Bronze medalist of the 2023 World Championship Ilya Malinin (United States), as well as Japanese Kaori Sakamoto And Shoma Uno entered the shortlist of contenders for the most valuable figure skater of the year award, according to the International Skating Union (ISU) website.
From December 11 to January 7, a vote took place, in which representatives of the media and fans took part. The ISU selection committee reviewed the voting results, after which three candidates were selected in each of the six categories.
The Most Valuable Skater Award is given to a single skater, sports couple or dance couple who has promoted figure skating during a successful season and also gained attention on the networks social.
Sakamoto is a double world champion, double bronze medalist at the 2022 Olympic Games (in individual skating and team competition), Uno is a double world champion, triple Olympic medalist.
Nina Pinzarrone (Belgium), Kimmy Repond (Switzerland) and Hana Yoshida (Japan) are nominated for the best newcomer award.
Nominated in other categories:
best entertainment program:
Kevin Aymoz (France) – free program
Layla Fir/Lewis Gibson (Great Britain) – free dance
Adam Siamo Him Fa (France) – free program
best costume:
Madison Chock/Evan Bates (United States) – free dance
Luna Hendricks (Belgium) – free program
Lee Hae In (South Korea) – short program
best choreographer:
Shai-Lynn
Stéphane Lambiel
Benoît Richaud
best coach:
Mie Hamada
Stéphane Lambiel
Sonoko Nakano
The awards ceremony will take place on February 11 in Zurich.
Russian figure skaters have been suspended from participating in competitions under the auspices of the ISU due to the situation in Ukraine.
Source : MatchTV
I’m John White and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. My specialty is covering sports news, which I’ve been doing for over 6 years now. During this time, I have worked as an author with Athletistic, a popular online news website focusing on sports topics.
