Figure Skating pair Anastasia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore have secured an Olympic quota place for Australia in the pairs event at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympics after a ninth place finish at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, USA.
 
The pair started the event in great form, with a career best score of 66.73 in the short program, the eighth best score of the round.
 
In the final free skate program, they had another great skate scoring a season’s best 122.51, the ninth highest of the round.
 
The combined total score of 188.24 gave them a final ranking of ninth, securing a place for Australia at the Milano-Cortina games.
 
Ice Dance couple Holly Harris and Jason Chan have come heartbreakingly close to also securing a quote place, missing out by one spot after finishing 19th, and will have to attend an Olympic Qualification event later this year to secure a quota for Australia in 2026.
 
The couple opened with a score of 63.84 points in the rhythm dance, putting them in 18th and through to the top-20 free dance.
 
In the free dance, the couple scored 104.94 in the 19th highest score of the round, for a combined score of 174.78 and final ranking of 19th.
 
The skaters will be able to compete for additional Olympic quota places at the ISU Qualifying Competition in Beijing, China in late September 2025.
 
Quotes from Giotopoulos Moore and Golubeva (Courtesy of Golden Skate)


Giotopoulos Moore: “We’re definitely happy to have reached the end of this season and to have gotten through it fairly well today. Anastasia, I think, is a little upset about some small mistakes, but overall, we’re just happy to be done with this season.”
 
Golubeva: “Yeah, it was definitely a tough season. We missed a lot of competitions, but luckily, we’re healthy again now.”
 
Both shared that they feel really sad about letting go of this free program. “I loved it so much,” Golubeva said. “I think it’s our Favorite program that we’ve ever skated together.”

The prestigious ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships were held in Seoul, Korea, over the weekend, where Australia achieved top-10 finishes in both the pairs and ice dance events.
 
In the pairs skating, Anastasia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore made a great start in the short program, recording a personal best score of 65.36 points, the sixth highest score of the round.
 
The final free skate program saw the pair score the seventh highest score of the round with 113.40, and a combined score of 178.76 for a final ranking of sixth.
 
“I am really happy, at Skate Canada earlier in the season we set our seasons best, and now to beat that again in our second comp wea re really happy with that” said Giotopoulos Moore after the short program.
 
Holly Harris and Jason Chan also had personal best score in the opening rhythm dance program, scoring 108.75 points in seventh place.
 
In the final free dance, the couple scored 69.37, and a combined total of 178.12 points to be ranked seventh overall, which is also their highest ever finish at the Four Continents.
 
In the women’s singles event Australian skaters Maria Chernyshova finished 21st and in the men’s singles Darian Kapitch was 18th and Douglas Gerber 20th.
 
The next major event is the ISU World Championships will take place this year in Boston, USA, from March 25-30.

The 2024 Australian Figure Skating Championships took place from November 29 to December 6 at the O’Brien Icehouse in Melbourne, with the highlight being the performance of OWIA Ice Dance couple Holly Harris and Jason Chan.
 
Senior Results
 
Senior Dance

1. Holly Harris/Jason Chan (VIC)
2. Romy Malcolm/Kobi Chant (QLD)
3. Samantha Udell/Zach Churton (VIC)

Women

1. Hana Bath (WA)
2. Maria Chernyshova (NSW)
3. Sienna Kaczmarczyk

Men

1. Darrian Kaptich (QLD)
2. Julio Potapenko (NSW)
3. Dougless Gerber (SA)
   

Link for full results: https://results.iceskatingvictoria.org.au/live/FSM/AFSC24/

Pairs skaters Anastasiia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore made history,  claiming Australia’s first ever medal at the prestigious International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix series, whilst competing in the Skate Canada event in Halifax, Canada.
 
The two-time World Junior Championship medallists made a great start to the event, recording a career best score of 64.81 points in the opening short program which put them in third place after the opening round.
 
In the final free skate event, the pair scored 121.33 points, giving them a final ranking of third with a total score of 186.14 points to secure Australia’s first ever medal at the ISU Grand Prix series, improving on their two fourth place finishes in the previous season.
 
