorder, which she recently said she has made a lot of progress in recovering from, and came out as bisexual a few months later.

Javier Raya (2016 Worlds SP) - Raya was the 2011 Spanish champion and a six-time national silver medalist. While he was still competing, he had a chance to work in media for summer sports and also did commentary for figure skating events. Raya came out as gay in 2016, and in June 2020, he started the Skate Proud project to share interviews with out and ally skaters. He is now working at the IOC with the mission of promoting inclusion and diversity.

Christoper Caluza (2021 Finlandia Trophy FS) - The 3-time Philippines national champion, Caluza first began with roller skating, before discovering ice skating when his local roller rink closed; he developed a graceful and emotional style. After the 2013-2014 season, he took a break from competitive skating for several years to do professional shows, including on cruise ships. He decided to return to competition when he learned that the Philippines would be hosting the South-East Asian Games, where he ended up winning the silver medal, before he retired again in 2022.

Timothy LeDuc (2022 USNats SP) - Two-time National champion and a 4CC silver medalist with their partner Ashley Cain, LeDuc was the first elite figure skater to come out as non-binary, as well as the first out non-binary athlete to compete at the Winter Olympics. Their programs emphasized the pair’s wonderful lines and synchronization, and LeDuc was open about wanting to portray a sense of equality between partners rather than the traditional ‘stem (man) and flower (women)’ image of pairs.

[thescribblerqueen]

Figure Skating Events: Fanfiction Guideline

(AKA: The guide I’m writing out because I figured there had to be more skating competitions that the Grand Prix series, Nationals, 4CC, Olympics, and Worlds but god are the Wikipedia pages for them a mess.)

So, the Wikipedia page for the list of figure skating events is vaguely a mess if you intend to use it for Yuri on Ice fanfiction like I do, so I took some time to read through it and make sense of the qualifications, multiple listings/renaming of events, outdated/short-lived events, and missing hyperlinks to pages about the events. I’ll try to link everything I can and hope I don’t mess up.

Fall Events:

ISU Grand Prix Series/Junior ISU Grand Prix Series

These series are specifically for the top ranking international skaters, and they are both slightly different between senior and junior levels. It was formerly named the ISU Champion Series. I’ve listed approximate dates they are held on.

Grand Prix for Seniors has 6 Events:

Skate America (~Oct. 18-20)

Skate Canada International (~Oct. 25-27)

Cup of China (~Nov. 8-10) *Note in 2018 was temporarily replaced with Cup of Helsinki but resumed in 2019

Trophée de France (~Nov. 13-15)

Rostelecom Cup (~Nov. 15-17)

NHK Trophy (~Nov. 22-24)

Grand Prix Final (~Dec. 10-13)

The Junior Grand Prix has different qualifying events but shares the final with the senior event. It usually has ~7 qualifying events that alternate every year from a list of 35 events. Meaning the qualifying events change from year to year. 

*Note Uzbeikistan was supposed to be a new 2020 event and an additional 36th event. 

If you want to know what events were during a specific year/season I’ve provided a google docs excel sheet here.

There is also another skating competition series that is ranked directly below the Grand Prix Series but above the other competitions called:

The ISU Challenger Series (Created in 2014)

This series is also held in the fall around the same time (August 1st-December 15th) as the Grand Prix Series. It is a senior only event, but some events predate the series and have junior competitions that are not part of the series.

Events:

Asian Open Trophy (~Oct. 30th-Nov. 3): This event existed prior to the Challenger Series and was called The Asian Figure Skating Championships. It is either held in China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines or Taipei. It has existed since 2007 and was a Challenger Series event in 2018 & 2019. Until 2018, it was only open to Asian Countries. It is both Junior and Senior Level. *Note was not held in 2009.

Autumn Classic International (Sept.12-14th): It has existed since 2014 and occurs in Canada. It is a Junior and Senior Level event. *Note it was not a Challenger Event in 2015.

Finlandia Trophy (~Oct. 9-11th): This competition predates the Challenger Series and was established in 1995.Is held in Finland. It is a senior level event only. Has been part of Challenger since 2014. 

Golden Spin of Zagreb (~Dec.5-8th): This predates the Challenger and is held in Croatia. It has always been a senior level event and Junior since 2017. Only the senior level event is Challenger. 

Ice Star (~Oct. 18-20th): Predates the challenger series and has only been included in 2017 & 2019. Held in Belarus.

Lombardia Trophy (~Sept. 13-15th): Predates 2013 and is event since 2014 but not in 2015. Held in Italy. Has both Juniors and Seniors.

