Scoreography

We take a look at the All-Japan Championships 2023 competition, including hotly contested podiums in the Mens and Womens divisions. We also discuss news from the Italian and Spanish Nationals events, and quickly look back at the 2023 year in figure skating.

We're back and talking about the All-Japan Championships 2023, where some of the best figure skating of the season-to-date took place. With deep Men's and Women's fields—led by reigning World Champions, Shoma Uno and Kaori Sakamoto—this national competition was stronger than most International events. And the Men's event especially lived up to all of the hype!

The top six skaters in this field are all amazing, but there can only be one champion — and Shoma Uno had just enough to pull off his another nationals victory. Shoma's win here ties him with skating legend, Yuzuru Hanyu, with both now having six titles.

In the silver spot, Yuma Kagiyama continued his comeback and delivered an especially gorgeous free skate to edge out the incredibly "on" Sota Yamamoto. Sota took the bronze, but may have had the best competition of his career with two stellar skates.

In another deep field that included some of the top women in the world, the decisive victory of Kaori Sakamoto was even more impressive. Queen Kaori continued to dominate the season with two solid performances — giving her national title number four.

Mone Chiba, who had a rough Grand Prix series, showed up big here and took silver with two effervescent skates. In third, the brilliant juniors skater Mao Shimada showed she is in fact human with a few errors. Still, Mao is the definition of "one to watch" in the future — she's a powerhouse who has everything.

While the teams competing here are not a super competitive internationally, the top three all put on entertaining performances, and the younger skaters particularly looked quite promising.

With their fifth All Japan title, Misato Komatsubara & Tim Koleto looked comfortable and confident — especially in their beautifully emotional free dance.

In second, the relatively new partnership of Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama presented two lovely performances—most noteworthy being their fun and campy Rhythm Dance being to music from the Super Mario Brothers game!

In third, another promising young team of Utana Yoshida & Masaya Morita had some fairly big mistakes, but look to be a threat in Japan as they evolve together.

With reigning World Champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara out with injury, there was only one other senior pairs team that qualified to skate here — Yuna Nagaoka & Sumitada Moriguchi. To earn the national title, they skated both their short and long programs and did a great job under the unusual circumstances.

Follow Scoreography:

• Website — https://scoreography.show
• Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography
• Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography
• BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show

We catch-up on all the mid-season news and competition, including French, British, German, Swiss, and Spanish Nationals, the Four Nationals multi-country competition, the South Korean ranking event, and the Grand Prix Final's Juniors and Gala events. We also talk about injury news, the ISU Award nominations, and more.

Following the 2023 Grand Prix Final last week in Beijing, China, there was little downtime as many skaters hurried to their National Championships around the globe. We cover the French, German, Swiss, and Spanish Figure Skating Nationals, as well as the Four Nationals multi-country competition.

We also look back on British Nationals, the South Korean ranking event, the Junior Grand Prix Final, and quite a bit of news from around the skating landscape — including the nominations for the ISU Awards. All that to say: there are really no real off-weeks during skating season!

There's been a lot happening outside of competitions that we want to catch up on. From the unfortunate news of Niina Petrakina breaking her leg to the confirmation that both the teams of Riku Miura & Ryuchi Kihara and Hocke & Kunkel are out of their respective nationals due to injury, we're seeing some assumed medal contenders in question for the rest of the season.

We also discuss the long-missing-from-competition Daniel Grassl, who's looking at a potential two-year suspension based on the recommendation of Italian anti-doping agency.

On a lighter note, we dig into the ISU Award Nominations that just came out — and some of their questionable categories. Regardless, your can vote for your favorites until Jan 7, 2024. Winners to be announced Feb 11 at the Art on Ice event in Switzerland.

Since there was so much happening, we stuck to the highlights and most newsworthy at each competition:

French Nationals: We dig into the landslide victory of Adam Siao and the devastating free skate of Kevin Aymoz.

British Nationals: Fear & Gibson won big, but did it cost them the podium at GPF?

German Nationals: Hase & Volodin continue their winning streak with their first German National Title — winning by 90 pts!

