Scoreography

After an unplanned summer break, Scoreography returns to cover the 2024-2025 season, starting with the Challenger Series. We take a look at all the major competitors we've seen so far, specifically from the Nebelhorn and Lombardia Trophy competitions, as well as Cranberry Cup and other small events. Welcome back, Scoreogra-fans! (too much?) It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new SEASON of figure skating — and we're so happy to be back! It was a long summer of far too much adult-ing, and we've missed so much in the world of figure skating. From the ISU's legalization of the backflip (or somersault) in competition to the 2022 Olympic teams from the USA and Japan FINALLY getting their medals at the 2024 games in Paris, we're definitely a bit behind. However, with a new competitive season already in progress, we're moving forward and talking about what we've already seen at early season Challenger Series events including Lombardia Trophy, Nebelhorn Trophy, and Cranberry Cup. Since its still quite early and most skater's programs aren't fully “baked” yet, in this episode we break down which skaters have competed so far by discipline — and dig into who's already looking strong. Women's Division The women of Team USA have come out hot already with some big moments for reigning U.S. Champion, Amber Glenn, and well as two young skaters who are starting to make their mark internationally: Elyce Lin-Gracey and Sarah Everhardt. Amber threw down a personal best short program at Lombardia Trophy — which included a gorgeous triple axel — and skated well enough in the free to earn her first gold at a Challenger Series event. Elyse Lin-Gracey was consistently gaining ground last season, but she looks like she's found her flow and looked incredible at Nebelhorn Trophy. She scored a personal best of 213.33 overall and made the skating world sit up and take notice. Also bringing the heat is Sarah Everhart, who looked fantastic at last year's U.S. Nationals where she landed in 4th overall. She started her season with a victory at Cranberry Cup over the likes of reigning World Silver medalist, Isabeau Levito and Elyse Lin-Gracey. Isabeau Levito, for her part, has perhaps not had the flawless programs and scores she would have liked so far — with a bronze at Cranberry Cup and a silver at Nebelhorn Trophy. However, we are not too concerned, as she's already shown a new short program that taps into an elegant, Audrey Hepburn vibe that looks like a winner to us. Plus, her free skate at Nebelhorn showed significant improvement from Cranberry Cup. We think these are just early competitions and that she looks to be right on track. Team Japan is already on the board with medals as well, with reigning 3-time world champion, Kaori Sakamoto, taking the bronze at Lombardia Trophy with a safe but solid competition. Again, her programs look stellar and we're chalking up the lower-than-usual difficulty and scores to the fact that it's a brand new season. At Nebelhorn Trophy, we saw her Japanese teammate and last season's rookie of the year, Hana Yoshida, take bronze and include triple axels in both her short and long programs. The short program saw a fall on that triple axel, but she scored a nice one in her excellent free skate. Pairs Division Nebelhorn Trophy provided us a fantastic early-season rematch between two of last season's top teams: World Champions Deanna Stelatto-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps and World Bronze medalists, Minerva Hase & Nikita Volodin. Canada's Deanna & Maxime had a great new short program, but drew the short straw, going first at the competition, so were scored lower than they would have been had they skated later. Their new free skate has incredible potential to be one of their best, but a few issues on their side-by-side jumps held them solidly in the silver medal position. Germany's Hase & Volodin looked nearly ready for Worlds in terms of their technical. After having to make some relatively last-minute changes to their music in the offseason, they looked poised and polished — claiming their first victory of this new season. If this represents the promise of what's to come, they will make it an exciting Grand Prix series and beyond. Also looking strong already are Sarah Conti & Niccolo Macii from Italy, who took the gold at Lombardia Trophy with two much better skates than most of what we saw from them last season. It was great to see a solid comeback for this team — and will hopefully lead to more positive outcomes. Reigning world silver medalists, Japan's Riku Miura & Ryuchi Kihara, had a stunning short program at Lombardia Trophy. However, their new long program—while looking like it has the potential to be a gem—saw a scary fall in a lift resulting in what appeared to be at least a minor injury for Ryuchi. Their coach, Bruno Marcotte, later said Ryuchi would recover in a week or two and that no major damage was done, thankfully. Also looking strong so far are Hungary's Maria Pavlova & Alexei Sviatchenko, who were third at Lombardia Trophy, and the U.S.'s Ellie Kam & Danny O'Shea, who had a stunning personal best short program at Nebelhorn Trophy and earned the bronze medal there. Men's Division We were NOT prepared for the Lombardia Trophy rematch of the two top men in the world from last season, Ilia Malinin and Yuma Kagiyama. In what had to be the most exciting moments of the season so far, these two men lit up the arena in Italy — showing programs that look both like they have tons of room to improve and also like they've been skating them for years. Reigning world champ and quad god, Ilia Malinin, has brought some of his exhibition style to his short program with an aggressive music choice and program. His free skate to “I'm Not a Vampire” may be his strongest yet. He did not perform the quad axel here or push to the limits he can on the technical side, but his victory was marked instead by more intensity and connection to the music than we've seen from him before. He's showing growth, and it's exciting to see. Yuma Kagiyama brought his finesse, his edges, his jumps, and his completeness as a skater to Lomabardia and looked absolutely divine as he took silver. As he did last season, his difficulty was somewhat dialed down here (its early season!), but that did not take away from the quality of his programs. In particular, his short program is a masterpiece that — once at its full power — will have audiences in the palm of his hand even more than they already are. A joy! Not too far behind the two of these men was Japan's Shun Sato, who looked better than ever after an off season where he obviously spent time working on his choreography and connection to the music. Worth noting is his score of 285.88, which got him a bronze here but would have taken gold over his countryman, Sota Yamamoto, at Nebelhorn Trophy. Yamamoto had a rough short program at Nebelhorn, but his exceptional free skate took him to victory. Right behind his was a strong performance from Gabriele Frangipani from Italy and an artistic dream from Deniss Vasiļjevs of Latvia. Ice Dance Division Of all the disciplines so far, we've seen the fewest of the top contenders in dance. Reigning world bronze medalists, Guignard & Fabbri of Italy, did make their debut with a fresh and fun rhythm dance. Their free skate seemed a bit less successful, but their scores were still magnificent and took them to an easy gold medal at Lombardia Trophy. The team nipping at their heels all last season, Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson of Great Britain, looked amazing in their disco-themed rhythm dance. However, their free dance to a Beyonce medley seemed a little more safe than we've seen from them in past seasons. Still, their scores easily took them to victory at Nebelhorn Trophy and sets them up well as the season evolves. Our personal favorites so far this season have to be the two American teams of Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko, whose free dance to Carmen may well be their best to date, and Emilea Zingas & Vadym Kolesnik. Zingas & Kolesnik looked like a different team in their free dance, showing a new and captivating side to their skating. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 3:43 — Women's Division 3:58 — Amber Glenn 5:15 — Elyce Lin-Gracey 6:51 — Sarah Everhardt 9:29 — Isabeau Levito 12:25 — Kaori Sakamoto 14:49 — Hana Yoshida 16:12 — Mona Chiba 16:43 — Anastasia Gubanova 16:49 — Kimmy Repond 17:01 — Sarah-Maude Dupuis 17:52 — Yuna Aoki and Mai Mihara 18:58 — Women we haven't seen yet 20:00 — Pairs Division 20:30 — Hase and Volodin 21:29 — Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps 23:57 — Conti and Macii 25:08 — Miura and Kihara 28:14 — Pavlova and Sviatchenko 29:21 — Kam and O'Shea 31:22 — Efimova and Mitrofanov 32:33 — Pairs we haven't seen 33:10 — Shin and Nagy 34:11 — Men's Division 34:41 — Ilia Malinin 37:18 — Yuma Kagiyama 39:09 — Shun Sato 41:17 — Sota Yamamoto 43:24 — Junhwan Cha 44:55 — Kao Muira 46:14 — Gabriele Frangipani 46:52 — Deniss Vasiļjevs 47:51 — Roman Sadovsky 49:34 — Jimmy Ma 49:57 — Lucas Broussard 50:09 — Men we haven't seen 52:23 — Ice Dance Division 53:45 — Guignard and Fabri 56:10 — Fear and Gibson 58:34 — Carreira and Ponomarenko 59:54 — Zingas and Kolesnik 1:01:30 — Taschlerova and Taschler 1:02:06 — Smart and Dieck 1:04:46 — Marosov and Chen 1:06:28 — Neset and Markolov 1:08:18 — Lerault and LeGac 1:08:57 — Brown and Brown 1:09:41 — Pate and Bye 1:09:51 — Flores and Destoyav 1:10:46 — Teams we haven't seen yet 1:12:01 — Gold in our Hearts 1:13:58 — Wrap-Up

