In this action packed deep-dive episode, I begin by reviewing Skate America, taking a look at my live scores in comparison to the results, with all of my hot takes and how I did with my predictions.

After, I debut my new Statistics Tracking Tool and do a deep-dive update on the race to the Olympics across each discipline, with special focus on the key American & Japanese battles. We look at it from all angles and numbers, and I provide my current predictions.

We also discuss my current power rankings and Olympic Predictions, and end with a numbers deep-dive on the skaters competing this weekend at Finlandia Trophy. Who do I predict to win the medals in this all important final stop of the Grand Prix? Who do I see as the current Olympic Podium? You'll need to tune in to find out!

And as always, you can ⁠View My Live Results Database⁠ which includes events I discuss live as well as other events I've judged this season.

Don't forget to:

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Amazon — wherever you get your skating podcasts

👍 Share, rate, or send it to someone already updating their Olympic podium predictions

In this weeks episode, I break down the fields for Skate America, and give my predictions for the Men, Women, Pairs, and Ice Dance.

You can view my updated ⁠Olympic 2026 Prediction Tracker (Including Power Rankings). Next week will include more updates and a discussion about it on the podcast. So keep listening!

And as always, you can View My Live Results Database which includes NHK Trophy, a Top 10 US Ice Dance Assessment, and a look at the Russian Grand Prix Women's Event that starred Adeliia Petrosian. We'll discuss all of this and more on the podcast next week!

Enjoy Skate America! :)

This might be my favorite episode yet — a nearly 3-hour deep dive covering all four disciplines of figure skating as we look ahead to the 2026 Olympics. Go with it. You won’t regret it.

In this episode, I debut my Olympic Power Rankings, breaking down the Top 10 in the world, plus the five closest challengers who could shake things up by February.

Over 60 skaters and teams are discussed, along with an updated look at who’s actually most likely to be at the Games based on eligibility, citizenship, and federation movement.

It’s my most fired-up episode yet — especially when it comes to dance. And yes, I had a total “oops” moment and forgot to cover Kevin Aymoz. He’s getting his full segment next week.

- You can view my ⁠Current Olympic Prediction Tracker⁠ I discuss in the video here.

- View ⁠my live scoring result details from the Grand Prix Season here⁠.

We’ll keep tracking all of this for the rest of the season, because February 2026 will be here before we know it.

Deep-Dive Coverage Includes:

Women: Kaori Sakamoto 🇯🇵, Amber Glenn 🇺🇸, Adeliia Petrosian 🇷🇺, Alysa Liu 🇺🇸, Mone Chiba 🇯🇵, Ami Nakai 🇯🇵, Isabeau Levito 🇺🇸, Loena Hendrickx 🇧🇪, Jia Shin 🇰🇷, Chaeyeon Kim 🇰🇷

Men: Ilia Malinin 🇺🇸, Yuma Kagiyama 🇯🇵, Adam Siao Him Fa 🇫🇷, Daniel Grassl 🇮🇹, Mikhail Shaidorov 🇰🇿, Shun Sato 🇯🇵, Petr Gumennik 🇷🇺, Jason Brown 🇺🇸, Nika Egadze 🇬🇪, Junhwan Cha 🇰🇷

Pairs: Miura/Kihara 🇯🇵, Metelkina/Berulava 🇬🇪, Conti/Macii 🇮🇹, Hase/Volodin 🇩🇪, Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps 🇨🇦, Sui/Han 🇨🇳, Pavlova/Sviatchenko 🇭🇺, Kam/O’Shea 🇺🇸, Ghilardi/Ambrosini 🇮🇹, Nagaoka/Moriguchi 🇯🇵

Ice Dance: Fournier Beaudry/Cizeron 🇫🇷, Chock/Bates 🇺🇸, Fear/Gibson 🇬🇧, Gilles/Poirier 🇨🇦, Guignard/Fabbri 🇮🇹, Reed/Ambrulevicius 🇱🇹, Zingas/Kolesnik 🇺🇸, Lajoie/Lagha 🇨🇦, Carriera/Ponomarenko 🇺🇸, Smart/Dieck 🇪🇸

Unranked challengers are also in the mix — plenty of potential shakeups coming before the Games.

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple, iHeart, or Amazon

📲 Follow @StrictlyJudging on Instagram

👍 Share, rate, or send it to someone already updating their Olympic podium predictions

On this episode of Strictly Judging, I take a look at the Olympic Race after the Grand Prix of France and Cup of China. With 4 Grand Prix Events to go, where does the race to qualify stand?

I look at the Race to Milano Cortina 2026 and name whom I think will be on the ice come February. The battles in the USA, Japan, France, Italy, Korea and more are all profiled. And stay tuned for next week, where I go a step further, announcing my Top 10 Power Rankings after Skate Canada (the halfway point of the Grand Prix!).

We'll keep tracking all of this for the remainder of the season, until the Olympics... which will be here before we know it!

- You can view my Current Olympic Prediction Tracker I discuss in the video by clicking on the link.

- You can also view my live results from the Grand Prix of France & Cup of China here.

Don't forget to:

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Amazon — wherever you get your skating podcasts

📲 Follow @StrictlyJudging on Instagram for updates and extras

👍 Share, rate, or send it to someone already updating their Olympic podium predictions

I'm back for the Grand Prix! We kick off this week with the Grand Prix de France. A star-studded field, with Ilia Malinin (USA), Kaori Sakamoto (JPN), Miura & Kihara (JPN), Fear & Gibson (GBR), the big debut of Fournier Beaudry & Cizeron (FRA) at an international competition, and SO MANY MORE! Like seriously, I could type this description for the next hour....

But I'd rather you listen while I break down the fields, give my gold, silver, and bronze medal predictions (along with the angst and pain of how hard predicting is!), discuss recent skating events and their implicatiions, and obsess over who is (and isn't) going to the Olympics.

