2025 ISU Four Continents Championships (4CC) - Seoul, KOR - 19-23 Feb.

[Elizabeth]

Competition announcement: https://isu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.azuref ... _Final.pdf

Although some national federations have made the announcements of their team members, others (like Canada and the USA) have not yet held their national championships.

[Elizabeth]

Current CBC Sports streaming schedule from: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/streaming-sch ... re+Skating

Wed Feb 19
9:50 p.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Pairs Short Program
Thu Feb 20
12:30 a.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Ice Dance Rhythm Dance
4:00 a.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Men's Short Program
Fri Feb 21
12:30 a.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Pairs Free Program
4:00 a.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Women's Short Program
11:00 p.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Men's Free Program
Sat Feb 22
4:00 a.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Ice Dance Free Dance
9:00 p.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Women's Free Program
Sun Feb 23
3:00 a.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Gala

[Elizabeth]

Skate Canada has announced the team going to Seoul: https://skatecanada.ca/2025/01/20/canad ... pionships/

2025 ISU FOUR CONTINENTS FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS
SEOUL, KOREA / FEBRUARY 19-23, 2025

Women
Sara-Maude Dupuis
Katherine Medland Spence
Madeline Schizas

Men
Wesley Chiu
Aleksa Rakic
Roman Sadovsky

Pairs
Kelly Ann Laurin & Loucas Éthier
Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud
Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps

Ice Dance
Alicia Fabbri & Paul Ayer
Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier
Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha

[Elizabeth]

From: https://www.usfigureskating.org/news/pr ... nents-team

These Women were selected following the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.

2025 Four Continents Championships
Sarah Everhardt
(Amber Glenn - withdrew) - replaced by Bradie Tennell (26 January)
Alysa Liu

Alternate 1: --
Alternate 2: Starr Andrews
Alternate 3: Sonja Hilmer

+++++++++++
From: https://www.usfigureskating.org/news/pr ... nents-team

Ice Dance teamsselected following the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.

Carreira/Ponomarenko,
Chock/Bates,
Zingas/Kolesnik

Alternate 1: Green/Parsons,
Alternate 2: Bratti/Somerville,
Alternate 3: Brown/Brown

+++++++++++

From: https://usfigureskatingfanzone.com/news ... tions.aspx


Pairs teams selected following the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.

Efimova/Mitrofanov
Kam/O'Shea
Shin/Nagy

Alternate 1: Chan/Howe
Alternate 2: McBeath/Parkman *
Alternate 3: Digerness/Sadusky


* McBeath/Parkman assigned to Road to 26 Trophy (Olympic test event) in February

++++++++++++

From: https://www.usfigureskating.org/news/pr ... nents-team

Men selected following the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.

Maxim Naumov
Camden Pulkinen
Andrew Torgashev

Alternate 1: Jimmy Ma
Alternate 2: Tomoki Hiwatashi
Alternate 3: Daniel Martynov

[Elizabeth]

Entries (and alternates), by discipline, are now posted here: https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00120658.htm

[Elizabeth]

Update - 29 January
Andrew Torgashev USA has withdrawn from 4CC and has been replaced by Jimmy Ma.

[Elizabeth]

Update - 31 January

Tomoki Hiwatashi (2nd alternate) has replaced Maxim Naumov who has withdrawn from 2025 4CC

[May Max continue to be supported by his friends and loved ones after the horrific loss of his parents .]

[Elizabeth]

Update - 4 February
Anna Levkovets has withdrawn

[Elizabeth]

Update - 13 February

Natalia Pallu-Neves / Jayin Panesar have withdrawn from 4CC. They collided with another team in warm-up at Egna Dance Trophy and Pallu-Neves fractured and strained her knee, ending the team’s season.

[Elizabeth]

Update - 14 February

Heung Lai Jarke Zhao has withdrawn

[Elizabeth]

Update - 15 February
Matthew Newnham replaces Wesley Chiu who is apparently still injured

[Elizabeth]

[Elizabeth]

Competition times (beginning Wednesday night Eastern Time - see the 3rd from the bottom)

[Elizabeth]

Everything is ready in Seoul for the competition and practices are underway

[Elizabeth]

Entries/Start Orders/Results: https://results.isu.org/results/season2425/fc2025/

[Elizabeth]

The full schedule of events [14 hours ahead of Eastern Time]

[Elizabeth]

The ISU YouTube links are now in place for this competition:
https://www.youtube.com/@SkatingISU/vid ... shelf_id=1

[kittykins]

Current CBC Sports streaming schedule from: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/streaming-sch ... re+Skating

Wed Feb 19
9:50 p.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Pairs Short Program
Thu Feb 20
12:30 a.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Ice Dance Rhythm Dance
4:00 a.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Men's Short Program
Fri Feb 21
12:30 a.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Pairs Free Program
4:00 a.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Women's Short Program
11:00 p.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Men's Free Program
Sat Feb 22
4:00 a.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Ice Dance Free Dance
9:00 p.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Women's Free Program
Sun Feb 23
3:00 a.m. - ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships: Gala

I'm afraid I can't stay up for these type of hours, but I look forward to seeing it afterwards when I wake up in the morning. I know you are of stronger stuff Elizabeth, lol. Thanks for all the info.

