The annual figure skating competition featuring non-European athletes will take place in Seoul this week.

Mokdong Ice Rink in the nation's capital will stage the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, organized by the International Skating Union.

The competition was first held in 1999, and the name of the event refers to Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania, four of the five continents in the Olympic rings except Europe.

The Four Continents will come to South Korea for the fifth time. Jeonju, some 240 kilometers south of Seoul, was the last South Korean host of the event back in 2010.

This year's competition will bring together 94 skaters from 15 countries in the men's singles, the ladies' singles, pairs and ice dance.

After two days of practice, the competition will open on Thursday with ice dance's short dance, the pairs' short program, and the men's short program.

On Friday will be the free dance in ice dance and the ladies' short program.

The pairs' free skating and the men's free skating will take place on Saturday. The ladies' free skating will be on Sunday, followed by the gala performances by the medalists.

The event has been dominated by the United States, Canada, Japan and China, who have combined to win 190 of 192 medals so far.

South Korea and Uzbekistan have won the other two medals.

The ladies' singles will feature two of the ISU Grand Prix champions in the ongoing 2014-2015 season: Rika Hongo of Japan, who captured the Rostelecom Cup last November, and Gracie Gold of the United States, who won the NHK Trophy later the same month.

Li Zijun, the reigning Chinese champ, and Gabrielle Daleman, the 2015 Canadian champion, will also be in the field. Li was the bronze medalist at last year's Four Continents.

Two South Korean Olympians will also skate in the ladies' singles. Park So-youn, the South Korean national champion this year at 17, will try to improve on her ninth-place finish at last year's Four Continents, which was her first competition as a senior.

Another 17-year-old, Kim Hae-jin, also made her senior international debut at last year's Four Continents and ranked three spots ahead of Park. Kim was a huge disappointment at the national championship this year, however, finishing in fifth place, her worst performance in six career appearances.

Kim Yu-na, the retired Olympic champ, is the only South Korean to have won the ladies' singles gold, having done so in 2009 in Vancouver.

Takahito Mura of Japan will try to win his second straight Four Continents title in the men's singles. He will have to fend off Dennis Ten from Kazakhstan, the 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, and Nam Nguyen of Canada, the 2014 world junior champion and the 2015 Canadian champion.

Kim Jin-seo, a two-time South Korean champ, will be the host's best hope. He withdrew from the Four Continents last year with a leg injury and placed 19th the year before that.

The ice dance and pairs will have star-studded lineups. Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Canada, the reigning Grand Prix Final champs, will be chasing their first Four Continents title since 2010, the last time the event was held in South Korea.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who placed second behind the Canadians at the Grand Prix Final, will try to topple their rivals from north of the border this time. In all, four of the top five ice dance teams from the Grand Prix Final will be here.

In the pairs, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China are the defending champs. They finished third at the Grand Prix Final, while Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada took the title. The Canadians will eye a return to the top of the Four Continents podium after winning the 2013 event. (Yonhap)