By Wendy & Adron Buske
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The podcast currently has 35 episodes available.
Shoma Uno, two-time world champion and decorated Olympic mens skater, has officially announced his retirement. We share our feelings about his career and exit from competition, talk about other recent retirements, and explore the new Rhythm Dance themes and proposed ISU rule changes.
The inevitable has finally happened: Japan’s legendary short king, Shoma Uno, has announced his retirement. As you may expect if you’ve listened to this podcast — or are also a huge Shoma fan — we have a lot of feelings about it that we share during this episode.
There have been hints for the past year the his retirement from competitive figure skating was coming, but the reality of the hit the men’s field takes without having Shoma’s distinct artistry, ability, and sportsmanship cannot be overstated.
However, if there’s a bright side, it’s that Shoma can now pursue more artistic endeavors with his skating — which hopefully fans far and wide will be able to enjoy for years to come. Also, there’s something to be said for the new guard of men’s skating taking its rightful place and going forward.
The field has its next tri-velry — with Ilia Malinin, Yuma Kagiyama, and Adam Siao Him Fa showing they are all in line for podium spots at the next Olympic Games. Behind them, there’s a long list of men who are not too far behind and perhaps soon will be vying for those top spots as well. It’s a time of change, and we’ll have to wait and see what the landscape looks like next season.
Ice Dance Thematics for the Next Two SeasonsSpeaking of next season, we also dig into the updated themes for the Rhythm Dance for the next two season — which will be “Social Dances and Styles of the 1950s, 1960s & 1970s” next season and “Dance Styles and Music from the 21st century – high energy and pop culture” in the 2025/2026 season.
Proposed ISU Rule ChangesThere are also rule changes potentially coming soon. The ISU will be voting this July on quite a few adjustments to the current rules, which are rumored to include everything from the removal of one jump combination in the free skate for single skaters to no more penalties for the backflip. We’ll have to wait and see what passes and what doesn’t, but its certainly something the keep an eye on during the offseason!
Deanna Stellato-Dudek PetitionIf you’d like to help Canadian pairs team—and reigning world champions!—Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deshamps realize their Olympics 2026 dream, here’s how: Sign the Change.org petition in support of Deanna’s bid for Canadian citizenship! View and sign the petition here.
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Now that the thrill ride of the competitive ’23-’24 season is finished, we’ve officially entered the Show Skate season. We talk about the Stars on Ice tour in Japan, the French National Team tour, and Gold on Ice in Virginia. Plus we explore why the US lacks a SOI tour this year, and the reason these events are so important.
With the 2023-2024 competition season now complete, figure skaters have entered what is lovingly referred to as “Show Season!” In this week’s episode, we cover some of the tours and shows happening this spring and summer — and discuss why it’s slim pickings for those of us in the United States this year.
Stars on Ice Japan came directly on the heels of the World Championships — and brought all of the champions from Montreal together for audiences across the country.
From a new exhibition for Kaori Sakamoto (choreographed by one of our favs, Kana Muramoto) to backflips for days from Keegan Messing to the first SOI Japan tour for newly crowned World Champs, Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps — Japan got one incredible show. We talk about all the fun we saw — and, for some fun behind the scenes glimpses, we highly recommend digging through the Instagram handles of Piper Gilles (and the main Stars on Ice feed to see some, too).
Currently making their way through France is the French National team, on tour with French Ice Dance legends, Gabrielle Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron. While the lineup is stellar, its hard not to be most excited to see the performances from Kevin Aymoz — who, after taking a break from competition following the European Championships, is looking fantastic and again performing his stunning Bolero program for eager fans.
Unfortunately for those in the United States, Stars on Ice will not be making its way across the country this year — so fans will need to travel to Canada if they want to catch the next leg of the show.
However, on April 19th, there is a one-night-only experience coming to Leesberg, Virginia called Gold on Ice — and it is bringing a fantastic lineup. Ilia Malinin leads the all start cast that includes Madison Chock & Evan Bates, Isabeau Levito, Mexico’s crowd-pleasing Donovan Carilllo, Polina Edmunds, Emily Bratti & Ian Somerville, the aforementioned Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps and Keegan Messing — and more. We hope this brings in the crowd it deserves — and that more shows like it pop up soon!
