ISU Junior Grand Prix in Japan

ISU Junior Grand Prix in Japan
Status	Active
Genre	ISU Junior Grand Prix
Frequency	Occasional
Country	Japan
Inaugurated	1999
Previous event	2023
Next event	2025–26 Junior Grand Prix Final
Organized by	Japan Skating Federation

The ISU Junior Grand Prix in Japan – also known as the SBC Cup – is an international figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Japan Skating Federation (Japanese: 日本スケート連盟). It is held periodically as an event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (JGP), a series of international competitions exclusively for junior-level skaters. 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 Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.

History

The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (JGP) was established by the International Skating Union (ISU) in 1997 and consists of a series of seven international figure skating competitions exclusively for junior-level skaters. The locations of the Junior Grand Prix events change every year. While all seven competitions feature the men's, women's, and ice dance events, only four competitions each season feature the pairs event. Skaters earn points based on their results each season, and the top skaters or teams in each discipline are then invited to compete at the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.^[1]

Skaters are eligible to compete on the junior-level circuit if they are at least 13 years old before July 1 of the respective season, and if they have not yet turned 19 (for single skaters, and females in ice dance and pair skating) or 21 (for males in ice dance and pair skating).^[1] Competitors are chosen by their respective skating federations. The number of entries allotted to each ISU member nation in each discipline is determined by their results at the prior World Junior Figure Skating Championships.^[2]

Jennifer Kirk of the United States, and Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of China, the 1999 SBC Cup champions in women's singles and pair skating, respectively

Japan hosted its first Junior Grand Prix competition in Nagano in 1999. Soshi Tanaka of Japan won the men's event, Jennifer Kirk of the United States won the women's event, Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of China won the pairs event, and Flavia Ottaviani and Massimo Scali won the ice dance event.^[3] The event has been held every few years in different cities: Nagano (2001);^[4] Okaya (2003, 2005);^[5][6] Karuizawa (2010);^[7] Nagakute (2014);^[8] Yokohama (2016);^[9] and Osaka (2023).^[10]

On July 3, 2020, the Japan Skating Federation cancelled its planned event in Yokohama, originally scheduled to be the fourth in the series, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.^[11] The federation also announced on July 13 that it would not assign any skaters to the Junior Grand Prix if the competitions were to proceed as scheduled.^[12] The International Skating Union eventually cancelled all scheduled Junior Grand Prix events for the 2020–21 season, citing increased travel and entry requirements between countries and potentially excessive sanitary and health care costs for those hosting competitions.^[13]

The Japan Skating Federation has hosted the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, the culminating event of the Junior Grand Prix series, three times. The 2009 Junior Grand Prix Final was held in Tokyo. Yuzuru Hanyu and Kanako Murakami, both of Japan, won the men's and women's events, respectively. Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China won the pairs event, while Ksenia Monko and Kirill Khaliavin won the ice dance event.^[14] The 2013 Junior Grand Prix Final was held in Fukuoka. Jin Boyang of China won the men's event, Maria Sotskova of Russia won the women's event, Yu Xiaoyu and Jin Yang of China won the pairs event, and Anna Yanovskaya and Sergey Mozgov of Russia won the ice dance event.^[15] The 2017 Junior Grand Prix Final was held in Nagoya. Alexei Krasnozhon of the United States won the men's event, Alexandra Trusova of Russia won the women's event, Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley Windsor of Australia won the pairs event, and Anastasia Skoptsova and Kirill Aleshin of Russia won the ice dance event.^[16]

Japan is scheduled to host the 2025 Junior Grand Prix Final from December 4 to 7 in Nagoya.^[17]

Medalists

The 2016 Junior Grand Prix in Yokohama champions: Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea (men's singles), Kaori Sakamoto of Japan (women's singles), and Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons of the United States (ice dance)

