Scoreography

The Denis Ten Memorial Challenge gave us our first look at Mikhail Shaidorov's new programs, a terrific showing and win from Haein Lee, and solid first outing from Davis & Smolkin. We also talk about Rika Kihara's move to ice dance, Bradie Tennell's successful program switch, and more.

0:00 — Intro 0:54 — Men's Competition 23:21 — Dance Competition 39:38 — Women's Competition 49:35 — Adam Siao Him Fa improvements 52:20 — Rika Kihara and Shingo Nishiyama ice dance pairing 57:49 — Bradie Tennell changes short, scores big 1:03:06 — Gold in our Hearts 1:05:01 — Wrap-Up

We examine the performances and results from the Denis Ten Memorial Challenge, including wins from Mikhail Shaidorov, Haein Lee, and Diana Davis & Gleb Smolkin.

We discuss the skates from men's competitors Nika Egadze, Jason Brown, and Siyeong Lee, women's competitors Ashun Yun, Maddie Schizas, and Josephine Lee, and Ice Dance teams Oona Brown & Gage Brown, Milla Ruud Reitan & Nikolaj Majorov, Alicia Fabbri & Paul Ayer, and Leah Neset & Artem Markelov.

We also talk other news from around the figure skating world, including improvements from Adam Siao Him Fa at a French domestic event, Bradie Tennell's change of short program and big score at the Boston Open, and the new Japanese ice team of Rika Kihara and Shingo Nishiyama.

We recount a long, LONG weekend of skating with two major Challenger Series competitions: Nebelhorn Trophy and Nepela Memorial. The highlight reel includes big wins from Amber Glenn, Lara Naki Gutmann, Hase & Volodin, and Smart & Dieck. But, wow, were there some sloppy skates in there too…

0:00 — Intro 2:13 — Nebelhorn Women's Competition 14:31 — Nebelhorn Pairs Competition 24:06 — Nebelhorn Men's Competition 31:20 — Nebelhorn Ice Dance Competition 41:28 — Nepela Women's Competition 1:01:50 — Nepela Men's Competition 1:09:38 — Nepela Ice Dance Competition 1:37:58 — Gold in our Hearts 1:40:36 — Wrap-Up

The final Olympic spots have officially been decided, the Russians have (sort of) returned, some of our favs punched their tickets, and the judges pulled some funny business at the Skate to Milano Cortina — aka Chinese Nebelhorn.

Chapters

0:00 — Intro 1:26 — Women's Competition 25:01 — Ice Dance Competition 39:24 — Men's Competition 53:03 — Pairs Competition 59:52 — Gold in our Hearts 1:01:05 — Outro

The (officially unaffiliated) return of the Russians. Many sighs of relief as some favorites lock their spots. And what's an official Olympic-related event without some suspicious judging and unfair-feeling outcomes?

Oh, and this is our 75th episode. That's kinda neat.

#FigureSkating #SkateToMilano #ChineseNebelhorn

We examine the results from a very enjoyable Lombardia Trophy competition, including a great season debut from Ilia Malinin, a dominant gold from Conti and Macci, and surprise wins from Rion Sumiyoshi and Pate & Bye.

Chapters

0:00 Intro 1:07 — Men's Comeptition / Ilia Malinin 7:26 — Yuma Kagiyama 12:24 — Nikolaj Memola 14:00 — Shun Sato 14:48 — Adam Siao Him Fa 16:28 — Kao Muira 17:22 — Andreas Nordeback 17:41 — Luc Economedies 18:28 — Maxim Naumov 19:44 — Pairs Competition / Conti and Macci 22:11 — Ghilardi and Abrosini 23:27 — Valesi and Bidar 24:04 — Women's Competition / Rion Sumiyoshi 26:54 — Ami Nakai 29:21 — Sarah Everhardt 32:15 — Alysa Liu 37:36 — Lara Naki Gutmann 39:59 — Seoyoung Kim 40:32 — Olivia Lisko 41:50 — Rino Matsuike 42:51 — Josefin Taljegard 43:54 — Ekaterina Kurakova and Judging 47:24 — Ice Dance Competition / Pate and Bye 51:50 — Mrazkova and Mrazek 56:46 — Wolfkostin and Tsarevski 1:00:13 — Gold in our Hearts 1:02:31 — Wrap-Up

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We recap a busy week of skating comps with the four-discipline Kinoshita Cup in Japan, the John Nicks Pairs Challenge, and the Bolero Cup ice dance event. Many heavy hitters debuted their new programs, and we have lots of feelings about them!