Shoma Uno, two-time world champion and decorated Olympic mens skater, has officially announced his retirement. We share our feelings about his career and exit from competition, talk about other recent retirements, and explore the new Rhythm Dance themes and proposed ISU rule changes.   The inevitable has finally happened: Japan's legendary short king, Shoma Uno, has announced his retirement. As you may expect if you've listened to this podcast — or are also a huge Shoma fan — we have a lot of feelings about it that we share during this episode. There have been hints for the past year the his retirement from competitive figure skating was coming, but the reality of the hit the men's field takes without having Shoma's distinct artistry, ability, and sportsmanship cannot be overstated.  However, if there's a bright side, it's that Shoma can now pursue more artistic endeavors with his skating — which hopefully fans far and wide will be able to enjoy for years to come. Also, there's something to be said for the new guard of men's skating taking its rightful place and going forward. The field has its next tri-velry — with Ilia Malinin, Yuma Kagiyama, and Adam Siao Him Fa showing they are all in line for podium spots at the next Olympic Games. Behind them, there's a long list of men who are not too far behind and perhaps soon will be vying for those top spots as well. It's a time of change, and we'll have to wait and see what the landscape looks like next season. Ice Dance Thematics for the Next Two Seasons Speaking of next season, we also dig into the updated themes for the Rhythm Dance for the next two season — which will be “Social Dances and Styles of the 1950s, 1960s & 1970s” next season and “Dance Styles and Music from the 21st century – high energy and pop culture” in the 2025/2026 season.  Proposed ISU Rule Changes There are also rule changes potentially coming soon. The ISU will be voting this July on quite a few adjustments to the current rules, which are rumored to include everything from the removal of one jump combination in the free skate for single skaters to no more penalties for the backflip. We'll have to wait and see what passes and what doesn't, but its certainly something the keep an eye on during the offseason! Deanna Stellato-Dudek Petition If you'd like to help Canadian pairs team—and reigning world champions!—Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deshamps realize their Olympics 2026 dream, here's how: Sign the Change.org petition in support of Deanna's bid for Canadian citizenship! View and sign the petition here. Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

Now that the thrill ride of the competitive '23-'24 season is finished, we've officially entered the Show Skate season. We talk about the Stars on Ice tour in Japan, the French National Team tour, and Gold on Ice in Virginia. Plus we explore why the US lacks a SOI tour this year, and the reason these events are so important.   With the 2023-2024 competition season now complete, figure skaters have entered what is lovingly referred to as “Show Season!” In this week's episode, we cover some of the tours and shows happening this spring and summer — and discuss why it's slim pickings for those of us in the United States this year. Stars on Ice Japan came directly on the heels of the World Championships — and brought all of the champions from Montreal together for audiences across the country.  From a new exhibition for Kaori Sakamoto (choreographed by one of our favs, Kana Muramoto) to backflips for days from Keegan Messing to the first SOI Japan tour for newly crowned World Champs, Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps — Japan got one incredible show. We talk about all the fun we saw — and, for some fun behind the scenes glimpses, we highly recommend digging through the Instagram handles of Piper Gilles (and the main Stars on Ice feed to see some, too). Currently making their way through France is the French National team, on tour with French Ice Dance legends, Gabrielle Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron. While the lineup is stellar, its hard not to be most excited to see the performances from Kevin Aymoz — who, after taking a break from competition following the European Championships, is looking fantastic and again performing his stunning Bolero program for eager fans. Unfortunately for those in the United States, Stars on Ice will not be making its way across the country this year — so fans will need to travel to Canada if they want to catch the next leg of the show.  However, on April 19th, there is a one-night-only experience coming to Leesberg, Virginia called Gold on Ice — and it is bringing a fantastic lineup. Ilia Malinin leads the all start cast that includes Madison Chock & Evan Bates, Isabeau Levito, Mexico's crowd-pleasing Donovan Carilllo, Polina Edmunds, Emily Bratti & Ian Somerville, the aforementioned Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps and Keegan Messing — and more. We hope this brings in the crowd it deserves — and that more shows like it pop up soon!   Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We look back at our highlights from the '23-'24 figure skating season, talk about the World's exhibition gala, conjecture on possible retirements and team changes, examine the state of figure skating and FS fandom, and hand out our season-end Gold in Our Hearts awards.   The 2023-2024 figure skating season is over — now what?! Before we settle into the off-season, let's recap some of the best moments of the season and dig into some thoughts on what's to come in the sport we love. Whether it was the Quad God Ilia Malinin claiming his first World title in World Record fashion, or the volatile rise of Adam Siao Him Fa, it's easy to see why the men's discipline has been probably the most exciting of the season. The men from Japan alone proved they could have a competition as compelling as the World Championships with their two top men — the glorious Shoma Uno and sublime Yuma Kagiyama — leading a field of so many medal contenders its sad to see any get left off the World team. Now that we're halfway through the Olympic quadrennial, things are about to get even more interesting — and more serious for everyone. What may we see next year? Maybe the first quint? It's very possible. Outside of the men's division, though, it's been a great if unpredictable season for the women. Queen Kaori Sakamoto's three-peat World victory was historic and not surprising, but many of the other women seemed to struggle to find their consistency this year. However, the rise of Ava Marie Ziegler from the United States, Hana Yoshida from Japan, and Nina Pinzarrone of Belgium lit up the sport and gave us some enthusiasm for the future. Also, after such an up and down year, it was heart-warming to see Isabeau Levito fight for her first World silver and remind us all that she's a force in this sport. The dance discipline held true to its standard of being the most predictable, with the same top teams from last season remaining on top. However, we saw some hints that a changing of the guard may soon be on the horizon. For all our love of Chock & Bates, admiration of Gilles & Poirier, and awe at Guignard & Fabbri, we're slowly starting to see a shift in Ice Dance that may lift teams like Lajoie & Lagha, Fear & Gibson, and maybe even Carreira & Ponomarenko to the podium. How that will rollout over the next season is TBD, but it'll be interesting to watch. Last but NEVER least, the pairs discipline saw the biggest emotional moment of the season with Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps finishing the season is storybook fashion by winning their first World title on home ice. Rarely have we seen a moment in the sport as inspiring as this one, and it will be remembered for years to come. That said — outside of them, Japan's Riku Miura & Ryuchi Kihara, Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase & Nikita Volodin, and several other notable top teams — the pairs discipline is where we hope to see the most improvement going into next year. There are many teams with potential, but few making big strides. We hope to see bigger and better — and just more — from them next season. All in all, its been a great ride this year — and we cannot wait to see what you all have in store for us this fall! Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We recap the earth shattering action from World Figure Skating Championships 2024 in Montreal, including Ilia Malinin's historic 6-Quad winning free skate, the 3-peat gold for Kaori Sakamoto, and Canada's own Stellato-Dudek & Deschamps finally ascending to the Pairs throne.   The 2024 World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal gave us several moments we expected, others we wished for, and whole lot we never could have predicted. Most of all, it gave us countless extraordinary skating moments we won't soon forget. Men's Competition The formal coronation of the Quad God, Ilia Malinin, as the biggest rockstar in men's figure skating happened here—with a program that literally had us screaming in our living room in disbelief. Coming into the free skate a close third behind reigning World Champion, Shoma Uno, and returning Olympic silver medalist, Yuma Kagiyama, Malinin closed the event with a World Record-breaking free skate that started with a quad axel, ended with a boggling triple lutz-triple axel combination, and found room in the middle for 5 other quads. At the end of it, Malinin collapsed while the arena went bonkers — knowing they had seen something extraordinary. His first world title is certainly one to remember. In the silver slot, the utterly brilliant Yuma Kagiyama skated in a way that would have won him any other title on any other night. His continued growth as an artist as much as an athlete is glorious to watch, and while this year gold may not have been his, do not underestimate his potential to win the Olympic gold medal. He's on a path that could definitely get him there. In third, with the biggest comeback ever seen in ISU competition, was Adam Siao Him Fa from France. As if jumping from 19th to 3rd with an incredibly powerful free skate wasn't enough, he was second in the free program only to Ilia — and did that while also including an illegal backflip that cost his 2 points. It was bold, intense, and one of the best stories to come out of the championship. In fourth, Shoma Uno — who led after the short — had a rougher free skate than we've seen from him in quite a long time and couldn't hold onto a podium position. That said, he was still Shoma — meaning he was still brilliant and amongst the class of the field. Rounding out the top 5 was Jason Brown — who again competed very little internationally this season, only to come to Worlds with no quads and still skate SO BEAUTIFULLY that he landed amongst the top men in the world. Fingers crossed we see him again next year as the sport is always better for having him still competing in it.  