Nepela Memorial

The inaugural edition of the Nepela Memorial – then called the Ondrej Nepela Memorial – was held in 1993 in Bratislava.^[2] The competition is named in honor of Ondrej Nepela, a Slovak figure skater who competed internationally for Czechoslovakia. He was the 1972 Olympic gold medalist, three-time world champion (1971–73), five-time European champion (1969–73), eight-time Czechoslovak national champion (1965–69, 1971–73),^[3] and was named the Slovak Athlete of the Century in 2000.^[4] He died in February 1989 at the age of 38.^[5][6]

The ISU Challenger Series was introduced in 2014. It is a series of international figure skating competitions sanctioned by the International Skating Union 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.^[7] The Ondrej Nepela Trophy was one of the inaugural competitions.^[8] When an event is held as part of the Challenger Series, it must host at least three of the four disciplines (men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance) and representatives from at least ten different ISU member nations. The minimum number of entrants required for each discipline is: eight skaters each in men's singles and women's singles, five teams in pair skating, and six teams in ice dance. Each ISU member nation is eligible to enter up to three skaters or teams per discipline in each competition, although the Slovak Figure Skating Association may enter an unlimited number of entrants in their own event.^[9]

In February 2016, the ISU declared that the Ondrej Nepela Trophy, along with the Nebelhorn Trophy, the Finlandia Trophy, and the Golden Spin of Zagreb would constitute a "core group" of Challenger Series events in recognition of their long-standing tradition.^[10] The Nepela Memorial has been a Challenger Series event every year since,^[11] except for 2020 and 2021, when the competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[12][13] In April 2026, the ISU again announced that the Nepela Memorial would again be included in a core group of Challenger Series events, along with the Nebelhorn Trophy, the Golden Spin of Zagreb, and one competition from either Canada or the United States.^[14]

The 2025 Nepela Memorial champions: Kévin Aymoz of France (men's singles); Lara Naki Gutmann of Italy (women's singles); and Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck of Spain (ice dance)

CS: Challenger Series event

Men's singles

More information Year, Location ...

Men's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1993	Bratislava	Michael Shmerkin	Zsolt Kerekes	M. Viel	[2]
1994		Zsolt Kerekes	Thierry Cerez	Gilberto Viadana	[15]
1995		Stanick Jeannette	Szabolcs Vidrai	Gabriel Monnier	[16]
1996		Roman Serov	Anthony Liu	Matthew Kessinger	[17]
1997		Anthony Liu	Alexei Kozlov	Patrick Schmit	[18]
1998		Laurent Tobel	Jayson Dénommée	Evgeni Pliuta	[19]
1999		Thierry Cerez	Stanick Jeannette	Frédéric Dambier	[20]
2000		Vincent Restencourt	Dmytro Dmytrenko	Silvio Smalun	[21]
2001		Stanislav Timchenko	Róbert Kažimír	Vitaliy Danylchenko	[22]
2002		Stéphane Lambiel	Stefan Lindemann	Gregor Urbas	[23]
2003		Naiden Borichev		Karel Zelenka	[24]
2004		Stefan Lindemann	Kevin van der Perren	Tristan Cousins	[25]
2005		Scott Smith		Tomáš Verner	[26]
2006		Gregor Urbas	Jordan Miller	Igor Macypura	[27]
2007		Kevin van der Perren	Nicholas LaRoche	Gregor Urbas	[28]
2008		Kensuke Nakaniwa	Paolo Bacchini	Jamal Othman	[29]
2009	Piešťany		Viktor Pfeifer		[30]
2010	Bratislava	Akio Sasaki	Kim Lucine	Anton Kovalevski	[31]
2011		Daisuke Murakami	Kevin van der Perren	Samuel Contesti	[32]
2012		Tatsuki Machida	Daisuke Murakami	Tomáš Verner	[33]
2013		Tomáš Verner	Takahito Mura	Peter Liebers	[34]
2014 CS		Stephen Carriere	Kim Jin-seo	Gordei Gorshkov	[35]
2015 CS		Jason Brown	Mikhail Kolyada		[36]
2016 CS		Sergei Voronov	Kevin Reynolds	Roman Savosin	[37]
2017 CS		Mikhail Kolyada	Sergei Voronov	Brendan Kerry	[38]
2018 CS				Keiji Tanaka	[39]
2019 CS		Dmitri Aliev	Matteo Rizzo	Deniss Vasiļjevs	[40]
2020		Competitions cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic			[12]
2021					[13]
2022 CS		Gabriele Frangipani	Cha Jun-hwan	Deniss Vasiļjevs	[41]
2023 CS			Nika Egadze	Mark Gorodnitsky	[42]
2024 CS		Daniel Grassl	Nikolaj Memola	Corey Circelli	[43]
2025 CS		Kévin Aymoz	Matteo Rizzo	Daniel Grassl	[44]

