2025-26 Retirements, Splits and New Partnerships

[surimi]

Follow all the latest figure skating retirements, splits, and new partnerships for the 2025–26 season in one place. This thread tracks confirmed announcements across singles, pairs, and ice dance, comeback news, and newly formed teams from around the world.

Feel free to post additions/changes (using full names and the country the skater/s represent, please), along with the source.

Retirements

Women
- Linnea Ceder (Finland)
- Ema Doboszova (Slovakia)
- Maria Egawa (Japan)
- Wakaba Higuchi (Japan)
- Mia Kalin (USA)
- Eva Lotta Kiibus (Estonia)
- Linnea Kilsand (Norway)
- Anastasia Marasanova (Russia)
- Miyabi Oba (Japan)
- Kristen Spours (Great Britain)
- Josefin Taljegard (Sweden)
- Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (Russia)
- Hana Yoshida (Japan)
- Ava Marie Ziegler (USA)

Men
- Burak Demirboga (Turkey)
- Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA)
- Kai Jagoda (Germany)
- Yuto Kishina (Japan)
- Sihyeong Lee (South Korea)
- Landry Le May (France)
- Yaroslav Paniot (USA)

Ice Dance
- Marie Dupayage / Thomas Nabais (France)
- Yoshimitsu Ikeda (Japan)
- Carolane Soucisse / Shane Firus (Ireland)
- Azusa Tanaka (Japan)
- Elizabeth Tkachenko / Alexei Kiliakov (Israel)

Pairs
- Ioulia Chtchetinina (Poland)
- John Crafoord (Sweden)
- Luke Digby (Great Britain)
- Raine Eberl (Canada)
- Rebecca Ghilardi (Italy)
- Tobija Harms (Germany)
- Riku Miura / Ryuichi Kihara (Japan)
- Wenjing Sui / Cong Han (China)

Career Breaks
- Sophia Lexi Jacqueline Frank (Philippines)
- Yuma Kagiyama (just for 2026-27 season)
- Tatsuya Tsuboi (Japan)

Returns
- Keegan Messing (Canada)

Splits

Ice Dance
- Zoe Bianchi / Pietro Rota (Italy)
- Laurence Briere / Julien Levesque (Canada)
- Saya Carpenter / Jon Maravilla (USA)
- Helena Carhart / Filip Bojanowski (Poland)
- Olivia Corneil / Alexandre Emery (Canada)
- Aurea Cincon-Debout / Earl Jesse Celestino (Canada)
- Leia Dozzi / Pietro Papetti (Italy)
- Alicia Fabbri / Paul Ayer (Canada)
- Laura Finelli / Massimiliano Bucchiarelli (Italy)
- Eliane Foroglou-Gadoury / Luke Anderson (Canada)
- Sandrine Gauthier / Quentin Thieren (Canada)
- Lily Hensen / Nathan Lickers (Canada)
- Olivia Ilin / Dylan Cain (USA)
- Hanna Jakucs / Alessio Galli (Netherlands)
- Anjou Karino and Andrew Song (Canada)
- Enna Kesti / Oskari Liedenpohja (Finland)
- Tasha Lai / Gabriel Liu (Taiwan)
- Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha (Canada)
- Hannah Li / Nathan Feng (Canada)
- Hannah Lim / Ye Quan (South Korea)
- Anna MacKenzie / Wesley Lockwood (Sweden)
- Sofia Pascual / Sergio Parra (Spain)
- Christina Podgornei / Thierry Caron (Canada)
- Emilie Proulx / Corentin Cincon-Debout (Canada)
- Athena Roberts / Eric Alis (Spain)
- Dana Sabatini-Speciale / Danny Kaye (Great Britain)
- Aleksandra Shinkarenko / Mikhail Antonov (Russia)
- Ksenia Sipunova / Miron Korjagin (Estonia)
- Mai Tarvainen / Aarne Savola (Finland)
- Azusa Tanaka / Shingo Nishiyama (Japan)
- Madison Tong / Michael Boutsan (Canada)
- Chisato Uramatsu / Atsuhiko Tamura (Japan)
- Maite Van Mulders / Robbe De Vos (Belgium)
- Sumire Yoshida / Ibuki Ogahara (Japan)
- Irmak Yücel / Danil Pak (Turkey)
- Eliska Zakova / Filip Mencl (Czech Republic)
- Emilia Ziobrowska / Shiloh Douglas Judd (Romania)

