Figure skating is in full swing with the upcoming Trialeti Trophy taking place this Wednesday, Sept. 30 through Saturday, Oct. 3.
In the competition, all four major skating categories are competing with some big names competing in the women’s division.
For the men’s singles category, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan will send two skaters each while Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Italy, Ukraine and the USA are sending one.
Alex Labovich and Vasil Barakhouski of Belarus will be the only skaters making their international senior debut in the men’s singles category, although Barakhouski skated at the junior level earlier this year.
Of the twelve skaters, Georgia’s Nika Egadze and Ukraine’s Kyrylo Marsak went to the 2026 Winter Olympics where they finished 10th and 19th, respectively.
For the women’s singles category, Russia, Canada, Georgia and the USA will send two skaters while Belarus, Armenia, Estonia, Israel, Lithuania and Turkey will be sending one skater each.
Inga Gurgenidze of Georgia will be making her senior international debut. She has skated in the Junior Grand Prix series though with her highest score being 171.12 at the Batumi JPG on Sept. 26th.
Of the 14 women competing at the Trialeti Trophy, Belarus’ Viktoriia Safonova, Russia’s Adeliia Petrosian, Estonia’s Niina Petrokina and Georgia’s Anastasiia Gubanova went to the Olympics. At the Winter Olympics Safonova ended 26th, Petrosian finished sixth, Petrokina got seventh and Gubanova placed ninth.
For the pairs category, Russia is bringing three pairs, the USA are bringing two and Georgia and Ukraine are bringing one each. No pairs will be making their international debut.
Out of the seven pairs competing, only one went to the 2026 Cortina Winter Olympics where Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava finished second.
Finally, there is the ice dance category where 20 pairs of skaters will be competing.
Of the 20 pairs, Russia and France have three pairs, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Canada and Hungary have two and Brazil, China, Georgia, Italy, Switzerland and Ukraine have one each competing.
Out of those pairs, Belarus’s Viktoryia Plaskonnaya and Uladzislau Sytsik, Russia’s Varvara Zhdanova and Timur Babaev-Smirnov, France’s Alisa Ovsiankina and Maximilien Rahier will be making their senior international debuts.
Meanwhile Russia’s Elizaveta Shichina will be making her senior international debut, although her partner Pavel Drozd already made his in 2019.
On Thursday, the competition will start with the women’s short program, ice dance’s rhythm dance and the men’s short program.
On Friday, ice dance’s free dance and men’s free skate will take place before the victory ceremonies for both categories. There will also be the pairs short program.
On Saturday, the women’s free skate and pairs free skate will take place, with the victory celebration shortly after.
The only way to watch the Trialeti Trophy is by going to Ice Stars TV. For $27.85, you can access the live feed and replays after the event.