Nebelhorn Trophy (~Sept. 25-28th): Predates 1969 as seniors only. Challenger event since 2014. Held in Germany.

Ondrej Nepela Trophy (~Sept. 19-21st): Predates 1993 as seniors only. Challenger event since 2014. Held in Slovakia.

Warsaw Cup (~Nov. 14-17th): Existed since 2012, seniors and Juniors. Challenger since 2014 except for 2018. Held in Poland.

U.S. International Classic (~Sept. 17-22nd): Existed since 2012 and Challenger since 2014. Seniors only.

*Note: You can use Figure Skating Fandom Wiki to see what countries participate.

Former events:  Denkova-Staviski Cup (2015 Oct. 20-25th Bulgaria),  Inge Solar Memorial – Alpen Trophy (2018, Nov. 11-18th Austria), Ice Challenge (2014,2015, Nov. 11-16 & Oct. 27-31st , Austria),  Mordovian Ornament (2015, Oct. 15-18th, Russia), Tallinn Trophy (2015-2018, Mid Nov. Estonia), Volvo Open Cup (2014, Nov. 5-9th Latvia).

After both Fall series end in December most countries have a National Championship or send skaters based on their international ranking.

After that there are ISU Championships.

1. European Figure Skating Championships AKA Europeans (January)

2. Four Continents Figure Skating Championships AKA 4CC (February) 

3. World Junior Figure Skating Championships (Late February/ Early March)

4. World Figure Skating Championships  (4th Monday of Feb. & 2 weeks after 4CC or Europeans)

Bonus: The Nordic Championships but only Christophe Giacometti would compete.

There is also a list of Annual competitions that do not fall under these categories.

International Cup of Nice: (Oct-Nov in Nice,France) Has been held since 1995 with the exception of 2005. Both Senior and Junior event.

Bavarian Open: (Early Feb. in Germany) Has been an ISU event since 2011. Both Senior and Junior Event.

Egna Spring Trophy: (End March Italy) Held since 2011, both Junior and Senior event.

Coupe Du Printemps/Spring Cup: (March Luxembourg) Held since 2012, both Junior and Senior events.

Japan Open: (~Oct. 5) 

The Japan Open is an annual senior international figure skating team competition organized by the Japan Skating Federation. The current format (team event) was established in 2006. The competition is held every autumn in Japan. Invited skaters compete in the disciplines of men’s and ladies’ singles. Skaters perform a free program but no short. Individual results are combined for a team standing.

Medals Winner Open: An event held in 2012 (Oct.), 2015, 2016 (Jan.) by the JSF and sanctioned by ISU. Invitational event for skaters that won medals in major ISU competitions like Grand Prix, Europeans,4CC, Worlds & Olympics. It’s a senior only event where skaters preform only a free program and they are scored heavily on artistic values. Was hosted in Japan.

World Team Trophy: (~April 16-19, Japan) Held in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, & 2019. A team competition between six countries ( the US, Canada, Japan, France, Russia and China).

Multi-Sport Events Hosted on alternative Years/ Non-Olympic

Winter Universiade: Held every 2 years since 1960′s (expect between ‘72 & ’81). Is a multi sport event. Dates vary.

Winter Asian Games: Held in 1986,1990,1996,1999,2003,2007,2011, & 2017. Is a multi sport event. Dates vary. Held in Japan, China, South Korea, or Kazakhstan.

Obviously the Olympics as well but I shouldn’t need to mention but the official last event of the year is: 

Triglav Trophy. It is held in April in Slovenia, and is both a senior and junior event.

Okay, so I think I covered every competition that a male single’s figure skater could compete in during the time frame of the Yuri on Ice characters skating careers. These were all pulled from the List on Wikipedia and organized over several hours. Hopefully there are no issues with the links.

[corporaloretsev]

hello, a fellow la/la bot here! just wanted to thank you for your edits, they’re really awesome 😍 can’t wait for sci to get higher quality shots 🙏🏼

also crossing my fingers for skate can to wake up and give them that gold medal as they deserve 🥇 (delusional i know, but whatever lmao)

hi anon!! are you the same lalabot who was here a few months ago? so nice to 'see' you again 🤩 and thank you for your message, i appreciate it a lot! same about sci, ondrej nepela memorial footage is really painful to get (vimeo is blocked in my country so i had to use vpn and screen record it) and the quality isn't even that good, and budapest trophy is straight-up uneditable :/

hahahah true!!! like just ditch g/p and give them a raise! (i'm still coping with the fact that they won't go to worlds this year :') imagine they've been going to junior worlds/worlds since 2016 excluding the pandemic??? that is an awesome record tbh)

i hope you have an amazing day and a happy senior gp week! don't hesitate to drop by again hahahah i rarely get asks here!

