Denis Ten Memorial 2025: Figure skaters to watch
As the athlete who put Kazakhstan back into medal conversations at figure skating competitions since Sochi 2014 bronze medallist Denis Ten, it is only fitting that Mikhail Shaidorov will begin his Olympic season at a competition on home ice that honours his late hero.
The 21-year-old had an exceptional 2024-25 season, which included Four Continents Championships gold, Asian Games bronze, a debut trip to the Grand Prix Final, and a slew of history-making jump combinations. The season culminated in Shaidorov taking the silver medal at the 2015 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, USA and securing an Olympic quota for Kazakhstan in men’s singles for Milano Cortina 2026.
While he will be the overwhelming crowd favourite at the event, Shaidorov has a tough battle ahead. He’s faced some challenges in recent months due to a lack of ice time for training and will face strong competition in a men’s field that includes three other skaters who finished in the Top 10 at this year’s world championships.
Cha Junhwan was seventh in Boston and runner-up to Shaidorov at the Four Continents, which were held on his home ice in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The two-time Olympian comes to Almaty on the heels of his win at the Kinoshita Group Cup and may have that advantage of having shaken off first-competition jitters over his Kazakh opponent.
Fellow two-time Olympian Jason Brown of the United States will also start his season in Almaty. He begins the season after a turbulent 2024-25 campaign that saw him make a strong comeback at the home world championships and also captain Team USA to gold at the 2025 World Team Trophy.
Ninth in Boston, Nika Egadze of Georgia is a three-time podium finisher at the Denis Ten Memorial. He won the event in 2022 when it was also held in Almaty, and finished second and third in the following years when it moved to the capital, Astana.