2020 CS Budapest Trophy

2020 CS Budapest Trophy
Type:	ISU Challenger Series
Date:	15 – 17 October
Season:	2020–21
Location:	Budapest, Hungary
Host:	Hungarian National Skating Federation
Venue:	Vasas Jégcentrum
Champions
Men's singles: Daniel Grassl
Ladies' singles: Loena Hendrickx
Ice dance: Oleksandra Nazarova and Maksym Nikitin
Navigation
Previous CS: 2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy

The 2020 Budapest Trophy was a figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Hungarian National Skating Federation, and the second of two events of the 2020 Challenger Series. ^[1] It was the inaugural edition of the Budapest Trophy and took place amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. It was one of only two Challenger Series competitions not cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, and was held from 15 to 17 October at the Vasas Jégcentrum in Budapest, Hungary. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, and ice dance. Daniel Grassl of Italy won the men's event, Loena Hendrickx of Belgium won the women's event, and Oleksandra Nazarova and Maksym Nikitin of Ukraine won the ice dance event.

Background

The ISU Challenger Series was introduced in 2014. It is a series of international figure skating competitions sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU) and organized by ISU member nations. The objective is to ensure consistent organization and structure within a series of international competitions linked together, providing opportunities for senior-level skaters to compete at the international level and also earn ISU World Standing points. ^[2]

The inaugural edition of the Budapest Trophy was intended to be the sixth event of the 2020 Challenger Series, however all but two of the events – the 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy and the 2020 Budapest Trophy – were ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 13 July, the ISU announced that the remaining Challenger Series events would be treated as separate individual competitions rather than part of a series; as a result, no Challenger Series ranking would be determined and no prize money distributed at the end of the series, although skaters could still earn Challenger Series points to apply toward their world rankings. ^[3] However, the ISU later revised their decision on 3 August, announcing that world ranking points would not be awarded due to the limited nature of the competitions. ^[4] On 1 October, the Hungarian National Skating Federation released a statement detailing the Hungarian government's COVID-19 regulations for competitors seeking to gain entry to Hungary. ^[5] The 2020 Budapest Trophy was held from 15 to 17 October at the Vasas Jégcentrum. ^[1] Only 300 spectators were allowed into the arena each day, with temperatures taken prior to admittance and strict requirements for the wearing of face masks. ^[6]

Changes to preliminary assignments

The International Skating Union published the initial list of entrants on 2 October 2020. ^{[7] [8] [9]}

Changes to preliminary assignments

Date	Discipline	Withdrew	Ref.
October 6	Women	Alina Iushchenkova	[10]
		Viktoriia Iushchenkova
October 7	Men	Samuel McAllister	[11]
		Mihhail Selevko
		Valtter Virtanen
	Women	Jenni Saarinen	[12]
October 12	Ice dance	Villő Marton Danyil Semko	[13]
		Anastasia Polibina Pavel Golovishnikov

Required performance elements

Single skating

Men and women competing in single skating performed their short programs on Thursday, 15 October. ^[1] Lasting no more than 2 minutes 40 seconds, ^[14] the short program had to include the following elements:

For men: one double or triple Axel; one triple or quadruple jump; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, two triple jumps, or a quadruple jump and a double jump or triple jump; one flying spin; one camel spin or sit spin with a change of foot; one spin combination with a change of foot; and a step sequence using the full ice surface. ^[15]

For women: one double or triple Axel; one triple jump; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, or two triple jumps; one flying spin; one layback spin or sideways leaning spin without a change of foot; one spin combination with a change of foot; and one step sequence using the full ice surface. ^[16]

Men performed their free skates on Friday, 16 October, while women performed theirs on Saturday, 17 October. ^[1] The free skate performance for both men and women could last no more than 4 minutes each, ^[14] and had to include the following: seven jump elements, of which one had to be an Axel-type jump; three spins, of which one had to be a spin combination, one had to be a flying spin, and one had to be a spin with only one position; a step sequence; and a choreographic sequence. ^[17]