Swiss Nationals: Lukas Britschgi soared in short program on his way to victory, and Kimmy Repond successfully returned to competition following her break due to injury to win the title.

Spanish Nationals: The first trip to their national championship for Olivia Smart & Tim Dieck proved victorious. (Though—and this didn't make the episode recording—they were weirdly NOT named to the Spanish World team. More to come here!)

Four Nationals: Skaters from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary competed with the most notable winners being Ekaterina Kurakova winning her 6th national title, Katerina Mrazkova & Daniel Mrazek taking dance, and Maria Pavlova & Aleksei Sviatchenko dominating the pairs.

South Korean ranking competition: Jun-hwan Cha was forced to compete while injured to qualify for Four Continents, and did so with a win. Yelim Kim and Haein Lee continued to struggle this season.

While we broke down the Senior Grand Prix last week, this episode we talk about a few of the highlights from the Juniors competition.

In dance, we were overwhelmingly impressed by an outstanding US ice dance team — Leah Neset & Artem Markelov — who came out with a gold medal and a lot of momentum. Keep an eye on them in seniors soon!

Also very noteworthily, the continued rivalry between two incredible young women – Mao Shimada from Japan and Jia Shin from South Korea. In what promises to be a competition we'll see replayed over and over again in coming years, Mao Schimada overtook the gloriously musical Jia Shin for gold — but had to come from behind her after the short program.

Expect a lot of back-and-forth for the top podium spots between these two if they stay this good in Juniors for now, and Seniors when they get there.

Follow Scoreography:

• Website — https://scoreography.show
• Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography
• Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography
• BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show

The Grand Prix Final 2023 is now complete, and we knew it would be a wild one — we just didn't know HOW wild! From historic jumps to messy twizzles, the competitors in Beijing, China, kept us guessing until the very end, and we love them for it.

One of the most stacked men's final's in recent memory! While Ilia Malinin had been focused on progressing his composition scores earlier this season, he threw down the gauntlet here by landing the first quad axel in a short program ever.

That gave his the thinnest lead over World Champion Shoma Uno going into the long. Both men had extraordinary free skates, with Shoma showing off his ever-increasing artistic brilliance — and bringing a lot of heat on the jumps as well! But Ilia had just too much technical fire power to beat — winning with his personal best score.

With Shoma firmly in silver, the bronze went to Japan's comeback kid, Yuma Kagiama. A brilliant short program and a flawed but emotive free skate punctuated by his remarkable skating skills gave him the well-deserved medal.

1. Ilia Malinin, USA, 314.66 points
2. Shoma Uno, JPN, 297.34
3. Yuma Kagiyama, JPN, 288.65
4. Adam Siao Him Fa, FRA, 278.28
5. Kao Miura, JPN, 261.53
6. Kevin Aymoz, FRA, 219.91

Typically we have an inkling of what to expect in the dance event going into a final. This season, with the unexpected win of Fear & Gibson at NHK Trophy, as well as some very "all over the place" scoring, it felt a little more up in the air.

However, in the end, the three teams on the podium were exactly who we would have expected when the season began.

World Champions Madison Chock & Evan Bates reminded everyone why they won Worlds 2023 and skated two clean, inventive, gorgeous programs to take the gold.

In silver position, the Italian team of Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri shook off the vibes from their NHK defeat and came in on fire.

In bronze position, the dramatic and lovely team of Piper Gilles & Paul Porrier of Canada seemed to be skating only for the joy of it and for each other. Programs we have not been super fond of this season showed massive improvement and displayed their true artistry.

1. Madison Chock / Evan Bates, USA, 221.61
2. Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri, ITA, 215.51
3. Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier, CAN, 213.58
4. Lilah Fear / Lewis Gibson, GBR, 202.27
5. Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Nikolaj Sørensen, CAN, 195.57
6. Majorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha, CAN, 193.63

As was destined, reigning figure skating queen Kaori Sakamoto dominated this competition with two nearly flawless skates. A gold for the competition and a forever gold in our hearts.

In second, Belgium's Loena Hendrickx had a strong short program and a mostly good free program that, while looking a little sluggish, still showed why she is consistently on podiums.