Pairs
- Fiona Bombardier / Benjamin Mimar (Canada)
- Beau Callahan / Vladimir Furman (Canada)
- Ioulia Chtchetinina / Michal Wozniak (Poland)
- Greta Crafoord / John Crafoord (Sweden)
- Nica Digerness / Mark Sadusky (USA)
- Linyuan Feng / Zexuan Wang (China)
- Olivia Flores / Luke Wang (USA)
- Ekaterina Geynish / Dmitrii Chigirev (Uzbekistan)
- Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini (Italy)
- Mujun Hu / Yinbo Dong (China)
- Paola Jurisic / Michail Savenkov (Austria)
- Yasmina Kadyrova / Ilya Mironov (Russia)
- Martina Ariano Kent / Charly Laliberte-Laurent (Canada)
- Kelly Ann Laurin / Loucas Ethier (Canada)
- Katie McBeath / Daniil Parkman (USA)
- Addyson McDanold / Aaron Felberbaum (USA)
- Monique Menard / Mitchell Dunn (Canada)
- Julia Quattrocchi / Etienne Lacasse (Canada)
- Letizia Roscher / Luis Schuster (Germany)
- Ashlyn Schmitz / Raine Eberl (Canada)
- Audrey Shin / Balazs Nagy (USA)
- Isla Shenton / Joel Kirby (Great Britain)
- Anastasia Vaipan-Law / Luke Digby (Great Britain)
- Lily Wilberforce / Moses Jozsef Berei (Hungary)
- Zarah Wood / Alex Lapsky (Great Britain)
- Megan Yudin / Patrizio Romano Rossi Lopez (Spain)

New Partnerships
Partnerships in strikethrough have since dissolved.

Ice Dance
- Sofia Aleksova / Sviatoslav Nefedov (Russia)
- Nadiia Bashynska / Noe Perron (Canada)
- Chaima Ben Khelifa / Julien Lévesque (Canada)
- Zoe Bianchi / Daniel Basile (Italy)
- Laurence Briere / Earl Jesse Celestino (Canada)
- Jane Calhoun / Mark Zheltyshev (USA)
- Effie Chen / Gordei Chitipakhovian (USA)
- Lianne Fan / Oliver Ma (unspecified)
- Isabella Flores / Linus Colmor Jepsen (France -> USA)
- Audra Gans / Danil Pak (Canada)
- Darya Grimm / Grigory Rodin (Germany)
- Rika Kihira / Shingo Nishiyama (Japan)
- Nicole Kirsanov / Kajin Peng (USA)
- Sara Kishimoto / Michail Savitskiy (Germany)
- Tasha Shin Hui Lai / Gabriel Liu (Taiwan)
- Iris Lahti / Oskari Liedenpohja (Finland)
- Leina Liu / Henrick Chan (Canada)
- Mia Lee Mayer / Atl Ongay Perez (Germany)
- Stella Mitchell / Corentin Cincon-Debout (Canada)
- Tallulah Belle Neary / Jonathan Young (Great Britain)
- Mariia Nekhaeva / Dmytriy Kravchenko (Israel)
- Jasmine Robertson / Chase Rohner (USA)
- Gabriella Rodriguez / Aaaron Gutman (USA)
- Eva Rozhnova / Platon Zubkov (Finland)
- Anna Rumak / Antonin Emo (France)
- Lumia Sassi / Aarne Savola (Finland)
- Ashlie Slatter / Louis Gregory (Great Britain)
- Mizuho Sugimoto / Eisuke Kumano (unconfirmed)
- Chisato Uramatsu / Atsuhiko Tamura (Japan)
- Amanda Urban / Peter Beaumont (Canada)
- Lilian Wheelahan / Wolfe Jin (USA)
- Irmak Yücel / Danil Pak (Turkey)

Pairs
- Starr Andrews / Daniil Parkman (USA)
- Charlene Bailey / Nathan Bartholomay (USA)
- Fiona Bombardier / Loucas Ethier (Canada)
- Yuxuan Chen / Yinbo Dong (China)
- Ekaterina Geynish / Marco Zandron (Uzbekistan)
- Elizabeth Hansen / Hudson Lewis (USA)
- Mujun Hu / Zexuan Wang (China)
- Chelsea Liu / Ryan Bedard (USA)
- Anita Mapelli / Noah Quesada Grau (Spain)
- Miroslava Oreshkin / Vladimir Furman (Canada)
- Nina Ouellette / Charly Laliberte-Laurent (Canada)
- Lyndsay Ream / Danny Neudecker (USA)
- Amy Ritchie / Mitchell Dunn (Canada)
- Dauria Romanenko / Timmy Chapman (USA)
- Nora Rothenbuehler / Manuel Rossi (Switzerland)
- Katie Shen / Connor O'Grady (USA - unconfirmed)
- Taisia Sobinina / Petr Alekseenko (Russia)
- Zinia Wood / Harry Mattick (Great Britain)