Pairs Competition All season long, we've been watching Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps look like they were ready to take that step into being World Champions — but a few moments during the season had us worried the title may not happen this year. Our worries were wasted, thankfully, as Deanna and Maxime put down two dazzling programs that led to their history-making win on home soil in Canada. To say this moment was emotional is a massive understatement. As the oldest woman to ever win a figure skating world title in any discipline at 40 years old, Deanna becomes, not only a legend in the sport, but even more of an inspiration than she'd already proved herself to be. An extraordinary moment for this exceptionally talented team and fans everywhere to share. Riku Muira & Ryuchi Kihara came to Montreal with a lot of question marks. As the reigning World Champs, they were certainly not to be discounted — but injury had kept them from most competitions this season and it was unclear how they would perform. With a win in the free skate and a silver medal overall, they silenced all of those who doubted them and shined like the champions they are. In a scary moment, Ryuichi had to be helped by EMTs directly following their free skate — unfortunately meaning they missed the medal ceremony. Thankfully, he bounced back quickly and the organizing committee redid the medal ceremony on Saturday night to allow them to participate. Taking the bronze medal were the surprise pair of the season, Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase & Nikita Volodin. After their misstep at the European Championships, this team came here and showed why they went undefeated in the first part of this season, with two very strong programs that defy their short time together. We cannot wait to see how this team evolves and gets even better with time.  Women's Competition Kaori Sakamoto proved again why she's in a league of her own right now in the women's division, coming back from a 4th place finish in the short program to win her third gold medal. This third world title makes her the first woman since Peggy Flemming in the 1960's to win three consecutive world championships. Taking a bit of a surprise silver, Isabeau Levito came back from a rough US Nationals to skate two exceptional programs and earn her first World medal. This is the first silver medal the US has taken in the women's event since Ashley Wagner in 2016.  In third for the bronze was Chaeyeon Kim from South Korea — who skated a near flawless free skate to move up from 6th to 3rd. This 17 year-old skater has only been on the ice for 7 years and is already a world medalist — it will be very interesting to see how far she can go! In a disappointing placement, Loena Hendrickx — who won the short program — ended up in fourth overall after a sluggish, error-laden free skate.  Ice Dance Competition The most predictable of the disciplines provided some excellent performances—but stayed to the script in terms of the medals. Madison Chock & Evan Bates decimated the rhythm dance, earning a sizable lead that they needed after a small mistake in the free dance—which was still absolutely gorgeous and enough to earn them their second world title. The silver went to the hometown heroes, Canda's Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier, who won the free dance with the best performance of their Wuthering Heights program of the season. Their rhythm dance again seemed just a bit less impactful and held them back from taking the title. In the bronze position was Italy's Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri, who turned in two extraodiary performances that may have been the most technically sound of the event. However, a few small issues in their free dance — and a larger one with a scary costume malfunction — dropped them from 2nd in the short to 3rd overall. Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

In part two of our 2024 Worlds preview, we dig into the absolutely stacked Men's competition, including the “Thrivalry” between Shoma Uno, Ilia Malinin, and Yuma Kagiyama. Then we go deep into the Ice Dance lineup, which promises to be a close showdown between 3-4 top teams.   In this week's episode, we're shooting our final shot at predictions for the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships — this time discussing the men's and dance competitions.  From the “Trivalry” we're expecting to see between Ilia Malinin, Shoma Uno, and Yuma Kagiyama in the men's event to a probable four-way race for the podium in the dance event, we're holding our breath for these two competitions.  Men's Competition  This season has been an incredibly strong one in the men's division, making this event possibly the most competitive and anticipated of the World Championships events.  Coming in off his Grand Prix Final win, Ilia Malinin heads to Montreal as a definite favorite for the podium. He didn't have the best US Nationals, but also didn't have much competition there — so its possible that lessened his preparation. Regardless, he recently shared a quad toe loop / quad axel combination he's doing in practice — throwing an absolute gauntlet down to the rest of the field and clearly stating that he will be tough to beat if he skates cleanly. However, he's not alone in the “favorites” camp — Japan's Yuma Kagiyama and reigning World Champ, Shoma Uno, are coming in looking phenomenal. Kagiyama showed up better than ever at Four Continents back in February — taking that title in a dominant fashion and giving him a ton of momentum coming into Worlds. Uno has looked solid all season, but hasn't had quite the consistency and has been “plagued by the q” (I.e. quarter understated jumps) on a few occasions. We're crossing every finger and toe that he can bring to Montreal his fight and his special artistic magic — and get on that podium again! Also in the medal mix, the early-season frontrunner — Adam Siao Him Fa — comes in after having along break since winning his second European title. His last three competitions have looked a bit messier than the near-perfection of the first half of the season, but you cannot count out this exceptional Frenchman on the rise. Japan's Kao Miura arrives hungry to his first World Championships — and has far less pressure on him than his countrymen. It'll be very interesting to see what he can bring to the ice here. There are quite a few other men here who could show up and surprise everyone, including one of skating's favorite sons, Jason Brown of the U.S, who is a wild card here but can never be counted out. All in all, this feels like the first real step towards the next Olympics and expect to see some big programs here. Ice Dance Competition Reigning World Champions, Madison Chock & Evan Bates of the US, come here seeking a repeat win and two great skates in their adopted hometown of Montreal — and we're here for all of that. However, Canada's darlings, Piper Gilles & Paul Porrier, have home country advantage as well as the highest score of the season. Not to be outdone, Italy's Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri have shown extraordinary performances throughout the season and may be the most consistent of the top three teams. So, while Ice Dance is usually the most predictable, this competition feels like a toss up between the three powerhouse teams. Waiting just a tiny bit behind them and ready to take a big step forward are Great Britain's Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson. They had a big surprise victory over Guignard & Fabbri at NHK Trophy last fall, and under the right circumstance on the right day, could slide onto the podium. It's a long-shot, but not impossible. What is wonderful about this competition is that there are also no less than a dozen other excellent teams all vying for top 10 finishes here. From Lithuania's brilliant Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius fresh off their European bronze medal to Finland's inventive Juulia Turkkila & Matthias Verslus to France's Evgeniia Lopareva & Geoffrey Brissaud who recently went viral with their rave-inspired exhibition program — there will be a lot of skating to love regardless of placement.  Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show    

Part One of our World Figure Skating Championships 2024 preview focuses on the deep field of the Women's event, and the volatile and unpredictable Pairs competition. We also discuss the controversial Ice Dance Rhythm Dance themes for the next two seasons, Audrey Shin's move to Pairs, and Ilia Malinin's practice 4T+4A sequence.   The 2024 World Figure Skating Championships are so close we can smell the Montreal bagels — which means it's a good time for us to start talking about the biggest competition of the year! In this episode, we're focusing on the Women's and Pairs events — which both start on Wednesday, March 20th and promise to serve up some surprises. Women's Competition Preview For all that this field has a few clear standouts, it also has a deep pool of talent standing right behind them ready to step forward. Kaori Sakamoto — the reigning two time World Champion from Japan — comes in as the favorite, but not an untouchable one. While she's had a very strong, consistent season and garnered the highest score of any women this year, Belgium's Loena Hendrickx isn't far behind. Loena has two Worlds medals, but neither of them are gold. We expect she'll be vying for a spot on the podium and — if she can skate cleanly — maybe even in the hunt for the top spot. Right behind these two powerful medal favorites fighting for gold are two more young Japanese favorites, Mone Chiba and Hana Yoshida, who will definitely be in the hunt. South Korea's Chaeyeon Kim, Georgia's Anastasiia Gubanova, Belgium's Nina Pinzarrone, and the two American women — Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito — are all also capable of taking a medal. Not completely out of consideration is last year's World Silver medalist, Haein Lee from South Korea, who's had a rough season but is entirely capable of pulling off an upset if she's at her best. Considering there's even more great talent not named above that will be giving their all in Montreal, this has the potential to be the best women's event we've seen since the Beijing Olympics.  