In third, a somewhat unexpected showing from Japan's rising star, Hana Yoshida, made people take notice. Her triple axel in the long may have been slightly under-rotated, but she absolutely shined in the free skate following an iffy short to take the medal.

1. Kaori Sakamoto, JPN, 225.70 points
2. Loena Hendrickx, BEL, 203.36
3. Hana Yoshida, JPN, 203.16
4. Nina Pinzarrone, BEL, 194.91
5. Isabeau Levito, USA, 191.86
6. Rion Sumiyoshi, JPN, 180.39

Fresh from back-to-back GP wins, Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase & Nikita Volodin kept the streak alive with another win — this one over the reigning World bronze medalists and the unequivocal favorites for the championship coming in.

In second, Italy's Sara Conti & Niccolo Macii finally seem to have shaken off the issues that plagued them so far this season and skated two lovely programs that almost won them the competition.

In third, the favorites coming in from Canada, Deanna Stellato Dudek & Maxime Dechamps, had errors in both their short and long programs that held them back from capturing the top spot.

1. Minerva Fabienne Hase / Nikita Volodin, GER, 206.43 points
2. Sara Conti / Niccolò Macii, ITA, 205.88
3. Deanna Stellato-Dudek / Maxime Deschamps, CAN, 204.30
4. Maria Pavlova / Alexei Sviatchenko, HUN, 192.02
5. Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini, ITA, 188.85
6. Lia Pereira / Trennt Michaud, CAN, 185.16

Follow Scoreography:

• Website — https://scoreography.show
• Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography
• Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography
• BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show

We preview the upcoming Grand Prix Final in Beijing, China, December 7-10, 2023. We breakdown the action in the hotly contested Men's competition, the uncertainty in the Women's division, the fight for silver and bronze in the Pairs, and why the Ice Dance competition is such a wild card.

After six Grand Prix qualifiers that included dozens of thrilling performances (as well as a fair amount of messiness), we're finally ready for the Grand Prix Final for 2023!

To say this competition is stacked would be an understatement — especially when looking at the Men's and Dance competitions. In this episode, we break down each discipline, pick each of our favorites for the podium, and even throw out a few "we wish they made it" honorable mentions.

Men's Competition

FINALISTS:

1. Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA) — 30 pts / Gold at Grand Prix de France and Cup of Chine
2. Ilia Malinin (USA) - 28 pts / Gold at Skate America and Silver at Grand Prix de France
3. Kao Miura (JPN) - 28 pts / Silver at Skate Canada and Gold at Espoo
4. Yuma Kagiama (JPN) - 26 pts / Bronze at Grand Prix de France and Gold at NHK Trophy
5. Shoma Uno (JPN) - 26 pts / Silver at both Cup of China and Grand Prix de France
6. Kevin Aymoz (FRA) - 24 pts / Silver at Skate America and Bronze at Espoo

It's not an overstatement to say that this has the potential to be the best men's competition we've seen since the Beijing Olympics. The six men who qualified have all laid down stellar performances this season — each one showing growth when compared to previous seasons.

It's certainly hard to pick a favorite here, but momentum seems to be with France's Adam Siao Him Fa. If we look purely at technical merit, it's hard to beat Ilia Malinin from the USA. Based on overall track record and all-around performance skills, reigning World Champion Shoma Uno of Japan should be a lock for the podium. However, ice is slippery and the other three men are all more than capable of earning a podium spot. Watch out for the resurgence of Japan's Yuma Kagiama, the power of Japan's Kao Miura, and the absolute artistic commitment of France's Kevin Aymoz. It's going to be a wild ride!

