Nepela Memorial

Nepela Memorial
StatusActive
GenreISU Challenger Series
FrequencyAnnual
VenueOndrej Nepela Arena
Location(s)Bratislava
Country Slovakia
Inaugurated1993
Previous event2024 Nepela Memorial
Next event2025 Nepela Memorial
Organized bySlovak Figure Skating Association

The Nepela Memorial (Slovak: Memoriál Ondreja Nepelu) is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted in Bratislava, Slovakia, by the Slovak Figure Skating Association (Slovak: Slovensky Krasokorčuliarsky Zväz). The competition debuted in 1993 and is named in honor of Ondrej Nepela, a former Slovak figure skater who competed for Czechoslovakia and won the gold medal at the 1972 Winter Olympics. When the ISU launched the ISU Challenger Series in 2014, the Nepela Memorial – at that point called the Ondrej Nepela Trophy – was one of the inaugural competitions. The Nepela Memorial has been a Challenge Series every year since, except for 2020 and 2021, when the competitions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Medals may be awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance; and as part of the Challenger Series, skaters earn ISU World Standing points based on their results.

Three skaters are tied for winning the most Nepela Memorial titles in men's singles (with two each): Gabriele Frangipani of Italy, Mikhail Kolyada of Russia, and Kensuke Nakaniwa of Japan. Likewise, three skaters are tied for winning the most titles in women's singles (also with two each): Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia, Zuzana Paurova of Slovakia, and Júlia Sebestyén of Hungary. Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek of Poland hold the record in pair skating (with two each). Seven teams are tied for winning the most titles in ice dance (also with two each): Agata Błażowska and Marcin Kozubek of Poland, Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev or Russia, Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain, Julia Golovina and Oleg Voyko of Ukraine, Nóra Hoffmann and Maxim Zavozin of Hungary, Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov or Russia, and Nelli Zhiganshina and Alexander Gazsi of Germany.

History

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 champion (1965–69, 1971–73),[1] and the Slovak athlete of the 20th century.[2] He died in February 1989 at the age of 38.[3][4]

The inaugural edition of the Nepela Memorial – then called the Ondrej Nepela Memorial – was held in 1993 in Bratislava. Michael Shmerkin of Israel won the men's event, Mojca Kopač of Slovenia won the women's event, Victoria Maksyuta and Vladislav Zhovnirski of Russia won the pairs event, and Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France won the ice dance event.

The ISU Challenger Series was introduced in 2014. It is a series of international figure skating competitions sanctioned by the International Skating Union 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.[5] The Nepela Memorial has been a Challenger Series event every year since, except for 2020 and 2021, as the competition was cancelled both years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2025 Nepela Memorial is scheduled to take place 25–27 September in Bratislava.[6]

Medalists

The 2024 Nepela Memorial champions: Daniel Grassl of Italy (men's singles); Yun Ah-sun of South Korea (women's singles); and Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain (ice dance)

CS: Challenger Series event

Men's singles

Men's event medalists
Year Location Gold Silver Bronze Ref.
1993 Bratislava Michael Shmerkin Zsolt Kerekes Unknown
1994 Zsolt Kerekes Unknown
1995 Stanick Jeannette Szabolcs Vidrai Gabriel Monnier
1996 Roman Serov Anthony Liu Matthew Kessinger [7]
1997 Anthony Liu Alexei Kozlov Patrick Schmit [8]
1998 Laurent Tobel Jayson Dénommée Evgeni Pliuta [9]
1999 Thierry Cerez Stanick Jeannette Frédéric Dambier [10]
2000 Vincent Restencourt Dmytro Dmytrenko Silvio Smalun [11]
2001 Stanislav Timchenko Róbert Kažimír Vitaliy Danylchenko [12]
2002 Stéphane Lambiel Stefan Lindemann Gregor Urbas [13]
2003 Naiden Borichev Karel Zelenka [14]
2004 Stefan Lindemann Kevin van der Perren Tristan Cousins [15]
2005 Scott Smith Tomáš Verner [16]
2006 Gregor Urbas Jordan Miller Igor Macypura [17]
2007 Kevin van der Perren Nicholas LaRoche Gregor Urbas [18]
2008 Kensuke Nakaniwa Paolo Bacchini Jamal Othman [19]
2009 Piešťany Viktor Pfeifer [20]
2010 Bratislava Akio Sasaki Kim Lucine Anton Kovalevski [21]
2011 Daisuke Murakami Kevin van der Perren Samuel Contesti [22]
2012 Tatsuki Machida Daisuke Murakami Tomáš Verner [23]
2013 Tomáš Verner Takahito Mura Peter Liebers [24]
2014 CS Stephen Carriere Kim Jin-seo Gordei Gorshkov [25]
2015 CS Jason Brown Mikhail Kolyada [26]
2016 CS Sergei Voronov Kevin Reynolds Roman Savosin [27]
2017 CS Mikhail Kolyada Sergei Voronov Brendan Kerry [28]
2018 CS Keiji Tanaka [29]
2019 CS Dmitri Aliev Matteo Rizzo Deniss Vasiļjevs [30]
2020 Competitions cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic [31]
2021 [32]
2022 CS Gabriele Frangipani Cha Jun-hwan Deniss Vasiļjevs [33]
2023 CS Nika Egadze Mark Gorodnitsky [34]
2024 CS Daniel Grassl Nikolaj Memola Corey Circelli [35]

