Scoreography

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.

Yuna 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.

Here 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.

Mikhail 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,

As 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.

In 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.

Lastly, 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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We examine all the competition at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2024 in Shanghai, China. We discuss the dominant, definitive gold medal wins, dozens of highly memorable performances, and a couple frustrating judge calls.

In the last major international skating competition before the 2024 World Championships, we saw some iconic performances — from many who may be destined for World medals — at the Four Continents Championships in Shanghai, China.

From a stunning season's best from Japan's Yuma Kagiyama to the continued dominance of Piper Gilles & Paul Porrier of Canada, to renewed hope for reigning pairs World Champions, Riku Miura & Ryuchi Kihara, this event felt like a preview for what we're about to see in Montreal this March.

Yuma Kagiyama was in a league of his own here. Not that he didn't have incredible competition, but Yuma leveled up his already stellar programs this season and took another step towards what may be his first world title. Both programs saw increased difficulty, and while he had a couple of errors in his free skate, its hard to remember them since there was so much to be excited about. Seeing him at Worlds against Ilia Malinin and reigning World Champ, Shoma Uno, gets more exciting by the day.

In silver, the ever-solid (in consistently improving) Shun Sato delivered his quad lutz (twice!) and continued to show why he is always a threat. We want to see him show more emotion and really develop a persona on the ice, but his talent is undeniable.

With his best showing this year, the bronze landed around the neck of the brilliant Junhwan Cha. After a rough start to his season due to injury, we've been seeing consistent improvement and a steady increase in his technical difficulty. Here, both performances brought the drama in the best way, and proved that Junhwan is definitely capable of showing up on the podium at Worlds again this year.

The most popular performances of the entire championship easily belonged to China's Boyang Jin — who delivered two incredible performances to wind up fifth, and was showered with stuffies from a grateful and excited home audience.

At the top of the podium, this season's superstars — Canada's Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps — continued to deliver great performances, with a few unfortunate errors. The quality of so much of their skating is near-unmatched in the discipline right now, though unfortunately they have been plagued by challenges, in the singles elements especially. However, they still handily took the gold and continue to be the favorites going into the World Championships.

In second, we saw the return of World Champions Riku Miura & Ryuchi Kihara from Japan. If you have listened to the podcast, you know we love this team — so it's no surprise that we are very excited to see them. As they are still getting back in the swing of competition, this was not their best showing — but still enough to take silver and bring a little of their magic to the ice.

The newly crowned US National Champions, Ellie Kim & Danny O'Shea, took the bronze with two flawed but excellent programs that showed off their continuing development as a team. The throws still pose an issue for them, but their excellence in the lifts and improved singles elements have taken them to a new level in their trajectory.

This competition saw a huge breakout for Japan's Mone Chiba. After an excellent showing at Japan Nationals, Mone came here and delivered two outstanding programs that were near-flawless. After a rough Grand Prix series, she has found more consistency and delivered the best programs we've seen from her yet.

In silver position, South Korea's Chaeyeon Kim gave two solid performances that felt far more confident than what we saw in the Grand Prix Final. It solidifies her as South Korea's top woman competitor going into Worlds.

Japan's Rinka Wantanabe landed her first triple axel of the season and earned the bronze in fantastic fashion.

In fourth, Ava Marie Ziegler from the United States proved that her decision to skip Nationals for Four Continents may have been a good one since she scored over 200 again. This should solidify her as one the the top U.S. women going into next season — even without her getting a bid for Worlds.

Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier continued to dominate this season with two stellar programs, and earned their first Four Continents gold. While having a small twizzles issue in the rhythm dance, their free dance to Wuthering Heights was near flawless and completely captivating.

The silver was won by Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Nickolaj Sorensen, amidst Nik's continued assault investigation.

In the bronze medal position, Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko delivered a fantastic rhythm dance but did see some small errors creep into their free dance.

Another American team, Emilia Zingas & Vadim Kolsnik, gave possibly their best performances of the season and landed solidly in fourth.

In fifth, with possibly our favorite performances in this discipline, the Canadian team of Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain le Gac received a questionable deduction for an lift they have been performing all season in the rhythm dance, but moved up in the standings with their stellar and inventive free dance to the music of The Corpse Bride.

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We recap the exciting US Nationals 2024 competition from Columbus, OH, featuring a dramatic upset in the women's event, a stellar fight for the podium in Ice Dance, promising performances from the Men, and an underwhelming Pairs event.