Men's singles

Men's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1999	Nagano	Soshi Tanaka	Ma Xiaodong	Stéphane Lambiel	[3]
2001		Daisuke Takahashi	Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari	Shawn Sawyer	[4]
2003	Okaya	Evan Lysacek	Kazumi Kishimoto	Nobunari Oda	[5]
2005		Takahiko Kozuka	Guan Jinlin	Sergei Voronov	[6]
2009 Final	Tokyo	Yuzuru Hanyu	Song Nan	Ross Miner	[14]
2010	Karuizawa	Andrei Rogozine	Max Aaron	Abzal Rakimgaliev	[7]
2013 Final	Fukuoka	Jin Boyang	Adian Pitkeev	Nathan Chen	[15]
2014	Nagakute		Shoma Uno	Dmitri Aliev	[8]
2016	Yokohama	Cha Jun-hwan	Vincent Zhou	Alexey Erokhov	[9]
2017 Final	Nagoya	Alexei Krasnozhon	Camden Pulkinen	Mitsuki Sumoto	[16]
2020	Yokohama	Competition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic			[18]
2023	Osaka	François Pitot	Lim Ju-heon	Daniel Martynov	[10]
2025 Final	Nagoya				[19]

Women's singles

Women's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1999	Nagano	Jennifer Kirk	Yukari Nakano	Marianne Dubuc	[3]
2001		Akiko Suzuki		Fang Dan	[4]
2003	Okaya	Miki Ando	Mai Asada	Aki Sawada	[5]
2005		Aki Sawada	Xu Binshu	Juliana Cannarozzo	[6]
2009 Final	Tokyo	Kanako Murakami	Polina Shelepen	Christina Gao	[14]
2010	Karuizawa	Risa Shōji	Kiri Baga	Zhang Kexin	[7]
2013 Final	Fukuoka	Maria Sotskova	Serafima Sakhanovich	Evgenia Medvedeva	[15]
2014	Nagakute	Serafima Sakhanovich	Yuka Nagai	Elizabet Tursynbaeva	[8]
2016	Yokohama	Kaori Sakamoto	Marin Honda	Mako Yamashita	[9]
2017 Final	Nagoya	Alexandra Trusova	Alena Kostornaia	Anastasia Tarakanova	[16]
2020	Yokohama	Competition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic			[18]
2023	Osaka	Mao Shimada	Yo Takagi	Tsai Yu-Feng	[10]
2025 Final	Nagoya				[19]

Pairs

Pairs event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1999	Nagano	Zhang Dan Zhang Hao	Chantel Poirier Craig Buntin	Larisa Spielberg Craig Joeright	[3]
2001		Carla Montgomery Ryan Arnold	Jessica Dubé Samuel Tetrault	No other competitors	[4]
2003	Okaya	Jessica Dubé Bryce Davison	Michelle Cronin Brian Shales	Brooke Castile Benjamin Okolski	[5]
2005		Kendra Moyle Andy Seitz	Ksenia Krasilnikova Konstantin Bezmaternikh	Bianca Butler Joseph Jacobsen	[6]
2009 Final	Tokyo	Sui Wenjing Han Cong	Narumi Takahashi Mervin Tran	Zhang Yue Wang Lei	[14]
2010	Karuizawa	No pairs competition			[7]
2013 Final	Fukuoka	Yu Xiaoyu Jin Yang	Maria Vigalova Egor Zakroev	Lina Fedorova Maxim Miroshkin	[15]
2014	Nagakute	No pairs competitions			[8]
2016	Yokohama				[9]
2017 Final	Nagoya	Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya Harley Windsor	Apollinariia Panfilova Dmitry Rylov	Daria Pavliuchenko Denis Khodykin	[16]
2020	Yokohama	Competition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic			[18]
2023	Osaka	No pairs competition			[10]
2025 Final	Nagoya				[19]