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We look back at our highlights from the ’23-’24 figure skating season, talk about the World’s exhibition gala, conjecture on possible retirements and team changes, examine the state of figure skating and FS fandom, and hand out our season-end Gold in Our Hearts awards.
The 2023-2024 figure skating season is over — now what?! Before we settle into the off-season, let’s recap some of the best moments of the season and dig into some thoughts on what’s to come in the sport we love.
Whether it was the Quad God Ilia Malinin claiming his first World title in World Record fashion, or the volatile rise of Adam Siao Him Fa, it’s easy to see why the men’s discipline has been probably the most exciting of the season.
The men from Japan alone proved they could have a competition as compelling as the World Championships with their two top men — the glorious Shoma Uno and sublime Yuma Kagiyama — leading a field of so many medal contenders its sad to see any get left off the World team.
Now that we’re halfway through the Olympic quadrennial, things are about to get even more interesting — and more serious for everyone. What may we see next year? Maybe the first quint? It’s very possible.
Outside of the men’s division, though, it’s been a great if unpredictable season for the women. Queen Kaori Sakamoto’s three-peat World victory was historic and not surprising, but many of the other women seemed to struggle to find their consistency this year.
However, the rise of Ava Marie Ziegler from the United States, Hana Yoshida from Japan, and Nina Pinzarrone of Belgium lit up the sport and gave us some enthusiasm for the future.
Also, after such an up and down year, it was heart-warming to see Isabeau Levito fight for her first World silver and remind us all that she’s a force in this sport.
The dance discipline held true to its standard of being the most predictable, with the same top teams from last season remaining on top. However, we saw some hints that a changing of the guard may soon be on the horizon.
For all our love of Chock & Bates, admiration of Gilles & Poirier, and awe at Guignard & Fabbri, we’re slowly starting to see a shift in Ice Dance that may lift teams like Lajoie & Lagha, Fear & Gibson, and maybe even Carreira & Ponomarenko to the podium. How that will rollout over the next season is TBD, but it’ll be interesting to watch.
Last but NEVER least, the pairs discipline saw the biggest emotional moment of the season with Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps finishing the season is storybook fashion by winning their first World title on home ice. Rarely have we seen a moment in the sport as inspiring as this one, and it will be remembered for years to come.
That said — outside of them, Japan’s Riku Miura & Ryuchi Kihara, Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase & Nikita Volodin, and several other notable top teams — the pairs discipline is where we hope to see the most improvement going into next year. There are many teams with potential, but few making big strides. We hope to see bigger and better — and just more — from them next season.
All in all, its been a great ride this year — and we cannot wait to see what you all have in store for us this fall!
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We recap the earth shattering action from World Figure Skating Championships 2024 in Montreal, including Ilia Malinin’s historic 6-Quad winning free skate, the 3-peat gold for Kaori Sakamoto, and Canada’s own Stellato-Dudek & Deschamps finally ascending to the Pairs throne.
The 2024 World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal gave us several moments we expected, others we wished for, and whole lot we never could have predicted. Most of all, it gave us countless extraordinary skating moments we won’t soon forget.
Men’s CompetitionThe formal coronation of the Quad God, Ilia Malinin, as the biggest rockstar in men’s figure skating happened here—with a program that literally had us screaming in our living room in disbelief.
Coming into the free skate a close third behind reigning World Champion, Shoma Uno, and returning Olympic silver medalist, Yuma Kagiyama, Malinin closed the event with a World Record-breaking free skate that started with a quad axel, ended with a boggling triple lutz-triple axel combination, and found room in the middle for 5 other quads.
At the end of it, Malinin collapsed while the arena went bonkers — knowing they had seen something extraordinary. His first world title is certainly one to remember.
In the silver slot, the utterly brilliant Yuma Kagiyama skated in a way that would have won him any other title on any other night. His continued growth as an artist as much as an athlete is glorious to watch, and while this year gold may not have been his, do not underestimate his potential to win the Olympic gold medal. He’s on a path that could definitely get him there.
