Skate America

Skate America
Status	Active
Genre	ISU Grand Prix
Frequency	Annual
Country	United States
Inaugurated	1979
Previous event	2024 Skate America
Next event	2025 Skate America
Organized by	U.S. Figure Skating

Skate America is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by U.S. Figure Skating. The first Skate America was in held in 1979 in Lake Placid, New York, as a test event for the 1980 Winter Olympics. When the ISU launched the Champions Series (later renamed the Grand Prix Series) in 1995, Skate America was one of the five qualifying events. It has been a Grand Prix event every year since.

Medals may be awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Skaters earn points based on their results at the qualifying competitions each season, and the top skaters or teams in each discipline are invited to then compete at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.

Todd Eldredge of the United States currently holds the record for the most wins in men's singles (with five), while Michelle Kwan, also of the United States, holds the record in women's singles (with seven). Marina Eltsova and Andrei Bushkov of Russia hold the record in pair skating (with five), while Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the United States hold the record in ice dance (also with five).

Between 1923 and 1971, the Canadian Figure Skating Association and the U.S. Figure Skating Association co-hosted the North American Figure Skating Championships. At this time, medal contenders at the World Figure Skating Championships and the Winter Olympics came from either Europe or North America. The North American Championships allowed Canadian and American skaters the opportunity to compete at a comparable event to the European Figure Skating Championships. The championships were held every other year, with Canada and the United States alternating as hosts, and only skaters from Canada and the United States were eligible to compete.^[1]

At a planning meeting held in April 1972 and attended by representatives from both the Canadian and American skating federations, the Canadian delegation announced Canada's plans to withdraw from the North American Championships. With one of the two participating nations out, this effectively marked the end of the championships. The U.S. delegation was unaware at the time that the Canadian Figure Skating Association was already in the planning stages of launching their own international skating competition: Skate Canada.^[1]

The first iteration of Skate America – then called the Norton Skate – was held at the Olympic Center Arena in 1979 in Lake Placid, New York, and was the test event for the 1980 Winter Olympics.^[2] Test events are held prior to the Olympics to test the readiness and infrastructure of the venues to be used.^[3] Scott Hamilton and Lisa-Marie Allen, both of the United States, won the inaugural men's and women's events, respectively. Sabine Baeß and Tassilo Thierbach of East Germany won the pairs event, and Krisztina Regőczy and András Sallay of Hungary won the ice dance event.^[2]

Beginning with the 1995–96 season, the ISU launched the Champions Series – later renamed the Grand Prix Series – which, at its inception, consisted of five qualifying competitions and the Champions Series Final. This allowed skaters to perfect their programs earlier in the season, as well as compete against the skaters with whom they would later compete at the World Championships. This series also provided the viewing public with "additional televised skating," which had been in demand.^[1] The five qualifying competitions during the inaugural season were the 1995 Nations Cup, the 1995 NHK Trophy, the 1995 Skate America, the 1995 Skate Canada International, and the 1995 Trophée de France.^[4] Skaters earned points based on their results in their respective competitions and the top skaters or teams in each discipline were invited to compete at the Champions Series Final.^[1]

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, modifications were made to the structure of the 2020 Skate America. The competitors consisted only of skaters from the United States, skaters already training in the United States, and skaters assigned to the event for geographic reasons.^[5] On September 25, U.S. Figure Skating announced that Skate America would be held without spectators.^[6] Attendees at the competition remained in a bubble – that is, in a cluster made up exclusively of individuals who have been thoroughly tested and unlikely to spread infection, "quarantined from the population of the city of Las Vegas" – throughout the duration of the event.^[7]

The 2025 Skate America will be held November 14–16 at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York.^[8]

The reigning Skate America champions: Ilia Malinin of the United States (men's singles); Wakaba Higuchi of Japan (women's singles); Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan (pair skating); and Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain (ice dance)

