Budapest Trophy 2024: Matteo Rizzo claims men's victory in post-surgery comeback as Lukas Britschgi falters

Matteo Rizzo secured victory in the men's singles at the Budapest Trophy figure skating tournament on Sunday (13 October) after seeing his nearest challenger Lukas Britschgi fall short of catching him.

The Italian, who also won this ISU Challenger Series event in 2022, was the last to skate the free program by virtue of topping Friday's short program. That meant Rizzo knew exactly the score he needed to win, and under-rotating his opening quadruple loop did not set him back.

Skating to Coldplay's "Fix You", Rizzo bounced back to put in a strong performance, with only an unclear takeoff edge on his triple flip being marked down by the judges.

The 26-year-old scored 162.49 points in the free skate to bring his total to 247.26 points and win his first title after undergoing hip surgery in early 2024.

Rizzo's path to claiming the trophy was made easier by the fact that Switzerland's Britschgi, barely two points behind after the short program, fell on his second planned jumping element, a quad toe loop. Britschgi also popped a planned triple Axel-double Axel jump sequence down to a single-double sequence.

After the corresponding deduction for a fall and grade of execution and program components hits, Britschgi effectively saw his chances of winning in the Hungarian capital disappear and had to settle for a third consecutive silver in the event with 238.02 points.

Germany's Nikita Starostin took bronze with a total of 199.08 points.

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Budapest Trophy 2024 ISU Challenger Series, men's singles – results, top 10

1. Matteo Rizzo (ITA) 247.26
2. Lukas Britschgi (SUI) 238.02
3. Nikita Starostin (GER) 199.08
4. Kornel Witkowski (POL) 196.13
5. Makar Suntsev (FIN) 194.62
6. Aleksandr Vlasenko (HUN) 187.03
7. Alp Eren Ozkan (TUR) 176.59
8. Vladimir Samoilov (POL) 175.83
9. Burak Demirboga (TUR) 166.62
10. Ali Efe Gunes (TUR) 135.92