Bofrost Cup on Ice

The Bofrost Cup on Ice was an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the German Ice Skating Union (German: Deutsche Eislauf-Union). The first iteration was held in 1986 in Frankfurt. When the ISU launched the Champions Series (later renamed the Grand Prix Series) in 1995, the German competition – then called the Nations Cup – was one of the five qualifying events. It remained a Grand Prix event until 2002, after which point it was supplanted by the Cup of China. This event was held under several names, including the Fujifilm Trophy and the Sparkassen Cup on Ice. The last installment of this competition took place in 2004.

Bofrost Cup on Ice
Status	Defunct
Genre	ISU Grand Prix
Location(s)	Gelsenkirchen
Country	Germany
Years active	1986–2004
Organised by	German Ice Skating Union

Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Skaters earned points based on their results at the qualifying competitions each season, and the top skaters or teams in each discipline were invited to then compete at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. Evgeni Plushenko of Russia holds the record for winning the most Bofrost Cup on Ice titles in men's singles (with four), while Maria Butyrskaya of Russia holds the record in women's singles (with three). Mandy Wötzel and Ingo Steuer of Germany hold the record in pair skating (with four), while Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov of Russia hold the record in ice dance (with four).

History

Beginning with the 1995–96 season, the International Skating Union (ISU) launched the Champions Series – later renamed the Grand Prix Series – which, at its inception, consisted of five qualifying competitions and the Champions Series Final. This allowed skaters to perfect their programs earlier in the season, as well as compete against the skaters with whom they would later compete at the World Championships.^[1] This series also provided the viewing public with additional televised skating, which had been in demand.^[1] The five qualifying competitions during the inaugural season were the 1995 Nations Cup, the 1995 NHK Trophy, the 1995 Skate America, the 1995 Skate Canada, and the 1995 Trophée de France.^[2] Skaters earned points based on their results in their respective competitions and the top skaters or teams in each discipline were invited to compete at the 1995–96 Champions Series Final.^[1]

The inaugural competition – the 1986 Fujifilm Trophy – was held in Frankfurt. Petr Barna of Czechoslovakia won the men's event, Dianne Takeuchi of Canada won the women's event, Melanie Gaylor and Lee Barkell of Canada won the pairs event, and Lia Trovati and Roberto Pelizzola of Italy won the ice dance event.^[3] From 1986 to 1987, the competition was known as the Fujifilm Trophy. There was no event held in 1988. In 1989, the competition – now known as the Nations Cup – moved to Gelsenkirchen, where it remained for the entirety of its run. In 1998, the competition changed its name to the Sparkassen Cup on Ice, and in 2002, it again changed its name, this time to the Bofrost Cup on Ice, in recognition of its sponsor, the frozen foods company Bofrost.

In 2003, the Bofrost Cup on Ice lost its spot in the Grand Prix series after the Chinese Skating Association reached a more lucrative television contract with the ISU, and the Cup of China replaced it on the schedule.^[4] Reinhard Mirmseker, then-president of the German Ice Skating Union, tried to convince the ISU that rather than stripping the rights to a Grand Prix event from Germany, they should hold a seventh Grand Prix event instead, or perhaps rotate the sixth event among the nations of Europe, but those suggestions were turned down.^[4]

Despite losing its spot in the Grand Prix series, the German Ice Skating Union continued to stage the competition anyway, but with a unique format. In lieu of the usual short programs, singles skaters competed in a jumping event, where each skater performed a particular jump or jump combination in a round-robin format and were scored by a panel of judges. After each skater received their score, they had the option of either keeping it, or risk performing the jump again for a potential higher score. Skaters with the lowest average scores were eliminated in each round.^[4] Carolina Kostner of Italy praised the format of the event: "This competition was very cool. Every skater had a second chance."^[4] Likewise, Joannie Rochette of Canada stated: "This competition is really good. It's exciting and thrilling. I like the combination of a jump competition with a free program."^[4] The comparable event for pair teams involved performing throw jumps, side-by-side jumps, and lifts in the same competitive format. Ice dance teams performed their original dances as they would have at a normal competition.^[4] All skaters and teams performed their free skates or free dances for the second half of the competition. Although this new format was well received, and the German Ice Skating Union had hoped to continue it as an annual invitational event,^[4] the Bofrost Cup on Ice did not continue after 2004.

