Flutzes and Waxels Podcast

We wrap up Junior Worlds with our favourite discipline and a really fun event - the junior dance! We discuss the many pattern dance interruptions that were assessed by this tech panel, how to balance skating with full speed and energy with not making major mistakes, and the nice balance we have of countries with lots of talent competing with each other, plus newer countries having teams that are competitive with the best junior teams. Plus, we take some time to discuss the newly released rules and requirements for dance next season, and announce an upcoming hiatus for the podcast.

We continue our discussion of Junior Worlds with the men's event and discuss how important international competitions are to skater development (and how many skaters seem to be currently feeling the lack of opportunities), the reasonable number of quads attempted in the free skate, and the countries with exciting competition brewing among their young men's skaters.

Next up we discuss the small pairs event, including the state of the pairs field for the upcoming season in general, what reforms could be made to encourage more pairs teams worldwide to develop and be able to compete somewhat regularly, and our hopes for a successful future career for all of the teams here, but particularly those already finding success in brand new partnerships.

This strange season wraps up with the Junior World Championships, and we begin our recaps with the women! We discuss how JGP spots for next season will be allocated (and whether there could be a better way to do it), whether tech minimums for the women need to be raised a bit next year, and when having one stand out quality can help you more in your scores than being consistently strong in all PCS categories.

We wrap up our discussion of Worlds with our favourite men's event of the season, and discuss the fantastic skating we saw here, some young teens with tons of untapped potential, the last-minute alternates who really capitalized on their sudden opportunity, and just how amazing our winner might be if he could get in three free skate combinations consistently.

This year's Worlds also had an exciting dance event, helped out by a very enthusiastic crowd. We discuss score ceilings in dance, wonder what next year's rhythm dance requirements will be (and whether there will actually be a pattern requirement), and hope for more weird and eccentric programs in a post-Olympic season.

After a tough women's event at the Olympics, we had a much more enjoyable time with the women's event at Worlds, and we discuss how thrilled we are to have a podium full of happy tears, the agony and the ecstasy of placements decided by just hundredths of points, and our hope that just about all the women who competed here will continue skating and competing for many years so we can continue to enjoy watching them develop.

This year's world championships were a strange one in many ways, but particularly in the pairs event. We discuss the opportunities and pressures faced by teams with a sudden chance to make it to the top of the podium, why referees should be empowered to do more in the case of a mid-program injury, and how much we hope that pairs skating worldwide will grow and thrive in the next quad after the inevitable splits and retirements that happen after an Olympics.

Figure skating at this Olympics concluded with the pairs, and it was just about everything we had hoped it would be! We discuss the many amazing skates from the top half of the field and the extremely close race for gold, the many promising young teams we hope to see competing in four years time, and how much we hope the legacy of amazing Chinese pair teams continues well into the future.

Olympic figure skating events wrap up with the pairs this time around, and we started off with a pretty fantastic short program. We discuss how much of a numbers game the free skate might be for the top teams, how much we've missed seeing the Chinese pairs this season, and how much we hope that this Olympics can end on a high note with a good free skate for the pairs.

The wrap up of the women's event at this Olympics was another tough one to experience, and we discuss some skaters who were able to overcome everything surrounding them and have a good skate, but how distressing it is that the entire event was so completely overshadowed by far too many failures from the powers that be.

We had a real bummer time talking about the women's event at the Olympics and everything surrounding it.

Somehow the Olympics are already more than halfway through, and while the skating continues, so does the doping scandal.Today, we break down the (somewhat disappointing) freedance, as well as the CAS ruling on the doping scandal. We discuss why panels should be harsher about stepsequence levels, the importance of a good stopwatch, and some lifts gone horribly awry, then wrap up with the breakdown of the CAS ruling and followup from other governing bodies.

