Ice Dancers and five Men snatch last Olympic spots at ISU Skate to Milano Qualifier

FIGURE SKATING

Ice Dancers and five Men snatch last Olympic spots at ISU Skate to Milano Qualifier

21 Sep 2025

Men from Mexico, Korea, Ukraine and Chinese Taipei as well as one Individual Neutral Athlete, and Ice Dance couples from Lithuania, Australia, Spain and China have secured the last available Olympic quota places at the ISU Skate to Milano Figure Skating Qualifier Sunday at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing (CHN).

Reed/Ambrulevicius (LTU) lead Ice Dance qualifying quartet

The 2024 ISU European bronze medalists Allison Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius of Lithuania topped the Ice Dance qualifying and danced to an Olympic spot together with silver medalists Holly Harris/Jason Chan of Australia, bronze medalists Sofia Val/Asaf Kazimov of Spain and China’s Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Liu.

The Olympic dream has finally come true for Reed and Ambrulevicius. After qualifying twice and not being able to go as Reed lacked Lithuanian citizenship, and then after missing the direct qualification at the ISU World Championships last March, the couple has how cleared all hurdles to Milan Cortina.

Holding a comfortable lead after the Rhythm Dance, the team sealed the deal with a captivating electronic music dance to “God Is a DJ” and “We Come 1” by Faithless, executing intricate footwork and cool lifts. The 2024 ISU European bronze medalists earned 117.78 points for the Free Dance and accumulated 198.73 points overall to take the gold in Beijing.

“It [this journey] really brought us together in ways I never even imagined,” Reed shared.

“We sat down, we said, this is our goal, this is what we want to achieve, we know we're capable of it. Let's put all of our chips in and commit to this summer, commit to the training, trust our coaches, trust each other.

“And we knew coming here that this goal was achievable and we were going to do it, and we came here and we did it.”

Allison Reed and Saulius Ambruleviciusa (LTU) reached the Olympics at the third time of asking as a captivating Free Dance sealed their Beijing gold. © ISU

“It was very mental at this stage of our careers,” Ambrulevicius added.

“Physically, we're super ready and it was no doubt that we can push it till the end. But, mentally there was a point where I had a brain freeze towards one of the last choreo elements. After that it was a very big regroup right away and we finished the program strong.”

Harris/Chan had narrowly missed the Olympic spot at the ISU World Championships as well but were ready to fight for a place at the qualifying event. The Australians delivered a romantic dance to “Clair de Lune” that was highlighted by level-four twizzles and lifts. Harris/Chan picked up 110.15 points and totaled 183.50 points to remain in second place.

“We are definitely feeling really grateful right now and a lot of relief,” Harris noted.

“Obviously, over the summer, we worked really hard to be ready early, and I'm just grateful for our team for preparing us so well, and also for Jason for sticking in it with me and working his butt off each day with me.

“Ever since Worlds, we just put our heads down and really just decided this is what we wanted to do and we made it happen.”

Holly Harris and Jason Chan (AUS) saw their hard work pay off, taking second place with a romantic dance to 'Clair de Lune'. © ISU

With only four spots available and the couples ranked third to seventh separated by just a few points, the tension was high. Val/Kazimov pulled up from fifth to third with their lyrical program to “Exogenesis Symphony” to take the bronze and the third Olympic spot at 170.32 points.

“Honestly, I would have never imagined to be here when we started,” Val said.

“We have grown so much in so little time, as a couple, as a team overall, at home in Madrid. Just everything has developed so, so much, but honestly this is just another step in our path.

“We have so many big goals and so many wishes that I'm just really excited for what's to come for us,” she continued.

“We are still kind of under shock and still trying to process the whole thing that happened,” Kazimov commented.

Sofia Val and Asaf Kazimov (ESP) began the day in fifth but climbed to third to take the third spot in Milan Cortina. © ISU

Two-time Olympians Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Lu of China have only returned to competition this season but came from sixth place in the Rhythm Dance to clinch that last Olympic spot by finishing fourth on 168.83 points. The home crowd cheered enthusiastically as they enjoyed their “Batman” Free Dance.

“After two years we finally came back to international competition,” Liu said.

“All of the problems and difficulties that we had to overcome are more than we can imagine, but gladly we have the support from our coaches, from our leadership and from everyone else which motivated us to come back to the rink successfully for this season.”

“Ever since we came back it has been like a dream and we could not imagine which result we will get,“ Wang noted.

