Five Women and three Pairs grab Olympic spots at ISU Skate to Milano Qualifier

FIGURE SKATING

Five Women and three Pairs grab Olympic spots at ISU Skate to Milano Qualifier

20 Sep 2025

Women from Georgia, Belgium and China as well as two Individual Neutral Athletes and Pairs from China, Armenia and Japan have secured Olympic quota places at the ISU Skate to Milano Figure Skating Qualifier Saturday at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing (CHN). Earlier, Petr Gumennik (AIN) won the Men’s Short Program.

Petr Gumennik (AIN) takes Men’s Short Program

Petr Gumennik (AIN) skated into a strong lead in the Men’s Short Program ahead of Mexico’s Donovan Carrillo and Francois Pitot of France, the top three all achieving new personal best scores. But the battle for the five Olympic quota places is not over yet with many more skaters remaining in contention.

Gumennik put out an intense performance to “Perfume – The Story of a Murderer”, hitting a quad flip-triple toe, quad Salchow, triple Axel as well as level-four spins and footwork. That was a new personal best with 93.80 points for the 23-year-old. Gumennik skated second out of the 26 Men but kept the lead until the very end.

Petr Gumennik (AIN) posted a personal best early in the Short Program and holds on to the top spot ahead of Sunday's free skate. © ISU

Carrillo was the last skater to have a shot at overhauling Gumennik and he entertained the crowd at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium with his upbeat performance to “Hip Hip Chin Chin”. And not only were the dance moves impressive, the elements were as well: the 2022 Olympian reeled off a quad Salchow-triple toeloop combination, a triple Axel, triple Lutz plus level-four spins and footwork to set a new personal best of 84.97 points.

Carrillo was beaming when he came off the ice. “I had one of my greatest performances,” he shared.

“I enjoyed it from beginning to end. I was so passionate about my program. I kind of lost the time. I was just flowing and enjoying every single moment of the performance. I'm very moved, happy and grateful with this skate.”

A beaming Donovan Carrillo (MEX) declared his entertaining Short Program to be one of his greatest performances as he sits in second place. © ISU

At the ISU World Championships 2025 the Mexican missed out on earning a quota place for his country, so he had to use this second chance and he changed his approach.

“I feel it was the mentality, the way I saw things. At Worlds, I really wanted to make it to the free skate and get that Olympic spot right away. This time, I was more focused on enjoying, I was more focused on trying to just let things work in the natural way, do not force the jumps, do not do more than in practice.”

Skating to “Dig Down” by Muse, Pitot delivered another excellent performance that featured a triple Axel, triple flip and triple Lutz-triple toe combination for a personal best of 81.24 points.

“It's the first step,” the Frenchman said. “I'm not going to change my mind, I just want to enjoy my performance, do what I do in practice and at home.

"It's good to be in the last group [for the Free Skating] of course. The first step is done, but now I have to do the second step and just be calm, not think about the qualifying and things like that. It's just about me and my performance.”

Francois Pitot (FRA) dug deep to Muse's 'Dig Down' to deliver a personal best and put him half way down the road to Milan. © ISU

The top three, with a significant points advantage over their competitors, have indeed taken the first step. But fewer than five points separate the skaters ranked fourth to eighth and all have a good shot at making the top five.

2024 Youth Olympic Games Champion Hyungyeom Kim (KOR) came fourth at 74.69 points followed by Davide Lewton Brain (MON) on 73.56 points and Kyrylo Marsak (UKR) at 72.33 points. Georgii Reshtenko (CZE) sits in seventh (71.03 points) while Yu-Hsiang Li (TPE) is currently ranked eighth (70.31 points).

Zhang/Huang capture Olympic Pairs spot for China

China’s Jiaxuan Zhang/Yihang Huang, Karina Akopova/Nikita Rakhmanin of Armenia and Japan’s Yuna Nagaoka/Sumitada Moriguchi (JPN) captured Olympic quota places for their countries in what was an exciting Pairs event with a lot of suspense as only three spots were available.

Overnight leaders Zhang/Huang turned in a strong performance to “O” by Coldplay that was highlighted by their throw jumps and level four lifts. However, Huang missed the side by side triple Salchow. Nevertheless, the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champions won the Free Skating segment with 124.84 points to total 191.52 points. Both were new personal best scores for them.

“At this competition we showed our level from what we can do in practice,” Huang commented. “There were some minor mistakes but we were able to overcome the pressure.”

They secured the quota place but as China has several teams, it is not yet clear who gets to go to Milano Cortina. “As athletes, we can only focus on ourselves and on showing our best and this is what we are doing,” Huang noted.

Jiaxuan Zhang and Yihang Huang (CHN) overcame minor mistakes to post a personal best, hold onto their overnight lead and earn an Olympic place for a Chinese pair. © ISU

In coming second, Akopova/Rakhmanin secured an Olympic spot in Pairs Skating for Armenia for the first time since 2002.

“We’re happy to be here and happy that we had a chance to compete and to qualify for the Olympic Games,” Akopova said.

“Yesterday we were focused on the short program but we knew it was only the beginning and the hardest part was still to come.”

Nerves kicked in when Akopova took an unexpected fall during the off-ice warm up. “That woke me up”, she laughed. “After that, the nervousness went away. I was confident in Nikita and in myself and I got into fighting mood.”

Skating to Indian-inspired music from “Slumdog Millionaire”, the Armenians produced a triple throws, a side by side triple toe and two level-four lifts. They posted a personal best of 122.99 points in the Free Skating, giving them 186.84 overall which moved them up one spot into silver medal position.