Ice dance

Ice dance event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1999	Nagano	Flavia Ottaviani Massimo Scali	Tanith Belbin Benjamin Agosto	Svetlana Kulikova Arseni Markov	[3]
2001		Miriam Steinel Vladimir Tsvetkov	Nathalie Péchalat Fabian Bourzat	Daria Borisova Alexandr Chepurnov	[4]
2003	Okaya	Natalia Mikhailova Arkadi Sergeev	Elena Romanovskaya Alexander Grachev	Lauren Senft Leif Gislason	[5]
2005		Anastasia Platonova Andrei Maximishin	Rina Thieleke Sascha Rabe	Polina Jakobs Alexander Baidukov	[6]
2009 Final	Tokyo	Ksenia Monko Kirill Khaliavin	Elena Ilinykh Nikita Katsalapov	Maia Shibutani Alex Shibutani	[14]
2010	Karuizawa	Alexandra Stepanova Ivan Bukin	Ekaterina Pushkash Jonathan Guerreiro	Geraldine Bott Neil Brown	[7]
2013 Final	Fukuoka	Anna Yanovskaya Sergey Mozgov	Kaitlin Hawayek Jean-Luc Baker	Lorraine McNamara Quinn Carpenter	[15]
2014	Nagakute	Madeline Edwards Zhao Kai Pang	Alla Loboda Pavel Drozd	Rachel Parsons Michael Parsons	[8]
2016	Yokohama	Rachel Parsons Michael Parsons	Anastasia Shpilevaya Grigory Smirnov	Angélique Abachkina Louis Thauron	[9]
2017 Final	Nagoya	Anastasia Skoptsova Kirill Aleshin	Christina Carreira Anthony Ponomarenko	Sofia Polishchuk Alexander Vakhnov	[16]
2020	Yokohama	Competition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic			[18]
2023	Osaka	Leah Neset Artem Markelov	Elizabeth Tkachenko Alexei Kiliakov	Célina Fradji Jean-Hans Forneaux	[10]
2025 Final	Nagoya				[19]

References

1. "ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 24, 2025. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
2. "Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2024/25 – Announcement". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on September 20, 2024. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
3. "1999/2000 Junior Grand Prix, 8th event – 1999 SBC Cup". The Figure Skating Corner. Archived from the original on June 25, 2007. Retrieved June 25, 2007.
4. "2001 Junior Grand Prix – SBC Cup". Tracings. Archived from the original on August 3, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
5. "2003 Junior Grand Prix – SBC Cup". Tracings. Archived from the original on February 27, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
6. "2005 JGP SBC Trophy". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on February 5, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
7. "2010 JGP SBC Cup". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on February 4, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
8. "2014 JGP SBC Cup". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on February 6, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
9. "2016 JGP Yokohama". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on February 4, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
10. "2023 JGP Osaka". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on March 31, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
11. Japan Skating Federation [@skatingjapan] (July 3, 2020). "ISUジュニアグランプリシリーズ2020/21" [ISU Junior Grand Prix Series 2020/21] (Tweet) (in Japanese) – via Twitter.
12. Japan Skating Federation [@skatingjapan] (July 13, 2020). "新型コロナウイルス感染症の情勢を考慮し、フィギュアスケートのISU ジュニアグランプリ大会およびチャレンジャーシリーズ大会への派遣中止を決定いたしました。" [Considering the new coronavirus infectious disease situation, we have decided to stop dispatching figure skaters to ISU Junior Grand Prix competition and Challenger Series competition.] (Tweet) (in Japanese) – via Twitter.
13. "ISU Junior Grand Prix Series 2020/21 cancelled". International Skating Union. July 20, 2020. Archived from the original on July 22, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
14. "2009 Junior Grand Prix Final". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on February 3, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2025.
15. "2013 Jr Grand Prix Final". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on February 6, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
16. "2017 Jr Grand Prix Final". Skating Scores. Archived from the original on February 4, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
17. "2025–26 ISU Grand Prix Final". Golden Skate. Archived from the original on April 3, 2025. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
18. "Communication No. 2289: Decisions of the Council". International Skating Union. October 19, 2019. Archived from the original on February 24, 2020. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
19. "2025 Jr Grand Prix Final". Skating Scores.

External links

• ISU Junior Grand Prix at the International Skating Union
• Japan Skating Federation (in Japanese)
• JGP Japan at Skating Scores