2025 CS Kinoshita Group Cup

The 2025 Kinoshita Group Cup was a figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Japan Skating Federation, and the third event of the 2025–26 ISU Challenger Series.^[1] It was held at the Kanku Ice Arena in Osaka, Japan, on September 5–7, 2025.^[2] Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance, and skaters earned ISU World Standing points based on their results.

2025 CS Kinoshita Group Cup
Type:	ISU Challenger Series
Date:	September 5 – 7
Season:	2025–26
Location:	Osaka, Japan
Host:	Japan Skating Federation
Venue:	Kanku Ice Arena
Champions
Men's singles: Cha Jun-hwan
Women's singles: Mone Chiba
Pairs: Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara
Ice dance: Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac
Navigation
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Next CS: 2025 CS Lombardia Trophy

Background

The ISU Challenger Series was introduced in 2014. It is a series of international figure skating competitions sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU) and organized by ISU member nations. The objective was 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.^[3] The 2025–26 Challenger Series consists of eleven events, of which the Kinoshita Group Cup was the third.

Changes to preliminary assignments

The International Skating Union published the initial list of entries on August 8, 2025.^[4][5][6][7]

Date	Discipline	Withdrew	Added	Ref.
August 11	Pairs	Karina Akapova Nikita Rakhmanin	—	[8]
August 19		Anastasia Golubeva Hektor Giotopoulos Moore	—	[9]
	Women	Antonina Dubinina	—
August 23		You Young	—	[10]
August 26	Pairs	Maria Pavlova Alexei Sviatchenko	—	[11]
August 29		Kelly Ann Laurin Loucas Éthier	—	[12]
	Women	Stefania Yakovleva	—

Required performance elements

Single skating

Men and women competing in single skating first performed a short program on Friday, September 5.^[2] Lasting no more than 2 minutes 40 seconds,^[13] the short program had to include the following elements:

For men: one double or triple Axel; one triple or quadruple jump; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, two triple jumps, or a quadruple jump and a double jump or triple jump; one flying spin; one camel spin or sit spin with a change of foot; one spin combination with a change of foot; and a step sequence using the full ice surface.^[14]

For women: one double or triple Axel; one triple jump; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, or two triple jumps; one flying spin; one layback spin, sideways leaning spin, camel spin, or sit spin without a change of foot; one spin combination with a change of foot; and one step sequence using the full ice surface.^[14]

Women performed their free skates on Saturday, September 6, while men performed theirs on Sunday, September 7.^[2] The free skate performance for both men and women could last no more than 4 minutes,^[13] and had to include the following: seven jump elements, of which one had to be an Axel-type jump; three spins, of which one had to be a spin combination, one had to be a flying spin, and one had to be a spin with only one position; a step sequence; and a choreographic sequence.^[15]

Pairs

Couples competing in pair skating first performed a short program on Saturday, September 6.^[2] Lasting no more than 2 minutes 40 seconds,^[13] the short program had to include the following elements: one pair lift, one double or triple twist lift, one double or triple throw jump, one double or triple solo jump, one solo spin combination with a change of foot, one death spiral, and a step sequence using the full ice surface.^[16]

Couples performed their free skates on Sunday, September 6.^[2] The free skate performance could last no more than 4 minutes,^[13] and had to include the following: three pair lifts, of which one has to be a twist lift; two different throw jumps; one solo jump; one jump combination or sequence; one pair spin combination; one death spiral; and a choreographic sequence.^[17]

Ice dance

See also: Competition elements in ice dance

Couples competing in ice dance performed their rhythm dances on Saturday, September 6.^[2] Lasting no more than 2 minutes 50 seconds,^[13] the theme of the rhythm dance this season was "music, dance styles, and feeling of the 1990s". Examples of applicable dance styles and music included, but were not limited to: pop, Latin, house, techno, hip-hop, and grunge.^[18] The rhythm dance had to include the following elements: one pattern dance step sequence, one choreographic rhythm sequence, one dance lift, one set of sequential twizzles, and one step sequence.^[18]

Couples then performed their free dances on Sunday, September 7.^[2] The free dance performance could last no longer than 4 minutes,^[13] and had to include the following: three dance lifts, one dance spin, one set of synchronized twizzles, one step sequence in hold, one step sequence while on one skate and not touching, and three choreographic elements.^[18]

Judging

For the 2025–2026 season, all of the technical elements in any figure skating performance – such as jumps and spins – were assigned a predetermined base point value and were then scored by a panel of nine judges on a scale from -5 to 5 based on their quality of execution.^[19] The judging panel's Grade of Execution (GOE) was determined by calculating the trimmed mean (that is, an average after deleting the highest and lowest scores), and this GOE was added to the base value to come up with the final score for each element. The panel's scores for all elements were added together to generate a total element score.^[20] At the same time, judges evaluated each performance based on five program components – skating skills, transitions, performance, composition, and interpretation of the music – and assigned a score from .25 to 10 in .25 point increments. The judging panel's final score for each program component was also determined by calculating the trimmed mean. Those scores were then multiplied by the factor shown on the following chart; the results were added together to generate a total program component score.^[21]