Women's singles

Women's event medalists
Year Location Gold Silver Bronze Ref.
1993 Bratislava Mojca Kopač Unknown
1994 Irena Zemanová Unknown
1995 Krisztina Czakó Vanessa Gusmeroli Julia Lautowa
1996 Svetlana Bukareva Tsvetelina Abrasheva Angela Nikodinov [7]
1997 Sabina Wojtala Mojca Kopač Tatiana Plusheva [8]
1998 Zuzana Paurova Christina Riedel [9]
1999 Sabina Wojtala Nina Sackerer [10]
2000 Galina Maniachenko Amber Corwin Sabina Wojtala [11]
2001 Júlia Sebestyén Julia Lautowa Mojca Kopač [12]
2002 Carolina Kostner Sarah Meier Júlia Sebestyén [13]
2003 Galina Maniachenko Júlia Sebestyén Julia Lautowa [14]
2004 Viktória Pavuk Jenna McCorkell Zuzana Babiaková [15]
2005 Júlia Sebestyén Alissa Czisny Amber Corwin [16]
2006 Megan Williams-Stewart Júlia Sebestyén Ivana Reitmayerová [17]
2007 Júlia Sebestyén Michelle Boulos Jenna McCorkell [18]
2008 Ivana Reitmayerová Tuğba Karademir Sarah Hecken [19]
2009 Piešťany Mutsumi Takayama Kerstin Frank Isabelle Pieman [20]
2010 Bratislava Haruka Imai Valentina Marchei Patricia Glescic [21]
2011 Maé-Bérénice Méité Shoko Ishikawa Léna Marrocco [22]
2012 Jenna McCorkell Monika Simančíková Eliška Březinová [23]
2013 Haruka Imai Nikol Gosviani Christina Gao [24]
2014 CS Roberta Rodeghiero Joshi Helgesson Ashley Cain [25]
2015 CS Evgenia Medvedeva Anna Pogorilaya Maria Artemieva [26]
2016 CS Maria Sotskova Yulia Lipnitskaya Mariah Bell [27]
2017 CS Evgenia Medvedeva Rika Hongo Elena Radionova [28]
2018 CS Rika Kihira Elizabet Tursynbaeva Stanislava Konstantinova [29]
2019 CS Alexandra Trusova Kaori Sakamoto Kim Ha-nul [30]
2020 Competitions cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic [31]
2021 [32]
2022 CS Isabeau Levito Lara Naki Gutmann Lee Hae-in [33]
2023 CS Kim Chae-yeon Lee Hae-in Madeline Schizas [34]
2024 CS Yun Ah-sun Mariia Seniuk Lara Naki Gutmann [35]

Pairs

Pairs event medalists
Year Location Gold Silver Bronze Ref.
1993 Bratislava Unknown
1994 Unknown
1995 No pairs competitors
1996
  • Naomi Grabow
  • Benjamin Oberman
[7]
1997 [8]
1998
  • Katsjarina Danko
  • Henadzi Yemelyanenko
 [9]
1999 No other competitors [10]
2000
[11]
2001
[12]
2002
  • Andrea Vargová
  • Marek Sedlmajer
 No other competitors [13]
2003 No pairs competitors [14]
2004 No other competitors [15]
2005 No pairs competitors [16]
2006 [17]
2007 No other competitors [18]
2008 No pairs competitors [19]
2009 Piešťany
  • Jessica Crenshaw
  • Chad Tsagris
 [20]
2010 Bratislava No pairs competitors [21]
2011 [22]
2012 [23]
2013 [24]
2014 No pairs competitors [25]
2015 CS [26]
2016 CS [27]
2017 CS [28]
2018 [29]
2019–24 No pairs competitors since 2018

Ice dance

Ice dance event medalists
Year Location Gold Silver Bronze Ref.
1993 Bratislava Unknown
1994
  • Lynn Burton
  • Duncan Lenard
 Unknown
1995
1996
  • Alena Kramplová
  • Ján Nerad
  • Olga Trubaeva
  • Dmitry Iliin
 [7]
1997
  • Zuzana Merzová
  • Tomáš Morbacher
 [8]
1998
  • Zuzana Merzová
  • Tomáš Morbacher
  • Zuzana Ďurkovská
  • Marian Mesároš
 No other competitors [9]
1999
  • Nadine Lesaout
  • Emmanuel Huet
 [10]
2000
  • Marta Paoletti
  • Alessando Italiano
 [11]
2001 [12]
2002 [13]
2003 No ice dance competitors [14]
2004 [15]
2005 [16]
2006 No ice dance competitors [17]
2007 [18]
2008 [19]
2009 Piešťany [20]
2010 Bratislava [21]
2011 [22]
2012 [23]
2013 [24]
2014 CS [25]
2015 CS [26]
2016 CS [27]
2017 CS [28]
2018 CS [29]
2019 CS [30]
2020 Competitions cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic [31]
2021 [32]
2022 CS [33]
2023 CS [34]
2024 CS [35]