Ice dance

See also: Competition elements in ice dance

Couples competing in ice dance performed their rhythm dances on Friday, 16 October. ^[1] Lasting no more than 2 minutes 50 seconds, ^[14] the required theme of the rhythm dance this season was music from musicals or operettas, from any of the following rhythms: quickstep, blues, march, polka, foxtrot, swing, Charleston, or waltz. The required pattern dance element was the Finnstep. The rhythm dance had to include the following elements: one section of the Finnstep skated to either the quickstep, Charleston, or swing; one pattern dance type step sequence, one pattern dance in hold or not touching, one short lift, and one set of sequential twizzles. ^[18]

Couples performed their free dances on Saturday, 17 October. ^[1] The free dance performance could last no longer than 4 minutes, ^[14] and had to include the following: three short lifts or one short lift and one combination lift, one dance spin, one set of synchronized twizzles, one step sequence in hold, one step sequence while on one skate and not touching, and three choreographic elements. ^[18]

Judging

See also: ISU Judging System

For the 2020–21 season, all of the technical elements in any figure skating performance –such as jumps, spins, and lifts  –were assigned a predetermined base point value and were then scored by a panel of nine judges on a scale from -3 to +3 based on their quality of execution. ^[19] The judging panel's Grade of Execution (GOE) was determined by calculating the trimmed mean (that is, an average after deleting the highest and lowest scores), and this GOE was added to the base value to come up with the final score for each element. The panel's scores for all elements were added together to generate a total element score. ^[20] At the same time, judges evaluated each performance based on five program components –skating skills, transitions, performance, composition, and interpretation of the music/timing –and assigned a score from .25 to 10 in .25 point increments. The judging panel's final score for each program component was also determined by calculating the trimmed mean. Those scores were then multiplied by the factor shown on the following chart; the results were added together to generate a total program component score. ^[21]

Program component factoring ^[21]

Discipline	Short progam or Rhythm dance	Free skate or Free dance
Men	1.00	2.00
Women	0.80	1.60
Ice dance	0.80	1.20

Deductions were applied for certain violations like time infractions, stops and restarts, or falls. ^[22] The total element score and total program component score were added together, minus any deductions, to generate a final performance score for each skater or team. ^[23]

Medalists

The 2020 Budapest Trophy champions: Daniel Grassl of Italy (men's singles), Loena Hendrickx of Belgium (women's singles), and Oleksandra Nazarova and Maksym Nikitin of Ukraine (ice dance)

Medalists ^[24]

Discipline	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men	Daniel Grassl	Burak Demirboğa	Aleksandr Selevko
Women	Loena Hendrickx	Eva-Lotta Kiibus	Alexandra Feigin
Ice dance	Oleksandra Nazarova Maksym Nikitin	Katharina Müller Tim Dieck	Sasha Fear George Waddell

Results

Men's singles

Men's results ^[25]

Rank	Skater	Nation	Total points	SP		FS
	Daniel Grassl	Italy	233.04	1	82.27	1	150.77
	Burak Demirboğa	Turkey	213.39	4	70.89	2	142.50
	Aleksandr Selevko	Estonia	204.88	3	71.55	5	133.33
4	Başar Oktar	Turkey	202.17	5	68.16	4	134.01
5	Maurizio Zandron	Austria	200.80	2	71.78	6	129.02
6	Ivan Shmuratko	Ukraine	200.74	6	60.14	3	140.60
7	Jari Kessler	Croatia	176.13	7	59.06	8	117.07
8	Larry Loupolover	Bulgaria	173.39	9	54.92	7	118.47
9	András Csernoch	Hungary	171.46	8	56.88	9	114.58
10	Máté Böröcz	Hungary	123.60	11	44.88	10	78.72
11	Marco Klepoch	Slovakia	110.39	10	45.72	11	64.67

Women's singles

Women's results ^[26]

