The 2020 U.S. Figure Skating Qualifying Season begins Wednesday, Oct. 2, with the South Atlantic Singles Challenge, Eastern Great Lakes Singles Challenge, Northwest Pacific Singles Challenge, Eastern Sectional Pairs Challenge, Eastern Ice Dance Pairs Challenge and the Midwestern Ice Dance Challenge. After a week off, the remaining competitions will resume with the 2020 Sectional and U.S. Finals taking place Nov, 12-16, 2019.
More than 1,800 skaters are registered to compete across all four disciplines.
Skaters will begin the U.S. Qualifying Season with either a Regional Singles Challenge, Sectional Pairs Challenge or Sectional Ice Dance Challenge. Regional Singles Challenges will be held in each of U.S. Figure Skating’s nine regions. One region within each section will host a Sectional Pairs Challenge and Sectional Ice Dance Challenge, rotating among that section’s regions every three years. These events are open-entry.
Qualifying skaters will advance to a Sectional Singles Final, the U.S. Pairs Final or the U.S. Ice Dance Final, respectively.
Following the Finals, the top four senior athletes from each Singles Sectional Final will advance to the 2020 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, which will be held January 20–26, 2020, in Greensboro, North Carolina. In the junior competition, the top four junior athletes and the top two novice athletes from each Singles Sectional Final will compete at the U.S. Championships. From the Pairs and Ice Dance Finals, the top 12 teams at the senior and junior levels will advance to the U.S. Championships. Alternatively, the top juvenile, intermediate and novice athletes will be named to the National High Performance Development Team. The selected athletes will attend the National High Performance Development Camp in conjunction with U.S. Championships in Greensboro.
New this season, qualifying skaters were able to advance directly to a Final by qualifying through the National Qualifying Series. The National Qualifying Series, which began on June 1, 2019, is a series of official U.S. Figure Skating approved competitions hosted individually by member clubs nationwide. They are held in a standard format and in which athletes earn official scores toward a sectional (singles only) and national rank. These are open-entry competitions held between June 1 and Sept.15 and serve juvenile through senior competitors in singles, pairs and ice dance events. The top six individual skaters and top three teams in each section at each level advanced directly to the Final.
Visit the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone for links to live results. For Regional and Sectional Challenges, on-demand video will be available on the Figure Skating Pass on NBC Sports Gold (senior and junior competitions) and the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone (juvenile, intermediate and novice competitions) the week after each competition. In November, the Figure Skating Pass on NBC Sports Gold and the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone will carry live coverage of Sectionals and Finals.
*Note: New England & North Atlantic Regional Challenges will be held in the same location, but will be run as two separate competitions.
2020 TOYOTA U.S. Figure Skating Championships
Greensboro Coliseum Complex | Greensboro, North Carolina | Jan. 20-26, 2020 | www.ncskate2020.com