Pairs Competition

FINALISTS:

1. Deanna Stellato Dudek and Maxime Dechamps (CAN) - 30 pts / Gold at Skate Canada and Cup of China
2. Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodi (GER)- 30 pts / Gold at Espoo and NHK Trophy
3. Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud (CAN) - 28 pts / Silver at Skate America and Gold at Grand Prix de France
4. Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii (ITA) - 26 pts / Silver at both Grand Prix de France and Espoo
5. Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini (ITA) - 24 pts / Silver at Cup of China and Bronze at NHK Trophy
6. Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko* (HUN) - 24 pts / Silver at Skate Canada and Bronze at Bronze at Espoo
   • *Replaced Hocke and Kunkel, who withdrew due to injury

Of all of the disciplines, the pairs has the most clear-cut favorite. Canada's brilliant Deanna Stellato Dudek and Maxime Dechamps have come out swinging this season and given fans a team to be genuinely excited about. They are certainly not a lock to win, but the odds are definitely in their favor.

Others to watch here are Germany's Hase and Volodin, fresh off of back-to-back Grand Prix wins and Canada's Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud, who have looked stronger at every competition. The two Italian teams, Conti and Macii and Ghilardi and Ambrosini, are nearly neck and neck this season — with Hungary's Paclova and Sviatchenko not far behind. All could definitely be in the mix for podium spots if others falter.

Women's Competition

FINALISTS:

1. Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) - 30 pts / Gold and both Skate Canada and Espoo
2. Isabeau Levito (USA) - 28 pts / Silver at Skate America and Gold at Grand Prix de France
3. Loena Hendrickx (BEL) - 26 pts / Gold at Skate America, Bronze at Cup of China
4. Hana Yoshida (JPN) - 24 pts / 4th at Skate America, Gold at Cup of China
5. Nina Pinzarrone (BEL) - 24pts / Silver at Grand Prix de France and Bronze at NHK Trophy
6. Rion Sumiyoshi (JPN) - 24 pts / Bronze at Grand Prix de France and Silver at Espoo

Will this be the formal Grand Prix coronation of Queen Kaori? Only time will tell. Last year, Japan's Kaori Sakamoto went in as the favorite, but faltered. This year, we've seen a much more consistent and focused Kaori — which may give her the edge here.

On her heels, Isabeau Levito from the U.S. and Loena Hendrickx of Belgium have had moments of brilliance already this season — though both have also faltered a bit more. Two more Japanese women, Hana Yoshida and Rion Sumiyoshi, both came on strong over the course of the Grand Prix and showed the promise that could make them contenders here. Also, the consistently improving Nina Pinzarrone from Belgium could be a spoiler!

Dance Competition

FINALISTS:

1. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (CAN) - 30 pts / Gold at Skate Canada and Cup of China
2. Madison Chock and Evan Bates (USA) - 30 pts / Gold at Skate America and Espoo
3. Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (ITA) - 28 pts / Gold at Grand Prix de France and Silver at NHK Trophy
4. Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (GBR) - 28 pts / Silver at Skate Canada and Gold at NHK Trophy
5. Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen (CAN) - 26 pts / Silver at both Grand Prix de France and Espoo
6. Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha (CAN) - 26 pts / Silver at both Skate America and Cup of China

The Dance competition is usually the most likely to be predictable, but after Fear and Gibson's upset at NHK Trophy, everything seems a little more up in the air.

The top score of the season has been from Canada's beloved Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier — however, their performance at Cup of China saw them nearly lose to another brilliant Canadian team, Lajoie and Lagha.

Our reigning World Champions, Chock and Bates, have great material this season and have shown well at both of their Grand Prix assignments, but their free dance at Espoo wasn't as clean as they would like — so we don't yet know what their scoring potential with these programs could be.

And then there are the two European rivals of Fear and Gibson from Great Britain and Guignard and Fabbri from Italy who just flipped in their expected standings at NHK Trophy. The Italians are reigning World medalists and extremely strong skaters, but is the momentum with the disco Brits now?

Also, because that's not enough, you have the smoldering Canadians, Fournier Beaudry and Sorensen, who may not be favored for the podium but will certainly melt some hearts. And who knows this season — their Top Gun program could take flight here and move them back into the conversation.

All in all, this competition looks to be a doozy — we can't wait to see what happens!

Follow Scoreography:

• Website — https://scoreography.show
• Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography
• Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography
• BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show

The NHK Trophy 2023 in Japan closed out the Grand Prix qualifier series with some of the most wild competition (and results!) we've seen. From a potential change in the tides for which dance team is the favorite for Europeans to a shock winner in the women's event, there was a lot to discuss!