Men's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1979	Lake Placid, New York	Scott Hamilton	Scott Cramer	Jan Hoffmann	[2]
1980	No competition held
1981	Lake Placid, New York	Scott Hamilton	Robert Wagenhoffer	Brian Boitano	[9]
1982			Heiko Fischer	Jozef Sabovčík	[10]
1983	Rochester, New York	Brian Boitano	Rudi Cerne	Bobby Beauchamp	[11]
1984	No competition held
1985	Saint Paul, Minnesota	Jozef Sabovčík	Brian Boitano	Viktor Petrenko	[12]
1986	Portland, Maine	Brian Boitano	Viktor Petrenko	Daniel Doran	[13]
1987	No competition held
1988	Portland, Maine	Christopher Bowman	Daniel Doran	Todd Eldredge	[14]
1989	Indianapolis, Indiana		Viktor Petrenko	Kurt Browning	[15]
1990	Buffalo, New York	Viktor Petrenko	Christopher Bowman	Todd Eldredge	[16]
1991	Oakland, California	Christopher Bowman	Petr Barna		[17]
1992	Atlanta, Georgia	Todd Eldredge	Scott Davis	Mark Mitchell	[18]
1993	Dallas, Texas	Viktor Petrenko	Brian Boitano	Alexei Urmanov	[19]
1994	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Todd Eldredge	Philippe Candeloro	Éric Millot	[20]
1995	Detroit, Michigan		Michael Weiss	Alexander Abt	[21]
1996	Springfield, Massachusetts		Alexei Urmanov	Alexei Yagudin	[22]
1997	Detroit, Michigan		Evgeni Plushenko	Alexander Abt	[23]
1998		Alexei Yagudin	Michael Weiss	Alexei Urmanov	[24]
1999	Colorado Springs, Colorado		Timothy Goebel	Elvis Stojko	[25]
2000		Timothy Goebel	Alexei Yagudin	Todd Eldredge	[26]
2001			Takeshi Honda	Alexander Abt	[27]
2002	Spokane, Washington	Brian Joubert	Alexander Abt	Matthew Savoie	[28]
2003	Reading, Pennsylvania	Michael Weiss	Takeshi Honda	Zhang Min	[29]
2004	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Brian Joubert	Ryan Jahnke	Michael Weiss	[30]
2005	Atlantic City, New Jersey	Daisuke Takahashi	Evan Lysacek	Brian Joubert	[31]
2006	Hartford, Connecticut	Nobunari Oda		Alban Préaubert	[32]
2007	Reading, Pennsylvania	Daisuke Takahashi		Patrick Chan	[33]
2008	Everett, Washington	Takahiko Kozuka	Johnny Weir	Evan Lysacek	[34]
2009	Lake Placid, New York	Evan Lysacek	Shawn Sawyer	Ryan Bradley	[35]
2010	Portland, Oregon	Daisuke Takahashi	Nobunari Oda	Armin Mahbanoozadeh	[36]
2011	Ontario, California	Michal Březina	Kevin van der Perren	Takahiko Kozuka	[37]
2012	Kent, Washington	Takahiko Kozuka	Yuzuru Hanyu	Tatsuki Machida	[38]
2013	Detroit, Michigan	Tatsuki Machida	Adam Rippon	Max Aaron	[39]
2014	Chicago, Illinois		Jason Brown	Nam Nguyen	[40]
2015	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Max Aaron	Shoma Uno	Jason Brown	[41]
2016	Chicago, Illinois	Shoma Uno	Jason Brown	Adam Rippon	[42]
2017	Lake Placid, New York	Nathan Chen	Adam Rippon	Sergei Voronov	[43]
2018	Everett, Washington		Michal Březina		[44]
2019	Las Vegas, Nevada		Jason Brown	Dmitri Aliev	[45]
2020			Vincent Zhou	Keegan Messing	[46]
2021		Vincent Zhou	Shoma Uno	Nathan Chen	[47]
2022	Norwood, Massachusetts	Ilia Malinin	Kao Miura	Cha Jun-hwan	[48]
2023	Allen, Texas		Kévin Aymoz	Shun Sato	[49]
2024				Kao Miura	[50]