Taking the win in their home event were 2024 World Champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada on 197.33, with Ekaterina Geynish and Dmitrii Chigirev of Uzbekistan in second.
 
“We feel honoured and very proud to be able to say that we claimed the first ever Grand Prix medal for Australia, hopefully it’s the first of many” said the 22-year-old Giotopoulos Moore from Sydney.
 
“Being our first competition of the season it was quite challenging both physically and mentally, we are a little bit disappointed with our performance as we know it’s not the best we could’ve done, but we accept what it is and are ready to train hard and improve on the mistakes we made.”

The ISU Grand Prix series commenced in 1995, Australia had medalled previously at the Skate Canada Event wen it was a part of the ISU Challenger Series, with Stephen Carr and Danielle McGrath claiming bronze in 1992.
 
The pair will next compete at the Finlandia Trophy ISU Grand Prix event in Helsinki, Finland, on November 15-17.
 
Also competing for Australia at the ISU GP in Canada were Ice Dance couple Holly Harris and Jason Chan, who finished in tenth place.

Australia has competed at the 2024 ISU Figure Skating World Championships in Montreal, Canada, with Hektor Giotopoulos Moore and Anastasiia Golubeva competing in the pairs and Holly Harris and Jason Chan in the ice dance event.

In the pairs event, Giotopoulos Moore and Golubeva finished in tenth place, just falling short of their eighth place performance at last year's event.

In the opening short program, they scored 63.75 points to put them in eleventh place. The pair then improved in the free skate, with the ninth best score of the round with 119.36 points.

The combined total score came to 182.71 points and a final ranking of tenth.

In the ice dance event, Harris and Chan scored 71.44 in their opening rhythm dance, their highest score of the season, putting them in 16th place.

The ice dance couple then had the 19th ranked score in the free dance of 103.34 points, giving them a combined total of 174.78 points and a final ranking of 17th.

Australian figure skaters have competed at the prestigious International Skating Union Grand Prix events in October, with the pair of Anastasiia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore competing in the Skate Canada event in Vancouver, Canada, and ice dancers Holy Harris and Jason Chan in the Skate America in Allen, TX, USA.

Making their senior Grand Prix debut in Vancouver in pair skating, Golubeva and Giotopoulos Moore finished an impressive fourth overall, after placing third in both the short program and free skate with a total score of 179.61 points, less than two points behind the bronze medal team of Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise from Italy on 181.42.

In first place was Canadian pair Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps on 214.64 with Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary in second place with 187.78 points.

At the Skate America in Allen, Texas, Holly Harris and Jason Chan finished in tenth place with a total score of 156.98 points.

2023 World Champion’s Madison Chock and Evan Bates from the USA took the win with a total score of 212.96 points, with Canadian’s Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha in second on 196.99, with French skaters Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud rounding out the podium in third.

Golubeva and Giotopoulos Moore will compete in their second ISU Grand Prix event of the season at the NHK Trophy in Osaka, Japan, on November 24-26.

Australian figure skating pair Hektor Giotopoulos Moore and Anastasiia Golubeva have recorded an incredible eighth place at their first ever senior World Championship event in Saitama, Japan.

After finishing in the silver medal position at the past two Junior World Championships, the pair showed they are ready to compete against the very best in the world, to record Australia's best World Championship result since Anthony Liu finished seventh in 2002.

The pair started off in the short program scoring 61.85 points to be ranked in 11th place, with just one mistake holding them back from a higher score.

In the free skating final event, the pair had an unbelievable performance to score a personal best 127.52 points, the fifth highest of the round, moving them up into eighth place with a total score of 189.47, also a career best.

In first place was Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi of Japan with 222.16, with Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier of the USA in scoring 217.48 in second, and Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii in third with 208.08.

Also representing Australia at the World Championships was Holly Harris and Jason Chan in the ice dance.

The couple reached the top-20 free dance final skate with a 16th place performance in the short program scoring 64.80.