The 2024 US National Championships gave us a little bit of everything. We saw a quad axel and second nationals win from a slightly messier than usual Ilia Malinin. We witnessed a Women's final where Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito both struggled — with Amber scoring just enough to take her first national title. An awful case of the flu still didn't stop Chock and Bates from taking the Ice Dance gold. Lastly, we watched a Pairs field filled with promise but, unfortunately, so many errors.

The biggest story out of this event is the long-awaited win for fan favorite, Amber Glenn. We were amongst those pulling for her on every jump from home — and while she did have a great short program and landed her triple axel, the second half of her long program suffered from several errors that but the top of the podium in doubt.

However, Isabeau Levito — who led after the short program — had three falls in her free skate and had to settle for the bronze.

In the silver spot, we saw perhaps the highlight of the competition from Josephine Lee. She delivered two fantastic programs, with her free skate being the cleanest of the night. She's too young to go to Worlds this year, but watch out for her in years to come!

Madison Chock & Evan Bates stunned with their Queen rhythm dance, which was helpful because their free dance saw some uncharacteristic errors due to them both dealing with a horrible case of the flu. They nearly withdrew from the competition, but had enough in the tank to still take gold.

In second, with what seemed like breakout performances from them, Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko shined. Their free dance especially won the night, and saw them skate with their full technical and artistic prowess — but also with more emotion and freedom than we've seen before.

Taking the bronze, a bit of surprise came with the medal for Emily Bratti & Ian Somerville. This young team has all it takes to have a big career, with Ian especially bringing star-power to the ice. But their podium-step ahead of former silver medalists Caroline Green & Michael Parsons in this competition was unexpected, though well-earned.

As expected, Ilia Malinin dominated the competition with quads a-plenty. He even broke out the quad axel in the free skate — along with an unplanned triple lutz / triple axel / triple toeloop combination near the very end to make up for a few errors and secure the top spot.

In silver, the class of the field Jason Brown skated two gorgeous programs, which both saw uncharacteristic falls. He still had him trademark appeal — and, most importantly for Team USA, enough quality and exceptional skill to rely on at Worlds.

In bronze, a wonderful completion for Camden Pulkinen landed him not only on the podium but also won him a trip to Worlds.

In fourth, we saw a stellar showing from Maxim Naumov. Looking forward to more from him at Four Continents.

At the end of the short program, favorites Spencer Howe & Emily Chan led the field. However, due to Spencer's continued recovery from surgery, they withdrew from the competition — though were still selected for the World team.

The pairs that remained mostly struggled with singles elements and delivered a fairly messy competition. In the end, Ellie Kim & Danny O'Shea squeaked out a victory.

Right behind them, the new team of Alisa Efimova & Misha Mitrofanov won the free skate and showed they have a lot of skill — look for them to move up over the next few seasons.

In third, Valentina Plazas & Maximiliano Fernandez took their first National's bronze with a crowd-pleasing performance in the long program.

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We preview the upcoming United States Nationals 2024 competition, including expected wins from Ilia Malinin and Chock & Bates, the likely podium but potential surprises in the women's division, and the total crapshoot of the Pairs competition.

The 2024 US National Championships are upon us, and there is a lot to be excited about in Columbus, Ohio this week! From a wide open Men's field behind the near-guaranteed winner — QuadG0d himself, Ilia Malinin — to a potentially tighter-than-expected Women's competition, this promises to be full of surprises. Plus, a stacked line-up of dance teams — including reigning World Champions, Madison Chock & Evan Bates — are sure to make this a stellar event.

While not a "lock", it's hard to deny that Ilia Malinin will be near-impossible to beat here. After his huge win (and score!) at the Grand Prix Final back in December, Malinin looks for his second national title with no one else really in his league technically here. The big question will be if he throws the quad axel in one or both programs. Our bet is on no, since he won't need it, but he's surprised us before!

The only man who just might be able to triumph on the right day is the brilliant Jason Brown, who cannot touch Ilia's jumps but can out-skate most men in the world when it comes to skating skills, artistry, choreography, etc. It would be a shock to say the least, but anything is possible!

Also to keep an eye on for the podium (and perhaps a trip to Worlds): Camden Pulkinen, Andrew Torgashev, Maxim Naumov, and Jimmy Ma.

The deepest field of competitors at US Nationals is definitely in dance. At the top, and the clear front-runners here, are Madison Chock & Evan Bates. Their programs this year are outstanding and they are fresh from a victory at the Grand Prix Final. Unless disaster strikes, just sit back and enjoy these two!

