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Junior & Senior Final · Palavela, Turin · 5–8 December 2019

The Grand Prix Final in Italy: Turin’s historic return

On 5–8 December 2019, the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final arrived at Palavela in Turin, where the season’s momentum hung in the balance. Senior and junior athletes in men’s, ladies’, pairs and ice dance had reached the event through the Grand Prix points system, then faced one last test in Italy’s former Olympic city. The atmosphere combined the intimacy of a skating crowd with the scale of an international championship.

The history of the Grand Prix Final being held in Italy for the first time contains an important wrinkle. Turin 2019 was the first edition staged in Turin and the first return to Italy in two decades, but it was not the Final’s absolute Italian debut: the competition then called the World Grand Prix Final was held in Milan in January 1999. The Italian story therefore began in Milan, disappeared from the calendar for twenty years, and returned in a form built for modern television, international travel and a new generation of competitors.

A modern championship takes shape

The modern Final was born in 1995, when Stuttgart hosted the first World Grand Prix Final. Its premise was simple but transformative. Instead of one national championship deciding an athlete’s season, skaters competed across a chain of international events, earned points for their placements and carried those totals into a season-ending meeting. The best results counted, rewarding consistency as well as one spectacular performance, while the Final supplied the concentrated drama that a travelling series could not.

The name changed to the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in 2009, but the competition’s central format endured. Its host cities moved across Europe, North America and Asia. Stockholm, Toronto, Vienna, Geneva, Washington, Quebec, Beijing and Tokyo helped establish the Final as a movable global showcase. National federations treated a place on the tour as a major season objective, and broadcasters learned to follow elite skating throughout winter rather than treating it as a short Olympic-season sport.

A junior Final eventually joined the senior event, giving developing skaters the same championship framework at an earlier stage. That expansion mattered in Turin because the programme invited the public to watch both established names and prospects moving into senior competition. Italy had long had clubs, coaches and committed family support systems behind its skaters. Hosting the entire Final gave those structures a prominent week in which to celebrate them while presenting the country to an international audience.

Milan came first, Turin changed the story

Milan’s 1999 edition belongs to a different media and sporting era. The event was marketed under the World Grand Prix name, and the field included the era’s major names, with the headline disciplines shaped by competitors such as Alexei Yagudin, Irina Slutskaya and the leading pairs and ice dance teams of the period. It established Italy as a credible Final host even though it did not create a permanent Italian foothold on the calendar.

Much changed before the competition returned. The Grand Prix became more international, scoring and broadcast presentation became more polished, and the culture surrounding the sport expanded through online clips, social media and year-round coverage. Athletes travelled between continents with greater regularity, while clubs in Australia, North America and Asia became increasingly serious centres of elite training. The rink still demanded the same blend of edge control, stamina and performance nerve, yet the Final now functioned as both a sporting championship and an entertainment production.

Turin’s staging carried one more piece of hindsight. In December 2019, few inside the arena could know that the pandemic would soon halt international competition and cancel the Final for the following two seasons. Looking back, Torino 2019 appears as one of the last large, substantially normal winter championships before global travel and crowded venues changed. For Italy, it was also a homecoming with a contemporary finish: a modern crowd in a modern Olympic-era building, celebrating an old competition in a very Italian form.

Why Palavela suited the occasion

Turin did not need convincing as a skating city. It hosted the figure skating and short track events at the 2006 Winter Olympics, staged the 2006 European Figure Skating Championships and had earlier welcomed the 1934 World Championships. The 1956 Olympic Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo added another layer to Italy’s winter-sports memory. Turin consequently had both institutional experience and public appetite for hosting elite skating.

Palavela, opened in 2005 and designed by Peter Rice, supplied the right physical setting. Its sweeping elliptical form, temporary competition floor and seating for more than 4,000 spectators placed viewers close to the speed and sound of the sport. The building sat in the Olympic district beside the Parco Olimpico, within easy reach of central Turin by public transport. Its visual drama also worked for cameras, helping the Final look and sound like a major event without requiring a conventional permanent ice-hockey layout.

The information surrounding the event was as important as the building. Practice schedules gave spectators a view of preparation and technique, venue guides explained seating and access, and volunteer registration showed how a four-discipline championship was assembled. The official Torino 2019 tickets page remains the clearest reference for seat categories, admission information and the visitor route through the ticketing system, rather than relying on an unfamiliar resale marketplace.

What the Final delivered on the ice

Nathan Chen reclaimed the men’s title with the winning total, while Alina Zagitova made it back-to-back Grand Prix Final titles in the ladies’ event. The senior results and major competitive stories included:

Beyond the winners, the meeting brought several disciplines into sharper focus. Chen’s scoring margin showed the value of converting difficult elements under pressure, while the pairs and ice dance fields offered a contrast in movement, musical interpretation and partnership. Junior competition added another layer, allowing future international names to experience the Final’s pressure before moving into the senior ranks. The exhibition gala then brought the leading casts together for a celebratory conclusion rather than a competitive verdict.

For supporters and first-time visitors, the event offered a broad view of the programme:

An Italian winter event seen from Australia

For Australian spectators, the Final reversed the seasons. December had brought summer to Australia while Turin settled into its winter light. Sydney and Melbourne were ten hours ahead of Turin during Australian Eastern Daylight Time, Brisbane was nine hours ahead and Perth seven. An evening programme therefore reached eastern Australia in the small hours, while western viewers could watch many sessions over an afternoon. This is familiar for Australians following European winter sport, but the time-zone arithmetic is easy to overlook when a gala runs late.

Australia’s skating life also reaches beyond national championships. Clubs around the country maintain year-round indoor programmes despite hot summers, from Melbourne’s O’Brien Icehouse to Sydney’s Penrith Ice Age, and weekend sessions often mix beginners, returning adults and competitive skaters on shared ice. In familiar Australian parlance, a meeting with such depth and variety would be called a “ripper”, while a volunteer coordinating the visit could greet newcomers with a cheerful “good on ya”. The Palavela audience fitted that friendly, energetic tone even though the competition itself was fiercely judged.

The Australian event market also shapes how international spectators plan. Ticket prices are commonly published in euros, so buyers need to allow for the euro-to-dollar rate, card charges and the time required for overseas support to respond. Official sales channels should be compared with resale listings on price, exchange rules and delivery method, not simply on the lowest number. For a longer European winter-sports itinerary, travellers can also compare adjacent major-event and destination options through Canwest Games, while using the linked official information for the Torino-specific details.

Explore the Torino 2019 results, competitor profiles, practice information and ticketing guide, then take the next step towards experiencing a world-class skating final in person. The Italian chapter runs from Milan’s pioneering edition to Turin’s polished return, and for Australian fans it offers a rare live window onto the sport, the city and a winter culture very different from home.