There is no way anyone saw this coming! After a rocky short program for many of the favorites, a brilliant Lindsay Thorngren led the way. However, a stunner of a free program gave the edge to another American — 17 year-old Ava Marie Ziegler — who capitalized on the moment and skated her way to gold in her only Grand Prix assignment this season! The surprise win with a score topping 200 points puts Ziegler squarely in the mix for U.S. Nationals.

Thorngren also shined and made it a tight competition, landing in second by less than 2 points! In third, the rising Belgian star of Nina Pinzarrone laid down two solid programs and continued to show off the talent and consistency that is bringing her to her first Grand Prix final this December.

For other favorites in the competition — which included reigning World Silver medalist Haein Lee and 2022 Grand Prix Final champion, Mai Mihara — here's hoping the second half of the season is where they will come into their own.

It may not be a shock that Great Britain's Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson won NHK Trophy, but it was certainly a surprise for them to defeat reigning World Silver medalists, Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri.

Dance rarely sees a "changing of the guard" mid-season, as teams typically rise at a glacial pace when it's "their turn." This may not officially mark a shift in judges preference for the Disco Brits over the exceptional Italian team, but it certainly sends a bit of a shockwave through the dance world and likely has the top teams looking over their shoulder.

In terms of the skates themselves, both teams turned in brilliant performances in completely different ways. The enthusiastic Japanese crowd showed their appreciation for great skating all around, but it was certainly apparent that Fear & Gibson won the day in their collective hearts.

In the bronze position, the talented Lithuanian team of Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius scored their second podium spot of the Grand Prix series and continued to show their growth as a team.

The pairs here gave us more of a competition than we've seen at many of the other events this season. In their second straight weekend of Grand Prix competition, the new German team of Minerva Fabienne Hase & Nikita Volodin looked even stronger and took gold again! We're super impressed with this team and cannot wait to see how they evolve.

Italy took silver and bronze with great performances from another relatively new team, Lucrezia Beccari & Matteo Guarise and veterans Rebecca Ghilardi & Filippo Ambrosini — the latter of whom also earned their ticket to the Grand Prix final with this medal.

In what was probably the most predictable event of competition, we saw the thrilling first meeting of the season between reigning World Champion, Shoma Uno, and reigning Olympic Silver Medalist, Yuma Kagiyama.

Both extraordinary skaters threw down gorgeous, beautifully skated programs that reflect the talent and skating skills they both possess — but the day belonged to Yuma by a smidge. Both of them move onto the Grand Prix final with their medals here — and to say we cannot wait for that competition would be a massive understatement.

In third, Lukas Britschgi of Switzerland continued his strong season and threw down two strong skates for bronze. Also worth noting, the artistic development of Deniss Vasiljevs continues to impress — fingers crossed that the second half of the season sees more consistency in his jumps since he's truly one of the best overall performers the men's discipline has right now.

Follow Scoreography:

• Website — https://scoreography.show
• Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography
• Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography
• BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show

The fifth stop in the Grand Prix series, Espoo in Finland, proved to be another messy mid-season competition with some big comebacks, a few surprises, and a stellar dance-off that left us wanting more from every team in the top 5!

Women's Competition — Queen Kaori and Amber Glenn's amazing comeback

As we'd hoped (and expected), Japan's Kaori Sakamoto took her second Grand Prix title of the season — clinching her spot at the top of the standings going into the Grand Prix Final this December. Kaori's programs weren't flawless, but showed her signature style, power, and grit that reflect the champion she's proven to be. After last season's disappointment at the Grand Prix final, we know she's hungry for the title — and this was a good step in getting her to it.

Also from Japan, Rion Sumiyoshi held on after a solid short program and a rather hot-and-cold free skate to capture the silver. Rion has definitely put herself in the running for a spot at the Grand Prix Final — now she waits for the shake-out following NHK Trophy next week!

In third, with perhaps the skate of the competition (or possibly the season in the women's discipline), Amber Glenn from the United States skated a personal best in her free program and climbed from 11th place to bronze! Her short program was a heartbreaker, so to see her shine as brightly as she did in the long and find redemption in the most spectacular way was a joy. We cannot wait to see her at U.S. Nationals!