Records

From left to right: Gabriele Frangipani of Italy and Mikhail Kolyada of Russia have both won two Nepela Memorial titles in men's singles.
From left to right: Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia and Júlia Sebestyén of Hungary have both won two Nepela Memorial titles in women's singles.
Records
Discipline Most titles
Skater(s) No. Years Ref.
Men's singles 2 2022–23 [36]
2 2017–18 [37]
2 2008–09 [38]
Women's singles 2 2005;
2007 		[39]
2 1998–99 [40]
2 2005;
2007 		[41]
Pairs 2 1997;
2000 		[42]
Ice dance 2 2016–17 [43]
2 1997;
1999 		[44]
2 2023–24 [45]
2 2001–02 [46]
2 2009–10 [47]
2 2018–19 [48]
2 2008;
2011 		[49]

Cumulative medal count

Men's singles

Total number of Nepela Memorial medals in men's singles by nation
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Russia63312
2 Japan5218
3 France4127
4 Italy3339
5 United States3216
6 Belgium1304
7 Germany1225
8 Hungary1203
9 Australia1113
10 Czech Republic1023
 Slovenia1023
 Switzerland1023
13 Israel1012
14 Bulgaria1001
15 Canada0202
 South Korea0202
17 Ukraine0134
18 Slovakia0112
19 Austria0101
 Estonia0101
 Georgia0101
 Monaco0101
23 Latvia0022
24 Great Britain0011
 Luxembourg0011
Totals (25 entries)30292887

Women's singles

Total number of Nepela Memorial medals in women's singles by nation
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Russia54413
2 Hungary5218
3 Japan4307
4 Slovakia3137
5 United States23510
6 Italy2215
7 South Korea2125
8 Ukraine2002
9 Slovenia1214
10 France1113
 Great Britain1113
 Poland1113
13 Czech Republic1012
14 Austria0224
15 Israel0101
 Kazakhstan0101
 Sweden0101
 Switzerland0101
 Turkey0101
20 Germany0033
21 Belgium0011
 Canada0011
Totals (22 entries)30282886

Pairs

Total number of Nepela Memorial medals in pairs by nation
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Russia75517
2 Slovakia2406
3 United States2226
4 Germany2013
5 Poland2002
6 Czech Republic1225
7 Canada1102
8 Italy0314
9 Belarus0011
 Greece0011
Totals (10 entries)17171347

Ice dance

Total number of Nepela Memorial medals in men's singles by nation
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Great Britain4329
2 Russia4149
3 France4048
4 Ukraine4015
5 Hungary3104
6 Canada3003
7 Germany2226
8 Poland2002
9 United States1427
10 Slovakia1225
11 Czech Republic0538
12 Italy0415
13 Georgia0202
14 Austria0112
 Spain0112
16 Armenia0011
 Azerbaijan0011
Totals (17 entries)28262579

Total medals

Total number of Nepela Memorial medals by nation
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Russia22131651
2 Hungary95115
 Japan95115
4 France92718
5 United States8111029
6 Slovakia68620
7 Ukraine61411
8 Italy512623
9 Germany54817
10 Great Britain54413
11 Poland5117
12 Canada4318
13 Czech Republic37818
14 South Korea2327
15 Slovenia2237
16 Belgium1315
17 Switzerland1124
18 Australia1113
 Israel1113
20 Bulgaria1001
21 Austria0437
22 Georgia0303
23 Spain0112
24 Estonia0101
 Kazakhstan0101
 Monaco0101
 Sweden0101
 Turkey0101
29 Latvia0022
30 Armenia0011
 Azerbaijan0011
 Belarus0011
 Greece0011
 Luxembourg0011
Totals (34 entries)10510094299

References

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  2. ^ Historical Dictionary of Slovakia (2014 ed.). Scarecrow Press. 14 November 2013. p. 488. ISBN 9780810880306.
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  4. ^ Fukatsch, Peter (25 January 2009). "Krasokorčuliar Nepela bol jednotkár po každej stránke" [Figure skater Nepela was unique in every way]. Športnet (in Slovak). Retrieved 20 May 2025.
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  40. ^ "Zuzana Babiakova". International Skating Union. 15 April 2001. Archived from the original on 19 April 2001. Retrieved 19 April 2001.
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  45. ^ "Competition Results – Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (GBR)". International Skating Union. 12 June 2025. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
  46. ^ "Golovina Julia/Voiko Oleg – UKR Ukraine". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 18 June 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
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  49. ^ "Competition Results – Nelli Zhiganshina/Alexander Gazsi". International Skating Union. 10 April 2015. Archived from the original on 22 April 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
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