When looking at the rest of the field, it's wide open. The safest bets would be Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko and Caroline Green & Michael Parsons. Both have performed well on the Grand Prix, but perhaps not as well as expected.

Right behind them, teams including Oona Brown & Gage Brown, Emilea Zingas & Vadym Kolesnik, and Eva Pate & Logan Bye are all in the mix. Also, don't discount the team of Isabella Flores & Ivan Desyatov — who have only recently been able to officially skate for the US. We're excited to see them here!

While defending national champion Isabeau Levito comes in as the favorite here, she will have stiff competition. Isabeau has had an up-and-down season to date, with the high of winning her first Grand Prix event and the low of the short program at the Grand Prix Final. She's known for her consistency and grace, both of which we hope to see on display in Columbus.

Right with her in the running for the title will be Amber Glenn, who has also had a wobbly season. However, international judges have shown they are ready to support her — so fingers crossed for two great programs here.

Also in the medal hunt, the NHK Trophy silver medalist, Lindsay Thorngren, who has been getting better all season. Also, Starr Andrews is in the mix, as is the up-in-comer Elyce Lin-Gracey. Looking forward to seeing how this one plays out!

Without Alexa Knerim & Brandon Frasier here this year, the pairs field is fairly open. The strongest team in the past, though we have not seen them in a while, is Emily Chan & Spencer Akira Howe. They were 5th in the World in 2023 — and, if they are on, should be you clear winners.

However, the rest of the field feels unclear. The two teams most likely to vie for medals are Ellie Kam & Danny O'Shea and Chelsea Liu & Balazs Nagy — though we could see a surprise from Valentina Plazas & Maximiliano Fernandez or another team, as there are a lot of partnerships on a similar level here. Again, this one promises to be anyone's game.

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We look at the somewhat underwhelming Canadian Nationals 2024 event, with surprise wins from Wesley Chiu and Kaiya Ruiter (except we predicted that one!), and flawed performances from gold-winning favorites Stellato-Dudek & Deschamps and Gilles & Poirier.

The 2024 Canadian National Championships in Calgary saw some great performances, but unfortunately quite a few more disappointments. From the highs of Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier winning their third national title, to the struggles of many of the favorites in the men's and women's competitions, it was a challenging event that suffered (but sustained) through low attendance, no broadcast parter, and sub-zero temperatures.

As the marquee event of the National Championships, there was certainly pressure on the top teams to perform well — and Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier met that challenge to take their third national title. Their rhythm dance was a bit tighter than usual here, but their free dance continues to evolve and get stronger, which bodes well for them going into Four Continents and the World Championships.

With the withdrawals of both Lawrence Fournier-Beaudry & Nikolaj Sorensen and Marjorie Lajiois & Zak Lagha, the door was open for two other fantastic Canadian dance teams — Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac and Alicia Fabbri & Paul Ayer — to take their respective and well-earned podium spots.

Wesley Chiu threw down a great short program, which helped sustain him through a nervous free skate and bolster him to win his first national title. The silver and bronze medalists, Aleksa Rakic and Anthony Paradis, were both a bit surprising. Paradis, who is just 16 years old, showed remarkable artistic ability and professionalism through an equipment malfunction to land on the podium — which may have been the highlight of the whole comp.

Coming into this event, three of the favorites were Conrad Orzel, Stephen Gogolev, and — returning to competition after a year — former Canadian National Champ, Roman Sadovsky. All three men had rough short programs that pushed them far down in the standings. Gogolev had to withdraw due to injury before the long, and neither Orzel nor Sadovsky were able to recover well enough to make the podium.

As expected, the remarkable team of Deanna Stellato-Dukek & Maxime Dechamps retained their national title — but it was not easy. Their short program had more errors than they typically see, still landing them in first but only barely. However, in their free program, they skated mostly clean and polished after messy side-by-side jumps to easily take the victory.

In second, the on-the-rise team of Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud had a solid short program to stay close. After a less stellar free skate, the team comfortably landed in the silver spot ahead of Kelly Ann Laurin & Loucas Éthier.

This discipline saw the upset of the event with 17 year-old Kaiya Ruiter taking her first national title. While her short program was not what she'd hoped for, Kaiya came back with a strong free skate that put her well ahead of the expected winner, Madeline Schizas.

Schizas had a solid short program, but struggled with her jumps and her energy on the ice during the free skate. The result was disappointing, but should keep Maddie's spot on the World team assured. In third, the young Hetty Shi skated well enough to take second in the free skate behind Kaiya and end up with her first senior national medal.