Ice Dance Competition — Chock and Bates win again

The top five teams in the competition made us feel things. Good to great things. They were all superb, but the reigning World Champions, Madison Chock and Evan Bates from the U.S. did just enough to grab the gold — and their ticket to the Grand Prix Final. With a near flawless Rhythm Dance and a gorgeous if imperfect Free Dance, they definitely showed they are very much in the hunt for another World title.

In the silver spot, the impeccably smoldering "Cana-danes" — Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen — brought two glorious performances to Finland and walked away with their spot at the final. Not only that, they improved upon their season's best score — making Canadian Nationals even more intriguing considering what we've seen from Gilles and Porrier and Lajoie and Lagha!

In the third spot, the rising Finnish team of Turkkila and Versluis made quite an impression, with their free dance especially — creating something wholly unique on ice and setting themselves up as "ones to watch" leading into Worlds and, moreso, the next Olympic Games.

Off the podium but equally impressive, Carreria and Ponomarenko from the U.S. were possibly the best we've ever seen — looking incredible in their free skate. Both they and another American team here, Zingas and Kolesnik, applied pressure to other U.S. teams with their showings here leading into what promises to be a VERY competitive U.S. Nationals!

Men's Competition — Kao Miura clinches while Kevin Aymoz rallies

The men definitely "men'd" in the short program with quite a few messy programs. However, rising to the top, were both Kao Miura and Shun Sato of Japan. The two friends and rivals both skated stunning free programs, with Kao bringing on just enough extra power and emotional commitment to nudge him above Shun's more subdued performance. This was a close one, but locks Kao in for the Grand Prix Final and makes a strong case for both of them to be in the hunt for World team spots at Japan's national championships in December.

In another big comeback, after a somewhat disastrous short program, France's Kevin Aymoz skated for the fans and won himself a bronze medal. The emotion and fire that Aymoz brings is almost unmatched by any other man skating competitively today — making this moment a very special one to witness. Fingers crossed he can hold on to a spot in the final after next week's NHK Trophy — it's going to be a nail-biter.

Pairs Competition — A surprise win for Hase and Volodin

Finally, in the Pairs competition, we saw quite a bit of change from the short to the long — with Germany's Hase and Volodin doing just enough to take a closely fought battle for gold. Both of their programs weren't without errors, but showed a beautiful team finding their footing together and making a case for themselves to be in the conversation this season.

Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii continued to perform at a slightly lower level than we saw last season, placing second here with two nice but imperfect skates. This team is genuinely great, so we're hoping they can find their way back.

The third spot, by just a few hundredths of a point, went to the Hungarian team of Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko over China's Cheng Peng and Lei Wang, who were in first after the short program. While the Hungarian team's technical content was of higher value that Peng and Wang, this result was surprising as a viewer — if not a little disappointing. Both teams were deserving — however we would have had the result flipped.

Follow Scoreography:

• Website — https://scoreography.show
• Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography
• Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography
• BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show

Scoreography's recap for the Cup of China, the fourth competition in the 2023-24 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series. We discuss upset wins from Japan's Hana Yoshida and France's Adam Siao Him Fa, argue for a different outcome in Ice Dance, and welcome Canada's Stellato-Dudek & Deschamps to the back-to-back GP gold medal club.

The 2023 Grand Prix series landed in Chongqing, China for its fourth stop, and it was… a surprising one, indeed.

The Cup of China saw some long-awaited Grand Prix debuts (Shoma Uno, Yelim Kim), several upsets (men's and women's champions were both somewhat unexpected), and one BIG step forward for Lajoie & Lagha in ice dance.

Men's Competition

The continued rise of Adam Siao Him Fa is nothing short of astonishing. Adam, fresh off a win in France last week, came to Cup of China and took his second Grand Prix title after two flawed but fantastic performances. This win makes him the second man to lock in his spot at the Grand Prix Final in December.