In third, with the biggest comeback ever seen in ISU competition, was Adam Siao Him Fa from France. As if jumping from 19th to 3rd with an incredibly powerful free skate wasn’t enough, he was second in the free program only to Ilia — and did that while also including an illegal backflip that cost his 2 points. It was bold, intense, and one of the best stories to come out of the championship.
In fourth, Shoma Uno — who led after the short — had a rougher free skate than we’ve seen from him in quite a long time and couldn’t hold onto a podium position. That said, he was still Shoma — meaning he was still brilliant and amongst the class of the field.
Rounding out the top 5 was Jason Brown — who again competed very little internationally this season, only to come to Worlds with no quads and still skate SO BEAUTIFULLY that he landed amongst the top men in the world. Fingers crossed we see him again next year as the sport is always better for having him still competing in it.
Pairs CompetitionAll season long, we’ve been watching Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps look like they were ready to take that step into being World Champions — but a few moments during the season had us worried the title may not happen this year.
Our worries were wasted, thankfully, as Deanna and Maxime put down two dazzling programs that led to their history-making win on home soil in Canada. To say this moment was emotional is a massive understatement.
As the oldest woman to ever win a figure skating world title in any discipline at 40 years old, Deanna becomes, not only a legend in the sport, but even more of an inspiration than she’d already proved herself to be. An extraordinary moment for this exceptionally talented team and fans everywhere to share.
Riku Muira & Ryuchi Kihara came to Montreal with a lot of question marks. As the reigning World Champs, they were certainly not to be discounted — but injury had kept them from most competitions this season and it was unclear how they would perform.
With a win in the free skate and a silver medal overall, they silenced all of those who doubted them and shined like the champions they are. In a scary moment, Ryuichi had to be helped by EMTs directly following their free skate — unfortunately meaning they missed the medal ceremony. Thankfully, he bounced back quickly and the organizing committee redid the medal ceremony on Saturday night to allow them to participate.
Taking the bronze medal were the surprise pair of the season, Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase & Nikita Volodin. After their misstep at the European Championships, this team came here and showed why they went undefeated in the first part of this season, with two very strong programs that defy their short time together. We cannot wait to see how this team evolves and gets even better with time.
Women’s CompetitionKaori Sakamoto proved again why she’s in a league of her own right now in the women’s division, coming back from a 4th place finish in the short program to win her third gold medal.
This third world title makes her the first woman since Peggy Flemming in the 1960’s to win three consecutive world championships.
Taking a bit of a surprise silver, Isabeau Levito came back from a rough US Nationals to skate two exceptional programs and earn her first World medal. This is the first silver medal the US has taken in the women’s event since Ashley Wagner in 2016.
In third for the bronze was Chaeyeon Kim from South Korea — who skated a near flawless free skate to move up from 6th to 3rd. This 17 year-old skater has only been on the ice for 7 years and is already a world medalist — it will be very interesting to see how far she can go!
In a disappointing placement, Loena Hendrickx — who won the short program — ended up in fourth overall after a sluggish, error-laden free skate.
Ice Dance CompetitionThe most predictable of the disciplines provided some excellent performances—but stayed to the script in terms of the medals.
Madison Chock & Evan Bates decimated the rhythm dance, earning a sizable lead that they needed after a small mistake in the free dance—which was still absolutely gorgeous and enough to earn them their second world title.
The silver went to the hometown heroes, Canda’s Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier, who won the free dance with the best performance of their Wuthering Heights program of the season. Their rhythm dance again seemed just a bit less impactful and held them back from taking the title.
In the bronze position was Italy’s Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri, who turned in two extraodiary performances that may have been the most technically sound of the event. However, a few small issues in their free dance — and a larger one with a scary costume malfunction — dropped them from 2nd in the short to 3rd overall.
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In part two of our 2024 Worlds preview, we dig into the absolutely stacked Men’s competition, including the “Thrivalry” between Shoma Uno, Ilia Malinin, and Yuma Kagiyama. Then we go deep into the Ice Dance lineup, which promises to be a close showdown between 3-4 top teams.
