Ice Star

Ice Star
Status	Inactive
Genre	International competition
Frequency	Annual
Venue	Minsk-Arena
Location	Minsk
Country	Belarus
Inaugurated	2012
Most recent	2021
Organised by	Skating Union of Belarus

The Ice Star – originally called the Minsk-Arena Ice Star – was an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Skating Union of Belarus at the Minsk-Arena in Minsk, Belarus. The competition debuted in 2012, and was also a Challenger Series event twice during its history. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance; and when the event was part of the Challenger Series, skaters earned World Standing points based on their results. On 1 March 2022, in accordance with a recommendation by the International Olympic Committee, the ISU banned all athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus from hosting or attending any international competitions due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Therefore, the 2021 Ice Star was the last iteration of this event to be held.

The Ice Star – originally called the Minsk-Arena Ice Star – debuted in 2012. Yakov Godorozha of Ukraine won the men's event, Polina Shelepen of Russia won the women's event, and Julia Zlobina and Alexei Sitnikov of Azerbaijan won the ice dance event.¹

The ISU Challenger Series was introduced in 2014. It is a series of international figure skating competitions sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU) 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.² Challenger Series events had to be scheduled between 1 August and 15 December. When an event was held as part of the Challenger Series, it had to host at least three of the four disciplines (men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance) and representatives from at least twelve different ISU member nations. The minimum number of entrants required for each discipline was: eight skaters each in men's singles and women's singles, five teams in pair skating, and six teams in ice dance.³ While ISU member nations were limited to sending a maximum of three skaters or teams per discipline to each event, Skate Canada could enter an unlimited number of entrants in their own event. Additionally, each skater or team was limited to participating in at most three Challenger Series events each season.⁴ The Ice Star was a Challenger Series event twice: in 2017 and 2019.⁵⁶

On 1 March 2022, the ISU banned all athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus from participating at any international competitions due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.⁷ As such, the 2021 Ice Star was the last iteration of the competition to be held.⁸

The inaugural Ice Star champions (from left to right): Yakov Godorozha of Ukraine (men's singles); Polina Shelepen of Russia (women's singles); and Julia Zlobina and Alexei Sitnikov of Azerbaijan (ice dance)

CS: Challenger Series event

Men's event medalists

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
2012	Yakov Godorozha	Mark Shakhmatov	Vitali Luchanok	1
2013	Sergei Voronov	Zhan Bush	Pavel Ignatenko	9
2014	No men's competitors			10
2015	Kim Jin-seo	Evgeni Vlasov	Larry Loupolover	11
2016	Ivan Pavlov	Irakli Maysuradze		12
2017 CS	Sergei Voronov	Morisi Kvitelashvili	Daniel Samohin	5
2018	Deniss Vasiļjevs	Vladimir Litvintsev	Slavik Hayrapetyan	13
2019 CS	Daniel Grassl	Artem Kovalev	Adam Siao Him Fa	6
2020	Mikhail Kolyada	Konstantin Milyukov	Evgeni Semenenko	14
2021	Andrei Mozalev		Alexander Lebedev	8

Women's event medalists

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
2012	Polina Shelepen	Kerstin Frank	Krystsina Zakharanka	1
2013	Helery Hälvin	Yanina Makeyenka	Svetlana Issakova	9
2014	Yanina Makeyenka	Aleksandra Golovkina	Helery Hälvin	10
2015	Kim Sena	Aleksandra Golovkina	Johanna Allik	11
2016	Anna Khnychenkova	Evgenia Ivankova	Kim Sena	12
2017 CS	Elizabet Tursynbaeva	Serafima Sakhanovich	An So-hyun	5
2018	Ekaterina Ryabova	Léa Serna	Camilla Gjersem	13
2019 CS	Sofia Samodurova	Kim Ha-nul	Ekaterina Ryabova	6
2020	Viktoriia Safonova	Anastasiia Guliakova	Sofia Samodurova	14
2021			Anastasiia Shabotova	8