Medalists

The 2002 Bofrost Cup on Ice champions: Evgeni Plushenko of Russia (men's singles); Yoshie Onda of Japan (women's singles); Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China (pair skating); and Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria (ice dance)

Men's singles

Men's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1986	Frankfurt	Petr Barna	Alessandro Riccitelli	Zhang Shubin	[3]
1987		Christopher Bowman	Vladimir Petrenko	Makoto Kano	[5]
1988	No competition held
1989	Gelsenkirchen	Petr Barna	Viktor Petrenko	Paul Wylie	[6]
1990		Kurt Browning	Todd Eldredge	Ronny Winkler	[7]
1991		Mark Mitchell	Mirko Eichhorn	Daniel Weiss	[8]
1992		Todd Eldredge	Alexei Urmanov	Viacheslav Zagorodniuk	[9]
1993		Viktor Petrenko	Scott Davis	Sébastien Britten	[10]
1994		Elvis Stojko	Shepherd Clark	Dmitri Dmitrenko	[11]
1995		Viacheslav Zagorodniuk	Alexei Urmanov	Todd Eldredge	[12]
1996		Alexei Urmanov	Dmitri Dmitrenko	Alexei Yagudin	[13]
1997		Elvis Stojko	Igor Pashkevich	Alexander Abt	[14]
1998		Alexei Yagudin	Alexander Abt	Andrejs Vlascenko	[15]
1999		Evgeni Plushenko	Guo Zhengxin	Matthew Savoie	[16]
2000			Timothy Goebel	Li Chengjiang	[17]
2001					[18]
2002			Alexander Abt		[19]
2003		Stefan Lindemann	Jeffrey Buttle	Silvio Smalun	[20]
2004			Ben Ferreira	Matthew Savoie	[21]

Women's singles

Women's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1986	Frankfurt	Dianne Takeuchi	Fu Caishu	Cornelia Renner	[3]
1987		Midori Ito	Jill Trenary	Natalia Gorbenko	[5]
1988	No competition held
1989	Gelsenkirchen	Tonya Harding	Marina Kielmann	Patricia Neske	[6]
1990		Kristi Yamaguchi	Evelyn Großmann	Karen Preston	[7]
1991		Nancy Kerrigan	Marina Kielmann	Laëtitia Hubert	[8]
1992		Surya Bonaly	Tanya Bingert	Marina Kielmann	[9]
1993		Tanja Szewczenko	Oksana Baiul	Rena Inoue	[10]
1994		Marina Kielmann	Elena Liashenko	Tanja Szewczenko	[11]
1995		Michelle Kwan	Maria Butyrskaya	Nicole Bobek	[12]
1996		Irina Slutskaya	Tara Lipinski	Vanessa Gusmeroli	[13]
1997		Tanja Szewczenko	Irina Slutskaya	Elena Liashenko	[14]
1998		Elena Sokolova	Yulia Lavrenchuk	Maria Butyrskaya	[15]
1999		Maria Butyrskaya	Elena Liashenko	Irina Slutskaya	[16]
2000			Sarah Hughes	Tatiana Malinina	[17]
2001			Yoshie Onda	Angela Nikodinov	[18]
2002		Yoshie Onda	Fumie Suguri	Susanna Pöykiö	[19]
2003		Joannie Rochette	Susanna Pöykiö	Júlia Sebestyén	[20]
2004		Jane Bugaeva	Constanze Paulinus	Annie Bellemare	[21]