In the free dance, the couple improved to have the 15th best performance of the round, scoring a career best 104.67 points, giving them a final ranking of 16th overall with a total score of 169.47.

Australian Ice Dance couple Holly Harris and Jason Chan have finished eighth at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Colorado Springs, USA, matching their previous best result at the event.

Competing in the opening rhythm dance, the couple scored 60.71 points and ranked ninth, with a fall impacting their score.

The couple had a much improved final free dance performance, recording a career best score of 101.98 points, the seventh best of all competitors.

With a total combined score from both combined programs of 162.69 points, the final ranking for the couple was eighth place, finishing behind event winners Madison Chock and Evan Bates of America with a score 220.81.

Also in action for Australia at the Four Continents was India Nette and Eron Westwood who finished in 11th in the ice dance, Vlada Vasilev who placed 18th in the women's singles, and Darian Kapitch who also placed 18th in the men's singles.

The ISU 2023 World Figure Skating Championships will be held in Saitama, Japan, from March 20–26.

Australian figure skaters Holly Harris and Jason Chan have claimed victory at the Santa Claus Cup in Budapest, Hungary.

In a field of 14, the ice dance couple had the highest routines in both the rhythm dance and free dance programs to score 178.16 points in total

Competing in her sixth World Championships, two time Olympian Kailani Craine has finished in 22nd place in Montpellier, France.

Craine advanced to the free skate in 22nd place, after scoring 56.64 points in the short program.

In the free skate, she received a score of 105.11 from the judges, giving her a total score of 161.75, and remained in 22nd for her final ranking.

Also representing Australian in Montpellier, were the ice dance couple of Holly Harris and Jason Chan.

Harris and Chan recorded a World Championship personal best finish of 18th place, after scoring 64.91 in the rhythm dance and 95.01 in the free dance,giving them a total score of 159.92 points.

2018 NSWIS Olympian Kailani Craine has just fallen short of qualifying for the free program at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm, Sweden, finishing in 26th place.

The 22-year-old from Newcastle scored 56.86 points in the opening short program at the World Championships, missing out on the 24-woman-final by just two spots in 26th place.

The women's podium was was an historic clean sweep for Russia, with 16-year-old Anna Shcherbakova taking victory with Yelizaveta Tuktamysheva in second place and Aleksandra Trusova in third.

In the Ice Dance event, Australia was represented by Holly Harris and Jason Chan who also just fell short of advancing to finals.

The Ice Dance couple finished the rhythm dance program in 24th place, missing out by four places for the free dance in their World Championship debut.

Victory in the ice dance also went to Russia, with the team of Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov in first, with Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue of the USA in second and Canadian pair Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier rounding out the podium in third.

Unfortunately two time Olympian Brendan Kerry was unable to compete in the men's due to an injury sustained earlier in the season.

IMAGE: Kailani Craine at the World Championships in Stockholm

The Australian Figure Skating community is very excited for our team at the upcoming ISU World Figure Skating Championships being held in Montreal, Canada, later this month.

Our team almost covered every discipline, however the very recent and unexpected split of our Junior World & Junior Grand Prix Pair Champions has left a hole in the team.

This year’s Championship will feature for the first time ever the ISU World Skating Awards with our ice princess, Olympian Kailani Craine nominated in the best costume category. Kailani will compete in the ladies division alongside two time Olympian Brendan Kerry in the mens.

In the ice dance division we have a brilliant new couple Holly Harris and Jason Chan competing in their first World Championship.  

Be sure to tune in for what promises to deliver fantastic performances from our team.

Next year, for the first time ever, Ice Skating Australia will host the prestigious ISU Four Continents Championships in Sydney at Olympic Park Feb. 9-14, 2021.

These Championships will feature the top ranked skaters from US, Canada, Japan, China and Australia in the important pre Winter Olympic year.

Article courtesy of Peter Lynch/Ice Skating Australia

IMAGE: Australian National Champions and our representative at the World Championships, Kailani Craine, Brendan Kerry, Holly Harris and Jason Chan  © Michael Santer Photography