The 2026 Nepela Memorial is a figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Slovak Figure Skating Federation, and the sixth event of the 2026–27 ISU Challenger Series. It will be held at the Ondrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia, from 24 to 27 September 2026. Medals will be awarded in men's singles, women's singles, and ice dance, and skaters will earn ISU World Standing points based on their results. Evgeni Semenenko of Russia, competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete, won the men's event; Kim Yu-seong of South Korea won the women's event; and Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck of Spain won the ice dance event.

Background The Nepela Memorial is named in honor of Ondrej Nepela, a Slovak figure skater who competed internationally for Czechoslovakia. He was the 1972 Olympic gold medalist, three-time World champion (1971–73), five-time European champion (1969–73), eight-time Czechoslovak national champion (1965–69, 1971–73), and the Slovak athlete of the 20th century.

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 was 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. The 2026–27 Challenger Series consisted of thirteen events, of which the Nepela Memorial was the sixth.

Changes in preliminary assignments The International Skating Union published the preliminary list of entrants on 8 September 2026. Discipline Withdrew Added Date Country Skater(s) Date Country Skater(s) Ice dance 20 September colspan="3" Women 20 September 20 September Men 22 September colspan=3 Women 25 September colspan=3 Did not start short program.

Required performance elements Single skating Men and women competing in single skating first perform their short programs on 25 September. Lasting no more than 2 minutes 40 seconds, the short program has 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 one step sequence using the full ice surface.

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, sideways leaning spin, camel spin, or sit spin without a change of foot; one spin combination with a change of foot; and one step sequence using the full ice surface.

Men perform their free skates on September 26, while women perform theirs on September 27. The free skate can last no more than 4 minutes, and has to include the following: six jump elements, of which one has to be an Axel-type jump; three spins, of which one has to be a spin combination, one a flying spin, and one a choreographic spin; one step sequence; and a choreographic sequence.

Ice dance Couples competing in ice dance first perform their rhythm dances on September 26. Lasting no more than 2 minutes 50 seconds, the theme of the rhythm dance this season is "Rhythm and Waltz". The rhythm dance has to include the following elements: one section of the Golden Waltz pattern dance, one creative dance element, one dance lift, one set of sequential twizzles, and one step sequence while not touching.

Couples then perform their free dances on September 27. The free dance can last no longer than 4 minutes, and has to include the following: three dance lifts or one short lift and one combination lift; one dance spin; one step sequence in hold; one set of synchronized twizzles, one one-foot turns sequence in hold, and two choreographic elements.

Judging

Skaters are judged according to the required technical elements of their program (such as jumps and spins), as well as the overall presentation of their program, based on three program components (skating skills, presentation, and composition). Each technical element in a figure skating performance is assigned a predetermined base point value and scored by a panel of nine judges on a scale from −5 to +5 based on the quality of its execution. Each Grade of Execution (GOE) from –5 to +5 is assigned a value as indicated on the Scale of Values. For example, a triple Axel is worth a base value of 8.00 points, and a GOE of +3 is worth 2.40 points, so a triple Axel with a GOE of +3 earns 10.40 points. The judging panel's GOE for each element is determined by calculating the trimmed mean (the average after discarding the highest and lowest scores). The panel's scores for all elements are added together to generate a Total Elements Score. At the same time, the judges evaluate each performance based on the five aforementioned program components and assign each a score from 0.25 to 10 in 0.25-point increments. The judging panel's final score for each program component is also determined by calculating the trimmed mean. Those scores are then multiplied by the factor shown on the chart below; the results are added together to generate a total Program Component Score.

+Program component factoring Discipline Short program rhythm dance Free skate free dance Men 1.67 3.33 Women 1.33 2.67 Ice dance 1.33 2.00 Deductions are applied for certain violations, such as time infractions, stops and restarts, or falls. The Total Elements Score and Program Component Score are then added together, minus any deductions, to generate a final performance score for each skater or team.