All this week on Strictly Judging.

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Amazon — wherever you get your skating podcasts

📲 Follow @StrictlyJudging on Instagram for updates and extras

👍 Share, rate, or send it to someone already updating their Olympic podium predictions

The Chinese Nebelhorn Olympic Qualifier gave us the latest stops on the Road to Milano 2026, with decisive results across Women, Men, and Pairs.

In this episode of Strictly Judging, I walk through the key standings and storylines from all three disciplines:

• Men: Peter Gumennik 🇷🇺 led the field with 262.82, followed by Hyungyeom Kim 🇰🇷 and Donovan Carrillo 🇲🇽.

• Women: Adeliia Petrosian 🇷🇺 took first with 209.63, with Anastasiia Gubanova 🇬🇪 and Loena Hendrickx 🇧🇪 close behind.

• Pairs: Zhang/Huang 🇨🇳 secured gold on home ice, with Akopova/Rakhmanin 🇦🇲 second and Nagaoka/Moriguchi 🇯🇵 third.

We look at the scores, placements, and Olympic implications as the field narrows on the way to Milano 2026.

🎧 Join me for a results-focused recap of the Women, Men, and Pairs events at the Chinese Nebelhorn Qualifier.

📺 ⁠My Personal Results for all disciplines

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Amazon — wherever you get your skating podcasts

📲 Follow @StrictlyJudging on Instagram for updates and extras

👍 Share, rate, or send it to someone already updating their Olympic podium predictions

Ice Dance is supposed to be decided on the ice — but at the Olympic Qualifier, the real drama was happening on the judges’ panel.

In this episode of Strictly Judging, we uncover the politics and backroom vote-trading that shaped who made it to the Games. From suspicious boosts to targeted takedowns, the numbers expose a system where national interests mattered more than clean edges and artistry.

We’ll walk through how:

• 🚨 Bias and alliances played out in both Rhythm and Free Dance

• 🚨 Tiny margins — just fractions of a point — decided Olympic dreams

• 🚨 The judging culture of “I’ll help you if you help me” undermines the sport we love

This isn’t just about one event — it’s about how Ice Dance judging still operates in the shadows.

🎧 Tune in for a no-filter breakdown of who gained, who lost, and why fans are right to be suspicious.

📺 My Personal Results for the Ice Dance

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Amazon — wherever you get your skating podcasts

📲 Follow @StrictlyJudging on Instagram for updates and extras

👍 Share, rate, or send it to someone already updating their Olympic podium predictions

In this 30 minute minisode, I give my final hot takes and predictions about the Men, Women, Pairs, and Ice Dance events taking place at the Chinese Nebelhorn 2026 Olympic Qualifying Event for Figure Skating event this weekend!

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Amazon — wherever you get your skating podcasts

📲 Follow @StrictlyJudging on Instagram & YouTube for updates and extras

👍 Share, rate, and send it to a skating fan already debating their Olympic podium picks

The Women’s and Pairs events closed out Lombardia Trophy 2025 in style — with standout performances, surprises, and plenty to analyze. This is the final part of my four-part Lombardia Trophy series, wrapping up all the action from Bergamo.

On the women’s side, Ami Nakai (JPN) and Rion Sumiyoshi (JPN) battled for the top, with strong showings from Sarah Everhardt (USA), Lara Naki Gutmann (ITA), Alysa Liu (USA), Seoyoung Kim (KOR), Olivia Lisko (FIN), Rino Matsuike (JPN), Ekaterina Kurakova (POL), Josefin Taljegard (SWE) and more.

The pairs event brought home-ice power with Sara Conti & Niccolò Macii (ITA) and Rebecca Ghilardi & Filippo Ambrosini (ITA), alongside sharp performances from Anna Valesi & Martin Bidar (CZE), Irma Caldara & Riccardo Maglio (ITA), Sofiia Holichenko & Artem Darenskyi (UKR) and others.

In this episode, I dive into both the short program and free skate for the women, plus the overall PCS leaderboards, before turning to pairs for a full breakdown. Along the way, I also discuss the recent USFS article on Shin & Nagy, and what these results mean as we head into the season.

📺 My Full Results for Lombardia

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Amazon — wherever you get your skating podcasts

📲 Follow @StrictlyJudging on Instagram & YouTube for updates and extras

👍 Share, rate, and send it to a skating fan already debating their Olympic podium picks

The Men’s event at Lombardia Trophy 2025 was electric — big jumps, big rivalries, and some unexpected storylines — and I’m breaking it all down. This is the second of my four-part series on the Lombardia Trophy, so stay tuned for more coverage all week!

Winner Ilia Malinin (USA) dominated the field with commanding skating, while Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) showed he’s fully back in the conversation. Nikolaj Memola (ITA) thrilled the home crowd with bronze, and just off the podium were Shun Sato (JPN), Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA), and Kao Miura (JPN) in a stacked top six.

In this episode, I dig into the short program and free skate, how the judging played out, and what these results mean heading into the Grand Prix season. From Malinin’s quad arsenal to Kagiyama’s refinement, Memola’s home-ice spark, and the depth of challengers — we cover it all.

We also discuss strong showings and challenges for Luc Economides, Maxim Naumov, Kyrylo Marsak, Andreas Nordeback, Matteo Rizzo, Corentin Spinar, Ivan Shmuratko, Makar Suntsev, Tobia Oellerer, and Filip Kaymakchiev.

📺 My Full Results for the Men’s Event: Click Here

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Amazon — wherever you get your skating podcasts. Watch on YouTube.

📲 Follow @StrictlyJudging on Instagram for updates and extras

👍 Share, rate, or send it to someone already updating their Olympic podium predictions