“We got a lot of support and I want to thank our whole team. We achieved this result together.“

Milla Ruud Reitan/Nikolaj Majorov (SWE) were edged out of an Olympic spot by just 0.23 points, coming fifth on 168.60 points. As they are the first substitutes, they still can hope to get a spot. Mariia Ignateva/Danijil Szemko (HUN) finished sixth on 167.73 points while 2025 Asian Winter Games Champions Utana Yoshida/Masaya Morita slipped from fourth to seventh place with 167.63 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.

Gumennik (AIN) tops turbulent Olympic Men’s qualifier

Petr Gumennik (AIN) topped the Men’s Olympic qualifying competition to earn an Olympic quota place together with Hyungyeom Kim of Korea, Mexico’s Donovan Carrillo, Kyrylo Marsak of Ukraine and Chinese Taipei’s Yu-Hsiang Li.

Gumennik was last to skate and looked composed when he stepped onto the ice and into the role of “Evgeni Onegin”, the hero of Alexander Pushkin’s epic poem of the same name.

He opened with a quad flip, but then stumbled on the quad Lutz. Gumennik recovered to nail a quad Salchow-triple toe, triple Axel and triple Lutz, but two more quads were not clean. The 2020 ISU World Junior bronze medalist netted 169.02 points for his performance and 262.82 points overall.

Petr Gumennik (AIN) overcame a stumble in his 'Evgeni Onegin' Free Skate to retain first place in the Olympic qualification competition. © ISU

The standings shuffled quite a bit beneath Gumennik’s gold and the tension was high as to who would get an Olympic spot.

Kim moved up from fourth to second place with a strong performance to “Lawrence of Arabia” that included a quadruple toeloop and seven clean triple jumps. The 2024 Youth Olympic Games Champion set a season's best score with 153.91 points in the Free Skating and 228.60 points overall.

“I was very nervous in the Short Program and worried about Free Skating,” Kim admitted.

“I gave it my very best even though there were a few mistakes and I am pleased with it. I feel very honored to have earned an Olympic spot.”

Hyungyeom Kim (KOR) moved up from fourth to second place following his strong 'Lawrence of Arabia' routine. © ISU

Carrillo struggled with some jumps in his Elvis Presley program and ranked only ninth in the segment at 137.39 points but held on to the bronze medal at 222.36 points When the score came up and the Mexican realized that he had done enough to get a quota place, he let out a huge shout of relief.

“The wait for the score felt longer than in my program. It felt like an eternity,” Carrillo commented.

“I tried to fight for every element, and tried to get every point that I could for all the spins, the choreography, the steps, everything.

“I could just put all the effort in each element and in the end I am happy that the effort paid off and I’m here today sharing this moment with all these incredible skaters.

"I’m just so grateful to make it for the second time to the Olympic Games.”

Donovan Carrillo (MEX) could only rank ninth in the Free Skate but held onto third place overall and book a ticket to the Olympics. © ISU

Standing in sixth place following the Short Program, Marsak knew he had a chance to fight for a spot and that was exactly what he did. The Ukrainian skater landed six triples and a slightly under-rotated quad Salchow in his routine set to “I’m Tired” by Labrinth. Marsak netted 145.24 points for the Free Skating and pulled up to fourth at 217.57 points overall.

“This competition was an amazing atmosphere, the venue, the spectators, everything was wonderful. I am proud to be here to represent my country and very honored to get the place,” Marsak said.

“I'm most proud of that I finished this program, it was really difficult. I gave everything that I had. I was barely walking off the ice, I was tired, there was a lot to think about, a lot to do and I still managed so I'm most proud of that.”

Li was in eighth place following the Short Program but he did not give up on his Olympic goal. Skating to “Eleanor Rigby”, the 18-year-old landed seven clean triple jumps to rank third in the Free Skating with 146.67 points.

He captured the last spot in fifth place (216.98 points) and is the first skater from Chinese Taipei to earn an Olympic quota place since 1998.

“I have some regrets as I made few mistakes and I was very nervous when I saw the score,” Li said.

“When I found out I got a spot, I was thrilled. I didn’t have high expectations and a lot of doubts when coming here, but finally I got the ticket.”

Davide Lewton Brain (MON) missed out on a spot by just 0.86 points coming sixth. Francois Pitot (FRA) dropped from third to seventh and thus did not secure a third quota place for the French men.

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.

Relieve the action on the ISU YouTube channel. 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):