The Rocker Skating Podcast

The second Challenger series event of the season is upon us, and it's a big one. Some of the best from Japan and Russia are in Tokyo for this showdown. Michelle and I preview this event, which will feature the first international appearance of Alexandra Trusova (now Ignatova), Mark Kondratiuk, Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Koslovskii since the 2022 Olympics. Japan sends their strongest, including Mao Shimada, Yuna Aoki, Rio Nakata, and Shun Sato.

Plus, I got to sit down for a quick chat with Jacob Sanchez about his new programs, a short program with Misha Ge and a free skate with Adam Blake ("it's good!" he says), as he heads to Tokyo this week.In the meantime, the Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation announced today that they wrote a letter to the ISU contesting the application of AIN criteria for eight Russian skaters. We don't know the implications of that officially for Kinoshita Group Cup, but things seem to be quickly moving.

Jackie is back from Champs Camp and Summer Sizzler and Michelle has lots of questions for him! Plus, the second Junior Grand Prix just took place, and France's Masters de Patinage happened this weekend as well.We also talk about the announcements of Alysa Liu skipping the 2026-27 season and the (literal) return of Deanna Stellato to the United States to compete with new partner Danil Siianytsia

Sofiia Dzepka and Lev Lazarev won their respective events at Junior Grand Prix Xi'an as Russia and Belarus athletes compete again in the international figure skating competitions as Individual Neutral Athletes.Michelle and Jackie recap what happened at the first JGP of the season, preview next week's JGP in Latvia, and talk about US Figure Skating's Summer Sizzler event this coming week

A primer for figure skating fans new and experienced - we never actually talk about what the figure skating season is. For most skaters, the start, end, and length of their season is actually much different than for the skaters who are expected to go to Worlds.In this bonus episode of the Rocker Skating podcast, Jackie talks about how the season differs depending on the skater, and why the season has lengthened for top skaters over the past decade.

It may have only been a domestic event, but Kinoshita Kansei Summer Cup was a battle in the women's event, where Mao Shimada and Yuna Aoki had a close battle for the title. Michelle and Jackie also preview the first Junior Grand Prix of the season in China

The updated rules and values starting in the 2026-27 figure skating season mark the biggest evolution in the scoring system since 2018. Understanding what a score means this season means recalibrating what "good" actually means. In this bonus episode of the Rocker Skating podcast, Jackie breaks down the rules of thumb for understanding scores, with base value examples from Ilia Malinin, Alysa Liu, Ami Nakai, Mao Shimada, and Yuna Aoki.

It's the Season 2 premiere of The Rocker Skating Podcast! Michelle and Jackie are back to discuss the opening events of the 2026-27 season, including Cranberry Cup, Quebec Summer Championships (featuring the anticipated debut of Hannah Lim / Zachary Lagha), and various domestic events in Japan and the US.

We also talk about the rule changes and the reinstatement of Russia and Belarus athletes as AIN skaters

The newly-formed ice dance partnership of Marjorie Lajoie / Jean-Luc Baker has been buzzing in figure skating community for weeks now. Jackie had a chat with them about their origin story as a team and what they hope to accomplish with this new reset on their respective skating careers

A huge piece of news this week was that the 2030 Winter Olympics will have one more figure skating discipline, and that will be Synchro9. So what is Synchro9? How is that different from traditional synchronized skating? What does FIFA and the World Cup have to do with all of this?

Cindy Kim, who won three US titles with the Haydenettes and is the coach of Team Image Junior, joins me to break down the fundamentals of Synchro9.

The day before the 2026-27 season officially begins, the ISU released its decision to partially lift the ban on Russia and Belarus on ISU and international competitions. A quick look at what that means for skaters and competitions this season.