Rank	Skater	Nation	Total points	SP		FS
	Loena Hendrickx	Belgium	198.87	1	72.18	1	126.69
	Eva-Lotta Kiibus	Estonia	184.27	2	65.37	2	118.90
	Alexandra Feigin	Bulgaria	172.68	3	60.90	3	111.78
4	Júlia Láng	Hungary	166.55	4	58.20	4	108.35
5	Daša Grm	Slovenia	152.07	5	53.75	6	98.32
6	Ivett Tóth	Hungary	146.66	6	48.83	7	97.83
7	Emilea Zingas	Cyprus	144.21	7	46.86	8	97.75
8	Regina Schermann	Hungary	143.48	9	46.49	9	96.99
9	Kristina Škuleta-Gromova	Estonia	141.56	11	42.36	5	99.20
10	Güzide Irmak Bayır	Turkey	127.62	10	42.78	10	84.84
11	Antonina Dubinina	Serbia	124.01	8	46.56	12	77.45
12	Marilena Kitromilis	Cyprus	116.30	14	33.10	11	83.20
13	Sinem Pekder	Turkey	115.33	12	42.24	13	73.09
WD	Natalie Klotz	Austria	Withdrew	13	40.55	Withdrew from competition

Ice dance

Ice dance results ^[27]

Rank	Skater	Nation	Total points	RD		FD
	Oleksandra Nazarova Maksym Nikitin	Ukraine	178.97	1	71.75	1	107.22
	Katharina Müller Tim Dieck	Germany	164.99	3	62.23	2	102.76
	Sasha Fear George Waddell	Great Britain	152.34	2	62.69	3	89.65

References

1. "Budapest Trophy 2020 – Announcement". International Skating Union . Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
2. "Challenger Series". International Skating Union . Archived from the original on 29 March 2025. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
3. "Communication No. 2335". International Skating Union . 13 July 2020. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
4. "Communication No. 2339". International Skating Union . 4 August 2020. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
5. Véradi, Orsolya (1 October 2020). "Hungarian COVID rules valid between 01–31 October 2020 remain the same as for September 2020". Hungarian National Skating Federation. International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
6. "2020 Budapest Trophy". International Figure Skating Magazine. 8 October 2020. Archived from the original on 3 October 2025. Retrieved 2 October 2025.
7. "ISU CS Budapest Trophy 2020 (Men)". International Skating Union . 2 October 2020. Archived from the original on 2 October 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
8. "ISU CS Budapest Trophy 2020 (Ladies)". International Skating Union . 2 October 2020. Archived from the original on 2 October 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
9. "ISU CS Budapest Trophy 2020 (Ice Dance)". International Skating Union . 2 October 2020. Archived from the original on 2 October 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
10. "ISU CS Budapest Trophy 2020 (Ladies)". International Skating Union . 6 October 2020. Archived from the original on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
11. "ISU CS Budapest Trophy 2020 (Men)". International Skating Union . 7 October 2020. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
12. "ISU CS Budapest Trophy 2020 (Ladies)". International Skating Union . 7 October 2020. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
13. "ISU CS Budapest Trophy 2020 (Ice Dance)". International Skating Union . 13 October 2020. Archived from the original on 13 October 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
14. International Skating Union 2018, p. 79.
15. International Skating Union 2018, pp. 104–105.
16. International Skating Union 2018, p. 105.
17. International Skating Union 2018, pp. 108–109.
18. "Communication No. 2314". International Skating Union . 20 April 2020. Archived from the original on 13 May 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
19. International Skating Union 2018, pp. 15.
20. International Skating Union 2018, pp. 15–16.
21. International Skating Union 2018, p. 17.
22. International Skating Union 2018, pp. 17–19.
23. International Skating Union 2018, pp. 19–20.
24. "2020 Budapest Trophy CS". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on 4 February 2024. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
25. "2020 Budapest Trophy – Mens Final Results". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
26. "2020 Budapest Trophy – Womens Final Results". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
27. "2020 Budapest Trophy – Ice Dance Final Results". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on 3 October 2025. Retrieved 3 October 2025.

Works cited

• "Special Regulations & Technical Rules – Single & Pair Skating and Ice Dance 2018". International Skating Union . Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.