Junior men's event medalists

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
2012	Ivan Pavlov	Pavel Ignatenko	Markus Ramisch	1
2013	Adian Pitkeev	Stanislav Andryunin	Anton Karpuk	9
2014	Andrei Vorotnikov	Anton Karpuk	Irakli Maysuradze	10
2015	Ivan Shmuratko	Yakau Zenko	Aleksandr Selevko	11
2016	Artem Kovalev	Gabriel Folkesson	Nika Egadze	12
2017	Vladimir Samoilov	Irakli Maysuradze	Artem Zotov	5
2018	Irakli Maysuradze	Matyáš Bělohradský	Mark Kondratiuk	13
2019	Mark Kondratiuk	Rakhat Bralin	Yauhenii Puzanau	6
2020	Mikalai Kazlou	Aliaksandr Bahdanovich	Alexander Egorov	14
2021	Vasil Barakhouski	Daniil Shevtcov	Ilya Stsiapankou	8

Junior women's event medalists

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
2012	Jenni Saarinen	Aleksandra Golovkina	Minami Hanashiro	1
2013	Evgenia Medvedeva	Alina Beletskaya	Valeria Kozinets	9
2014	Anastasia Zaitsava	Maria Gavrilova	Lizaveta Avsiukevich	10
2015	Anita Östlund	Kristina Lisovskaja	Anželika Kļujeva	11
2016	Lee Hyun-soo	Ko Eun-bi	Jeon Su-been	12
2017	Anna Tarusina	Ksenia Pankova	Victoria Vasilieva	5
2018	Viktoriia Safonova	Alizée Crozet	Kamila Sultanmagomedova	13
2019	Anastasiia Shabotova	Niina Petrõkina		6
2020	Varvara Kisel	Milana Ramashova	Lizaveta Balonikava	14
2021		Sofiia Zakharova	Agata Starykava	8

Total number of Ice Star medals in men's singles by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia	4	4	1	9
2	Ukraine	2	0	0	2
3	Italy	1	0	0	1
	Latvia	1	0	0	1
	South Korea	1	0	0	1
6	Belarus	0	2	3	5
7	Georgia	0	2	0	2
8	Azerbaijan	0	1	2	3
9	Armenia	0	0	1	1
	France	0	0	1	1
	Israel	0	0	1	1
Totals (11 entries)		9	9	9	27

Total number of Ice Star medals in women's singles by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Belarus	3	1	1	5
2	Russia	2	4	1	7
3	South Korea	1	1	2	4
4	Estonia	1	0	3	4
5	Azerbaijan	1	0	1	2
	Ukraine	1	0	1	2
7	Kazakhstan	1	0	0	1
8	Lithuania	0	2	0	2
9	Austria	0	1	0	1
	France	0	1	0	1
11	Norway	0	0	1	1
Totals (11 entries)		10	10	10	30

Total number of Ice Star medals in pair skating by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Belarus	2	2	0	4
2	Russia	2	0	2	4
3	Austria	1	0	0	1
4	Germany	0	1	0	1
	Spain	0	1	0	1
6	Israel	0	0	1	1
Totals (6 entries)		5	4	3	12

Total number of Ice Star medals in ice dance by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia	4	4	3	11
2	Belarus	2	2	2	6
3	Ukraine	1	1	1	3
4	Italy	1	0	1	2
5	Azerbaijan	1	0	0	1
	Spain	1	0	0	1
7	Finland	0	1	0	1
	Poland	0	1	0	1
	Turkey	0	1	0	1
10	Estonia	0	0	1	1
	South Korea	0	0	1	1
Totals (11 entries)		10	10	9	29

Total number of Ice Star medals by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia	12	12	7	31
2	Belarus	7	7	6	20
3	Ukraine	4	1	2	7
4	Azerbaijan	2	1	3	6
	South Korea	2	1	3	6
6	Italy	2	0	1	3
7	Austria	1	1	0	2
	Spain	1	1	0	2
9	Estonia	1	0	4	5
10	Kazakhstan	1	0	0	1
	Latvia	1	0	0	1
12	Georgia	0	2	0	2
	Lithuania	0	2	0	2
14	France	0	1	1	2
15	Finland	0	1	0	1
	Germany	0	1	0	1
	Poland	0	1	0	1
	Turkey	0	1	0	1
19	Israel	0	0	2	2
20	Armenia	0	0	1	1
	Norway	0	0	1	1
Totals (21 entries)		34	33	31	98