In second, King Shoma Uno finally appeared — and it was lovely. After a stellar short program that had him in the lead, he had two falls in his long program that dropped him to silver. Maybe not quite the triumphant return some had hoped for, but Shoma seemed genuinely happy and more focused than ever on being the artist — not just the athlete.

Rounding out the top men was bronze medalist, Mikhail Shaidorov, who became the first person from Kazakhstan to medal at a Grand Prix since the late Denis Ten in 2016.

Ice Dance Competition

Wow, this one was a fight! Favorites Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier of Canada had some trouble in their rhythm dance that opened the door just a crack while fellow Canadians Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha had the best rhythm dance we may have seen from anyone this season.

While Lajoie and Lagas held first going into the long program, they did drop to silver behind Piper and Paul — but only by less than 2 points! Their overall score of 206.02 — the fifth best score of anyone this season — definitely moves them forward as they head into the Grand Prix final. Also, Canadian Nationals are going to be fascinating!

In third and fourth, two American teams — Caroline Green & Michael Parsons and Eva Pate & Logan Bye — delivered solid performance and scores that continue to make the road to US Nationals an interesting one. Such a deep field of teams vying for the two spots next to Chock & Bates for a trip to Worlds.

Women's Competition

While this competition was expected to belong to Loena Hendrickx of Belgium, it was the young Japanese powerhouse, Hana Yoshida, who won the day! After her 4th place debut at Skate America, Hana had another great competition here and surprised even herself with the win.

In second, another great Japanese talent, Rinka Wantanabe, skated perhaps the event's most solid two programs to improve upon other results this season for a silver.

After a messy but strong short program, Hendricks had an uncharacteristally slow and rather lethargic overall performance in her long, but held onto third and assured her spot at the Grand Prix final as well.

Pairs Competition

Another step on the path to Worlds for Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps was the highlight of the competition, though both programs had noteworthy errors. Regardless, this team was still the class of the field and handily won their second Grand Prix of the season.

The Italian team of Ghilardi & Ambrosini had a strong outing to take the silver, as did the new Chinese team of Peng Cheng & Wang Lei to take the bronze in their first appearance as a team on the Grand Prix circuit.

Follow Scoreography:

• Website — https://scoreography.show
• Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography
• Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography
• BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show

We dig into the very solid competition at the 2023 Grand Prix de France, including mind-blowing performances from Adam Siao Him Fa and Ilia Malinin, a nerve-wracking win for Isabeau Levito, and podium surprises from Nina Pinzarrone, Rion Sumiyoshi, and Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud.

In this week's episode, we're talking about the third stop of the 2023 ISU Grand Prix Series — the Grand Prix de France. (a.k.a. the formal coronation of Adam Siao Him Fa as a frontrunner for the World podium!)

It's been a minute since we've seen a super close competition between two of the best in the game, but Ilia Malinin and Adam Siao Him Fa brought the fireworks for Algers, France. Both of them turned in incredible (if not World Championship quality!) programs — with Adam squeaking past Ilia by just 2 points!

Worth noting: BOTH skaters went over the 300 point mark! Plus, Ilia Malinin became the first man this season to punch his ticket to the Grand Prix Final.

This competition also gave us our first look at Yuma Kagiyama on the Grand Prix circuit this season — and what a wonderful return it was after almost a full season without him due to injury. He's still leveling back up his technical content, but the pop in his jumps and his gorgeous glide across the ice was the class of the field.

To no one's surprise, this competition was really between two well seasoned teams that are amongst the top in the world: Charlène Guignard & Marco Fabbri and Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Nikolaj Sorenson. Italy's Guignard & Fabbri took the title with two strong, highly technical programs that put them in great position leading into their next Grand Prix, as well as the final.

Definitely one of the upsets of the competition belongs to the relatively new team of Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud. The Canadians took gold over Italy's reigning World bronze medalists, Sara Conti & Niccolo Macii.

Pereira & Michaud, fresh off their Skate America silver medal, all but locked in their trip to the Grand Prix final with their first big win!

