The Four Continents Championships returns to China for only the second time in the history of the event with Shanghai playing host.

When is it on?

The Four Continents Championships begin Thursday, 1 February with the women’s short programme and conclude Sunday, 4 February with the exhibition gala.

Who is skating?

Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) leads a strong Japanese trio in the men’s event with teammates Shun Sato (JPN) and Sota Yamamto (JPN) likely to be in the hunt for medals. Junhwan Cha (KOR) nabbed silver at the 2023 World Championships, but has not been in good form so far this season. The home fans will be hoping that Boyang Jin (CHN) can land on the podium again after winning the title in 2018 and finishing second in 2019.

Haein Lee (KOR) is back to defend the title she won last year in Colorado Springs. Two-time champion Mai Mihara (JPN) has not had a great season thus far and will be hoping to improve on it in Shanghai. Rinka Watanabe (JPN) is the only female Japanese skater competing this week to have broken the 200 point barrier in 2023/2024. Chaeyeon Kim (KOR) is the leading points scorer this season amongst the Korean women at Four Continents. Ava Marie Ziegler (USA) and Lindsay Thorngren (USA) picked up gold and silver respectively at NHK Trophy back in November.

2023 World champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) mark their return to competition after a lacklustre opening to their season and subsequent hiatus due to injury. Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps (CAN) will be aiming to build momentum ahead of Montreal Worlds. Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud (CAN) are on an upward trajectory after winning their first Grand Prix title and qualifying for the Grand Prix Final. Cheng Peng and Lei Wang (CHN) will be spearheading the Chinese challenge in the pairs event.

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (CAN) are the clear favourites to win their first ever Four Continents title. Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen (CAN) are the only other ice dance team in Shanghai who made this season’s Grand Prix Final. Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) are fresh from last week’s U.S. Championships where they came second.

Everything you need to know (and some things you did not) about the skaters, the competition schedule and results can be viewed here.

When is the skating on?

Evening till the early hours of the morning in North America, morning till lunchtime in Europe and lunchtime till evening in Asia. The times listed for the Four Continents Championships are local and if you want to know what the time difference is between where you are and Shanghai then this link is your friend.

Where can I watch the pretty skaters?

This season’s Four Continents Championships can be viewed on the Skating ISU YouTube channel. Geographic restrictions apply.

What are the hashtags?

#4ContsFigure #FigureSkating