Pairs Competition Preview The pairs discipline has been a bit of a wild ride this season. From super high highs (looks at you, Deanna and Maxine) to fairly disappointing lows (sadly thinking of the US Nationals right now), we're unsure what to think — but definitely hoping for a big, bold battle for the podium here. If they are at even close to their best, Canada's Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps will be the class of this field. Whether that translates to gold or not will likely be based on how clean they are and how strong teams like Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase & Nikita Volodin and reigning World Champs, Japan's Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara skate.  Italy also has two powerful, if inconsistent, teams that could definitely be in the medal mix in newly crowned European champions, Lucrezia Beccari & Matteo Guarise and last year's World bronze medalists, Sarah Conti & Niccolo Macii.     Also in the conversation, 2024 World Junior Champions from Georgia, Anastasiia Metelkina & Luka Berulava may have faltered at their past two competitions, but are not to be underestimated.  And don't discount last year's fifth place finishers, Emily Chan & Spencer Akira Howe from the US. We haven't seen them much this season due to a injury, but what we did see was noteworthy enough to keep an eye on them for a top 5 finish again. There's at least five other teams that could pull off an upset based on what we've seen this season, so we recommend to expect the unexpected in this discipline in Montreal. Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We look back at the extremely impressive Junior Worlds 2024 championships, including the showdown between Mao Shimada and Jia Shin in the Women's event, an expected win from dance team Neset & Markelo, shaky success for pairs team Metelkinda & Berulava, and star making performances from Rena Uezono and Anthony Paradis.   This week, we're recapping the 2024 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Taipei, Taiwan. While we haven't always been avid junior competition viewers, this competition may be the catalyst that gets us more in tune with them! From a brilliant, burgeoning rivalry between Mao Shimada and Jia Shin in the Women's competition, to the rising star performances from the gold medal-winning dance team of Leah Neset & Artem Markelov, there was a lot to be excited about. Women's Competition The premier event of Junior Worlds had to be the Women's competition, thanks to a ridiculously deep field of talented women who, for the most part, all turned in fantastic skates. The gold was expected to come down to either Japan's Mao Shimada and South Korea's Jia Shin — and these two women made it a nail biter. With her poise, flow, and skill, Jia Shin won the short program over Shimada. However, in the free skate, while both skated near-flawlessly, Mao edged out Jia with her quad toe loop and overall technical excellence. With competitions like these, we cannot wait to see these two compete head-to-head for years to come. Jumping into third with an astounding free skate, Japan's 13 year-old Rena Uezono lit up the arena and made her way to a bronze medal. Rounding out the top ten were all fantastic skaters — from Finland's Iida Karhunen to Sherry Zhang from the US and Canada's Lulu Lin. We even saw solid skates from those much further down in the ranks, including Josephine Lee from the US, Kaiya Ruiter from Canada, and the Kim twins from South Korea. All in all, this competition made us optimistic for the future of Women's skating. Pairs Competition As predicted by many, the gold here went to the talented Georgian pair of Anastasia Metelkina & Luka Berulava — though this win was not as dominant as many would have expected. This team has a solid chance of medaling at Senior Worlds in a few weeks, and this free skate was not one they would have hoped to have here leading into that competition. Still, they took the title by more than 12 points and have some time to look at what went wrong before heading to Montreal. The silver and bronze both went to young American teams — Olivia Flores & Luke Wang and Naomi Williams & Lachlan Lewer, respectively. Both teams had exceptional short programs, and flawed but solid free skates. Flores & Wang, however, brought quite a bit more difficulty to their skate and looked strong overall. These are certainly teams to watch for in the future! Men's Competition This was the closest competition of the event, with gold being taken by Minkyu Seo by just over a point. This talented South Korean had a solid short program, but a slightly less compelling free skate. However, the silver medalist — Japan's Rio Nakata — was in 5th after the short, so needed made up quite a bit of ground to win the free skate and take the second spot. In with the bronze, Adam Hagara from Slovakia became the first Slovakian skater to earn a Junior Worlds medal. While there were many other strong skaters in this field, the one we felt the most excited about is Canada's Anthony Paradis. This young skater came in 15th, but scored remarkably high PCS marks and had the most identity and overall skating quality on the ice in this field. What he lacks in jumps he makes up for in commitment — and we eagerly await a time when he can bring it all together for a run at international podiums. Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We take a look at the Challenge Cup 2024 competition in Tilburg, Netherlands, including two remarkable skates from Japan's Yuna Aoki, an expected win from Kaori Sakamoto, and somewhat surprising golds for Italy's Conti & Macii and Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov. We also touch on Tallink Hotels Cup in Estonia, Korea's Winter Sports Festival, and the announcement of Canada's Worlds team.   In this week's episode, we're breaking down one of the last senior competitions leading into the 2024 World Championships — the 2024 Challenge Cup in Tilburg, Netherlands. While this was not a huge competition, there were several noteworthy entrants that made this competition one to notice — especially in the women's division where Kaori Sakamoto nearly lost to fellow Japanese skater, Yuna Aoki. Women's Competition Yuna Aoki came to Tilburg and showed audiences that she absolutely should be considered amongst the best and brightest skaters in Japan, with two almost-flawless programs. Her short program, which she choreographed herself, included a spectacular triple lutz + triple loop combination that she repeated beautifully in the free skate. With a 209.37 total score, she landed only 3 points behind World Champion, Kaori Sakamoto — who had a few errors in both programs.  In third, France's Lorine Schild continued to perform well and likely ended her season here with a bronze medal. In fourth, Ekaterina Kurakova did well, but still seems to be lacking what judges are looking for from her in the PCS scores. We're hoping her team can determine what may be causing these marks soon to help Kurakova get back into the mix. Pairs Competition Here we saw a competition within a competition between arguably the two top Italian teams — Conti & Macii and Beccari & Guarise. After a tough season so far, Conti & Macii came here looking stronger and more organized than we've seen in a while. While still committing a few errors, they were able to take the gold definitively and possibly lock in their placement at the World Championships — though Italy has not yet named them to the team. Beccari & Guarise had a solid short program, but had some issues in their free skate that left them settling for silver. In bronze position, it was nice to see Kovalev & Kovalev of France come back after a terrible Europeans to earn a podium spot.  Men's Competition Mikhail Shaidorov continued his strong season here with a clean free skate and a gold medal. His programs, while still needing a lot of work in terms of components, are strong and working well for this young skater leading into Worlds. In the silver spot, Japan's Tatsuya Tsuboi earned his highest international score to date and set himself up well going into next season as part of the deep Japanese men's field. Coming in for bronze, Kazuki Tomono — who may have been considered the favorite ahead of the event — had some messy skates that left him farther back than he'd hoped. We've loved seeing the evolution of Tomono's style this season, and are hoping to see more consistency from his jumps in the future, Ice Dance Competition As could have been predicted after Europeans, Demougeot & Le Mercier of France came and handily won the gold with two excellent skates. This is a team on the rise, and absolutely one to watch — especially going towards the 2030 Olympics. In silver, it was a treat to see the continued progress of Spain's Olivia Smart & Tim Dieck. They've been fun to watch grow all season, and here we saw their most solid twizzles yet. In bronze, Canadians Fabbri & Ayer skated beautifully and continued to make their case to be perceived as one of Canada's top teams. We're hoping to see more growth and new material from them next year that pushes them towards that goal.   Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

