Bergamo hosted the third Challenger event of 2026-27 after Norwood and Tokyo. Five weeks remain before the Grand Prix, and the Lombardia Trophy was the last start where programmes can be fixed without losing ranking points. The results: Shun Sato won the men's event with 268.44 — the best score in the world so far this season; Mone Chiba took her first gold of the season among the women; and a clean free skate moved Alexandra Ignatova from sixth after the short up to fourth.
Sato against himself
After his Milan 2026 bronze, the Japanese skater is running two controlled events a month: he closed the Kinoshita Cup in Tokyo with silver, and in Bergamo added a 174.59 free to his 93.85 short. Two quad lutzes, a 4-3 combination in the second half — and not a single level error. "My season started yesterday," Sato said after the skate. A modest line in form and a loud one in meaning: with Yuma Kagiyama sitting out the season, the Japanese school is looking for a new centre, and Sato is so far the only one showing numbers rather than promises. Kao Miura was third, with a fall on the quad salchow in the free.
Chiba and Ignatova
Mone Chiba withdrew from the Kinoshita Cup in early September — and returned in Bergamo with a new short. 70.12 in the short, 133.04 in the free, 203.56 total. Afterwards she admitted the programme was put together "in six weeks, on a knee" — the judges did not see it, and the Bergamo crowd forgave it. For Alexandra Ignatova, the Lara short left her sixth — a rough skate, an under-rotated combination. The Stranger Things free was clean: 139.77, two quad toes, and the first strong free of the season added to her short run of senior starts. To the podium: 6.4 points. To the Grand Prix: a month of work on exactly this.
The calendar runs ahead
Next in the series: Nebelhorn in Erding on 23-26 September, where the whole neutral roster starts, and the first Grand Prix stage — Angers in France — runs 23-25 October. For Russia, competing under neutral status, Lombardia was the second scored event: Selevko in Norwood, Ignatova in Bergamo. Both already hold the minimums for the World Championships. The maximums are a question of the next six weeks. The next checkpoint is Erding. Its protocol does not forgive the roughness that Bergamo still forgave.