In this week’s episode, we’re shooting our final shot at predictions for the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships — this time discussing the men’s and dance competitions. From the “Trivalry” we’re expecting to see between Ilia Malinin, Shoma Uno, and Yuma Kagiyama in the men’s event to a probable four-way race for the podium in the dance event, we’re holding our breath for these two competitions.
Men’s CompetitionThis season has been an incredibly strong one in the men’s division, making this event possibly the most competitive and anticipated of the World Championships events.
Coming in off his Grand Prix Final win, Ilia Malinin heads to Montreal as a definite favorite for the podium. He didn’t have the best US Nationals, but also didn’t have much competition there — so its possible that lessened his preparation.
Regardless, he recently shared a quad toe loop / quad axel combination he’s doing in practice — throwing an absolute gauntlet down to the rest of the field and clearly stating that he will be tough to beat if he skates cleanly.
However, he’s not alone in the “favorites” camp — Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and reigning World Champ, Shoma Uno, are coming in looking phenomenal. Kagiyama showed up better than ever at Four Continents back in February — taking that title in a dominant fashion and giving him a ton of momentum coming into Worlds.
Uno has looked solid all season, but hasn’t had quite the consistency and has been “plagued by the q” (I.e. quarter understated jumps) on a few occasions. We’re crossing every finger and toe that he can bring to Montreal his fight and his special artistic magic — and get on that podium again!
Also in the medal mix, the early-season frontrunner — Adam Siao Him Fa — comes in after having along break since winning his second European title. His last three competitions have looked a bit messier than the near-perfection of the first half of the season, but you cannot count out this exceptional Frenchman on the rise.
Japan’s Kao Miura arrives hungry to his first World Championships — and has far less pressure on him than his countrymen. It’ll be very interesting to see what he can bring to the ice here.
There are quite a few other men here who could show up and surprise everyone, including one of skating’s favorite sons, Jason Brown of the U.S, who is a wild card here but can never be counted out. All in all, this feels like the first real step towards the next Olympics and expect to see some big programs here.
Ice Dance CompetitionReigning World Champions, Madison Chock & Evan Bates of the US, come here seeking a repeat win and two great skates in their adopted hometown of Montreal — and we’re here for all of that.
However, Canada’s darlings, Piper Gilles & Paul Porrier, have home country advantage as well as the highest score of the season.
Not to be outdone, Italy’s Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri have shown extraordinary performances throughout the season and may be the most consistent of the top three teams. So, while Ice Dance is usually the most predictable, this competition feels like a toss up between the three powerhouse teams.
Waiting just a tiny bit behind them and ready to take a big step forward are Great Britain’s Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson. They had a big surprise victory over Guignard & Fabbri at NHK Trophy last fall, and under the right circumstance on the right day, could slide onto the podium. It’s a long-shot, but not impossible.
What is wonderful about this competition is that there are also no less than a dozen other excellent teams all vying for top 10 finishes here. From Lithuania’s brilliant Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius fresh off their European bronze medal to Finland’s inventive Juulia Turkkila & Matthias Verslus to France’s Evgeniia Lopareva & Geoffrey Brissaud who recently went viral with their rave-inspired exhibition program — there will be a lot of skating to love regardless of placement.
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Part One of our World Figure Skating Championships 2024 preview focuses on the deep field of the Women’s event, and the volatile and unpredictable Pairs competition. We also discuss the controversial Ice Dance Rhythm Dance themes for the next two seasons, Audrey Shin’s move to Pairs, and Ilia Malinin’s practice 4T+4A sequence.
The 2024 World Figure Skating Championships are so close we can smell the Montreal bagels — which means it’s a good time for us to start talking about the biggest competition of the year!
In this episode, we’re focusing on the Women’s and Pairs events — which both start on Wednesday, March 20th and promise to serve up some surprises.
Women’s Competition PreviewFor all that this field has a few clear standouts, it also has a deep pool of talent standing right behind them ready to step forward.
Kaori Sakamoto — the reigning two time World Champion from Japan — comes in as the favorite, but not an untouchable one. While she’s had a very strong, consistent season and garnered the highest score of any women this year, Belgium’s Loena Hendrickx isn’t far behind.
Loena has two Worlds medals, but neither of them are gold. We expect she’ll be vying for a spot on the podium and — if she can skate cleanly — maybe even in the hunt for the top spot.
