This week we're going back in time to cover a competition we missed recapping over the holidays - Japanese Nationals! We begin with a discussion of the one and only current Japanese pair team, followed by the ladies, where we discuss the merits of tough Nationals scoring, the struggles of two former national champions, and the fantastic rise of two skaters to the podium who've struggled a bit with their consistency lately.

It's been a while since we've seen as strong a pairs field as this, and we take the time to discuss every single one of the amazing skates from the pairs at Russian Nationals! We discuss the impossible choice of who to send to Junior Worlds, why the Russian pairs standard and the international pairs standard are not the same at all, and fantasize about a competition where the best Russian pairs can all compete against the best of the rest of the world.

The men had a rough time of it at Russian Nationals, and we discuss the struggles everyone had putting two clean skates together, our concerns over the pressure put on a lot of the juniors skating senior, whether attempting quads is even worth it for some of these skaters, and whether the final standings came out the way they should have.

We continue our discussion of Russian Nationals with the ice dance, which was a mixed event. We discuss wobbly twizzles and being on the wrong side of uncontrolled speed, lament the lack of weird programs from the Russian teams this season, and laugh over awkward music choices that maybe should have been put through a translator and/or music editor.

We're back from our holidays to discuss the 2019 Russian Nationals, starting with one of the perennial highlights, the ladies! We discuss the continued fight for dominance between the top three finishers and what balance of triple Axels and quads might be needed for each of the three to win Worlds, plus we get excited over some young skaters who finished down the results list, lament the lack of a number of great skaters from years previous, and try to figure out what, if anything, can be done about broken boots at a competition.

The junior ladies have long been a highlight at the Final, and this year's crop were no exception. We discuss how to project confidence to help your GOEs, why you can still win in juniors or seniors without a quad or triple axel, and why criticizing young girls for not having it all at 13 or 14 is so frustrating and counter-productive for long and healthy skating careers.

The junior men at the Final had a very good JGP season, but saw some struggles in this last event. We discuss strategies for breaking in new boots, the best Kiss and Cry reactions of the event, and why getting a time deduction to make sure you get a level 4 on your last spin might be risky for your point total, but gets you total respect from us.

We've been excited about junior dance all season long, and the Final was a chance to see where the best all stack up against each other! We discuss the best Bonnie and Clyde programs of the season, how important good camera angles are to ice dance, and which teams are ready to make the push to the senior level and which could still use another junior season.

Junior pairs have long been dominated by great Russian teams, and this year's Final was no exception. We recap the slightly disappointing skates by the incoming favourites, a team with more difficult side-by-side jumps than the senior teams, and try to parse out just which teams will make it to Junior Worlds between all the amazing teams we saw here.

The ladies at the Final displayed an unprecedented level of technical difficulty, and we discuss why this change should be more shocking than it is, the short preparation time most of the skaters have to get ready for their national championships, and whether Trusova in particular can continue and even build on the level of technical difficulty she's currently attempting.