Ice dance is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. According to the International Skating Union (ISU), the governing body of figure skating, an ice dance team consists of one woman and one man.
Michelle Wingshan Kwan is a retired competitive figure skater and diplomat serving as United States Ambassador to Belize. In figure skating Kwan is a two-time Olympic medalist, a five-time World champion and a nine-time U.S. champion. She is tied with Maribel Vinson for the all-time National Championship record.
The World Figure Skating Championships ("Worlds") is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the categories of men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Generally held in March, the World Championships are considered the most prestigious of the ISU Figure Skating Championships. With the exception of the Olympic title, a world title is considered to be the highest competitive achievement in figure skating.
Alexandra Pauline "Sasha" Cohen is a retired American figure skater. She is the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World Championship medalist, the 2003 Grand Prix Final Champion, and the 2006 U.S. Champion. She is known for her artistry, flexibility and body lines, and musical interpretation. As of 2022, Cohen is the most recent American woman to medal individually in figure skating at the Olympics.
Ekaterina "Katia" Alexandrovna Gordeeva is a Russian figure skater. Together with her late husband, Sergei Grinkov, she was the 1988 and 1994 Olympic Champion and four-time World Champion in pair skating. After Grinkov's death, Gordeeva continued performing as a singles skater.
Maria Igorevna Petrova is a Russian pair skater. With partner Alexei Tikhonov, she is the 2000 World champion and a two-time European champion
The Four Continents Figure Skating Championships (4CC) is an annual figure skating competition. The International Skating Union established it in 1999 to provide skaters representing non-European countries with a similar competition to the much older European Figure Skating Championships. The event's name refers to the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, pairs, and ice dance.
Skate America is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. It is hosted by U.S. Figure Skating. The location changes yearly. Medals are awarded in four disciplines: men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating is a series of senior international figure skating competitions organized by the International Skating Union. The invitational series was inaugurated in 1995, incorporating several previously existing events. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. The junior-level equivalent is the ISU Junior Grand Prix.
The Grand Prix de France is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. It was previously known as the Grand Prix International de Paris (1987–1993), Trophée de France, Trophée Lalique (1996–2003), Trophée Éric Bompard (2004–2015), and Internationaux de France (2017–2021). Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Organized by the French Federation of Ice Sports, the event is most often held in Paris but is also hosted by other cities – Albertville in 1991, Lyon in 1994, Bordeaux in 1995, 2014, and 2015, Grenoble from 2017 to 2021, and Angers in 2022 and 2023.
The Cup of China was one of the series of six senior-level, international figure skating competitions held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. The Cup of China joined the series in 2003, and was cancelled in 2022 as China enforces strict preventive measures for overseas competitors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The competitors are selected by invitation only. Organized by the Chinese Skating Association, the Cup of China has been held in Beijing, Harbin, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Chongqing, usually in early November. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.
The Bofrost Cup on Ice was a senior international figure skating competition held in Germany from 1986 to 2004. The event adopted its final name in 2002.
The Finlandia Trophy is a senior-level international figure skating competition. Since 1995, it is held annually in Finland in Greater Helsinki region, including Helsinki, Vantaa, and Espoo. It became part of the ISU Challenger Series in the 2014–15 season. Medals may be awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, ice dancing, and synchronized skating, although not every discipline is included every year.
The Nepela Memorial, formerly known as the Ondrej Nepela Trophy in 2013–15 & 2017 and the Ondrej Nepela Memorial, is an annual senior-level international figure skating competition. Named after 1972 Olympic champion Ondrej Nepela, the competition has been held annually since 1993. It became part of the ISU Challenger Series in the 2014–15 season.
The 2003–04 ISU Junior Grand Prix was the seventh season of the ISU Junior Grand Prix, a series of international junior level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. It was the junior-level complement to the Grand Prix of Figure Skating, which was for senior-level skaters. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance. The top skaters from the series met at the Junior Grand Prix Final.
The 2003 Skate Canada International was the second event of six in the 2003–04 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario on October 30 – November 3. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2003–04 Grand Prix Final. The compulsory dance was the Ravensburger Waltz.
The 2004 European Figure Skating Championships was a senior international figure skating competition in the 2003–04 season. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. The event was held at the Budapest Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary from February 2 to 8, 2004. The compulsory dance was the Austrian Waltz.
The 2003 European Figure Skating Championships was a senior international figure skating competition in the 2002–03 season. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. The event was held at the Malmö Ice in Malmö, Sweden from January 20 to 26, 2003. The compulsory dance was the Tango Romantica.
Figure skating is a part of the Winter Universiade. It was first held as part of the Universiade in 1960. Medals may be awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, ice dancing, and synchronized skating.
The ISU Junior Grand Prix in Poland is an international figure skating competition. Sanctioned by the International Skating Union, it is held in the autumn in some years as part of the JGP series. Medals may be awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, pairs skating, and ice dance. When held in Gdańsk, the qualifying event is usually known as the Baltic Cup. It may also be called the Toruń Cup or Copernicus Stars when held in Toruń.