Medal summary

+Medalists Discipline Gold Silver Bronze Men Evgeni Semenenko Daniel Grassl Mikhail Shaidorov Women Kim Yu-seong Lee Hae-in Olivia Lengyelová Ice dance

Results Men's singles +Men's results Rank Skater Nation Total points SP FS 1 Evgeni Semenenko Individual Neutral Athlete 292.09 1 101.16 1 190.93 2 Daniel Grassl 278.80 2 99.10 2 179.70 3 Mikhail Shaidorov 272.75 3 95.98 3 176.77 4 Gleb Lutfullin Individual Neutral Athlete 251.46 4 85.70 5 165.76 5 Adam Siao Him Fa 249.35 9 79.18 4 170.17 6 Adam Hagara 225.18 6 80.23 6 144.95 7 Vladimir Samoilov 220.05 5 80.59 8 139.46 8 Samy Hammi 218.10 10 76.26 7 141.84 9 Andreas Nordebäck 216.39 8 79.26 10 137.13 10 Grigory Fedorov Individual Neutral Athlete 213.80 7 80.16 11 133.64 11 Cha Young-hyun 201.35 15 62.35 9 139.00 12 Lukáš Václavík 200.41 12 70.97 12 129.44 13 David Bondar 192.19 11 71.68 16 120.51 14 Goku Endo 187.16 21 59.48 13 127.68 15 Elias Sayed 186.48 18 60.59 14 125.89 16 Xan Rols 186.12 14 64.55 15 121.57 17 Hugo Bostedt 181.21 13 64.97 18 116.24 18 Georgii Reshtenko 180.11 19 59.98 17 120.13 19 Vadym Novikov 173.04 20 59.80 19 113.24 20 Maksym Petrychenko 164.92 24 54.29 20 110.63 21 David Sedej 154.25 16 61.72 23 92.53 22 Arin Yorke 153.05 17 60.68 24 92.37 23 Aleksei Vlasenko 152.13 22 56.44 21 95.69 24 Tadeáš Václavík 148.19 23 55.02 22 93.17 25 Jan Valtera 133.68 25 50.10 25 83.58 26 Jedidiah Lincoln 126.11 26 45.51 27 80.60 27 Jozef Čurma 123.62 28 41.20 26 82.42 28 Daniel Korabelnik 120.88 27 45.29 28 75.59

Women's singles +Women's results Rank Skater Nation Total points SP FS 1 Kim Yu-seong 202.70 4 61.27 1 141.43 2 Lee Hae-in 190.55 2 63.12 2 127.43 3 Olivia Lengyelová 182.99 3 62.28 3 120.71 4 Sophie Joline von Felten 175.64 5 60.15 4 115.49 5 Gabrielle Daleman 166.69 6 59.72 5 106.97 6 Nina Pinzarrone 164.89 7 58.84 6 106.05 7 Julia Sauter 163.23 1 64.03 7 99.20 8 Reese Rose 151.62 9 54.96 8 96.66 9 Youn Seo-jin 150.20 10 54.82 10 95.38 10 Kateřina Hanušová 146.59 11 50.61 9 95.98 11 Elyce Lin-Gracey 145.88 8 57.43 14 88.45 12 Eve Dubecq 138.93 12 50.22 13 88.71 13 Karolina Białas 136.93 18 44.11 11 92.82 14 Adéla Vallová 136.60 14 46.05 12 90.55 15 Maxine Bautista 133.04 13 46.65 15 86.39 16 Yelyzaveta Surova 125.72 17 44.73 16 80.99 17 Terézia Pócsová 125.37 16 44.92 17 80.45 18 Julija Lovrenčič 123.22 15 45.24 18 77.98 19 Polina Dzsumanyijazova 116.70 21 41.72 19 74.98 20 Inès Belot 116.42 19 43.98 22 72.44 21 Sofiia Ekzarkhova 115.49 20 42.77 21 72.72 22 Paula Belevica 112.39 22 39.33 20 73.06 23 Adelija Matjunina 86.84 23 31.06 24 55.78 24 Linda Dzerve 86.33 25 27.06 23 59.27 25 Julia Fennell 83.63 24 28.92 25 54.71 WD Nargiz Süleymanova Withdrew from competition

Ice dance +Ice dance results Rank Team Nation Total points RD FD 1 197.22 1 79.17 1 118.05 2 194.10 3 76.45 2 117.65 3 190.81 2 76.59 3 114.22 4 180.94 4 74.20 5 106.74 5 178.78 10 68.12 4 110.66 6 178.72 5 73.79 6 104.93 7 Individual Neutral Athlete 177.93 7 73.38 7 104.55 8 177.80 6 73.40 8 104.40 9 175.08 8 72.08 10 103.00 10 169.26 11 65.58 9 103.68 11 168.48 9 69.87 11 98.61 12 153.35 13 60.76 12 92.59 13 152.49 12 65.04 15 87.45 14 145.42 16 55.53 13 89.89 15 144.55 14 56.97 14 87.58 16 142.67 15 56.24 16 86.43 17 135.98 17 54.27 17 81.71 18 117.52 18 48.21 18 69.31

References

Works cited