Scoreography

The pairs competition at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships will be missing some of the top competitors from Milano Cortina — including Olympic Champions Riku Miura and Ruche Kihara. Olympic silver medalists, Anastasia Metelkina and Luka Berulava, have the advantage of momentum being on their side to take their first World title in Prague, but several other extremely talented teams are standing in their way.

Most notably, the German pair of Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin are fresh from earning bronze at the Olympic Games and were first after the short program in Milan. They are more than capable of taking their first World title here, but will likely need a very strong free skate to beat the Georgians.

Also in the running for a Worlds medal will be Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary. They are the season's most improved pair and have taken big steps forward. Making their first World podium is definitely within their grasp.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro 00:00:38 Withdrawals: Who WON'T Be There 00:06:17 Metelkina and Berulava 00:08:57 Hase and Volodin 00:11:04 Pavlova and Svietchenko 00:13:10 Efimova and Mitrofanov 00:15:37 Nagaoka and Moriguchi 00:18:20 Chan and Howe 00:19:26 Pereira and Michaud 00:21:38 Other notable teams competing here 00:25:50 Podium Predictions 00:27:29 Wrap-Up

The 2026 World Figure Skating Championships are just a week away, and the women's competition may again be the most hotly contested event! While Olympic Champion, Alysa Liu, has withdrawn, there will be a wildly talented group of women competing for the title, including 3-time World Champion and reigning Olympic silver medalist Kaori Sakamoto of Japan. This will be Kaori's last time on competitive ice, so emotions are sure to be running high for her and all of us watching!

Japan could very well sweep this podium, as Olympic bronze medalist and rookie of the year, Ami Nakai, will be bringing her triple axels to Prague. And Mone Chiba will be hunting for the elusive medal she just missed in Milano Cortina.

Likely seeking a little redemption is one of Milan's "Blade Angels", Amber Glenn of the USA. Amber is entirely capable of taking this title or getting on the podium. We expect she'll be coming in hungry after one small mistake in her Olympic short program lost her a medal.

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:55 Alysa Liu is too famous for Worlds (j/k) 00:04:51 Kaori Sakamoto 00:07:15 Ami Nakai 00:10:00 Mone Chiba 00:12:26 Niina Petrokina 00:13:50 Amber Glenn 00:15:53 Isabeau Levito 00:17:06 Sarah Everhardt 00:18:32 Haein Lee and Jia Shin 00:20:16 Sofia Samodelkina 00:21:48 Nina Pinzaronne 00:23:01 Kimmy Repond withdrawal and coaching change 00:23:58 Olga Mikutina 00:24:17 Maddie Schizas (and Gabby Daleman pairs girlie?!) 00:26:18 Iida Karhunen 00:26:48 Anastasiia Gubanova 00:27:48 Lara Naki Gutmann 00:29:16 Podium Predictions 00:30:29 Wrap-Up

We're still in the afterglow of the Olympics, but one of the final major ISU events of the season just went down in Estonia. The 2026 World Junior Figure Skating Championships featured a record breaking short program from Rio Nakata, and an incredible 4th consecutive win from Mao Shimada.

While Japan took the top spots in the men's and women's event, the rest of those podiums were no less impressive. Korea's Minkyu Seo delivered two gorgeous programs, even though his total score lagged almost 25 points behind Nakata. Australia's new superstar Hana Bath gave stunner skates on her way to a Silver.

American ice dancers Hana Maria Aboian and Danniil Veselukhin edged out terrific French and Ukrainian teams for Gold. With huge charisma and sharp skills, this young US team could be dominant in Juniors for several years to come.

Canada took the top two spots in Pairs, with the win going to Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov. But the big surprise for us was the Bronze finish of terrific new Ukrainian team Hannah Herrera and Ivan Khobta.

(Also, how many Hana's and Hannah's were in this competition?!?)

