The men at Rostelecom were the mixed bag we've come to expect from men's skating of late, but we discuss the excitement of a clean program, and how it can be a bit marred by silly mistakes, why choosing which quads to attempt and at which point in the program can be so vital to the overall result, a concerning lack of stamina from some skaters, and why wearing stirrup pants might be more trouble than they're worth.

This week's Russian skating event was slightly more international, and we discuss the ladies at the third Grand Prix event of the season! We discuss quad success rates across disciplines, what makes for an effective costume change, how COVID and competition have had a negative impact on a lot of the skaters, and why spin and step sequence levels were again a determining factor in this competition.

We wrap up stage four of the Russian Cup with the men's events, and then the thing keeping us going this year - Russian pairs! We discuss the relative merits of a short program quad flip, gush about Moskvina, her pairs, and her choreography, and marvel at the depth, quality, and ruthlessness of this pairs event and the many head to head battles to come in the next month and a half.

There were a lot of quads in the ladies and not quite as much competition in the dance at stage four of the Russian Cup, and in this part one of our recap we discuss our concerns about increased attention, COVID, and pressure on the very young junior ladies, our relief at seeing skaters not too upset over their mistakes, and why hiding your weak spots with choreography can only do so much in a tough senior ice dance field.

This year's Cup of China felt like a very odd Grand Prix event with very restricted fields, but we discuss all of the skaters in one place here, and discuss how our high standards for Chinese pairs match those we have for Russian pairs, the pressure the Chinese ladies must be feeling in trying to make it to a home Olympics, and how excited we are to see young men competing who look like they're having fun in their programs.

We conclude our recap of stage three of the Russian Cup with the men and pairs, and discuss scary pairs mistakes, why pairs is the one discipline where the domestic judging can be a little less over the top, and why with so many top skaters getting injured, Russia might have shot itself in the foot by requiring so many competitions to make it to nationals this year.

Due to the cancellation of Skate Canada International, this week we're taking a look back at the third stage of the Russian Cup, beginning with ladies and dance! We discuss how disappointing it is to see such small senior dance fields in Russia, why The Artist is not a musical (including by the ISU's definition), our frustration with coaches not supporting their skaters when they make mistakes, and why strong spins can overtake a triple axel, particularly when bonus points are involved.

Finally, we wrap up Skate America with the pairs event, which was a real fight for podium spots, and we discuss overly harsh tech calls, more awkward choreography, and how tough it might be for a new team outside of Europe to be able to go to Worlds (if it happens).

There was a lot of talent in the ice dance event, but we found ourselves frustrated with a number of issues, including over the top scoring, programs that don't live up to their full potential, and why we can't get behind age inappropriate choreography, even if it's not in a junior event.

The men's event was a bit hit or miss on the jumping front, but we discuss the programs we loved and were underwhelmed by, a great senior debut, the many spin issues across the field, and the great Quad Loop controversy of the competition.