The next event up at these Olympics is the ice dance, and we discuss a rhythm dance that was overshadowed for us by technical issues and doping drama. We discuss where the results were impacted by one major mistake versus overall lack of quality for some teams and whether nerves for both favourites and Olympic newcomers played into this event feeling bit messier than we had hoped, plus we discuss the newest updates on the doping controversy that seems to be completely taking over this Olympics.

After an incredible men's short program this week, we had high hopes and moderate expectations for the free. It didn't quite live up to our hopes, but we discuss highly engaging performers, costly popped jumps, and the risk versus reward of trying out your most difficult jumps on Olympic ice. The document we discuss can be found here: https://www.isu.org/inside-isu/legal/disciplinary-decisions/538-case-2016-03-ms-yelim-kim/file

The individual events at this Olympics began with the men's short program, and we discuss some really fantastic skates (with some pretty high scoring to go along with them), a pretty shocking moment that prevented us from having quite the head-to-head match-up for gold that everyone had been expecting for the past few years, and who was able to build off the momentum of the very recently completed team event, and who struggled perhaps as a result of its' proximity to the individual competition.

The final day of the Olympic team event had its share of ups and downs, and we discuss some scary moments in pairs and why having a level 4 death spiral with good GOE can be so important to your overall placement and score, whether we'll see teams struggle or rise to the occasion after some exciting and disappointing results in dance, and hope that the young women competing under so much pressure at this Olympics have a team surrounding them to put everything into perspective, especially if things go awry.

Day two of the Olympic team event saw the field narrowed down to just five countries who will try to win the first figure skating medal of the 2022 Games! We discuss the women's short programs with the most impact on their countries placements in the event, a heartbreaking tie-breaker scenario for the final team to make the free skate, and the really rough turn around time for the men competing this Olympics, and why the team event should really be last rather than first.

We can't believe it is already here, but we are already diving into the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, starting off with day one of the team event. We discuss COVID complicating qualification for the free, why getting a first outing before the individual event could be a good thing or a bad thing for these skaters, and the likelihood of an intense battle for the top spot in the team event.

Only one continent was represented in pairs at Four Continents this year, and we discuss the very interesting battle between six up and coming North American teams, and between former partners, and hope that we see all of these partnerships continue to grow and improve next season. Plus, we briefly discuss our podcasting plans for the rapidly approaching 2022 Olympic Games!

The dance field at Four Continents this year was small and rather messy, and we discuss an alarming number of falls for a smaller dance event, our hope for up and coming teams from outside North America to be better appreciated in the future, and wonder what next season might hold for the North American teams here who weren't quite strong enough to make it to the Olympics.

There were some really great skates from the women at Four Continents, and we discuss whether it was a good idea to have the Korean Olympic team compete here so close to the Olympics, some lenient tech calling (and whether that's an indication of the calling we might see at the Olympics), and some exciting head-to-heads we're excited to see in coming seasons among the young Korean and Japanese women.

This weekend's Four Continents Championships was a bit of a smaller one due to the upcoming Olympics, but we begin our recaps with an interesting men's event! We discuss the many skaters likely ending their seasons here with a strong set of skates to set them up for next year, successes and failures in jump math, and why it was really unnecessary for Australia to leave their Olympic team selections so very down to the wire this year.

We wrap up this year's European Championships with the women, and discuss some very last minute Olympic spots that are still in question, some really joyful skates that could have been better rewarded in the scores, and what some skates here might indicate about how the Olympic team event could go down.

The pairs event at Europeans this year saw some inconsistent skating, and we discuss Olympic season score inflation which we hope can be addressed at the next Congress, whether a double twist has an unwarranted effect on PCS, and some young teams who we will hope will continue to skate together for many years to ensure a real future for the discipline outside of Russia.

Despite a number of withdrawals from the dance event at Europeans it was an interesting event, and we discuss the conclusion of the battle for the lone Spanish ice dance spot at the Olympics, teams we hope will finally make it to the Olympics versus those who unfortunately won't be able to go, and teams we hope are really finding their identity in terms of program style versus those still seemingly struggling to do so.