After we wrap the Juniors, we catch up on other skating news — primarily who's in, or out, of the upcoming senior Worlds competition.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro 00:01:28 Junior Women's Competition 00:19:06 Junior Ice Dance Competition 00:25:09 Junior Men's Competition 00:37:47 Junior Pairs Competition 00:46:26 Gold in our Hearts 00:47:52 Other Skating News 00:58:36 Wrap-Up

The Olympic Games are complete — but our complaints are not! In the spirit of good faith critique, we recount some of our least favorite aspects of the figure skating competition at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games. It's an Olympic Airing of Grievances!

And these aren't just OUR opinions. We asked our audience for their concerns, quibbles, and frustrations with the games, the scoring, the broadcast commentary, and more. And YOU delivered!

These Olympics were exhilarating, heartbreaking, stunning, and confounding. Some moments are going to be LEGENDARY. But there's a lot that could have been done better, and plenty of things to fix in the future.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro 00:04:01 Attack on Iran and impact on figure skating 00:10:04 Let the Grievances Begin 00:10:34 The Media 00:22:51 Questionable Judging 00:32:00 Olympic Quality Control 00:37:18 Commentary and Broadcast 00:51:28 NBC-ification 01:00:02 Listener Grievances! 01:15:21 Coal in our Hearts?! 01:18:29 Look ahead to Junior Worlds 01:19:54 Wrap-Up

Olympic figure skating competition is complete at the Winter Games in Milano Cortina — but the show wasn't over! The Olympic Exhibition Gala allowed medalists and other notable skaters to perform a wide range of entertaining programs, showcasing artistry, acting prowess, and lots of humor.

Women's champion Alysa Liu dazzled with a new dress and new dance number. Men's winner Mikhail Shaidorov delivered his fan-favorite Kung-Fu Panda program, complete with full-body panda suit! Pairs silver medalists Metelkina Berulava combined Mortal Kombat with Spandau Ballet. Korea's Haein Lee transformed into a Kpop Demon Hunter. Estonia's Niina Petrokina unalived her male counterparts in the theatrical Cell Block Tango. And USA's Ilia Malinin mesmerized with a high impact performance addressing the pressures and media attention athletes face in the spotlight.

We also highlight some of our favorite moments from Olympic figure skating overall, and pick our ultimate Gold in our Hearts recipients from these Games.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro 00:01:45 Your Input Needed! 00:03:12 The Olympic Gala 00:04:35 Carolina Kostner and Team Italy 00:06:36 Ami Nakai 00:11:05 Amber Glenn 00:13:32 Junhwan Cha 00:15:25 Adeliia Petrosian 00:17:01 Metelkina and Berulava 00:19:11 Niina Petrokina 00:21:54 Adam Siao Him Fa 00:24:46 Haein Lee 00:27:26 Yuma Kagiyama 00:29:58 Kaori Sakamoto 00:32:06 Ilia Malinin 00:37:44 Mikhail Shaidorov 00:40:13 Alysa Liu 00:45:01 Figure Skater Flag Bearers 00:45:57 Other Favorite Olympic Moments 00:59:48 Gold in our Hearts 01:02:14 Wrap-Up

The figure skating competition at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games comes to a glorious conclusion with the women's event!

USA's golden girl, Alysa Liu, comes through in the clutch with a flawless free skate and climbs to the top of the podium. Queen Kaori Sakamoto holds onto Silver with two incredible skates, and claims her home in our hearts forever. And while Ami Nakai can't maintain the first place ranking she earned in the short, she still brings home the Bronze with abundant charisma and joy.

What an event! Everyone in the top ten was terrific, and there are performances to celebrate even down into 20th. The women of figure skating dazzled, showed courage and grit (looking at you, Amber Glenn), and finished off Olympic competition in grand style.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro 00:02:38 The Women's Olympic Podium 00:22:39 The Rest of the Top 10 00:41:49 Outside the Top 10 00:53:03 Gold in our Hearts 00:54:39 Wrap-Up

The Olympic Pairs event was everything we needed to restore our faith in Milano Cortina figure skating. An astounding, World Record breaking, come-from-behind victory for Miura & Kihara earned the first-ever Japanese Pairs medal.