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We look back on an extraordinary European Championships event, held in Kaunas, Lithuania. Along with expected gold medal wins from Adam Siao Him Fa and Leona Hendrickx came an unforgettable bronze medal performance from hometown ice dance team Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius on par with any Olympic moment we've ever seen.

The 2024 European Championships showed that figure skating can still thrill huge audiences! Hosted in Kaunas, Lithuania, this remarkable event saw France's Adam Siao Him Fa defend his title, Belgium's Loena Hendrickx finally win her first Euro gold, and the hometown team of Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius win every heart and possibly the most inspiring bronze medal ever.

Between all of that and a completely unpredictable pairs competition, and it's clear that Europeans delivered one of the most exciting competitions in recent memory.

The marquee event of the competition — and possibly the most well attended ice dance event in years — the dance event not only did not disappoint, but genuinely overwhelmed. With the so many teams showing off just how deep this field truly was, Italy's Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri managed to pull out their second straight European title. Their biggest continental rivals this season, Great Britain's Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson, put on a very strong but ever-so-slightly flawed performance that was still absolutely crowd-please and a lock for silver.

However, the biggest story for this competition was the bronze medal team – Lithuania's Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius. The support and enthusiasm this team was shown by the sellout crowd could have added too much pressure for some — but Reed and Ambrulevicius stepped up to the challenge in phenomenal style with two near-flawless programs. Truly an evening that will not soon be forgotten!

As predicted by us and many others, Adam Siao Him Fa successfully defended his title, winning here handily — if not easily. While fantastic, both of his programs did have some tension and flaws — however, his performances were still in a league of their own. We can't wait to see what he brings to Worlds this March.

The surprise silver medalist, Estonia's Aleksandr Selevko, was really the story of the competition. With an exciting, original short program, he slid into third ahead of many other more seasoned competitors. Then, after the typically consistent Lukas Britschgi fell fifth in the long program, Aleksandr stepped up to grab the second spot.

In third, and possibly with the performance of the night, Matteo Rizzo skated a remarkably emotional free skate that moved him up from sixth to a bronze medal.

While the top three women here could have been predicted beforehand, how tight the completion was and well each woman skated shows just how closely matched they are.

At the top of the podium, Belgium's Loena Hendrickx finally fulfilled on all of her promise and earned her first Europeans gold. With two aggressive and charismatic programs, she fought for every step, overcame a couple of minor errors, and delivered her own uniquely powerful brand of skating.

In second overall — but with the top technical score — 2023 European Champion, Georgia's Anastasia Gubanova, threw down two clean programs that proved that she is still one of the top women in the world.

With the bronze, Belgium's Nina Pinzarrone continued her strong, consistent season with programs showing both her technical prowess and the growing artistic identity.

Of all disciplines, the Pairs field was certainly the most closely matched — with the top 6 teams being separated by less than 12 points.

With an unexpected victory, Italy's Lucrezia Beccari & Matteo Guarise skated two excellent programs that showed just how good this relatively new pairing is.

They edged out the recently crowned Junior Grand Prix Champs, Georgia's Anastasiia Metelkina & Luka Berulava, who led after the short but fell short in the free skate.

Italy saw a second podium placement in this discipline with Rebecca Ghilardi & Filippo Ambrosini — who jumped from 5th to 3rd after a brilliant free program.

The favorites coming in, Germany's Hase & Volodin, had their first rough competition of the season and landed in fifth behind the consistently strong team from Hungary, Maria Pavlova & Alexei Sviatchenko.

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We look ahead to the 2024 European Championships and Canadian Nationals competitions, with our thoughts on the skaters' seasons so far and how they'd do at these events. We also weigh in on the allegations around Canadian ice dancer Nikolaj Sorensen.

In all disciplines at the European Championships, the competition is stacked with talent. From current "IT"-guy in skating, Adam Siao Him Fa, seeking his second title in a row, to the dance battle between Guignard & Fabbri verses Fear & Gibson, this international event promises to be exciting.

At Canadian Nationals, the competition will inevitably be somewhat overshadowed by the recent news regarding ice dancer, Nikolaj Sorensen. Any time there's discussion that involves a topic as triggering as this one, we want to be as sensitive as possible. We do get into this subject briefly at the start of our episode, trying to keep to facts and limiting how much detail we go into. For those seeking more info on this case, we recommend reading Christine Brennen's article in USA Today. In terms of the Canadian Nationals competition, we expect an exciting showdown in the Pairs event, and some noteworthy performances to keep an eye on elsewhere.