Right behind these two powerful medal favorites fighting for gold are two more young Japanese favorites, Mone Chiba and Hana Yoshida, who will definitely be in the hunt. South Korea’s Chaeyeon Kim, Georgia’s Anastasiia Gubanova, Belgium’s Nina Pinzarrone, and the two American women — Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito — are all also capable of taking a medal.
Not completely out of consideration is last year’s World Silver medalist, Haein Lee from South Korea, who’s had a rough season but is entirely capable of pulling off an upset if she’s at her best.
Considering there’s even more great talent not named above that will be giving their all in Montreal, this has the potential to be the best women’s event we’ve seen since the Beijing Olympics.
Pairs Competition PreviewThe pairs discipline has been a bit of a wild ride this season. From super high highs (looks at you, Deanna and Maxine) to fairly disappointing lows (sadly thinking of the US Nationals right now), we’re unsure what to think — but definitely hoping for a big, bold battle for the podium here.
If they are at even close to their best, Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps will be the class of this field. Whether that translates to gold or not will likely be based on how clean they are and how strong teams like Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase & Nikita Volodin and reigning World Champs, Japan’s Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara skate.
Italy also has two powerful, if inconsistent, teams that could definitely be in the medal mix in newly crowned European champions, Lucrezia Beccari & Matteo Guarise and last year’s World bronze medalists, Sarah Conti & Niccolo Macii.
Also in the conversation, 2024 World Junior Champions from Georgia, Anastasiia Metelkina & Luka Berulava may have faltered at their past two competitions, but are not to be underestimated.
And don’t discount last year’s fifth place finishers, Emily Chan & Spencer Akira Howe from the US. We haven’t seen them much this season due to a injury, but what we did see was noteworthy enough to keep an eye on them for a top 5 finish again.
There’s at least five other teams that could pull off an upset based on what we’ve seen this season, so we recommend to expect the unexpected in this discipline in Montreal.
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We look back at the extremely impressive Junior Worlds 2024 championships, including the showdown between Mao Shimada and Jia Shin in the Women’s event, an expected win from dance team Neset & Markelo, shaky success for pairs team Metelkinda & Berulava, and star making performances from Rena Uezono and Anthony Paradis.
This week, we’re recapping the 2024 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Taipei, Taiwan. While we haven’t always been avid junior competition viewers, this competition may be the catalyst that gets us more in tune with them!
From a brilliant, burgeoning rivalry between Mao Shimada and Jia Shin in the Women’s competition, to the rising star performances from the gold medal-winning dance team of Leah Neset & Artem Markelov, there was a lot to be excited about.
Women’s CompetitionThe premier event of Junior Worlds had to be the Women’s competition, thanks to a ridiculously deep field of talented women who, for the most part, all turned in fantastic skates.
The gold was expected to come down to either Japan’s Mao Shimada and South Korea’s Jia Shin — and these two women made it a nail biter. With her poise, flow, and skill, Jia Shin won the short program over Shimada. However, in the free skate, while both skated near-flawlessly, Mao edged out Jia with her quad toe loop and overall technical excellence.
With competitions like these, we cannot wait to see these two compete head-to-head for years to come.
Jumping into third with an astounding free skate, Japan’s 13 year-old Rena Uezono lit up the arena and made her way to a bronze medal.
Rounding out the top ten were all fantastic skaters — from Finland’s Iida Karhunen to Sherry Zhang from the US and Canada’s Lulu Lin. We even saw solid skates from those much further down in the ranks, including Josephine Lee from the US, Kaiya Ruiter from Canada, and the Kim twins from South Korea.
All in all, this competition made us optimistic for the future of Women’s skating.
Pairs CompetitionAs predicted by many, the gold here went to the talented Georgian pair of Anastasia Metelkina & Luka Berulava — though this win was not as dominant as many would have expected.
This team has a solid chance of medaling at Senior Worlds in a few weeks, and this free skate was not one they would have hoped to have here leading into that competition. Still, they took the title by more than 12 points and have some time to look at what went wrong before heading to Montreal.