[Elizabeth]

The links for the ISU YouTube streams - they should work for either live or archived streams:

Pairs Short - corrected link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctnfrRQjR_o

Rhythm Dance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqlJKL70Lp8

Men Short - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS0EH_o2T2w

Pairs Free - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcx8jq2zTkw

Women Short - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZQKkAOIi1w

Men Free - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCW9sBUVnJQ

Free Dance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2jLcCEKqlU

Women Free - corrected link to be added - this one was used for the Pairs SP in error https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctnfrRQjR_o


The CBC streams for the live and the archived streams are usually different.

[Elizabeth]

Event #1 is complete - the Pairs SP results: https://results.isu.org/results/season2 ... SEG005.htm
There was an error in the ISU YouTube links - here is the right one for the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctnfrRQjR_o

Protocols: https://results.isu.org/results/season2 ... Skater.pdf

The leaders





Press conference photo

Some mixed zone/press conference comments:

Lia Pereira / Trennt Michaud 69,79 SB
Lia: “Really good. We felt really prepared for this competition. We worked really hard after the Grand Prix in China and before nationals, and that showed in our nationals results. We used nationals as a stepping stone and a starting point for the second half of the season.
We felt really prepared for this competition. But then, unfortunately, as soon as we landed here, I got violently sick and was kind of out of commission for 24 hours. I had to miss our first practice on Wednesday, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be fueled enough to compete. So, I’m really happy, first of all, to have the training to back us up, but also to actually skate today and put out a clean performance with a new season’s best after a less-than-optimal arrival.
Trent: “When we arrived I didn’t get my bag either, so it’s just been a lot. Obviously, getting the bag is a lot easier than what Lia was going through, but the past 48 hours have been like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna take our time with everything, conserve energy, and just make sure Lia okay.’ I’m really proud of her for how well she did today. It’s a testament to our partnership—being able to support each other when we’re not at our highest spirits."

Deanna Stellato-Dudek / Maxime Deschamps 69,66
Maxime: We’ve been putting in a lot of work since getting back home from nationals, working on jumps, skating, and everything. Unfortunately, we had a little accident right before coming here. Deanna had a bit of an issue with her leg after that, but overall, there were a lot of good things in the program. Yes, there was a step-out on the jump and a little mistake on the throw, but still, a lot of good things and a good fight."
Deanna: “I’m not sure how I feel. I do a clean short program every day in practice, so I’m not really sure what’s happening in competition this year. It’s happening over and over again, and it’s very frustrating."
I’m sure my injury has influenced the performance today because I haven’t been able to do a lot since the accident. But it doesn’t matter, you know? Because you still have to do it no matter what."
They clarified that the accident occurred when they were working on their choreo sequence. It wasn’t a big thing, but Deanna fell straight on her hip and wasn’t able to do anything until she got here."

Riku Miura / Ryuichi Kihara 74,73
“We are glad we were able to perform with all the pressure. We were here at 4 Continents exactly at the same rank 5 years ago. That was the first time when Meagan, Bruno and we went to an international competition together. Back then we were talking that this would be a dream to come back here and be among the top teams. We are elated that we made our dream come true and going forward for tomorrow, we're gonna hold on to that gratefulness and happiness.”

The ISU press release: https://t.co/kZlqiVlhWQ

[Elizabeth]

The 2nd event was the Rhythm Dance - the results: https://results.isu.org/results/season2 ... SEG007.htm

The protocols: https://results.isu.org/results/season2 ... Skater.pdf

The leaders




Some mixed zone comments

Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha 82,86
On getting their SB and PBs here:
Zachary: “it feels very good, I feel like we improved our Rhyth dance quite a lot since our last international event. It almost feel like it's not the same, you know?
We changed my RD costume because the previous one was not in the theme of the year. It was more like the movie theme, not social dance, and we have to follow the rules. Also, it gives a more mature look.
Marjorie: “Usually we arrive a lot earlier and here we had just one day to practice and then competing the day after, so that's a very short period of time. But I think we managed pretty well”

Madison Chock / Evan Bates 86,21
Madison: “We had a lot of fun performing this program. As the season goes on, we just get more and more comfortable and kind of gel into the music a little bit more with every performance. We really have a lot of great memories here in this rink, so we just made one more. After Nationals we took some time to really recover but we had plenty of time and we were able to ramp up for this competition and train as we would.
Coming here as 3-times 4Continents champions, Evan said that they are trying to focus on the current performances and not think too much about previous titles and medals.
“I think the time for reflecting upon that will be after we retire and we look back for. Right now we're just really focused on the task”

Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier 87,22
Piper: “We didn't really expect anything in terms of the score today. I think what we expected was that type of performance, like we do at home. I think we really had a big mind shift after the Grand Pri final, and we just kind of had to take a look at what we were doing right and what we were doing wrong. We've just found the confidence again in ourselves and I think it really showed today, and we're very pleased.
Paul: “More than anything you can't dwell on things going wrong. I think we've been skating for long enough together and just in general. We're know what we are capable of and how to how to come back from any difficulty or setback. So we didn't let how the Grand Prix season went, change our mindset going into this half of the season.“
They also worked a lot on this program after the Nationals, aiming to make it bigger and faster, adding to the character and the style of dance and the movement.

Alicia Fabbri / Paul Ayer 60,06
Paul: “First time being in Korea for us. A trip I've been looking forward to since I was super young and we've been looking forward to hopefully make it to here all season. An unfortunate fall on my part, which was super costly, probably the most expensive element. in,
Alicia: “We made a few changes in the free dance and a completely new lift. We worked on that really hard, so we really focused on that and are really looking forward to showing our free dance.”

Press conference photo

ISU Press release: https://t.co/66Q52nPQy5

[Elizabeth]

The final event of the 1st day was the Men SP - the results: https://results.isu.org/results/season2 ... SEG001.htm

The protocols: https://results.isu.org/results/season2 ... Skater.pdf

Sihyeong Lee withdrew from to due medical reasons.

The leaders




Some mixed zone comments

Mikhail Shaidorov 94,73
“I feel very good, I was hardly nervous at all. It was quite tough because there was another competition not too long ago. This is practically the third one in a row. I didn’t even have time to rest after the finals before the Four Continents. It’s been very exhausting, but overall, I’m very satisfied.
For Kazakhstan, the Asian Games are the most important competition, so there was a lot of pressure there. Here, it’s a bit more relaxed. At this point, I’m just tired and want to get through it."

Jimmy Ma 82,52 SB
«I'm extremely happy today even if there were a couple of minor mistakes that I wished I didn’t do. In terms of performing I am incredibly happy with it.”
“This programs takes a lot of emotional energy out of me, even though it suits me, so it’s hard. It's something that's supposed to reflect who I am and I'm very happy with how it turned out this season.”

“Obviously it’s a very difficult time, but also we - Misha (Mitrofanov) and Alisa (Efimova) included - as the adults, we have to lead by example. It's tough to say, but life does move on and we have to keep going, and we have to carry on what these people love the most. And it is figure skating.”

Kazuki Tomono 79,84
“I was a little bit nervous today, but the ice was good. It's just that my body was just too light, moved well today. Every four continents before I have gained something valuable for my performance in the future, so I think this competition it will be the same.
I want to carry the positive momentum I had from today's performance to the free program. The free program is something that I made some mistakes in throughout the seasons, so I want to skate it clean the day after tomorrow, I want to change my mindset and perform without any worries. »

Roman Sadovsky 72,85
“ I feel good, a little tired, as it's getting a bit late. And it's like 6 a.m. for me right now, but doing for doing pretty good, surviving on some coffee.
I definitely had a lot of excitement after Nationals. I have to just come down a little bit emotionally and reflect on the good things that happened at Nationals and try to work on the things that didn't.
I'm not 100% sure what happened on the triple axel, I thought I was totally good. I somehow landed on the left foot a little bit and that tripped me, an uncommon mistake for me. I am now really focused on doing a strong long program and I've had quite a few of this seasons, so I am looking forward to it. ”

Aleksa Rakic 69,35
«I'm really happy to be here and compete at my first 4 Continents. I'm proud of some of the things I've worked myself through, but I'm really disappointed with the fall on the flip because missing the combo is costly.
I've had good practices here and I've really been enjoying the city. I hope to show the confidence in the free program because I know I can do a good free and I'm trained for that.”

It appears that Matthew Newnham , the late replacement for Wesley Chiu, skated so early he didn't merit an interview in the mixed zone. Despite that, he was the highest placing CDN man in the SP, just missing the final warm-up group for the FS! He had an excellent skate - if you want to watch it, it starts at about the 18:15 minute mark on the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS0EH_o2T2w - it might open to that point but, if not, you can fast forward to it.
Quote via Skate Canada:

"I was very pleased with how everything went today. I only had two days to get myself prepared [for Four Continents], but I just reminded myself that this is a great opportunity."