Pairs

Pairs event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1986	Frankfurt	Melanie Gaylor Lee Barkell	Colette May Carl Nelson	Kerstin Kiminus Stefan Pfrengle	[3]
1987		Jill Watson Peter Oppegard	Laurene Collin John Penticost	Brigitte Groh Holger Maletz	[5]
1988	No competition held
1989	Gelsenkirchen	Elena Bechke Denis Petrov	Peggy Schwarz Alexander König	Calla Urbanski Mark Naylor	[6]
1990		Natalia Mishkutionok Artur Dmitriev	Christine Hough Doug Ladret	Radka Kovaříková René Novotný	[7]
1991		Isabelle Brasseur Lloyd Eisler	Evgenia Shishkova Vadim Naumov		[8]
1992		Mandy Wötzel Ingo Steuer	Kyoko Ina Jason Dungjen	Oksana Kazakova Dmitri Sukhanov	[9]
1993		Evgenia Shishkova Vadim Naumov	Mandy Wötzel Ingo Steuer	Kyoko Ina Jason Dungjen	[10]
1994		Mandy Wötzel Ingo Steuer	Oksana Kazakova Dmitri Sukhanov	Stephanie Stiegler Lance Travis	[11]
1995		Marina Eltsova Andrei Bushkov	Mandy Wötzel Ingo Steuer	Elena Berezhnaya Oleg Shliakhov	[12]
1996		Mandy Wötzel Ingo Steuer	Marina Eltsova Andrei Bushkov	Kyoko Ina Jason Dungjen	[13]
1997			Elena Berezhnaya Anton Sikharulidze	Evgenia Filonenko Igor Marchenko	[14]
1998		Maria Petrova Alexei Tikhonov	Peggy Schwarz Mirko Müller	Tiffany Stiegler Johnnie Stiegler	[15]
1999			Jamie Salé David Pelletier	Shen Xue Zhao Hongbo	[16]
2000		Sarah Abitbol Stéphane Bernadis	Maria Petrova Alexei Tikhonov	Tatiana Totmianina Maxim Marinin	[17]
2001		Shen Xue Zhao Hongbo	Kyoko Ina John Zimmerman	Maria Petrova Alexei Tikhonov	[18]
2002			Julia Obertas Alexei Sokolov	Dorota Zagórska Mariusz Siudek	[19]
2003		Valérie Marcoux Craig Buntin	Julia Obertas Sergei Slavnov	Elizabeth Putnam Sean Wirtz	[20]
2004		Viktoria Borzenkova Andrei Chuvilaev	Valérie Marcoux Craig Buntin	Rebecca Handke Daniel Wende	[21]

Ice dance

Ice dance event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1986	Frankfurt	Lia Trovati Roberto Pelizzola	Elizabeth Coates Alan Abretti	Dominique Yvon Frédéric Palluel	[3]
1987		Marina Klimova Sergei Ponomarenko	Antonia Becherer Ferdinand Becherer	Michela Malingambi Andrea Gilardi	[5]
1988	No competition held
1989	Gelsenkirchen	Maya Usova Alexander Zhulin	Suzanne Semanick Ron Kravette	Andrea Weppelmann Hendryk Schamberger	[6]
1990		Irina Romanova Igor Yaroshenko	April Sargent Russ Witherby	Anna Croci Luca Mantovani	[7]
1991		Tatiana Navka Samuel Gezalian	Kateřina Mrázová Martin Šimeček	April Sargent-Thomas Russ Witherby	[8]
1992		Anjelika Krylova Vladimir Fedorov	Stefania Calegari Pasquale Camerlengo	Jennifer Goolsbee Hendryk Schamberger	[9]
1993		Irina Romanova Igor Yaroshenko	Kateřina Mrázová Martin Šimeček	Elena Kustarova Oleg Ovsyannikov	[10]
1994		Marina Anissina Gwendal Peizerat	Margarita Drobiazko Povilas Vanagas	Jennifer Boyce Michel Brunet	[11]
1995		Anjelika Krylova Oleg Ovsyannikov	Irina Romanova Igor Yaroshenko	Irina Lobacheva Ilia Averbukh	[12]
1996			Shae-Lynn Bourne Viktor Kraatz	Sophie Moniotte Pascal Lavanchy	[13]
1997			Marina Anissina Gwendal Peizerat	Irina Romanova Igor Yaroshenko	[14]
1998			Shae-Lynn Bourne Viktor Kraatz	Kati Winkler René Lohse	[15]
1999		Shae-Lynn Bourne Viktor Kraatz	Kati Winkler René Lohse	Albena Denkova Maxim Staviski	[16]
2000		Barbara Fusar-Poli Maurizio Margaglio	Margarita Drobiazko Povilas Vanagas	Shae-Lynn Bourne Viktor Kraatz	[17]
2001			Marie-France Dubreuil Patrice Lauzon	Natalia Romaniuta Daniil Barantsev	[18]
2002		Albena Denkova Maxim Staviski	Galit Chait Sergei Sakhnovsky	Kati Winkler René Lohse	[19]
2003		Marie-France Dubreuil Patrice Lauzon	Kati Winkler René Lohse	Federica Faiella Massimo Scali	[20]
2004		Albena Denkova Maxim Staviski	Isabelle Delobel Olivier Schoenfelder	Ekaterina Rubleva Ivan Shefer	[21]