Program component factoring^[22]

Discipline	Short progam or Rhythm dance	Free skate or Free dance
Men	1.67	3.33
Women	1.33	2.67
Pairs	1.33	2.67
Ice dance	1.33	2.00

Deductions were applied for certain violations like time infractions, stops and restarts, or falls.^[23] The total element score and total program component score were added together, minus any deductions, to generate a final performance score for each skater or team.^[24]

Medal summary

The 2025 Kinoshita Group Cup champions: Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea (men's singles); Mone Chiba of Japan (women's singles); Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan (pair skating); and Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac of Canada (ice dance)

Medalists

Discipline	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men	Cha Jun-hwan	Kazuki Tomono	Tomoki Hiwatashi
Women	Mone Chiba	Kaori Sakamoto	Saki Miyake
Pairs	Riku Miura Ryuichi Kihara	Anastasiia Metelkina Luka Berulava	Yuna Nagaoka Sumitada Moriguchi
Ice dance	Marie-Jade Lauriault Romain Le Gac	Emilea Zingas Vadym Kolesnik	Leah Neset Artem Markelov

Results

Men's singles

Men's results^[25]

Rank	Skater	Nation	Total	SP		FS
	Cha Jun-hwan	South Korea	253.31	1	87.76	1	165.55
	Kazuki Tomono	Japan	236.78	2	85.08	5	151.70
	Tomoki Hiwatashi	United States	236.71	4	83.62	3	153.09
4	Sōta Yamamoto	Japan	233.91	3	84.98	6	148.93
5	Tatsuya Tsuboi	Japan	231.19	9	79.82	4	152.37
6	Lee Jae-keun	South Korea	226.53	7	82.41	7	144.12
7	Aleksa Rakic	Canada	221.18	10	78.73	8	142.45
8	Kao Miura	Japan	219.17	6	82.49	10	136.68
9	Lee Si-hyeong	South Korea	218.56	13	62.86	2	155.70
10	Jimmy Ma	United States	218.52	5	83.52	11	135.00
11	Haru Kakiuchi	Japan	203.83	11	65.67	9	138.16
12	Goku Endo	United States	198.20	12	65.24	12	132.96
13	Shunsuke Nakamura	Japan	188.12	8	79.34	13	108.78
14	Tao MacRae	Great Britain	159.84	14	54.59	14	104.95

Women's singles

Women's results^[26]

Rank	Skater	Nation	Total	SP		FS
	Mone Chiba	Japan	216.59	1	73.11	1	143.48
	Kaori Sakamoto	Japan	203.64	4	65.25	2	138.29
	Saki Miyake	Japan	196.79	2	70.29	5	126.50
4	Rinka Watanabe	Japan	189.55	8	57.73	3	131.82
5	Bradie Tennell	United States	187.18	5	64.52	8	122.66
6	Mako Yamashita	Japan	183.81	12	52.40	4	131.41
7	Lee Hae-in	South Korea	183.48	7	59.39	7	124.09
8	Hana Yoshida	Japan	180.62	11	55.41	6	125.11
9	Yun Ah-sun	South Korea	173.51	9	57.35	9	116.16
10	Madeline Schizas	Canada	172.40	3	66.57	10	105.83
11	Wakaba Higuchi	Japan	159.13	6	59.43	11	99.70
12	Sonja Hilmer	United States	144.67	10	55.72	13	88.95
13	Eliška Březinová	Czech Republic	140.68	13	50.05	12	90.64
14	Maria Chernyshova	Australia	110.97	14	43.42	14	67.55

Pairs

Pairs' results ^[27]

Rank	Team	Nation	Total points	SP		FS
	Riku Miura Ryuichi Kihara	Japan	222.94	1	79.94	1	143.00
	Anastasiia Metelkina Luka Berulava	Georgia	212.90	2	75.32	2	137.58
	Yuna Nagaoka Sumitada Moriguchi	Japan	192.77	3	66.27	3	126.50
4	Valentina Plazas Maximiliano Fernandez	United States	167.25	4	59.64	4	107.61
5	Daria Danilova Michel Tsiba	Netherlands	158.24	5	56.47	5	101.77
6	Isabella Gamez Alexander Korovin	Philippines	141.14	6	51.60	6	85.94

Ice dance

Ice dance results^[28]

Rank	Team	Nation	Total points	RD		FD
	Marie-Jade Lauriault Romain Le Gac	Canada	197.90	1	76.40	1	121.50
	Emilea Zingas Vadym Kolesnik	United States	193.51	2	76.24	2	117.27
	Leah Neset Artem Markelov	United States	176.27	3	68.77	3	107.50
4	Hannah Lim Ye Quan	South Korea	172.16	4	66.99	4	105.17
5	Alicia Fabbri Paul Ayer	Canada	169.38	5	66.69	5	102.69
6	Utana Yoshida Masaya Morita	Japan	161.06	6	62.81	6	98.25
7	Lily Hensen Nathan Lickers	Canada	154.03	7	60.29	7	93.74
8	Daniela Ivanitskiy Matthew Sperry	Finland	131.15	8	51.40	8	79.75