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Women's singles

More information Year, Location ...

Women's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1993	Bratislava	Mojca Kopač	Emília Nagy	Tatiana Malinina	[2]
1994		Irena Zemanová	Julia Lautowa	Mlle Pierot	[15]
1995		Krisztina Czakó	Vanessa Gusmeroli	Julia Lautowa	[16]
1996		Svetlana Bukareva	Tsvetelina Abrasheva	Angela Nikodinov	[17]
1997		Sabina Wojtala	Mojca Kopač	Tatiana Plusheva	[18]
1998		Zuzana Paurova		Christina Riedel	[19]
1999			Sabina Wojtala	Nina Sackerer	[20]
2000		Galina Maniachenko	Amber Corwin	Sabina Wojtala	[21]
2001		Júlia Sebestyén	Julia Lautowa	Mojca Kopač	[22]
2002		Carolina Kostner	Sarah Meier	Júlia Sebestyén	[23]
2003		Galina Maniachenko	Júlia Sebestyén	Julia Lautowa	[24]
2004		Viktória Pavuk	Jenna McCorkell	Zuzana Babiaková	[25]
2005		Júlia Sebestyén	Alissa Czisny	Amber Corwin	[26]
2006		Megan Williams-Stewart	Júlia Sebestyén	Ivana Reitmayerová	[27]
2007		Júlia Sebestyén	Michelle Boulos	Jenna McCorkell	[28]
2008		Ivana Reitmayerová	Tuğba Karademir	Sarah Hecken	[29]
2009	Piešťany	Mutsumi Takayama	Kerstin Frank	Isabelle Pieman	[30]
2010	Bratislava	Haruka Imai	Valentina Marchei	Patricia Glescic	[31]
2011		Maé-Bérénice Méité	Shoko Ishikawa	Léna Marrocco	[32]
2012		Jenna McCorkell	Monika Simančíková	Eliška Březinová	[33]
2013		Haruka Imai	Nikol Gosviani	Christina Gao	[34]
2014 CS		Roberta Rodeghiero	Joshi Helgesson	Ashley Cain	[35]
2015 CS		Evgenia Medvedeva	Anna Pogorilaya	Maria Artemieva	[36]
2016 CS		Maria Sotskova	Yulia Lipnitskaya	Mariah Bell	[37]
2017 CS		Evgenia Medvedeva	Rika Hongo	Elena Radionova	[38]
2018 CS		Rika Kihira	Elizabet Tursynbaeva	Stanislava Konstantinova	[39]
2019 CS		Alexandra Trusova	Kaori Sakamoto	Kim Ha-nul	[40]
2020		Competitions cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic			[12]
2021					[13]
2022 CS		Isabeau Levito	Lara Naki Gutmann	Lee Hae-in	[41]
2023 CS		Kim Chae-yeon	Lee Hae-in	Madeline Schizas	[42]
2024 CS		Yun Ah-sun	Mariia Seniuk	Lara Naki Gutmann	[43]
2025 CS		Lara Naki Gutmann	Anna Pezzetta	Sarina Joos	[44]

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