As we get ready for the final competitions of the '23-'24 season, we answer listener questions about all things figure skating — predictions, favorite skaters and FS moments, and what 20 programs we'd save in our end-of-the-world bunker.   Welcome to our first Scoreography Q&A Episode! We asked listeners to let us know what in figure skating they wanted us to talk about. And we received a far more enthusiastic response than we ever could have imagined! As you will hear, you asked some amazing Q's about our favorite skates and skaters of all time — which, honestly, led us to a mild existential crisis! You asked what programs we would take with us into a dystopian bunker — which REALLY gave us a much greater existential crisis! You were so creative and thoughtful in your questions, we hope we did some of them justice. You also allowed us to dig into some of reasons we love the sport. From Wendy's childhood crush on Kurt Browning to Adron's epiphany at the 2006 U.S. National Championships in St. Louis, MO — all of it was fun to reminisce about. We did make sure to also dig into some of the judging changes we'd like to see, and even offered a few hot takes (Adron had far more than he expected.) We hope you enjoy us getting nostalgic about Paul Wylie program, gushing over countless skaters we adore, and let us know who your favorites are, too! What would you “take to the bunker?” We'd love to hear!    Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We breakdown the 2024 ISU Awards and their accompanying live concert event, Art on Ice. We also take a look at the ongoing 2022 Olympic Team Medal fiasco, and talk about Gracie Gold's new memoir, Outofshapeworthlessloser.   The ISU Awards were handed out for the fourth time on Sunday, February 11th during one of the first Art on Ice performances of 2024 — and the show was certainly a spectacle. Co-hosted by skating legend, Kurt Browning, and sports presenter and influencer, Elma Smit, the award show was intertwined with performances from elite skaters and musical acts performing as part of Art on Ice — a show that happens yearly in Switzerland, and is known for bold and unique shows that ignite the imagination.  While some of the awards are a bit vague in terms of how those in the category qualify and the methods used for voting a little confusing, we're always here for celebrating the skaters themselves. It was a delight to see Adam Siao Him Fa, Hana Yoshida, Loena Hendrickx, and Ilia Malinin all take home some hardware. The highlight of the awards had to be the Special Achievement honor given to Deanna Stelatto-Dudek in honor of all she has achieved during her unprecedented 2-part competitive career spanning over 2 decades. It was obvious how much this acknowledgment meant to Deanna, which was wonderful to see her receive. The streamed version of the Art on Ice performances were a bit disjointed to watch — with quite of bit of the skating being missed due to the cameras often focusing on the musical performances more than the skaters.  At some point, we'd love to see this award show move away from its partnership with Art on Ice and shift to the end of the season — perhaps directly following the World Championships (at the gala?). It seems like that may make these awards feel a bit more authentic and exciting.  2022 Olympic Team Medals  In other ISU news, we discuss the recent decision in the Kamila Valieva case, and how the ISU has stood their ground after making what seems to be a mathematical error in redistributing points for the Olympic Team medals. With Valieva being disqualified for 4 years as of December of 2021, her scores from the 2022 Olympic Team event and 2022 Europeans have been scratched.  While in the Europeans that means every woman moves up one spot, the points earned in the Team competition got far more harried and now leaves the US with gold, Japan with silver, and Russia with bronze. If the ISU had followed previous precedent and what has been their own rules, it seems Canada would be in the bronze position — and with that in mind, Canada has since filed a case to dispute the ISU's decision.  Gracie Gold's Memoir Lastly, like many of you, we were quick to grab a copy of US figure skating champion, Gracie Gold's, new member — Outofshapeworthlessloser. The title certainly gives you a preview of the tone of the book, but the contents definitely dig deep into the heart of what needs to change in figure skating.  From her difficult family life to massively unreasonable expectations of a teenager from varying coaches, officials, and judges, to her near-tragic meltdown prior to the 2018 Olympic Games, this book is unapologetically vulnerable. Our hope is that is brings more empathy for, and awareness to, what elite skaters go through — and the need for improvements from those who support them. Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We examine all the competition at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2024 in Shanghai, China. We discuss the dominant, definitive gold medal wins, dozens of highly memorable performances, and a couple frustrating judge calls.   In the last major international skating competition before the 2024 World Championships, we saw some iconic performances — from many who may be destined for World medals — at the Four Continents Championships in Shanghai, China.  From a stunning season's best from Japan's Yuma Kagiyama to the continued dominance of Piper Gilles & Paul Porrier of Canada, to renewed hope for reigning pairs World Champions, Riku Miura & Ryuchi Kihara, this event felt like a preview for what we're about to see in Montreal this March. Men's Competition Yuma Kagiyama was in a league of his own here. Not that he didn't have incredible competition, but Yuma leveled up his already stellar programs this season and took another step towards what may be his first world title. Both programs saw increased difficulty, and while he had a couple of errors in his free skate, its hard to remember them since there was so much to be excited about. Seeing him at Worlds against Ilia Malinin and reigning World Champ, Shoma Uno, gets more exciting by the day. In silver, the ever-solid (in consistently improving) Shun Sato delivered his quad lutz (twice!) and continued to show why he is always a threat. We want to see him show more emotion and really develop a persona on the ice, but his talent is undeniable.  With his best showing this year, the bronze landed around the neck of the brilliant Junhwan Cha. After a rough start to his season due to injury, we've been seeing consistent improvement and a steady increase in his technical difficulty. Here, both performances brought the drama in the best way, and proved that Junhwan is definitely capable of showing up on the podium at Worlds again this year. The  most popular performances of the entire championship easily belonged to China's Boyang Jin — who delivered two incredible performances to wind up fifth, and was showered with stuffies from a grateful and excited home audience.  Pairs Competition At the top of the podium, this season's superstars — Canada's Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps — continued to deliver great performances, with a few unfortunate errors. The quality of so much of their skating is near-unmatched in the discipline right now, though unfortunately they have been plagued by challenges, in the singles elements especially. However, they still handily took the gold and continue to be the favorites going into the World Championships. In second, we saw the return of World Champions Riku Miura & Ryuchi Kihara from Japan. If you have listened to the podcast, you know we love this team — so it's no surprise that we are very excited to see them. As they are still getting back in the swing of competition, this was not their best showing — but still enough to take silver and bring a little of their magic to the ice. The newly crowned US National Champions, Ellie Kim & Danny O'Shea, took the bronze with two flawed but excellent programs that showed off their continuing development as a team. The throws still pose an issue for them, but their excellence in the lifts and improved singles elements have taken them to a new level in their trajectory. Women's Competition This competition saw a huge breakout for Japan's Mone Chiba. After an excellent showing at Japan Nationals, Mone came here and delivered two outstanding programs that were near-flawless. After a rough Grand Prix series, she has found more consistency and delivered the best programs we've seen from her yet. In silver position, South Korea's Chaeyeon Kim gave two solid performances that felt far more confident than what we saw in the Grand Prix Final. It solidifies her as South Korea's top woman competitor going into Worlds. Japan's Rinka Wantanabe landed her first triple axel of the season and earned the bronze in fantastic fashion. In fourth, Ava Marie Ziegler from the United States proved that her decision to skip Nationals for Four Continents may have been a good one since she scored over 200 again. This should solidify her as one the the top U.S. women going into next season — even without her getting a bid for Worlds. Ice Dance Competition Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier continued to dominate this season with two stellar programs, and earned their first Four Continents gold. While having a small twizzles issue in the rhythm dance, their free dance to Wuthering Heights was near flawless and completely captivating.  The silver was won by Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Nickolaj Sorensen, amidst Nik's continued assault investigation.  In the bronze medal position, Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko delivered a fantastic rhythm dance but did see some small errors creep into their free dance. Another American team, Emilia Zingas & Vadim Kolsnik, gave possibly their best performances of the season and landed solidly in fourth.  In fifth, with possibly our favorite performances in this discipline, the Canadian team of Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain le Gac received a questionable deduction for an lift they have been performing all season in the rhythm dance, but moved up in the standings with their stellar and inventive free dance to the music of The Corpse Bride.  Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We recap the exciting US Nationals 2024 competition from Columbus, OH, featuring a dramatic upset in the women's event, a stellar fight for the podium in Ice Dance, promising performances from the Men, and an underwhelming Pairs event.   