The silver and bronze both went to young American teams — Olivia Flores & Luke Wang and Naomi Williams & Lachlan Lewer, respectively. Both teams had exceptional short programs, and flawed but solid free skates. Flores & Wang, however, brought quite a bit more difficulty to their skate and looked strong overall. These are certainly teams to watch for in the future!
Men’s CompetitionThis was the closest competition of the event, with gold being taken by Minkyu Seo by just over a point. This talented South Korean had a solid short program, but a slightly less compelling free skate.
However, the silver medalist — Japan’s Rio Nakata — was in 5th after the short, so needed made up quite a bit of ground to win the free skate and take the second spot.
In with the bronze, Adam Hagara from Slovakia became the first Slovakian skater to earn a Junior Worlds medal.
While there were many other strong skaters in this field, the one we felt the most excited about is Canada’s Anthony Paradis. This young skater came in 15th, but scored remarkably high PCS marks and had the most identity and overall skating quality on the ice in this field.
What he lacks in jumps he makes up for in commitment — and we eagerly await a time when he can bring it all together for a run at international podiums.
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We take a look at the Challenge Cup 2024 competition in Tilburg, Netherlands, including two remarkable skates from Japan’s Yuna Aoki, an expected win from Kaori Sakamoto, and somewhat surprising golds for Italy’s Conti & Macii and Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov. We also touch on Tallink Hotels Cup in Estonia, Korea’s Winter Sports Festival, and the announcement of Canada’s Worlds team.
In this week’s episode, we’re breaking down one of the last senior competitions leading into the 2024 World Championships — the 2024 Challenge Cup in Tilburg, Netherlands. While this was not a huge competition, there were several noteworthy entrants that made this competition one to notice — especially in the women’s division where Kaori Sakamoto nearly lost to fellow Japanese skater, Yuna Aoki.
Women’s CompetitionYuna Aoki came to Tilburg and showed audiences that she absolutely should be considered amongst the best and brightest skaters in Japan, with two almost-flawless programs. Her short program, which she choreographed herself, included a spectacular triple lutz + triple loop combination that she repeated beautifully in the free skate. With a 209.37 total score, she landed only 3 points behind World Champion, Kaori Sakamoto — who had a few errors in both programs.
In third, France’s Lorine Schild continued to perform well and likely ended her season here with a bronze medal. In fourth, Ekaterina Kurakova did well, but still seems to be lacking what judges are looking for from her in the PCS scores. We’re hoping her team can determine what may be causing these marks soon to help Kurakova get back into the mix.
Pairs CompetitionHere we saw a competition within a competition between arguably the two top Italian teams — Conti & Macii and Beccari & Guarise. After a tough season so far, Conti & Macii came here looking stronger and more organized than we’ve seen in a while. While still committing a few errors, they were able to take the gold definitively and possibly lock in their placement at the World Championships — though Italy has not yet named them to the team.
Beccari & Guarise had a solid short program, but had some issues in their free skate that left them settling for silver. In bronze position, it was nice to see Kovalev & Kovalev of France come back after a terrible Europeans to earn a podium spot.
Men’s CompetitionMikhail Shaidorov continued his strong season here with a clean free skate and a gold medal. His programs, while still needing a lot of work in terms of components, are strong and working well for this young skater leading into Worlds.
In the silver spot, Japan’s Tatsuya Tsuboi earned his highest international score to date and set himself up well going into next season as part of the deep Japanese men’s field. Coming in for bronze, Kazuki Tomono — who may have been considered the favorite ahead of the event — had some messy skates that left him farther back than he’d hoped. We’ve loved seeing the evolution of Tomono’s style this season, and are hoping to see more consistency from his jumps in the future,
Ice Dance CompetitionAs could have been predicted after Europeans, Demougeot & Le Mercier of France came and handily won the gold with two excellent skates. This is a team on the rise, and absolutely one to watch — especially going towards the 2030 Olympics.
In silver, it was a treat to see the continued progress of Spain’s Olivia Smart & Tim Dieck. They’ve been fun to watch grow all season, and here we saw their most solid twizzles yet. In bronze, Canadians Fabbri & Ayer skated beautifully and continued to make their case to be perceived as one of Canada’s top teams. We’re hoping to see more growth and new material from them next year that pushes them towards that goal.