Records

Records

Discipline	Most titles
	Skater(s)	No.	Years	Ref.
Men's singles	Evgeni Plushenko	4	1999–2002	[22]
Women's singles	Maria Butyrskaya	3	1999–2001	[23]
Pairs	Mandy Wötzel Ingo Steuer	4	1992; 1994; 1996–97	[9][11][13][14]
Ice dance	Anjelika Krylova Oleg Ovsyannikov	4	1995–98	[24][9]
	Anjelika Krylova [a]	5	1992; 1995–98

1. Anjelika Krylova won three titles while partnered with Vladimir Fedorov (1992) and four with Oleg Ovsyannikov (1995–98).

Cumulative medal count

Men's singles

Total number of Bofrost Cup medals in men's singles by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia	6	4	2	12
2	United States	3	5	4	12
3	Canada	3	2	1	6
4	Germany	2	1	4	7
5	Ukraine	2	1	2	5
6	Czechoslovakia	2	0	0	2
7	Soviet Union	0	2	0	2
8	China	0	1	4	5
9	Azerbaijan	0	1	0	1
	Italy	0	1	0	1
11	Japan	0	0	1	1
Totals (11 entries)		18	18	18	54

Women's singles

Total number of Bofrost Cup medals in women's singles by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	5	3	2	10
2	Russia	5	2	2	9
3	Germany	3	3	2	8
4	Japan	2	2	1	5
5	Canada	2	1	2	5
6	France	1	0	2	3
7	Ukraine	0	4	1	5
8	West Germany	0	1	2	3
9	Finland	0	1	1	2
10	China	0	1	0	1
11	Hungary	0	0	1	1
	Soviet Union	0	0	1	1
	Uzbekistan	0	0	1	1
Totals (13 entries)		18	18	18	54

Pairs

Total number of Bofrost Cup medals in pairs by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia	5	6	3	14
2	Germany	4	3	1	8
3	Canada	3	4	1	8
4	Soviet Union	2	1	0	3
5	China	2	0	1	3
6	United States	1	2	5	8
7	France	1	0	0	1
8	East Germany	0	1	1	2
9	Great Britain	0	1	0	1
10	Czech Republic	0	0	2	2
11	Latvia	0	0	1	1
	Poland	0	0	1	1
	Ukraine	0	0	1	1
	West Germany	0	0	1	1
Totals (14 entries)		18	18	18	54

Ice dance

Total number of Bofrost Cup medals in ice dance by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia	5	0	4	9
2	Soviet Union	4	0	0	4
3	Italy	3	1	3	7
4	Canada	2	3	2	7
5	Bulgaria	2	0	1	3
6	France	1	2	2	5
7	Ukraine	1	1	1	3
8	Germany	0	2	3	5
9	United States	0	2	1	3
10	Czech Republic	0	2	0	2
	Lithuania	0	2	0	2
12	West Germany	0	1	1	2
13	Great Britain	0	1	0	1
	Israel	0	1	0	1
Totals (14 entries)		18	18	18	54

Total medals

Total number of Bofrost Cup medals by nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia	21	12	11	44
2	Canada	10	10	6	26
3	United States	9	12	12	33
4	Germany	9	9	10	28
5	Soviet Union	6	3	1	10
6	Ukraine	3	6	5	14
7	France	3	2	4	9
8	Italy	3	2	3	8
9	China	2	2	5	9
10	Japan	2	2	2	6
11	Bulgaria	2	0	1	3
12	Czechoslovakia	2	0	0	2
13	West Germany	0	2	4	6
14	Czech Republic	0	2	2	4
15	Great Britain	0	2	0	2
	Lithuania	0	2	0	2
17	East Germany	0	1	1	2
	Finland	0	1	1	2
19	Azerbaijan	0	1	0	1
	Israel	0	1	0	1
21	Hungary	0	0	1	1
	Latvia	0	0	1	1
	Poland	0	0	1	1
	Uzbekistan	0	0	1	1
Totals (24 entries)		72	72	72	216