Two terrific skates from Metelkina & Berulava garnered Silver and Georgia's first-ever Winter Games medal. And Hase & Volodin followed up a magical short program with a shaky free skate that just managed to lock a Bronze for Germany.

The rest of the top ten was populated with strong performances and a few disappointing finishes, but still so much to be proud of. With so many displays of great sportsmanship and good vibes, the entire event left us feeling warm and happy — which we hope carries over into the Women's event...

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro 00:02:08 Olympic Pairs Podium Results 00:17:01 4th-6th placements 00:25:52 Teams 7th and below 00:37:33 Gold in our Hearts 00:41:30 Look ahead to the Women's event 00:44:01 Wrap-Up

The final competitive figure skating event of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina is upon us! The Women's competition gives us the deepest field of skaters who are likely to challenge for a medal. Expect the competition to be fierce as these women all hunt for their Olympic moment.

It's our 100th episode! We forgot to talk about it 😅 but we really appreciate you joining us for this milestone, and thanks to everyone who has supported us along the way!

We discuss the women we perceive as the top eight contenders, based on best scores of the season: Kaori Sakamoto, Ami Nakai, Alysa Liu, Niina Petrokina, Amber Glenn, Mone Chiba, and Adeliia Petrosian. But we're not counting out any of the dark horse podium possibilities, including Jia Shin, Anastasiia Gubanova, Lara Naki Gutmann, Sofia Samodelkina, and Haein Lee.

We also take some time to address feedback on our previous episode about the men's olympic final — specifically many commenters' misunderstanding of the episode's opening observations.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro 00:01:16 Addressing the previous episodes and responses 00:12:26 Top Women's Competitors 00:37:41 The Dark Horse Candidates 00:49:04 Podium Predictions 00:51:40 Prediction Success So Far; State of the Games 00:55:44 Wrap-up

In a stunning, dramatic upset, Kazakstan's Mikhail Shaidorov won gold in the Men's competition at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina. Japan's Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato took the silver and bronze medals, as many predicted, but with shaky performances. Yet the skate most will be talking about was the shocking collapse of "Quad God" Ilia Malinin in the free program, plummeting the expected champion from 1st to 8th place overall.

In this recap and reaction to the men's final, we do our best to celebrate the winners while examining how things went horribly awry for the star of USA men's figure skating.

Looking ahead, we also preview the Pairs competition, starting this weekend, including our podium predictions.

We're thrilled for Mikhail, who put together two fantastic skates, coming through in the clutch again as the hero of Kazakstan skating. But, of course, we're also incredibly heartbroken for Ilia, who had the worst skate of his career at exactly the worst moment. After 3 undefeated years, the pressure of Olympic ice overwhelmed him.

It's a result nobody saw coming — though we should have listened closer to Wendy's "crystal ball" from our preview episode...

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro 00:02:33 The Men's Olympic Podium 00:17:50 NBC-ification 00:23:04 Ilia Malinin 00:38:24 The Rest of the Men's Field 00:48:55 Gold in our Hearts 00:51:17 Pairs Preview 00:57:20 Pairs Podium Predictions 00:59:38 Wrap-Up

Olympic Ice Dance REACTION — 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games

After a wonderful Team competition, Olympic figure skating in Milano Cortina hits its first big controversy. The individual Ice Dance event ends with France's Fournier-Beaudry & Cizeron in gold, despite several visible errors in both programs. Meanwhile, Chock & Bates are awarded silver even with two dynamic, clean performances. Gilles & Poirier take home the bronze, capping their Olympics with a magnificent, emotional free dance.

We dig into why the outcome of this event felt neither fair nor surprising, after a season of shoddy, questionable judging. And, despite our anger and frustration, we revisit all of the memorable performances that made the competition great — including fantastic skates from Zingas & Kolesnik, Guignard & Fabbri, Smart & Dieck, and Lopareva & Brissaud.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro and Ice Dance Controversy 00:03:23 Ice Dance Podium 00:20:09 The Rest of the Top Ten 00:36:58 Outside the Top Ten 00:46:14 Overall thoughts on the competition 00:51:32 Gold in our Hearts 00:53:45 Wrap-Up