Press conference photo

[Elizabeth]

Skate Canada's press release after Day 1 of competition: https://skatecanada.ca/2025/02/20/piper ... thm-dance/

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier Lead ISU Four Continents Championships After Rhythm Dance

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (February 20, 2025) – Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier quickly set the tone for the 2025 ISU Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday, obtaining the top result in the rhythm dance.

After a disappointing finish in the 2024 ISU Grand Prix Final, the Canadian Champions delivered their highest-scoring performance of the season in the rhythm dance in Seoul. Gilles (Toronto, ON) and Poirier (Unionville, ON), who clinched the gold medal at last year’s Four Continents Championships, notched up 87.22 points at the Mokdong Sports Centre on day one of this year’s event, and currently sit in front of reigning world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA, who hold a score of 86.21.

“We didn’t really have any expectations, other than just to skate the way we do at home. After the Grand Prix Final, we changed our approach. We took a good, hard look at what we do well and what we need to improve. We got our confidence back, and that showed through today,” said Gilles.

Marjorie Lajoie (Boucherville, QC) and Zachary Lagha (Saint-Hubert, QC) sit in third place with 82.86 points. Alicia Fabbri (Terrebonne, QC) and Paul Ayer (Brossard, QC) hold the tenth spot with a score of 60.06.

In pairs, Lia Pereira (Milton, ON) and Trennt Michaud (Brantford, ON) sit in third place after obtaining Canada’s highest score of 69.79 points—the duo’s best of the season. Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan (74.73) and Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea of the USA (70.32) hold the top two spots, respectively.

“We were very well prepared for this event. We worked really hard after the Cup of China and that showed through at the Canadian Championships. That event marked the start of the second half of the season, and we wanted to hold onto our momentum in training,” said Pereira.

Reigning world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek (Chicago, USA) and Maxime Deschamps (Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC) hold fourth place with a score of 69.66. Kelly Ann Laurin (Saint-Jérôme, QC) and Loucas Éthier (Saint-Alphonse, QC) are currently in seventh place with 62.90 points.

Day one of the ISU Four Continents Championships closed with the men’s short program. Matthew Newnham (Saint-Albert, AB), who was initially on the reserve list, ended up skating his way to seventh place with a score of 73.81. Roman Sadovsky (Vaughan, ON) is in ninth place with 72.85 points, while Aleksa Rakic sits in twelfth (69.35).

The action will resume on Friday in Seoul with the free dance and the women’s short program.

NOTE: there is an error in relation to the events scheduled for Day 2 of competition - it should say the Pairs FS and Women SP.

[kittykins]

It was sure a nice suprise to tune in this morning to the final group and see that Matthew Newnham was one of the top skaters in the event! He skated amazingly well! Good for him and I'm thinking he'll get some more placements and not be an alternate next time! I don't know that we've had a red-head before, other than perhaps Kevin Reynolds?!

[Elizabeth]

Overview of Day 2


The results of the first event, the Pairs FS


Protocols: https://results.isu.org/results/season2 ... Skater.pdf

The overall Pairs results





Mixed zone/press conference comments

Lia Pereira / Trennt Michaud 128,61 / 198,40 and
Lia: “We feel very proud, very happy. We felt very prepared coming into this competition and then we did have some unexpected things upon the arrival. But great short program yesterday made us confident. We put out a lot of great elements today and a lot of good quality things.
About their programs and future plans:
Trennt: “We're in that process right now, the whole team is collaborating and we're thinking what would be the best for us for next season. We wanna have our best programs going into the Olympic season, obviously. We like to push ourselves with different styles, both of our short and long are so different.

Trennt says that earlier today they were all rooting for Canada in the hockey game. They were very happy to watch Canada win, and it also inspired them a bit today. And of course they made everyone know that Canada won today

Deanna Stellato-Dudek / Maxime Deschamps 141,26 SB / 210,92 and medal
Maxime: “It feel really good. For the whole year we haven't been able to put it out in a competition, and yesterday we had a really rough short program, but it was actually the best thing that could have happened to us yesterday. We were just able to go out there today and just skate free and attack everything. And that was the key. We have often said, that we don't know what's going on, well, we were just not skating free. We realized that today, and it's gonna be a good stepping stone for the rest of the season and for the upcoming season.
Deanna: “ I think we really needed a competition to have some type of breakthrough. The short here was not great, but it's been going relatively decently all year, but the long has been not going well all year. So we needed that to know that it’s possible and we can take that with us to Boston.”

Riku Miura / Ryuichi Kihara 142,59 SB / 217,32 and medal
Ryuichi: “We did not show our absolute best today, but we got our season best score . And we are happy we got that 140+ score. The ending pose didn’t go as planned, so I am a bit disappointed about it.”
Riku: “Preparing for the Worlds, we want to feel refreshed after this competition and will also train hard to show our best there”

Podium

Press conference photos following medal ceremony


ISU press release: https://isu-skating.com/figure-skating/ ... n-rebound/