Chapters

0:00 — Intro 0:50 — John Nicks Pairs Competition 15:06 — Kinoshita Cup Men's Competition 22:49 — Kinoshita Cup Pairs Competition 30:52 — Kinoshita Cup Women's Competition 45:18 — Kinoshita Cup Ice Dance Competition 54:51 — Bolero Cup Ice Dance Competition 1:07:16 — Gold in our Hearts 1:10:20 — Wrap-Up

We check out the French Masters event, featuring the debut of ice dance team Fournier-Beaudry and Cizeron, and a fantastic performance from Kevin Aymoz. We also look at the Junior Grand Prix, including a controversy in Pairs, and a breakout gold in women's.

In this week's episode of Scoreography, we dig into the French Masters competition where Laurence Fournier-Beaudry & Guillaume Cizeron made their much-awaited competitive debut. With two very refined programs — including an especially memorable free dance — they came out on top over country-mates Lopareva & Brissaud and Demougeot & LeMercier. This sets up what will be an interesting few months leading to the Olympic team selections.

In the men's event, Kevin Aymoz reminded us why his Bolero is so iconic, winning the event in style. Adam Siao Him Fa had some unfortunate skates to start his season, but no one outside the arena will ever see them since he requested they not be streamed.

Also, after quite a few requests from listeners to cover more Juniors, we take advantage of less happening on the senior circuit to look at a bit of what's happened at the first two junior Grand Prix events.

Of particular note, the new-to-juniors pairs team from China, Guo & Zheng, threw a rarely-seen quad twist — the first since Sui & Han did one in Beijing in 2022! Unfortunately, the judges mis-called it and only a triple was counted. While this was disappointing, there was a lot to be excited about for them as well as the Canadian team Kemp & Elizarov, who earned gold.

We were also impressed with the evolution of both Minkyu Seo and Rio Nakata — who are already setting up the men's events this season to be strong and exciting. Both scored new personal bests in their respective wins in the Grand Prix of Riga (Nakata) and Grand Prix Ankara (Seo.)

The Junior international debut of Japan's Mayuko Oka delighted us, as did Yujae Kim's strongest performance to date and an emotional short program from Sophie Joline Von Felten.

Last but not least, we begin previewing what feels like the "real" start to the Olympic season with 2 events — the John Nick's Pairs Challenge and the Kinoshita Cup — happening the first week of September.

0:00 — Intro 0:40 — French Masters Ice Dance 17:39 — French Masters Men's Competition 23:13 — French Masters Women and Pairs 24:25 — JGP Quad Twist Controversy 29:36 — Kemp and Elizarov pairs victory 31:28 — JGP Men: Nakata vs Seo 34:57 — JGP Women: Oka, Kim, and Von Felton 44:18 — Williams and Lewer JGP Medal 45:36 — John Nicks Pairs Challenge Preview 48:40 — Kinoshita Cup preview 57:18 — Look ahead to Lombardia and Olympic Qualifiers 59:16 — Wrap-Up

We dig into the new program previews on display at the US Summer Sizzler gala, featuring almost all the top American skaters and teams. But first — Canadian hero Keegan Messing returns for the Olympic Season!

Chapters

0:00 — Intro / Return of Keegan Messing 5:59 — Returns Uncertain? (Sui and Han, Shib Sibs) 9:40 — Fear & Gibson Free Dance Announcement 10:35 — Lombardia Trophy Men's Comp is mini Oly 13:48 — US Summer Sizzler 2025 15:22 — Isabeau Levito short program 17:42 — Jason Brown free skate preview 19:16 — Amber Glenn's Like a Prayer short 21:51 — Efimova and Mitrofanov short program 24:41 — Andrew Torgashev free skate 26:05 — Maxim Naumov short program 30:18 — Carreira and Ponomarenko rhythm dance 32:17 — Bradie Tennell Lana Del Ray short 34:23 — Elyce Lin-Gracey Broken Vow short 35:28 — Chan and Howe and McBeath and Parkman shorts 37:55 — Sarah Everhardt returning short 39:34 — Jimmy Ma's Cyber Phoenix short 40:50 — Green and Parson's Sunset Blvd gala 42:59 — Starr Andrews brings back Fur Elise 45:59 — Women adding Ultra-C's 47:40 — Post-Olympic program requirement changes 50:18 — Wrap-Up

The Olympic season is upon us with our first notable singles competition, Cranberry Cup. We talk about exciting wins from Isabeau Levito and Roman Sadovsky, a standout showing from Sofia Samodelkina, and Sonja Hilmer's marvelous short program. Plus news and other program debuts.

