The Nebelhorn Trophy is an annual

figure skating competition A figure skating competition is a judged sports competition in figure skating. Types of figure skating competitions International International competitions sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU) are governed by the union's rules ...

sanctioned by the

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international sport governing body, governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded ...

(ISU), organized and hosted by the

German Ice Skating Union The German Ice Skating Union (, DEU) is the national amateur association for figure skating and ice dancing in Germany. The various German ice sports associations constitute the membership of the DEU; individuals cannot become members. The Deutsch ...

() and held in Oberstdorf, Germany. The competition debuted in 1969 and is named after the

Nebelhorn The Nebelhorn is a mountain in the Allgäu Alps The Allgäu Alps () are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps, located on the Austria–Germany border, which covers parts of the Germany, German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemb ...

, a nearby mountain. When the ISU launched the

ISU Challenger Series The ISU Challenger Series is a series of international figure skating competitions. Established by the International Skating Union in the 2014–15 figure skating season, 2014–15 season, it is a group of senior-level events ranked below the ISU ...

in 2014, the Nebelhorn Trophy was one of the inaugural competitions. The Nebelhorn Trophy has been a Challenger Series every year since. Medals are awarded in men's singles, women's singles,

pair skating Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating ...

, and

ice dance Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

; and as part of the Challenger Series, skaters earn ISU World Standing points based on their results.

Nobunari Oda is a retired Japanese competitive figure skater. He is the 2006 Four Continents champion, a four-time Grand Prix Final medalist (silver in 2009 and 2010; bronze in 2006 and 2013), the 2005 World Junior champion and the 2008 Japanese nation ...

of Japan holds the record for winning the most Nebelhorn Trophy titles in men's singles (with three). Four skaters are tied for winning the most titles in women's singles (with two each): Alissa Czisny of the United States,

Carolina Kostner Carolina Kostner (born 8 February 1987) is an Italian figure skater. She is the Figure skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2012 World Figure Skating Championships, 2012 World champion, a five-time European Figu ...

of Italy,

Kaetlyn Osmond Kaetlyn Osmond (born December 5, 1995) is a retired competitive Canadian Figure skating, figure skater who competed in singles skating, ladies' singles. A three-time Canadian Figure Skating Championships, Canadian national champion (2013, 2014, ...

of Canada, and

Irina Slutskaya Irina Eduardovna Slutskaya ( rus, Ирина Эдуардовна Слуцкая, , ɪˈrʲinə ɪdʊˈardəvnə ˈslutskəjə, Ru-Irina Eduardovna Slutskaya.ogg; born 9 February 1979) is a Russian former figure skater. She is a two-time World ...

of Russia. Two teams are tied for winning the most titles in pair skating (with four each):

Tatiana Volosozhar Tatiana Andreyеvna Volosozhar (, ; born 22 May 1986) is a Ukrainian-born Russian pair skater. With Maxim Trankov, she is the two-time 2014 Olympic champion in the pairs and in team events, the 2013 World champion, a four-time (2012, 2013, 201 ...

and

Maxim Trankov Maxim Leonidovich Trankov (; born 7 October 1983) is a Russian pair skater. With Tatiana Volosozhar, he is a two-time 2014 Olympic champion in the pairs and in team events, the 2013 World champion, a four-time (2012, 2013, 2014, 2016) Eur ...

of Russia, and

Aljona Savchenko Aljona Savchenko (, ''Olena Valentynivna Savchenko''; German Romanization: ''Aljona Sawtschenko'', sometimes ''Aliona Savchenko''; born 19 January 1984) is a retired Ukrainian-born German pair skater. One of the most decorated pair skaters, she ...

and

Robin Szolkowy Robin Szolkowy (born 14 July 1979) is a retired German pair skater. With partner Aliona Savchenko, he is the 2010 and 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, a five-time World champion (2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014), a four-time European champion (20 ...

of German, although Savchenko has won an additional two titles with other partners.

Lilah Fear Lilah Fear (born 11 June 1999) is a British-Canadian ice dancer. Representing Great Britain with her skating partner, Lewis Gibson, she is the 2025 World bronze medalist; theirs was the first World medal for Britain in 41 years. Fear is also a ...

and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain hold the record in ice dance (with three).

History

The Nebelhorn Trophy competition has been held annually since 1969 and is one of the oldest international figure skating competitions. In its early years, it was paired with a now-defunct French event, the Grand Prix International St. Gervais, to form the

Coupe des Alpes The Alpine Rally, also known by its official name Coupe des Alpes, was a rally competition based in Marseille and held from 1932 to 1971. In the 1950s and the 1960s, it was among the most prestigious rallies in the world and featured an interna ...

, with many of the same skaters participating in both events and a team trophy presented to the country with the highest combined placements across both competitions. During the 1980s and early 1990s, before the establishment of a regular junior international competition circuit, younger skaters were often sent to these events as their first senior international competition assignments. ''International Figure Skating'' called the event "unique" because skaters are also awarded trophies along with their medals. In recent years, the Nebelhorn Trophy has also been used by the

to experiment with new judging and scoring systems for figure skating. The 1997 competition was used as the test event for the switch from the ordinal system, the 2002 event was used for an initial test of the

ISU Judging System The ISU Judging System or the International Judging System (IJS), occasionally referred to as the Code of Points (COP) system, is the scoring system that has been used since 2004 to judge the figure skating disciplines of single skating, men's an ...

which was then under development, and the 2003 event was the first competition where that system was used to determine the official results. The 2006 event was used for a trial of using separate panels of judges for technical elements and program components. The competition also serves as a testing ground for judges working towards international status. The 2009 competition was used as the final qualifying opportunity for the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

and the 2013 event served the same purpose for the 2014 Olympics and the 2018 Olympics. The

was introduced in 2014. It is a series of international figure skating competitions sanctioned by the

and organized by

ISU member nations Figure skating is a sport with participants across the world. Originally based in North America and Europe, the sport has experienced a major expansion in the countries of East Asia. The international governing body of the sport is the Internatio ...

. 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. The Nebelhorn Trophy has been a Challenger Series event every year since. Despite the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy did take place, but with extensive

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

guidelines and procedures for the athletes and coaches in attendance, and without spectators. The 2025 Nebelhorn Trophy is scheduled to take place 25–27 September in Oberstdorf.

Medalists

CS: Challenger Series event

Men's singles

Women's singles

Pairs

Ice dance

Records

Cumulative medal count

Men's singles

Women's singles

Pairs

Ice dance

Total medals

References

External links

German Ice Skating Union

Nebelhorn Trophy celebrates 30th anniversary
{{ISU Challenger Series ISU Challenger Series International figure skating competitions hosted by Germany Sports competitions in Oberstdorf