ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2023 preview: Levito, Miura/Kihara and Chock/Bates all aim for titles ahead of figure skating worlds

Who will skate away as champions from Four Continents this weekend?

The figure skating season continues on in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, which features the top international skaters from outside of Europe.

The singles disciplines kick things off on Thursday (9 February), with official events held through Sunday. Get the full schedule and how to watch the action here.

Four Continents marks the final major event ahead of next month's World Championships, set to be held in Saitama, Japan. Two weeks ago, Europe crowned its champions in Espoo, Finland.

It's a varied field in Colorado, with top stars including Uno Shoma, Ilia Malinin and Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier not skating this event. But the four fields remain fiercely competitive, with Isabeau Levito (pictured above), Watanabe Rinka, Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi as well as Madison Chock and Evan Bates all set to feature.

Reigning men's champion Cha Junhwan returns, as does Jin Boyang, who won this event in 2018. Chock/Bates captured the dance title in both 2019 and 2020, while we are guaranteed new champions in both women's singles and pairs.

See the full preview of action and find out the stars to watch for in Colorado Springs.

Men: Opportunity awaits in open field

No Shoma, no Ilia... no problem? A mix of veterans and up-and-comers clash, with both Cha and Jin looking to recapture their former glory at Four Continents.

While the 21-year-old Cha is coming off of a seventh consecutive Korean national title, Jin hasn't competed internationally since finishing ninth at the Olympic Games Beijing 2022.

Canada's Keegan Messing won a second consecutive national title last month in what he has said is his last competitive season.

Nineteen-year-old Sato Shun won two Grand Prix medals to qualify for the Grand Prix Final (where he was fourth), but was left off the Japanese Worlds team after missing out on the top three at nationals in late December.

Teammate Miura Kao, 17, is also looking for post-nationals redemption having placed sixth there. He won silver at both Skate America and Skate Canada International, then was fifth at the Final.

While we won't see reigning world champ Uno in action, we will see his Swiss training mate Shimada Koshiro in the field, who last month finished just behind Shoma for silver at nationals.

The U.S. is sending three skaters looking for a big moment in front of the home crowd, including Liam Kapeikis, Jimmy Ma and Maxim Naumov.

Women: All eyes on Levito, Watanabe, Kim

Japanese women have captured eight of the last 10 stagings of Four Continents, and it's Watanabe, who has had a breakout season and will look to continue that trend as she sharpens her skating ahead of a home World Championships.

The triple Axel-jumping Rinka is the lone Japanese singles skater competing at both Four Continents and worlds, and she's set to be joined by Chiba Mone and Yoshida Hana.

Chiba has landed on the podium of the last two Japanese junior nationals, though she's yet to make a mark on the senior circuit, while fellow 17-year-old Yoshida won two Junior Grand Prix golds earlier this season.

American skaters have a tight turnaround from their national championships just two weeks ago, where 15-year-old Levito won her first U.S. title. She said she's looking forward to the challenge of a quick pivot to an international event.

"I'm really excited to see how I handle two very important competitions in a very short period of time," Levito told Olympics.com. "I'm not going home; [we're] going straight from one competition to [the next]."

She added: "I feel like as I do more competitions I get used to the environment [more]. I'm becoming more familiar with the environment of these international competitions."

She's joined by teammates Bradie Tennell, who has been building momentum after missing all of last season due to an ankle injury, and Amber Glenn, who will look to join Watanabe with a triple Axel in the free skate.

Also to watch: Canadian champion Madeline Schizas; and Korean skaters Kim Yelim and Lee Haein, both of whom are looking to level up internationally having had marked success so far this season.

Pairs and dance: Miura/Kihara, Chock/ Bates favoured

We are without two potential showdowns, with Miura/Kihara set to clash with reigning world champs Knierim and Frazier in pairs, though the Americans opted to do the Art on Ice tour in Europe and are therefore missing Four Continents.

That makes the Japanese duo heavy favourites in the pairs field, where Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps will look to land on the podium after winning the Canadian title as Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe of the U.S. attempt to strengthen their international CV, as well.

The dance showdown between Chock/Bates and Grand Prix Final winners Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier will have to wait, as well, with Gilles continuing to recover from an appendectomy that forced the team to miss Canadian nationals in January.

Instead, new Canadian winners Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sørensen will look to tap into the same skating that vaulted them to victory over Chock/Bates at NHK Trophy in the first half of the season.

Former world champion and Olympic medallist in singles Takahashi Daisuke continues his strong form in ice dance with partner Muramoto Kana, while Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha of Canada and China's Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu are also teams to watch.

ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2023: Full schedule

See the full schedule for the skating in Colorado Springs, with all times listed local (Mountain Time).

Thursday, 9 February

12:35-15:55 - Women's short program

18:45-21:50 - Men's short program

Friday, 10 February

11:35-13:25 - Pairs short program

14:35-16:50 - Ice dance rhythm dance

18:00-21:50 - Women's free skate

Saturday, 11 February

14:50-16:55 - Pairs free skate

18:15-21:55 - Men's free skate

Sunday, 12 February

13:15-15:50 - Ice dance free dance

18:30-21:00 - Exhibition gala