World silver medallist and Four Continents champion Mikhail Shaidorov is set to begin his figure skating season on home ice at the Denis Ten Memorial, which will be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan from 1 to 4 October.
Shaidorov won last year’s edition of the Challenger Series event to kick off what would become a breakthrough season for the Kazakh skater.
The competition in Almaty’s Halyk Arena will feature seniors events in men’s singles, women’s singles and ice dance, as well as junior competitions in the same three disciplines.
Discover the top contenders and how to watch the four-day event live in our preview.
- Mikhail Shaidorov takes Kazakh figure skating into flight 10 years after late hero Denis Ten
Figure Skating
Denis Ten Memorial 2025: Figure skaters to watch
As the athlete who put Kazakhstan back into medal conversations at figure skating competitions since Sochi 2014 bronze medallist Denis Ten, it is only fitting that Mikhail Shaidorov will begin his Olympic season at a competition on home ice that honours his late hero.
The 21-year-old had an exceptional 2024-25 season, which included Four Continents Championships gold, Asian Games bronze, a debut trip to the Grand Prix Final, and a slew of history-making jump combinations. The season culminated in Shaidorov taking the silver medal at the 2015 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, USA and securing an Olympic quota for Kazakhstan in men’s singles for Milano Cortina 2026.
While he will be the overwhelming crowd favourite at the event, Shaidorov has a tough battle ahead. He’s faced some challenges in recent months due to a lack of ice time for training and will face strong competition in a men’s field that includes three other skaters who finished in the Top 10 at this year’s world championships.
Cha Junhwan was seventh in Boston and runner-up to Shaidorov at the Four Continents, which were held on his home ice in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The two-time Olympian comes to Almaty on the heels of his win at the Kinoshita Group Cup and may have that advantage of having shaken off first-competition jitters over his Kazakh opponent.
Fellow two-time Olympian Jason Brown of the United States will also start his season in Almaty. He begins the season after a turbulent 2024-25 campaign that saw him make a strong comeback at the home world championships and also captain Team USA to gold at the 2025 World Team Trophy.
Ninth in Boston, Nika Egadze of Georgia is a three-time podium finisher at the Denis Ten Memorial. He won the event in 2022 when it was also held in Almaty, and finished second and third in the following years when it moved to the capital, Astana.
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While Shaidorov will have a tough job fighting through this experienced men’s field, his compatriot Sofia Samodelkina is looking to break through in the women’s event. The 18-year-old national champion was second at the event last year and 14th at the ISU 2025 World Figure Skating Championships.
Republic of Korea’s Lee Haein and Canada’s Madeline Schizas placed higher than Samodelkina in Boston, but the home ice advantage should still give the Kazakh skater an edge over the competition.
In ice dance, Sofia Val/Asaf Kazimov roar in fresh off their stellar performance at the 2025 ISU Skate to Milano Figure Skating Qualifier in Beijing, where they secured Spain a second quota in the discipline.
Sweden’s Milla Ruud Reitan/Nikolaj Majorov came heartbreakingly close to securing an Olympic quota for their National Olympic Committee as well, and will be eager to boost their spirits with a more favourable result in Almaty.
Tenth at the world championships, Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin of Georgia hope to begin their season on a good note, while Canada’s Alicia Fabbri/Paul Ayer are out to improve on their third place finish at the Denis Ten Memorial last year.
How Denis Ten put Kazakhstan on the map with an unlikely winter sport
When the limitations on a young post-Soviet nation couldn’t deter young Kazakh figure skater Denis Ten from defying the giants in his sport.