The most volatile competition of the event! Isabeau Levito took her first Grand Prix gold here, but to everyone's surprise was less than perfect in the long, with several uncharacteristic mistakes. Still a gorgeous short program, strong technical content, and fewer mistakes than most solidly scored the GP win she's been seeking—as well as a ticket to the Grand Prix final.

The other two women on the podium, Nina Pinzarrone and Rion Sumiyoshi, both moved up significantly and took advantage of the moment when others faltered — with Rion even landing her first ratified quad toeloop in International competition!

We also saw the return of one of skating's most beloved stars – Japan's Wakaba Higuchi. She may have placed fifth, but she showed the power, precision, and passion that she's known for — and we can't wait to see more!

Follow Scoreography:

• Website — https://scoreography.show
• Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography
• Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography
• BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show

Wendy and Adron discuss the results of Skate Canada, the second event in the 2023-24 Grand Prix of Figure Skating season. Explosive performances from Pairs team Deanna Stellato-Dudeck & Maxime Deschamps and Women's reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto headline our experience. But some surprise meltdowns and sketchy judging muddy our perception of an otherwise terrific event.

PAIRS

The marquee moment of Skate Canada 2023 has to be the free program from Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps that scored a phenomenal 142.39. This vampire-themed program could not look better on them, and seeing how conditioned they look this early in the season solidifies them as not just World podium favorites, but in the running for the World title!

WOMEN

Queen Kaori Sakamoto came to Canada on a mission and absolutely completed it. Unlike the shaky start she had last season, Kaori skated two gorgeous programs at Skate Canada. A resounding victory was well earned amongst a very strong field, which saw particularly impressive showings from South Korea's Chae-yeon Kim, Rino Matsuike of Japan, Maddie Schizas from Canada, and Lindsay Thorngren of the United States.

DANCE

We saw the season debut of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier — who solidified their status as co-favorites for the World Title this season with two sumptuous programs. They faced the fan-favorite disco Brits, Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, who brought their ever-evolving "Rocky" to Vancouver and came up big for silver.

There was also a "competition within a competition" between three American teams — Oona Brown & Gage Brown, Emilia Zingas & Vadym Kolesnik, and Eva Pate & Logan Bye. The Browns siblings took this round by a smidge, but we won't see them again till US Nationals...

MENS

Japan's Sota Yamamoto secured victory with a fantastic short program and solid free skate. His countryman, Kao Miura, nearly stole the top of the podium with his powerful long program.

Things get messy after that, with the disastrous free skate from Korean superstar JunHwan Cha, a surprise bronze for Italy's Matteo Rizzo, and dubious under-scoring that kept Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan off the podium.

Follow Scoreography:

• Website — https://scoreography.show
• Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography
• Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography
• BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show

Scoreography returns with the beginning of the Grand Prix 2023-24 season, as we talk about Skate America 2023. We recap the competition with commentary about stand-out performances, heartbreaking disappointments, and up-and-coming skaters we're excited about.

Taking place in Allen, Texas, from October 20th-22nd, Skate America kicked off the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series.

The competition featured Women's and Ice Dance divisions stacked with competitive talent, a lopsided Men's event with a small handful of clear favorites, and a struggling Pairs event with only 7 teams (but also some reasons to be hopeful).

We discuss the explosive performances from Ilia Malinin, Loena Hendrickx, Chock & Bates, and Kevin Aymoz. We also highlight exciting podium placements for Niina Petrokina, Shun Sato, Chelsea Liu & Balazs Nagy, and more. And we get hyped for new talent like Hana Yoshida, Hannah Lim & Ye Quan, and new dance team Olivia Smart & Tim Dieck.

There were huge moments (like Amber Glenn's spectacular triple axel) and bitter disappointments. It was a dramatic weekend of skating, and this early event sets the stage for what's to come as the Grand Prix continues.

Mentioned in this podcast:

On Ice Perspectives: Ye-lim Kim performs to 'A Thousand Years' at An Evening with Champions (2023) https://youtu.be/8htyCI7JSiQ

On Ice Perspectives: Young You skates to 'When We Were Young' by Adele https://youtu.be/fv2uUaYiA-Q

Follow Scoreography:

• Website — https://scoreography.show
• Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography
• Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography
• BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show