We take a quick look back at what happened in the world of skating over the course of the past week.

Challenger Series Commences At Lombardia Trophy

The first event of the ISU Challenger Series 2016/2017 took place in Bergamo, Italy over the weekend and saw plenty of stellar performances from skaters putting new programs in front of the public for the first time.

Shoma Uno won the men’s event with a total score of 258.93, although all three of his quadruple flip attempts over the course of the short program and free skating did not come off. The 2015 World Junior champion was run very close by Jason Brown who finished second on 256.49 with the American winning the free. The bronze medal went to Max Aaron.

Japan also claimed the ladies crown. In her senior international debut, Wakaba Higuchi grabbed the lead in the short and then hung on to win with a total of 178.86 despite coming third in the free. Korea’s Na Hyun Kim finished second and Mirai Nagasu came third. The three medallists were separated by just two points.

There was Italian joy for the local audience with Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise winning the pairs title and Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri taking ice dance gold respectively.

Japan Hosts Third Junior Grand Prix Event

The third stage of the  ISU Junior Grand Prix Series 2016/2017 took place in front of a sold-out crowd in Yokohama, Japan.

Kaori Sakamoto headed a trio of Japanese ladies in a sweep of the podium and booked her place in the Junior Grand Prix Final in December. After a poor performance in the short, World Junior champion Marin Honda won the free and kept her hopes alive of booking a ticket to Marseille. The bronze was won by Mako Yamashita.

In his first ever Junior Grand Prix event, Korea’s Jun Hwan Cha captured the men’s title. After being in pole position after the short, America’s Vincent Zhou dropped down to second. Alexey Erokhov from Russia finished third.

For the second week in a row, an American team won the ice dance title. Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons took their third consecutive gold at a Junior Grand Prix in Yokohama. Anastasia Shpilevaya and Grigory Smirnov from Russia posted three new personal bests to come second. There was a third place finish for Angelique Abachkina and Louis Thauron which was enough for them to book their place at the Junior Grand Prix Final.