This week's European Championships had a very exciting and pretty well skated men's event, and we discuss the tough choice to make for the third man on the Russian Olympic team, some real jump math problems in the free skate, and some exciting young skaters making their debut at Europeans (though some due to unfortunate withdrawals).

We wrap up this weekend of skating with the US men and discuss some surprise podium placements and how it should have impacted the Olympic team selection, chaotic jumps at this event and the potential for more of them in the future internationally, and the many signs and indications that our eventual Olympic men's team should just not have come to nationals in the first place.

Next, we discuss the US women, including the front runners unable to compete due to COVID (and whether this competition was really necessary to determine Olympic spots), our opinions on how we might have had these standings turn out at the end of the day, and how this nationals tech calling might compare to that of an international panel.

There was a deep field in dance at US nationals, and some very interesting head-to-head match-ups, and we discuss why this year's patterns might make it slightly easier to do a half-junior, half-senior season, twizzle mistakes really determining the placements on the lower half of the podium, and how hard it is to give out late season international assignments when you have so many strong teams and only so many places (even in this Olympic year).

Next up, we move on to the US national championships and a pairs event which was very directly impacted by COVID. We discuss the difficulty of skating against a team unable to be in the competition for an Olympic spot, the likelihood of Olympic alternates being needed to fill in at the Games, and whether this event really needed to happen to decide on Olympic spots.

We wrap up Canadian nationals with the pairs, and the contentious decision made regarding the Olympic assignments. We discuss some season best performances (including from teams who just had interrupted training time due to COVID), how to keep developing young pair teams in Canada, and our hope (unfortunately unrealized) that the Olympic team decision was communicated clearly and compassionately to the team who was left out in the cold.

Next up we discuss the women's event, which has always been a bit of a weaker discipline for Canada, and we discuss the importance of sending out many more skaters (junior and senior) for tech minimums and competition experience, who we hope will continue to stick around in the Canadian skating world (as either skaters, coaches, or choreographers), and wonder just who the Olympic alternates will be since it hasn't been announced.

There were a lot of strong teams competing in the Canadian nationals dance event, and we discuss the impact of empty stands on the performance level the skaters were able to put out, our thoughts on changes we'd like to see in some lifts that we don't think quite work, and why last minute music changes need to come with substantial choreographic changes to be effective.

We begin our recap of the substantial amount of skating from this weekend with the Canadian men, and a discussion of the overall COVID testing situation at Canadian nationals. We discuss some young guys with lots of potential who really delivered here, missing skates and luggage leading to some nervous moments, and the tough decision making involved in deciding whether to try competing when you've just lost training time due to COVID.

We wrap up this week's competitions with the Russian national pairs event, which was a bit rougher than usual, but still one of our favourite events of the season. We discuss whether it might be a good idea for the European and Olympic teams to be different in an Olympic year (as many Four Continents countries do), some teams cleaning up their recurring mistakes while we see other teams making mistakes we had hoped they'd gotten over, and why Russia should add at least one extra flight at nationals to really showcase the incredible depth they have in pairs skating.

The men at Russian nationals were as unpredictable as ever, and we discuss why a short program strategy we've complained about for two seasons might have dashed a skater's hopes for an Olympic spot, how amazing it was that our winner was able to skate consistently under the extreme pressure of an Olympic season nationals, and whether results at Europeans could influence the federation to change the men's assignments for the Olympics.

Next up, we discuss the women's event at Russian nationals, which saw the gamut of withdrawals, great skates and nervous skates. We discuss some exciting junior programs that could have been more rewarded, the many quads attempted and landed and our concerns about their longevity among such young skaters, and the issues the federation runs into when successful juniors place ahead of age-eligible seniors at nationals, particularly in an Olympic year.