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As we get ready for the final competitions of the ’23-’24 season, we answer listener questions about all things figure skating — predictions, favorite skaters and FS moments, and what 20 programs we’d save in our end-of-the-world bunker.
Welcome to our first Scoreography Q&A Episode! We asked listeners to let us know what in figure skating they wanted us to talk about. And we received a far more enthusiastic response than we ever could have imagined!
As you will hear, you asked some amazing Q’s about our favorite skates and skaters of all time — which, honestly, led us to a mild existential crisis! You asked what programs we would take with us into a dystopian bunker — which REALLY gave us a much greater existential crisis! You were so creative and thoughtful in your questions, we hope we did some of them justice.
You also allowed us to dig into some of reasons we love the sport. From Wendy’s childhood crush on Kurt Browning to Adron’s epiphany at the 2006 U.S. National Championships in St. Louis, MO — all of it was fun to reminisce about.
We did make sure to also dig into some of the judging changes we’d like to see, and even offered a few hot takes (Adron had far more than he expected.)
We hope you enjoy us getting nostalgic about Paul Wylie program, gushing over countless skaters we adore, and let us know who your favorites are, too! What would you “take to the bunker?” We’d love to hear!
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We breakdown the 2024 ISU Awards and their accompanying live concert event, Art on Ice. We also take a look at the ongoing 2022 Olympic Team Medal fiasco, and talk about Gracie Gold’s new memoir, Outofshapeworthlessloser.
The ISU Awards were handed out for the fourth time on Sunday, February 11th during one of the first Art on Ice performances of 2024 — and the show was certainly a spectacle.
Co-hosted by skating legend, Kurt Browning, and sports presenter and influencer, Elma Smit, the award show was intertwined with performances from elite skaters and musical acts performing as part of Art on Ice — a show that happens yearly in Switzerland, and is known for bold and unique shows that ignite the imagination.
While some of the awards are a bit vague in terms of how those in the category qualify and the methods used for voting a little confusing, we’re always here for celebrating the skaters themselves. It was a delight to see Adam Siao Him Fa, Hana Yoshida, Loena Hendrickx, and Ilia Malinin all take home some hardware.
The highlight of the awards had to be the Special Achievement honor given to Deanna Stelatto-Dudek in honor of all she has achieved during her unprecedented 2-part competitive career spanning over 2 decades. It was obvious how much this acknowledgment meant to Deanna, which was wonderful to see her receive.
The streamed version of the Art on Ice performances were a bit disjointed to watch — with quite of bit of the skating being missed due to the cameras often focusing on the musical performances more than the skaters.
At some point, we’d love to see this award show move away from its partnership with Art on Ice and shift to the end of the season — perhaps directly following the World Championships (at the gala?). It seems like that may make these awards feel a bit more authentic and exciting.
2022 Olympic Team MedalsIn other ISU news, we discuss the recent decision in the Kamila Valieva case, and how the ISU has stood their ground after making what seems to be a mathematical error in redistributing points for the Olympic Team medals. With Valieva being disqualified for 4 years as of December of 2021, her scores from the 2022 Olympic Team event and 2022 Europeans have been scratched.
While in the Europeans that means every woman moves up one spot, the points earned in the Team competition got far more harried and now leaves the US with gold, Japan with silver, and Russia with bronze. If the ISU had followed previous precedent and what has been their own rules, it seems Canada would be in the bronze position — and with that in mind, Canada has since filed a case to dispute the ISU’s decision.
Gracie Gold’s MemoirLastly, like many of you, we were quick to grab a copy of US figure skating champion, Gracie Gold’s, new member — Outofshapeworthlessloser. The title certainly gives you a preview of the tone of the book, but the contents definitely dig deep into the heart of what needs to change in figure skating.
From her difficult family life to massively unreasonable expectations of a teenager from varying coaches, officials, and judges, to her near-tragic meltdown prior to the 2018 Olympic Games, this book is unapologetically vulnerable.
Our hope is that is brings more empathy for, and awareness to, what elite skaters go through — and the need for improvements from those who support them.
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