Women's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1979	Lake Placid, New York	Lisa-Marie Allen	Susanna Driano	Sandy Lenz	[2]
1980	No competition held
1981	Lake Placid, New York	Vikki de Vries	Elaine Zayak	Claudia Kristofics-Binder	[9]
1982		Rosalynn Sumners	Claudia Leistner	Kristiina Wegelius	[10]
1983	Rochester, New York	Tiffany Chin	Jill Frost	Kelly Webster	[11]
1984	No competition held
1985	Saint Paul, Minnesota	Debi Thomas	Tracey Wainman	Katrien Pauwels	[12]
1986	Portland, Maine	Tiffany Chin	Tonya Harding	Agnès Gosselin	[13]
1987	No competition held
1988	Portland, Maine	Claudia Leistner	Midori Ito	Kristi Yamaguchi	[14]
1989	Indianapolis, Indiana	Tonya Harding	Jill Trenary	Simone Lang	[15]
1990	Buffalo, New York	Kristi Yamaguchi	Midori Ito	Tonia Kwiatkowski	[16]
1991	Oakland, California	Tonya Harding	Kristi Yamaguchi	Surya Bonaly	[17]
1992	Atlanta, Georgia	Yuka Sato	Nancy Kerrigan	Chen Lu	[18]
1993	Dallas, Texas	Oksana Baiul	Surya Bonaly	Tonya Harding	[51]
1994	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Surya Bonaly	Michelle Kwan	Irina Slutskaya	[20]
1995	Detroit, Michigan	Michelle Kwan	Chen Lu		[21]
1996	Springfield, Massachusetts		Tonia Kwiatkowski	Sydne Vogel	[22]
1997	Detroit, Michigan		Tara Lipinski	Elena Sokolova	[23]
1998		Maria Butyrskaya	Elena Sokolova	Angela Nikodinov	[24]
1999	Colorado Springs, Colorado	Michelle Kwan	Julia Soldatova	Elena Sokolova	[25]
2000			Sarah Hughes		[26]
2001				Viktoria Volchkova	[27]
2002	Spokane, Washington		Ann Patrice McDonough	Elena Liashenko	[28]
2003	Reading, Pennsylvania	Sasha Cohen	Jennifer Kirk	Shizuka Arakawa	[29]
2004	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Angela Nikodinov	Cynthia Phaneuf	Miki Ando	[30]
2005	Atlantic City, New Jersey	Elena Sokolova	Alissa Czisny	Yoshie Onda	[31]
2006	Hartford, Connecticut	Miki Ando	Kimmie Meissner	Mao Asada	[32]
2007	Reading, Pennsylvania	Kimmie Meissner	Miki Ando	Caroline Zhang	[33]
2008	Everett, Washington	Yuna Kim	Yukari Nakano	Miki Ando	[34]
2009	Lake Placid, New York		Rachael Flatt	Júlia Sebestyén	[35]
2010	Portland, Oregon	Kanako Murakami		Carolina Kostner	[36]
2011	Ontario, California	Alissa Czisny	Carolina Kostner	Viktoria Helgesson	[37]
2012	Kent, Washington	Ashley Wagner	Christina Gao	Adelina Sotnikova	[38]
2013	Detroit, Michigan	Mao Asada	Ashley Wagner	Elena Radionova	[39]
2014	Chicago, Illinois	Elena Radionova	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	Gracie Gold	[40]
2015	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Evgenia Medvedeva	Gracie Gold	Satoko Miyahara	[41]
2016	Chicago, Illinois	Ashley Wagner	Mariah Bell	Mai Mihara	[42]
2017	Lake Placid, New York	Satoko Miyahara	Kaori Sakamoto	Bradie Tennell	[43]
2018	Everett, Washington			Sofia Samodurova	[44]
2019	Las Vegas, Nevada	Anna Shcherbakova	Bradie Tennell	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	[45]
2020		Mariah Bell		Audrey Shin	[46]
2021		Alexandra Trusova	Daria Usacheva	You Young	[47]
2022	Norwood, Massachusetts	Kaori Sakamoto	Isabeau Levito	Amber Glenn	[48]
2023	Allen, Texas	Loena Hendrickx		Niina Petrõkina	[49]
2024		Wakaba Higuchi	Rinka Watanabe	Isabeau Levito	[50]

From left to right: Todd Eldredge of the United States has won five Skate America titles in men's singles; Michelle Kwan of the United States has won seven Skate America titles in women's singles; and Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the United States have won five Skate America titles in ice dance.

Records

Discipline	Most titles
	Skater(s)	No.	Years	Ref.
Men's singles	Todd Eldredge	5	1992; 1994–97	[54]
Women's singles	Michelle Kwan	7	1995–97; 1999–2002	[55]
Pairs	& Marina Eltsova Andrei Bushkov	5	1990; 1992; 1994–95; 1997	[56]
Ice dance	Tanith Belbin Benjamin Agosto	5	2003–05; 2007; 2009	[57]

Total number of Skate America medals in men's singles by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	26	21	17	64
2	Japan	9	7	4	20
3	Russia	2	4	9	15
4	France	2	3	3	8
5	Soviet Union	1	2	1	4
6	Czechoslovakia	1	1	1	3
7	Czech Republic	1	1	0	2
8	Ukraine	1	0	0	1
9	West Germany	0	2	0	2
10	Canada	0	1	5	6
11	Belgium	0	1	0	1
12	China	0	0	1	1
	East Germany	0	0	1	1
	South Korea	0	0	1	1
Totals (14 entries)		43	43	43	129