The 2024 US National Championships gave us a little bit of everything. We saw a quad axel and second nationals win from a slightly messier than usual Ilia Malinin. We witnessed a Women's final where Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito both struggled — with Amber scoring just enough to take her first national title. An awful case of the flu still didn't stop Chock and Bates from taking the Ice Dance gold. Lastly, we watched a Pairs field filled with promise but, unfortunately, so many errors. Women's Competition The biggest story out of this event is the long-awaited win for fan favorite, Amber Glenn. We were amongst those pulling for her on every jump from home — and while she did have a great short program and landed her triple axel, the second half of her long program suffered from several errors that but the top of the podium in doubt. However, Isabeau Levito — who led after the short program — had three falls in her free skate and had to settle for the bronze. In the silver spot, we saw perhaps the highlight of the competition from Josephine Lee. She delivered two fantastic programs, with her free skate being the cleanest of the night. She's too young to go to Worlds this year, but watch out for her in years to come! Ice Dance Competition Madison Chock & Evan Bates stunned with their Queen rhythm dance, which was helpful because their free dance saw some uncharacteristic errors due to them both dealing with a horrible case of the flu. They nearly withdrew from the competition, but had enough in the tank to still take gold. In second, with what seemed like breakout performances from them, Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko shined. Their free dance especially won the night, and saw them skate with their full technical and artistic prowess — but also with more emotion and freedom than we've seen before. Taking the bronze, a bit of surprise came with the medal for Emily Bratti & Ian Somerville. This young team has all it takes to have a big career, with Ian especially bringing star-power to the ice. But their podium-step ahead of former silver medalists Caroline Green & Michael Parsons in this competition was unexpected, though well-earned. Men's Competition As expected, Ilia Malinin dominated the competition with quads a-plenty. He even broke out the quad axel in the free skate — along with an unplanned triple lutz / triple axel / triple toeloop combination near the very end to make up for a few errors and secure the top spot. In silver, the class of the field Jason Brown skated two gorgeous programs, which both saw uncharacteristic falls. He still had him trademark appeal — and, most importantly for Team USA, enough quality and exceptional skill to rely on at Worlds. In bronze, a wonderful completion for Camden Pulkinen landed him not only on the podium but also won him a trip to Worlds. In fourth, we saw a stellar showing from Maxim Naumov. Looking forward to more from him at Four Continents. Pairs Competition At the end of the short program, favorites Spencer Howe & Emily Chan led the field. However, due to Spencer's continued recovery from surgery, they withdrew from the competition — though were still selected for the World team. The pairs that remained mostly struggled with singles elements and delivered a fairly messy competition. In the end, Ellie Kim & Danny O'Shea squeaked out a victory. Right behind them, the new team of Alisa Efimova & Misha Mitrofanov won the free skate and showed they have a lot of skill — look for them to move up over the next few seasons. In third, Valentina Plazas & Maximiliano Fernandez took their first National's bronze with a crowd-pleasing performance in the long program. Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We preview the upcoming United States Nationals 2024 competition, including expected wins from Ilia Malinin and Chock & Bates, the likely podium but potential surprises in the women's division, and the total crapshoot of the Pairs competition.   The 2024 US National Championships are upon us, and there is a lot to be excited about in Columbus, Ohio this week! From a wide open Men's field behind the near-guaranteed winner — QuadG0d himself, Ilia Malinin — to a potentially tighter-than-expected Women's competition, this promises to be full of surprises. Plus, a stacked line-up of dance teams — including reigning World Champions, Madison Chock & Evan Bates — are sure to make this a stellar event. Men's Competition While not a “lock”, it's hard to deny that Ilia Malinin will be near-impossible to beat here. After his huge win (and score!) at the Grand Prix Final back in December, Malinin looks for his second national title with no one else really in his league technically here. The big question will be if he throws the quad axel in one or both programs. Our bet is on no, since he won't need it, but he's surprised us before! The only man who just might be able to triumph on the right day is the brilliant Jason Brown, who cannot touch Ilia's jumps but can out-skate most men in the world when it comes to skating skills, artistry, choreography, etc. It would be a shock to say the least, but anything is possible! Also to keep an eye on for the podium (and perhaps a trip to Worlds): Camden Pulkinen, Andrew Torgashev, Maxim Naumov, and Jimmy Ma. Ice Dance Competition The deepest field of competitors at US Nationals is definitely in dance. At the top, and the clear front-runners here, are Madison Chock & Evan Bates. Their programs this year are outstanding and they are fresh from a victory at the Grand Prix Final. Unless disaster strikes, just sit back and enjoy these two! When looking at the rest of the field, it's wide open. The safest bets would be Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko and Caroline Green & Michael Parsons. Both have performed well on the Grand Prix, but perhaps not as well as expected. Right behind them, teams including Oona Brown & Gage Brown, Emilea Zingas & Vadym Kolesnik, and Eva Pate & Logan Bye are all in the mix. Also, don't discount the team of Isabella Flores & Ivan Desyatov — who have only recently been able to officially skate for the US. We're excited to see them here! Women's Competition While defending national champion Isabeau Levito comes in as the favorite here, she will have stiff competition. Isabeau has had an up-and-down season to date, with the high of winning her first Grand Prix event and the low of the short program at the Grand Prix Final. She's known for her consistency and grace, both of which we hope to see on display in Columbus. Right with her in the running for the title will be Amber Glenn, who has also had a wobbly season. However, international judges have shown they are ready to support her — so fingers crossed for two great programs here. Also in the medal hunt, the NHK Trophy silver medalist, Lindsay Thorngren, who has been getting better all season. Also, Starr Andrews is in the mix, as is the up-in-comer Elyce Lin-Gracey. Looking forward to seeing how this one plays out! Pairs Competition Without Alexa Knerim & Brandon Frasier here this year, the pairs field is fairly open. The strongest team in the past, though we have not seen them in a while, is Emily Chan & Spencer Akira Howe. They were 5th in the World in 2023 — and, if they are on, should be you clear winners. However, the rest of the field feels unclear. The two teams most likely to vie for medals are Ellie Kam & Danny O'Shea and Chelsea Liu & Balazs Nagy — though we could see a surprise from Valentina Plazas & Maximiliano Fernandez or another team, as there are a lot of partnerships on a similar level here. Again, this one promises to be anyone's game. Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We look at the somewhat underwhelming Canadian Nationals 2024 event, with surprise wins from Wesley Chiu and Kaiya Ruiter (except we predicted that one!), and flawed performances from gold-winning favorites Stellato-Dudek & Deschamps and Gilles & Poirier.   Canadian Nationals 2024 Commentary and Analysis The 2024 Canadian National Championships in Calgary saw some great performances, but unfortunately quite a few more disappointments. From the highs of Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier winning their third national title, to the struggles of many of the favorites in the men's and women's competitions, it was a challenging event that suffered (but sustained) through low attendance, no broadcast parter, and sub-zero temperatures. Ice Dance Competition As the marquee event of the National Championships, there was certainly pressure on the top teams to perform well — and Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier met that challenge to take their third national title. Their rhythm dance was a bit tighter than usual here, but their free dance continues to evolve and get stronger, which bodes well for them going into Four Continents and the World Championships. With the withdrawals of both Lawrence Fournier-Beaudry & Nikolaj Sorensen and Marjorie Lajiois & Zak Lagha, the door was open for two other fantastic Canadian dance teams — Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac and Alicia Fabbri & Paul Ayer — to take their respective and well-earned podium spots. Men's Competition Wesley Chiu threw down a great short program, which helped sustain him through a nervous free skate and bolster him to win his first national title. The silver and bronze medalists, Aleksa Rakic and Anthony Paradis, were both a bit surprising. Paradis, who is just 16 years old, showed remarkable artistic ability and professionalism through an equipment malfunction to land on the podium — which may have been the highlight of the whole comp. Coming into this event, three of the favorites were Conrad Orzel, Stephen Gogolev, and — returning to competition after a year — former Canadian National Champ, Roman Sadovsky. All three men had rough short programs that pushed them far down in the standings. Gogolev had to withdraw due to injury before the long, and neither Orzel nor Sadovsky were able to recover well enough to make the podium. Pairs Competition As expected, the remarkable team of Deanna Stellato-Dukek & Maxime Dechamps retained their national title — but it was not easy. Their short program had more errors than they typically see, still landing them in first but only barely. However, in their free program, they skated mostly clean and polished after messy side-by-side jumps to easily take the victory. In second, the on-the-rise team of Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud had a solid short program to stay close. After a less stellar free skate, the team comfortably landed in the silver spot ahead of Kelly Ann Laurin & Loucas Éthier. Womens Competition This discipline saw the upset of the event with 17 year-old Kaiya Ruiter taking her first national title. While her short program was not what she'd hoped for, Kaiya came back with a strong free skate that put her well ahead of the expected winner, Madeline Schizas. Schizas had a solid short program, but struggled with her jumps and her energy on the ice during the free skate. The result was disappointing, but should keep Maddie's spot on the World team assured. In third, the young Hetty Shi skated well enough to take second in the free skate behind Kaiya and end up with her first senior national medal. Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We look back on an extraordinary European Championships event, held in Kaunas, Lithuania. Along with expected gold medal wins from Adam Siao Him Fa and Leona Hendrickx came an unforgettable bronze medal performance from hometown ice dance team Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius on par with any Olympic moment we've ever seen.   The 2024 European Championships showed that figure skating can still thrill huge audiences! Hosted in Kaunas, Lithuania, this remarkable event saw France's Adam Siao Him Fa defend his title, Belgium's Loena Hendrickx finally win her first Euro gold, and the hometown team of Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius win every heart and possibly the most inspiring bronze medal ever. Between all of that and a completely unpredictable pairs competition, and it's clear that Europeans delivered one of the most exciting competitions in recent memory.  Ice Dance Competition  The marquee event of the competition — and possibly the most well attended ice dance event in years — the dance event not only did not disappoint, but genuinely overwhelmed. With the so many teams showing off just how deep this field truly was, Italy's Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri managed to pull out their second straight European title. Their biggest continental rivals this season, Great Britain's Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson, put on a very strong but ever-so-slightly flawed performance that was still absolutely crowd-please and a lock for silver. However, the biggest story for this competition was the bronze medal team – Lithuania's Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius. The support and enthusiasm this team was shown by the sellout crowd could have added too much pressure for some — but Reed and Ambrulevicius stepped up to the challenge in phenomenal style with two near-flawless programs. Truly an evening that will not soon be forgotten! Men's Competition As predicted by us and many others, Adam Siao Him Fa successfully defended his title, winning here handily — if not easily. While fantastic, both of his programs did have some tension and flaws — however, his performances were still in a league of their own. We can't wait to see what he brings to Worlds this March. The surprise silver medalist, Estonia's Aleksandr Selevko, was really the story of the competition. With an exciting, original short program, he slid into third ahead of many other more seasoned competitors. Then, after the typically consistent Lukas Britschgi fell fifth in the long program, Aleksandr stepped up to grab the second spot. In third, and possibly with the performance of the night, Matteo Rizzo skated a remarkably emotional free skate that moved him up from sixth to a bronze medal.  Women's Competition While the top three women here could have been predicted beforehand, how tight the completion was and well each woman skated shows just how closely matched they are. At the top of the podium, Belgium's Loena Hendrickx finally fulfilled on all of her promise and earned her first Europeans gold. With two aggressive and charismatic programs, she fought for every step, overcame a couple of minor errors, and delivered her own uniquely powerful brand of skating.  In second overall — but with the top technical score — 2023 European Champion, Georgia's Anastasia Gubanova, threw down two clean programs that proved that she is still one of the top women in the world. With the bronze, Belgium's Nina Pinzarrone continued her strong, consistent season with programs showing both her technical prowess and the growing artistic identity.  Pairs Competition Of all disciplines, the Pairs field was certainly the most closely matched — with the top 6 teams being separated by less than 12 points.  With an unexpected victory, Italy's Lucrezia Beccari & Matteo Guarise skated two excellent programs that showed just how good this relatively new pairing is. They edged out the recently crowned Junior Grand Prix Champs, Georgia's Anastasiia Metelkina & Luka Berulava, who led after the short but fell short in the free skate. Italy saw a second podium placement in this discipline with Rebecca Ghilardi & Filippo Ambrosini — who jumped from 5th to 3rd after a brilliant free program. The favorites coming in, Germany's Hase & Volodin, had their first rough competition of the season and landed in fifth behind the consistently strong team from Hungary, Maria Pavlova & Alexei Sviatchenko.  Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We look ahead to the 2024 European Championships and Canadian Nationals competitions, with our thoughts on the skaters' seasons so far and how they'd do at these events. We also weigh in on the allegations around Canadian ice dancer Nikolaj Sorensen. In all disciplines at the European Championships, the competition is stacked with talent. From current “IT”-guy in skating, Adam Siao Him Fa, seeking his second title in a row, to the dance battle between Guignard & Fabbri verses Fear & Gibson, this international event promises to be exciting. At Canadian Nationals, the competition will inevitably be somewhat overshadowed by the recent news regarding ice dancer, Nikolaj Sorensen. Any time there's discussion that involves a topic as triggering as this one, we want to be as sensitive as possible. We do get into this subject briefly at the start of our episode, trying to keep to facts and limiting how much detail we go into. For those seeking more info on this case, we recommend reading Christine Brennen's article in USA Today. In terms of the Canadian Nationals competition, we expect an exciting showdown in the Pairs event, and some noteworthy performances to keep an eye on elsewhere. European Championships The men's event promises to be a major highlight here, with Adam Siao Him Fa leading this deep field. With many of the men being at a similar skill level, it feels like anyone's game for podium spots. Lukas Britschgi has been consistent all season so far, and stands a great chance of medaling here. We'll also see the return of Matteo Rizzo from Italy along with his two countrymen, newly crowned Italian champion Nikolaj Memola and Gabriel Frangipani. Also in contention, France's Kevin Aymoz, who'll be seeking a more steady competition following several unfortunate skates at the Grand Prix Final and Italian Nationals. The women's event is also loaded with contenders, most notably the two Belgian women — Loena Hendrickx and Nina Pinzarrone. They will face last year's European champion, Anastasia Gubanova, and the 2023 bronze medalist, Kimmy Repond, amongst others.  In the Pairs discipline, Germany's Hase & Volodin will be looking to keep their winning streak alive while facing a trio of strong Italian teams, the surging Hungarian team, and their own national rivals, Hocke & Kunkel. In dance, expect a showdown between the favorites, Italy's Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri and Great Britain's Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson. Their rivalry has been interesting this season so far, and we're looking forward to more! Canadian Nationals The team events are really the marquee here — with the Pairs having two very strong teams going head to head. We're excited to see Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Dechamps challenge the rest of the field to retain their national title — but Lia Pereira & Trentt Michaud are looking to make this an interesting competition. Following the withdrawal of Fournier-Beaudry & Sorensen and Lajoie & Lagha, this discipline opens up much more than expected. Canada's sweethearts, Piper Gilles & Paul Porrier, should win this decisively — but the battle for silver and bronze will be interesting. Watch for the unique team of Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac to make their move! In the individual competitions, we'll get our first look in a while at former Canadian National Champion, Roman Sadovsky. He's known to be hot and cold, so we're not sure what to expect — but he'll be challenged by the more consistent but less artistic Stephen Gogolev and Conrad Orzel. Also, don't count out Wesley Chiu — he's had an iffy season, but maybe this is his time. In the Womens's event, Madeline Schizas looks to dominate the field here as long as she can stay steady. Also to keep an eye on, last year's silver medalist Kaiya Ruiter and the lovely Sara-Maude Dupuis.  Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

