ISU cancels 2021 Four Continents figure skating event

The Four Continents Championships in figure skating scheduled for February in Australia has been canceled by the International Skating Union because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 2023 Four Continents will be staged in Sydney instead.

'œConsidering the pandemic developments and related impact on the organizers and participants of ISU events, the ISU Council decided to cancel,'ť the governing body for the sport said in a statement Friday.

Already for the figure skating season that begins on Oct 23. with Skate America in Las Vegas, the Grand Prix Final in Beijing and Skate Canada in Ottawa have been called off. The other five Grand Prix series events are on, but only skaters from the host nation or those training in that country are able to compete. Those events are in Russia, France, China and Japan.

The ISU awarded the 2022 Four Continents to Tianjin, China, but did not set a date for them. The Winter Olympics are scheduled for Beijing in February 2022.

Also awarded were the 2023 European Figure Skating Championships to Helsinki; the 2023 World Junior Championships to Calgary; and the worlds to Saitama, Japan.