[pophist]

A compilation of all the skater cameos in Yuri!!! on Ice:

These little shoutouts to the real figure skating world amused me greatly while watching the anime, so I’ve decided to mash them all into one post:

Yuzuru Hanyu - Sochi 2014 Olympic Gold Medalist, 2014 World Champion, four time Grand Prix Final Champion (2013-16), two-time Four Continents silver medalist (2011, 2013), four time Japanese National Champion (2013-2016), current world record holder for highest short program, free skate, and combined score. 

Stephane Lambiel - two-time World Champion (2005–2006), the 2006 Olympic Silver Medalist, a two-time Grand Prix Champion (2005, 2007), and a nine-time Swiss national champion (2001–08, 2010).

Nobunari Oda -  2006 Four Continents Champion, a four-time Grand Prix Final��medalist (silver in 2009 and 2010; bronze in 2006 and 2013), 2008 Japanese National Champion. Now works as a professional skater and TV commentator, and also specifically requested to appear on Yuri!!! on Ice (I’m still laughing, what a dork) 

Evgeni Plushenko - four-time Olympic Medalist (2006 gold, 2014 team gold, 2002 & 2010 silver), three time World Champion (2001, 2003, 2004), a seven-time European Champion (2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012), a four-time Grand Prix Final Champion (1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05), and a ten-time Russian National Champion (1999–2002, 2004–2006, 2010, 2012–2013)

Florent Amodio - 2011 European Champion, a four-time French National champion (2010, 2013-2015), and the 2008 Junior Grand Prix Final champion

continued under the cut: 

2015-16 Grand Prix Finalists:  Boyang Jin - 2016 World bronze medalist, the 2016 Four Continents silver medalist, and a four-time (2014-2017) Chinese National champion. Was also the 2015 World Junior silver medalist and the 2013 JGP champion.

Patrick Chan -  2014 Olympic silver medalist in the men's and team events, a three-time World champion (2011, 2012, 2013), a two-time Grand Prix Final champion (2010 and 2011), a three-time Four Continents champion (2009, 2012, 2016), and an eight-time Canadian National champion (2008–2014, 2016).

Javier Fernandez -  Two-time World champion (2015, 2016), a four-time European champion (2013-16), a three-time Grand Prix Final medalist (2014-15, 2015-16 2011-12), and a seven-time Spanish National champion

Yuzuru Hanyu (see above)

Shoma Uno - 2016-17 Japanese National champion, a two-time Grand Prix Final bronze medalist (2015, 2016), and a two-time Japanese National silver medalist. Was also the 2015 World Junior champion, 2014-15 JGPF champion, and 2012 Youth Olympic silver medalist.

Daisuke Murakami -  The 2014 NHK Trophy champion, 2011 Ondrej Nepela Memorial champion, and 2009 Japan Junior bronze medalist.

[figureskatingcostumes]

Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov competing in the 2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial.

(Source: fs_evolution)

[figureskatingcostumes]

Alexander Johnson performing his free program at the 2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial.

(Source: fs_evolution)

[figureskatingcostumes]

Mackenzie Bent and Dmitre Razgulajevs performing their free dance at the 2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial.

(Source: fs_evolution)

[figureskatingcostumes]

Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert's short program costumes at the 2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial and 2016 Rostelecom Cup.

(Sources: 1, 2 and 3)

[figureskatingcostumes]

Anastasia Cannuscio and Colin McManus's free dance costumes at the 2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial.

(Source: fs_evolution)

[figureskatingcostumes]

Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier skating to Don Juan for their short program at the 2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial.

(Source: fs_evolution)

[figureskatingcostumes]

Julia Lipnitskaia’s short program costume at the 2016 Rostelecom Cup and 2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial. She skated to Les Feuilles Mortes.

(Sources: 1, 2 and 3)

[figureskatingcostumes]

Daisuke Murakami skating to Pagliacci for his free program at the 2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial.

(Source: fs_evolution)

[figureskatingcostumes]

Daisuke Murakami skating to Bring Him Home from Les Misérables for his short program at the 2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial.

(Source: fs_evolution)

[figureskatingcostumes]

Elizaveta Yushchenko competing in the 2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial.

(Source: Mihail Sharov)

[figureskatingcostumes]

Madison Chock and Evan Bates for their short dance to Bad to the Bone and Uptown Funk at the 2016 Ondrej Nepela Memorial and 2016 Rostelecom Cup.

(Sources: F S and 4u4a)