Russian Nationals are always an exciting event, usually with a whole lot of upheval. There were a whole lot of highs and a whole lot of lows this year. Follow along with us as we break them all down!

Our Russian Nationals coverage continues with the ice dance as we discuss a mid-program withdrawal, the importance of pattern dances in a team's development, and a whole lot of botched twizzles, in what was a very up and down event.

We begin our coverage of this season's national competitions with the pairs at Russian Nationals. Listen in as we gush over the top teams' crosscuts and skating skills, the potential of the current crop of junior pairs, and a set of fantastic side by side spins.

We saved the best for last! The Junior Ladies had a fantastic event at the Grand Prix Final and we revel in our awe of these young dynamos and discuss the technical breakthroughs being made and the Hunger Games qualities of the ladies field in Russia.

We get a bit of a case of the giggles in our recap of the Junior Ice Dance event at the Grand Prix Final as we break down the evolution of the judging of pattern dances and the relative merits of the Cha Cha Slide as a song.

We continue to be excited by the pairs discipline all the way down to the junior ranks in this episode, as we marvel over the strength of Russian and Chinese pairs techniques, imagine great future careers for all of the young athletes in this event, and fantasize about a Mozer/Moskvina coaching team-up.

The Junior Grand Prix Final was almost as exciting as the seniors this year, and though the men were probably the least exciting of the bunch, they still gave us an interesting and exciting event. Keep your eyes peeled for these young guys in the future.

All of the events at this year's Grand Prix final were exciting, but the showdown in the pairs was a fun one, and the outcome was not exactly what we expected.

The ultimate ice dance showdown! Not only was this the first matchup of the season between Virtue/Moir and Papadakis/Cizeron, this was also a mini US nationals, of sorts. This was a close one, with an interesting result.

With Evgenia Medvedeva missing, this was a nail-biter of a competition for the ladies at the Grand Prix Final. We discuss the importance of the triple-triple, the depth of the Russian ladies, and how this field compares with the up-and-comers in the Junior ladies at the Final.