Stargate Fandom Podcast Appearance

You can hear — and SEE — Wendy and I as guests on the Stargate Fandom podcast! We talk with hosts Alyssa & Emily about our mutual fandom crossovers between Figure Skating and Sci-Fi/Fantasy. We had a terrific time with them in this wide-ranging conversation, and we hope you give it a listen and a Like! Watch it here: https://youtu.be/R23QXvLQmxI

Chapters

0:00 — Intro 1:56 — Stargate Fandom Podcast Appearance 4:19 — Cranberry Cup 2025 5:15 — Women's Competition 19:43 — Men's Competition 35:07 — Other News 35:23 — Fear and Gibson and Spice Girls 36:33 — Smart and Dieck and Dune Part Two 39:18 — Yuma Kagiyama debuts his free skate 43:13 — Mai Mihara brings back her best programs 44:50 — Jason Brown brings back Riverdance 46:59 — Sarah Everhart's Poor Things free skate 48:21 — Wrap-Up

Three time world champion Kaori Sakamoto announces her post-Olympics retirement plan, and we have some feelings about it. Plus lots of new program announcements, and we talk about our experience at the North American Adult Synchronized Skating Camp.

0:00 — Intro 0:31 — NAASC Synchro Camp Experience 4:52 — Kaori Sakamoto Retirement Plans 10:43 — Other Skating News 11:06 — Young You's Triple Axel 13:22 — Gabby Daleman returns 14:32 — Kovalevs change coaches 16:05 — US Summer Sizzler and Program Announcements 17:53 — Riku and Ryuchi choreographers 18:33 — Mai Mihara brings back her '23-'24 programs 20:39 — Mao Shimada's programs 22:05 — Mona Chiba's programs 23:11 — Conti and Macii working with Romain Haganaur 24:38 — Thoughts on the Pre-Season 26:51 — Wrap-Up

This week, we glide through quite a few off-season updates. But first, we give a shout out to the North American Adult Synchronized Skating Camp — or NAASSC for short. We were able to record at this event for a YouTube video we'll be sharing soon! This exciting, sold out event happened the weekend of June 20-22 in St. Louis, MO and was an absolute blast. Big thanks to founder & director, Ashley Carlson, COO Ryan Carlson, and Assistant Director Victoria Smith for allowing us to be flies on the wall… er, boards in this case. More to come from this soon!

Back to the news….

The most notable announcement of the week was certainly Kaori Sakamoto's confirmation that she will retire at the end of the 2025-2026 season. Commence sobbing! In all seriousness, this was not a huge surprise — especially considering her Olympic short program music was announced to be "Time to Say Goodbye" — but it will absolutely make each remaining competition with her a little more significant. Kaori is such an incredible ambassador of figure skating, and we look forward to her still being one as a coach.

United States Figure Skating announced that they would again be having "Summer Sizzler" event at the Skating Club of Boston — which apparently will be the stage where some US skaters will be premiering their Olympic season programs. We are skeptical that we'll see competitive program peeks from Chock and Bates, but they will be there on August 14th along with Ilia Malinin, Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, Jason Brown, Isabeau Levito, and many more.

We talk about all of that, share a bunch more program announcements, and muse on a few more updates we've been drinking up online while we wait for Dreams on Ice (where it is rumored that a good number of Team Japan favorites will be debuting their programs for next season). Fingers crossed!

We talk with figure skating journalist Judith Dombrowski about her work with Golden Skate and Pirouette Magazine, and what it's like conducting interviews in the 'Mixed Zone' at skating competitions.

0:00 — Intro 2:06 — What is the Mixed Zone? 15:28 — Overcoming language barriers 18:12 — Skaters seeking content creators and alternative press 20:32 — A push to find "drama"? 24:40 — How much skating does a reporter actually see? 30:02 — Covering the Road to 2026 Event 33:56 — Familiar faces at events 35:45 — Best skaters in the Mixed Zone 38:50 — Looking ahead to next season 42:35 — US Nationals in our home area 44:29 — Wrap-Up

In this episode, we chat with Judith Dombrowski, a German figure skating journalist who writes for Golden Skate, and the german-language Pirouette Magazine.

Judith has been a fixture of the competitive figure skating circuit for several years, primarily conducting post-program interviews in the press area called the "Mixed Zone".

After receiving their scores in the kiss 'n cry, skaters advance to the Mixed Zone to speak with reporters, discuss their performance, and take photos. Judith often speaks with every competitior and team during a major senior event.

We talk about the format and compulsary nature of the Mixed Zone, how reporters and skaters overcome language differences, and how content creators can support and interact with the sport.

Judith's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/judithdomi89/

Founded in 1999, Golden Skate provides resources for the sport of figure skating worldwide. This includes interviews, features, videos, club listings, a discussion board and more.

• https://www.goldenskate.com/
• https://www.instagram.com/goldsk8/

Pirouette has been the leading magazine for figure skating in the German-speaking world since 1968. They introduce the stars of skating, look behind the scenes, portray personalities, report on results and records, and provide competition schedules.

• http://pirouette-online.de
• https://www.instagram.com/pirouette_magazin/