Next up, we move on to Russian nationals which were filled with drama, particularly in the dance event. We discuss why skipping an event is very likely better for your health and your career than competing while injured, whether skaters prohibited from going to the previous Olympics will be allowed to go this time around, and our general frustrations with judging this season (exacerbated by the usual extreme domestic scoring).

In this half of our Japanese nationals recap we cover both the dance and the men, and discuss a really difficult Olympic team decision in ice dance, our yearly plea for more Japanese singles skaters to try out pairs and/or dance, and whether anyone will ever actually be able to land a clean quad Axel in a program.

We're back after a bit of a break to discuss this holiday season's national championships, and what better way to start than with the women at Japanese nationals! We discuss what our strategy would be for picking a three-person Olympic team, heartbreak for our perpetual pewter medalist, and why Japanese TV's special graphics and program speed maps should be used at all ISU competitions.

Records were broken in the final Grand Prix event of the season for the women, and we discuss the scoring ceiling we are quickly approaching (and some of the many changes we'd like to see made to try to rectify it at the next ISU Congress), why competitive career longevity is so appreciated by not only fans but also other skaters, and some young skaters from smaller federations with lots of exciting potential for the future.

Some unfortunate withdrawals made this final Grand Prix dance event a bit of a smaller one, and we discuss why we shouldn't be so afraid of negative GOEs in ice dace scoring, why twizzle and lift issues in particular can be so costly to overall scores, and our confusion over the many mashups of totally unrelated music selections in this year's rhythm dances from a lot of teams.

The men wrap up the regular Grand Prix season with another event of great highs and lows and wild inconsistencies. We discuss skaters making improvements versus those making similar mistakes in multiple events, how consistency across both programs helped to prevent a Russian sweep of the gold medals here, and whether skating on the JGP would be a better way to ease into the pressures of an Olympic season for an inexperienced competitor.

This week saw the final Grand Prix event of the season, and we begin by discussing some amazing pairs skating (and some unfortunate issues in pairs elements). We express our hopes for this year's Russian Nationals in pairs, get excited over programs bringing more acrobatics into pairs skating, and lament the toll that the past year's struggles have caused for some strong experienced pair teams this Olympic season.

We wrap up this week with the women's event, which was a bit of a messier one this week. We discuss the continued unfortunate correlation between free skate start order and high scores (and why it makes it so important to have a clean short program), the value of a nice triple-double combination, and the potential risks and rewards of changing programs mid-season when you have little time between competitions.

This week saw a bit of a messy dance event with some inconsistent scoring, and we discuss some really unfortunate falls, twizzle issues being scored generously, teams whose skates we enjoyed more here than in previous outings (but whose scores were disappointing), and more music edits we would suggest for some of the teams here.

There were some solid skates in the men's event this week, and we discuss some examples here of skaters without a quad in the short program being at the top of the rankings (with skaters attempting two finishing far below them), why when following our advice of skating 'easier but cleaner' you need to make sure that you actually do skate clean, and the confusing status of Olympic hopefuls from France and Russia.

This week's pairs event saw an interesting battle for the podium, and we discuss how some choices in the filming of this event makes it difficult to assess what issues might have arisen on certain lifts, how relieved we were to see some consistent throw triple flips in this event, and the difficult balance between getting competition experience and getting burnt out and injured.

We wrap up our NHK recap with the men's event, which was a bit better skated overall than some of the earlier Grand Prix events. We discuss the pros and cons of Olympic pressure spread out among a variety of skaters rather than focused on just one or two, why ending with weak spins can mar the overall impression of an otherwise strong program, and the lost experience for some young talented Japanese skaters who had to miss out on formative JGP experiences for the last two seasons.

There were some real highs and lows in the NHK pairs event, and we discuss some scary twist mistakes, the real potential to see a Japanese team at the Grand Prix Final this year (and even to see them make a big splash there), and why having a fun, playful program can really set you apart from other teams taking a more traditional approach to Olympic season programs.