Karina Akopova and Nikita Rakhmanin climbed from third to second and secured Armenia's first Olympic Pairs Skating spot since 2002. © ISU

Nagaoka/Moriguchi stood in fourth place following the Short Program and had nothing to lose as the difference to third place was just a little over a point. The Japanese completed a triple toe and great lifts in their program to “Tree of Life Suite” but there were also some glitches in their performance. Nagaoka/Moriguchi scored 115.98 points and with a total of 178.66 moved up to third place to take the bronze and an Olympic spot for Japan.

“We were nervous because we knew we needed the third place but the short program didn’t go well,” Nagaoka commented. “I tried to think positive and when I realized that we were in third place, I was just very happy that we can compete at the Olympic Games.”

“We were very nervous but we needed to trust ourselves”, Moriguchi added. “Yuna was very nervous about the throw jumps and the solo jumps, but I told her ‘trust yourself’ and we did it.”

Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi (JPN) overhauled France's Camille and Pavel Kovalev to snatch the third and final Olympic Pairs place on offer this weekend. © ISU

The husband-and-wife team Camille and Pavel Kovalev (FRA) slipped from second to fourth place with 171.58 points and are the first substitutes in case a spot becomes available. Sofiia Holichenko/Artem Darenskyi (UKR) came fifth on 169.41 points.

Based on the result of the qualifying event, a standby list will be created in case spots become available when countries do not use their quota.

Adeliia Petrosian (AIN) heads Women’s qualifying quintet

Adeliia Petrosian (AIN), Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia, Belgium’s Loena Hendrickx, Viktoriia Safonova (AIN) and Ruiyang Zhang of China secured the five Olympic quota places at the qualifier event.

Overnight leader Petrosian skated last and with her close competitors delivering excellent performances she knew she had to give it her best. The 18-year-old put out a passionate Tango program to “Yo Soy Maria”, reeling off seven clean triple jumps and beautiful spins. Petrosian scored 140.91 points, racking up 209.63 points to win the event and earn an Olympic spot for herself.

Adeliia Petrosian (AIN) earned herself a slot at the Milano Cortina Olympics with first place following a Free Skate that included seven clean triple jumps. © ISU

Gubanova found the redemption she was looking for after her disappointment at the ISU World Championships when she missed out on claiming a qualifying spot for Georgia. Skating to “Ghost”, the 2023 ISU European Champion landed five clean triple jumps and picked up a level four for her spins and footwork to score 138.15 points. Gubanova collected the silver medal with a total of 206.23 points.

“I want to congratulate all five girls that made it today,” two-time European silver medalist Gubanova commented.

“Mentally, it was very hard and it is great that they made it and I am very happy that we have such a sports celebration today. In my program I was very focused on my elements to make everything clean technically.

"After the jumps were done, I knew that I did it and my first thought was that I did not let down my team and we are going together as a team to the Olympic Games.”

Anastasiia Gubanova made up for her disappointment at the ISU World Championships by securing an Olympic qualifying place for Georgia. © ISU

What a comeback for Loena Hendrickx! After sitting out almost the entire season because of an ankle injury, the 2024 European Champion proved that she is back in business.

Hendrickx’s sophisticated Flamenco program to “La Alegria” by Yasmin Levy was highlighted by five triples, precise spins and footwork. The two-time ISU World medalist picked up 138.04 points for the Free Skating and remained in third place at 204.96 points.

“First of all I want to congratulate all five athletes that qualified,” Hendrickx said. “For me, this competition was very important after coming back from my injury I am proud to stand here again. I know I can do better but I am satisfied and happy how this competition went.”

The emotions overwhelmed the Belgian skater when she finished her performance. “Seven month ago I went through surgery and I didn’t know if I could ever compete on the same level again. I worked very hard, it was not easy, but I managed to do it and that’s why I was so emotional.”

Emotional 2024 European Champion Loena Hendrickx (BEL) has bounced back from ankle injury to book a place at the Olympic Winter Games. © ISU

Viktoriia Safonova (AIN) pulled up from seventh to fourth place with another strong performance to earn an Olympic spot. She netted 181.91 points.

Ruiyang Zhang (CHN), who is competing in her first senior-level season, made the home crowd proud by coming fifth and earning an quota place (179.76).

“I made two mistakes but I was very happy when I saw the result and realized that I had accomplished the task and I am honored to have earned a ticket for the Olympic Games,” Zhang shared.

“This was a very important competition and I got a lot of experience and I learned a lot.”

Stefania Yakovleva (CYP) missed out on a historic first Figure Skating spot for Cyprus at the Olympic Winter Games by just 2.23 points. She finished sixth on 177.53 points. Cyprus is the first substitute if a spot becomes available. Mia Risa Gomez (NOR) ranked seventh on 161.69 points.

Based on the result of the qualifying event, a standby list will be created in case countries return unused quota places.

What Happens Next

The five spots for the Men and four spots for Ice Dancers will be decided Sunday in the Free Skating/Free Dance. Find out where to watch here. For full results and entries please see the ISU Skate to Milano Figure Skating Qualifier event page.

Facts & Figures Recap: Olympic Figure Skating entries

First Qualification event:
ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2025 in Boston (USA): A total of 31 countries have earned quota places in Boston and the following total of spots have been filled across the different segments (more information in ISU Communication 2696):

24 Men
24 Women
16 Pairs
19 Ice Dance couples

Second Qualification event:
ISU Skate to Milano Figure Skating Qualifier in Beijing (CHN): A total of 17 remaining Olympic spots to be earned at the ISU Skate to Milano Figure Skating Qualifier in Beijing (CHN):