This week was the penultimate JGP event in Poland, and we're still waiting to hear exactly how skaters will qualify for the JGP Final, but we have lots to say about the performances we most enjoyed from the women (whether or not they were attempting the most difficult jumps), a very strange throw technique from one of the Russian pairs, and our dismay over the very small pairs fields so far this JGP season.

We've finally caught up with this week's JGP, and we have plenty of thoughts about rules about touching the ice not being enforced and the reemergence of "dying on ice", how much we love watching the basic skating of Korean skaters on the JGP (whether the elements go well or not), and the new importance of having a strategy for how many quads/triple Axels to attempt in the women's event.

We conclude our recap of Nebelhorn and the allocation of the final Olympic spots with the women and dance, and discuss the tough spot the Italian women are in with qualifying for the Olympic team event but not the individual event, positive COVID tests once again impacting an Olympic qualifying event, and some exciting young dance teams who've qualified for the Olympics and who we hope will make a splash there.

With the conclusion of Nebelhorn, all spots for the 2022 Olympics have now been assigned, and we begin the episode with a discussion of what this means for the Olympic team event. We then discuss a pairs event that was pretty rough in spite of having some talented teams in attendance, the many second and third spots earned to the Olympics in the men's event (with only two countries earning their first Olympic spot here), and why the possibility of Sweden giving up its earned Olympic spots is so frustrating for the skaters and for us.

We wrap up discussing this weekend's events with the junior women and dance, and have a lot of thoughts about the high scoring we saw at this JGP. We discuss the continuous rhythm requirements for a free dance (and a program that probably violates them), why the prevalence of quads coming in to the women's free skates can take away from the ability of these skaters to fully perform at the level we know they're capable of, and why long interruptions within a competition like we saw with the Rhythm Dance can be really unfair to skaters, and potentially skew the results of an event.

This fourth JGP was a very high scoring event, but there was also a whole lot of great skating to discuss in the men's and pairs events! We discuss a really strong men's event where a decent skate that might have won in a different week could wind up off the podium, and some amazing pairs teams who are pushing the boundaries with side-by-side jump content and senior-ready pairs elements.

We wrap up our thoughts on this year's Autumn Classic with a disappointingly small men's event which had far too many withdrawals, and an exciting dance event with lots of implications for Spain's sole Olympic spot and the upcoming Canadian and US nationals, and discuss which programs will be most memorable to both devoted skating fans and a general Olympic viewing audience.

We were sad to miss being at Autumn Classic in person this season, but glad that it was able to go forward, and wind up with some very interesting results! We discuss whether our surprise winner of the women's event will be at Nebelhorn next week, the mini Canadian nationals events in the women and pairs, and where Japan's chances for an Olympic team medal might stand at the moment with newfound success in pairs.

This week marks the true start of the international senior season, with our first challenger, the Lombardia Trophy. With so many skaters and teams preparing to compete for an Olympic spot in 2 weeks, this was bound to be an interesting one. We discuss the skaters who are setting themselves up well to peak in two weeks, the big (or not so big) victories for the skaters who don't need to, and some crucial ice dance missteps that might make all the difference on the road to the Olympics.

This week on the JGP we had a full roster, including a full brigade of Russian skaters. We discuss the women and pairs, including what makes a good music choice for an angsty teen versus a sunshine kid, why team Georgia is gunning for the Olympic team event, the importance of a strong relationship in pairs, and some new favourites who are definitely ones to watch.