The men's event promises to be a major highlight here, with Adam Siao Him Fa leading this deep field. With many of the men being at a similar skill level, it feels like anyone's game for podium spots.

Lukas Britschgi has been consistent all season so far, and stands a great chance of medaling here. We'll also see the return of Matteo Rizzo from Italy along with his two countrymen, newly crowned Italian champion Nikolaj Memola and Gabriel Frangipani. Also in contention, France's Kevin Aymoz, who'll be seeking a more steady competition following several unfortunate skates at the Grand Prix Final and Italian Nationals.

The women's event is also loaded with contenders, most notably the two Belgian women — Loena Hendrickx and Nina Pinzarrone. They will face last year's European champion, Anastasia Gubanova, and the 2023 bronze medalist, Kimmy Repond, amongst others.

In the Pairs discipline, Germany's Hase & Volodin will be looking to keep their winning streak alive while facing a trio of strong Italian teams, the surging Hungarian team, and their own national rivals, Hocke & Kunkel.

In dance, expect a showdown between the favorites, Italy's Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri and Great Britain's Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson. Their rivalry has been interesting this season so far, and we're looking forward to more!

The team events are really the marquee here — with the Pairs having two very strong teams going head to head. We're excited to see Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Dechamps challenge the rest of the field to retain their national title — but Lia Pereira & Trentt Michaud are looking to make this an interesting competition.

Following the withdrawal of Fournier-Beaudry & Sorensen and Lajoie & Lagha, this discipline opens up much more than expected. Canada's sweethearts, Piper Gilles & Paul Porrier, should win this decisively — but the battle for silver and bronze will be interesting. Watch for the unique team of Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac to make their move!

In the individual competitions, we'll get our first look in a while at former Canadian National Champion, Roman Sadovsky. He's known to be hot and cold, so we're not sure what to expect — but he'll be challenged by the more consistent but less artistic Stephen Gogolev and Conrad Orzel. Also, don't count out Wesley Chiu — he's had an iffy season, but maybe this is his time.

In the Womens's event, Madeline Schizas looks to dominate the field here as long as she can stay steady. Also to keep an eye on, last year's silver medalist Kaiya Ruiter and the lovely Sara-Maude Dupuis.

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The 2024 South Korean National Figure Skating Championships saw a return-to form from World silver medalist, Jun-hwan Cha, the continued rise of Jia Shin, and performances from Hai-in Lee, Chae-yeon Kim, and Young You that appear to have earned them spots on the 2024 World Championship team for South Korea.

Men's Competition

Following a rough first half of the season for him, now eight time South Korean champion, Jun-hwan Cha, threw down two stellar programs and earned him his trip back to Worlds. His technical content was watered down, similar to the content he included at the Korean Ranking Competition late last year, but looked much more comfortable and confident on the ice here. He'll need to increase difficultly at Four Continents and Worlds to be competitive, but this was a remarkable step in the right direction for him.

Also showing up well here was Si-hyeong Lee, who was stronger here than he has been in a while and looked like he'd made some improvements in his interpretation. His silver here will take him back to Worlds in Montreal this March.

Women's Competition

The women's competition was an interesting one, since 4 of the top 7 women here were Junior Level skaters.

That said, the now two-time National Champion, Jia Shin, looked anything but junior here. Both of her programs were elegant, musical, and highly technical. Her win by almost 13 points over reigning Senior World Silver medalist, Hae-in Lee, was a decisive one.

Hae-in Lee did have her strongest event of the season here, with a new short program that suited her style quite well. Her score ceiling is certainly higher with these two programs, so here's hoping she can continue to improve headed into Four Continents and Worlds.

In third, Chae-yeon Kim came back from a 9th place short program to step onto the podium. Her long program was strong enough to give the impression that, had she had a clean short, she may have challenged for gold. This bodes well for her headed into the rest of the season.

Three other juniors, Yu-seong Kim, Yu-jae Kim, and Min-sol Kwon, took 4th-6h — all with very strong showings. This number of competitive women still in Juniors gives South Korea a great shot at future success if they can continue at the level they are at.

In seventh (but gold in our hearts!) was Young You. Her fantastic short program had her in second going into the long, but her lower technical content level in the long as well as a number of small mistakes dropped her to 7th overall. Regardless, it looks like she will still be on the senior World team due to so many ahead of her being juniors. We can't wait to see her again!

Ice Dance Competition

This competition was more of an official coronation, since Hannah Lim and Ye Quan were the only team qualified to compete here. They were, as always, a joy to watch while earning first Senior National title— again showing why they are a team of the future!

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