See also:

• 2024-25 season
• 2023-24 season
• 2022-23 season
• 2021-22 season
• 2020-21 season
• 2019-20 season

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Jasmine Robertson / Chase Rohner are a new (Junior?) Ice Dance team for the USA per the newest update of the USFS International Selection Pool.

Jasmine is the 2023/24 Novice National & US Ice Dance Final champion with her former partner, while Chase is the 2023/24 Intermediate US Ice Dance Final champion with his then partner. With this kind of background, I'm very much looking forward to seeing this new partnership.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Another new team brought to you via USFS ISP udate - Chelsea Liu / Ryan Bedard are a new pairs team for the USA
(Yes, that Chelsea Liu, I was surprised too.)

Good luck to them, and please, no more concussions for Chelsea

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Japanese Ice Dance team Azusa Tanaka / Shingo Nishiyama (2x National Silver medalists) have split

Azushin split.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Japanese Ice Dance team Azusa Tanaka / Shingo Nishiyama (2x National Silver medalists) have split

This is simultaneously also the first retirement of the season (even though some others have been announced for the end of the season already), as Azusa has decided to give up competitive skating.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

The new season just started, and the announcements are rolling in

New (Junior) Ice Dance team for Great Britain : Tallulah Belle Neary / Jonathan Young (per Dallas Classic entry list)

 

[saine]

Anna Rumak and Antonin Emo are a new Ice Dance team for France from the Masters de Patinage entries - https://www.ffsportsdeglace.fr/mast...t-danse-sur-glace-decouvrez-les-selectionnes/

 

[labgoat]

This is simultaneously also the first retirement of the season (even though some others have been announced for the end of the season already), as Azusa has decided to give up competitive skating.

Sad for the split. Loved these costumes and the fun program. Talk about sparking joy!

 

[saine]

Yaroslav Paniot (Men, USA) announced his retirement:

 

[skatingfan4ever]

Sad for the split. Loved these costumes and the fun program. Talk about sparking joy!

In a sea of "same-ish" RDs in 2023/2024 (even when those programs were skated well), they gave us Super Mario. They stood out by doing so. So much fun!

 

[moonvine]

Yaroslav Paniot (Men, USA) announced his retirement:

Not allowed. No one can retire until after the Olympics.

 

[yuumagical]

Not allowed. No one can retire until after the Olympics.

If only life worked like that...

For the record, I'm really gonna miss Yaro's sassy performance style (and I'm also sad I didn't get to see him perform in person).

 

[labgoat]

If only life worked like that...

For the record, I'm really gonna miss Yaro's sassy performance style (and I'm also sad I didn't get to see him perform in person).

So am I - I love your description - sassy performance indeed. Thank you Yaro for giving us energy, sass, fun and style. May you get lots of show and coaching offers!

 

[iluvtodd]

Wishing all the best to Yaro. So glad that he will continue to be involved in the sport.

 

[noskates]

I guess we won't be seeing that Elvis Presley program again.....

 

[saine]

Mia Kalin (Women, USA) announced her retirement:

 

[moonvine]

Mia Kalin (Women, USA) announced her retirement:

Beat me by 9 minutes, more people retiring outside of acceptable retirement window

 

[ramurphy2005]

Beat me by 9 minutes, more people retiring outside of acceptable retirement window

Maybe, I'm reading too much into it, but I read stepping away as more of taking a mental health break than being done for good, but I wish her the best in whatever path she chooses to take.

 

[midori green]

Mia Kalin (Women, USA) announced her retirement:

Mia seemed noticeably happier and her spirit seemed lighter when she skated at nationals this past season compared to previous times I've watched her skate. I'm glad she was able to connect with Alysa Liu (who can probably strongly relate to Mia's situation) and the coaches who seem to understand them both. Unfortunate and sad that she was in a unhealthy situation previously, but seems she has some clarity and a plan for moving forward. I wish her the best.

 

[Jeanie19]

Mia Kalin (Women, USA) announced her retirement:

I am sad for her. I was always rooting for her. But I am happy that she is putting her own needs first.