The 2024 South Korean National Figure Skating Championships saw a return-to form from World silver medalist, Jun-hwan Cha, the continued rise of Jia Shin, and performances from Hai-in Lee, Chae-yeon Kim, and Young You that appear to have earned them spots on the 2024 World Championship team for South Korea. Men's Competition Following a rough first half of the season for him, now eight time South Korean champion, Jun-hwan Cha, threw down two stellar programs and earned him his trip back to Worlds. His technical content was watered down, similar to the content he included at the Korean Ranking Competition late last year, but looked much more comfortable and confident on the ice here. He'll need to increase difficultly at Four Continents and Worlds to be competitive, but this was a remarkable step in the right direction for him. Also showing up well here was Si-hyeong Lee, who was stronger here than he has been in a while and looked like he'd made some improvements in his interpretation. His silver here will take him back to Worlds in Montreal this March. Women's Competition The women's competition was an interesting one, since 4 of the top 7 women here were Junior Level skaters. That said, the now two-time National Champion, Jia Shin, looked anything but junior here. Both of her programs were elegant, musical, and highly technical. Her win by almost 13 points over reigning Senior World Silver medalist, Hae-in Lee, was a decisive one. Hae-in Lee did have her strongest event of the season here, with a new short program that suited her style quite well. Her score ceiling is certainly higher with these two programs, so here's hoping she can continue to improve headed into Four Continents and Worlds. In third, Chae-yeon Kim came back from a 9th place short program to step onto the podium. Her long program was strong enough to give the impression that, had she had a clean short, she may have challenged for gold. This bodes well for her headed into the rest of the season. Three other juniors, Yu-seong Kim, Yu-jae Kim, and Min-sol Kwon, took 4th-6h — all with very strong showings. This number of competitive women still in Juniors gives South Korea a great shot at future success if they can continue at the level they are at. In seventh (but gold in our hearts!) was Young You. Her fantastic short program had her in second going into the long, but her lower technical content level in the long as well as a number of small mistakes dropped her to 7th overall. Regardless, it looks like she will still be on the senior World team due to so many ahead of her being juniors. We can't wait to see her again! Ice Dance Competition This competition was more of an official coronation, since Hannah Lim and Ye Quan were the only team qualified to compete here. They were, as always, a joy to watch while earning first Senior National title— again showing why they are a team of the future! Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We take a look at the All-Japan Championships 2023 competition, including hotly contested podiums in the Mens and Womens divisions. We also discuss news from the Italian and Spanish Nationals events, and quickly look back at the 2023 year in figure skating.   We're back and talking about the All-Japan Championships 2023, where some of the best figure skating of the season-to-date took place. With deep Men's and Women's fields—led by reigning World Champions, Shoma Uno and Kaori Sakamoto—this national competition was stronger than most International events. And the Men's event especially lived up to all of the hype! Men's Competition The top six skaters in this field are all amazing, but there can only be one champion — and Shoma Uno had just enough to pull off his another nationals victory. Shoma's win here ties him with skating legend, Yuzuru Hanyu, with both now having six titles. In the silver spot, Yuma Kagiyama continued his comeback and delivered an especially gorgeous free skate to edge out the incredibly “on” Sota Yamamoto. Sota took the bronze, but may have had the best competition of his career with two stellar skates.  Women's Competition In another deep field that included some of the top women in the world, the decisive victory of Kaori Sakamoto was even more impressive. Queen Kaori continued to dominate the season with two solid performances — giving her national title number four. Mone Chiba, who had a rough Grand Prix series, showed up big here and took silver with two effervescent skates. In third, the brilliant juniors skater Mao Shimada showed she is in fact human with a few errors. Still, Mao is the definition of “one to watch” in the future — she's a powerhouse who has everything.  Ice Dance Competition While the teams competing here are not a super competitive internationally, the top three all put on entertaining performances, and the younger skaters particularly looked quite promising. With their fifth All Japan title,  Misato Komatsubara & Tim Koleto looked comfortable and confident — especially in their beautifully emotional free dance. In second, the relatively new partnership of Azusa Tanaka &  Shingo Nishiyama presented two lovely performances—most noteworthy being their fun and campy Rhythm Dance being to music from the Super Mario Brothers game! In third, another promising young team of Utana Yoshida & Masaya Morita had some fairly big mistakes, but look to be a threat in Japan as they evolve together. Pairs Competition  With reigning World Champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara out with injury, there was only one other senior pairs team that qualified to skate here — Yuna Nagaoka & Sumitada Moriguchi. To earn the national title, they skated both their short and long programs and did a great job under the unusual circumstances.    Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We catch-up on all the mid-season news and competition, including French, British, German, Swiss, and Spanish Nationals, the Four Nationals multi-country competition, the South Korean ranking event, and the Grand Prix Final's Juniors and Gala events. We also talk about injury news, the ISU Award nominations, and more. Following the 2023 Grand Prix Final last week in Beijing, China, there was little downtime as many skaters hurried to their National Championships around the globe. We cover the French, German, Swiss, and Spanish Figure Skating Nationals, as well as the Four Nationals multi-country competition. We also look back on British Nationals, the South Korean ranking event, the Junior Grand Prix Final, and quite a bit of news from around the skating landscape — including the nominations for the ISU Awards. All that to say: there are really no real off-weeks during skating season! News, Injuries, other things There's been a lot happening outside of competitions that we want to catch up on. From the unfortunate news of Niina Petrakina breaking her leg to the confirmation that both the teams of Riku Miura & Ryuchi Kihara and Hocke & Kunkel are out of their respective nationals due to injury, we're seeing some assumed medal contenders in question for the rest of the season. We also discuss the long-missing-from-competition Daniel Grassl, who's looking at a potential two-year suspension based on the recommendation of Italian anti-doping agency. On a lighter note, we dig into the ISU Award Nominations that just came out — and some of their questionable categories. Regardless, your can vote for your favorites until Jan 7, 2024. Winners to be announced Feb 11 at the Art on Ice event in Switzerland. The Many National Competitions Since there was so much happening, we stuck to the highlights and most newsworthy at each competition: French Nationals: We dig into the landslide victory of Adam Siao and the devastating free skate of Kevin Aymoz. British Nationals: Fear & Gibson won big,  but did it cost them the podium at GPF? German Nationals: Hase & Volodin continue their winning streak with their first German National Title — winning by 90 pts! Swiss Nationals: Lukas Britschgi soared in short program on his way to victory, and Kimmy Repond successfully returned to competition following her break due to injury to win the title.  Spanish Nationals: The first trip to their national championship for Olivia Smart & Tim Dieck proved victorious. (Though—and this didn't make the episode recording—they were weirdly NOT named to the Spanish World team. More to come here!) Four Nationals: Skaters from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary competed with the most notable winners being Ekaterina Kurakova winning her 6th national title, Katerina Mrazkova & Daniel Mrazek taking dance, and Maria Pavlova & Aleksei Sviatchenko dominating the pairs.  South Korean ranking competition: Jun-hwan Cha was forced to compete while injured to qualify for Four Continents, and did so with a win. Yelim Kim and Haein Lee continued to struggle this season. Junior Grand Prix Finals While we broke down the Senior Grand Prix last week, this episode we talk about a few of the highlights from the Juniors competition. In dance, we were overwhelmingly impressed by an outstanding US ice dance team — Leah Neset & Artem Markelov — who came out with a gold medal and a lot of momentum. Keep an eye on them in seniors soon! Also very noteworthily, the continued rivalry between two incredible young women – Mao Shimada from Japan and Jia Shin from South Korea. In what promises to be a competition we'll see replayed over and over again in coming years, Mao Schimada overtook the gloriously musical Jia Shin for gold — but had to come from behind her after the short program. Expect a lot of back-and-forth for the top podium spots between these two if they stay this good in Juniors for now, and Seniors when they get there.  Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

The Grand Prix Final 2023 is now complete, and we knew it would be a wild one — we just didn't know HOW wild! From historic jumps to messy twizzles, the competitors in Beijing, China, kept us guessing until the very end, and we love them for it. Men's Competition One of the most stacked men's final's in recent memory! While Ilia Malinin had been focused on progressing his composition scores earlier this season, he threw down the gauntlet here by landing the first quad axel in a short program ever. That gave his the thinnest lead over World Champion Shoma Uno going into the long. Both men had extraordinary free skates, with Shoma showing off his ever-increasing artistic brilliance — and bringing a lot of heat on the jumps as well! But Ilia had just too much technical fire power to beat — winning with his personal best score. With Shoma firmly in silver, the bronze went to Japan's comeback kid, Yuma Kagiama. A brilliant short program and a flawed but emotive free skate punctuated by his remarkable skating skills gave him the well-deserved medal. Ilia Malinin, USA, 314.66 points Shoma Uno, JPN, 297.34 Yuma Kagiyama, JPN, 288.65 Adam Siao Him Fa, FRA, 278.28 Kao Miura, JPN, 261.53 Kevin Aymoz, FRA, 219.91 Ice Dance Competition Typically we have an inkling of what to expect in the dance event going into a final. This season, with the unexpected win of Fear & Gibson at NHK Trophy, as well as some very “all over the place” scoring, it felt a little more up in the air. However, in the end, the three teams on the podium were exactly who we would have expected when the season began. World Champions Madison Chock & Evan Bates reminded everyone why they won Worlds 2023 and skated two clean, inventive, gorgeous programs to take the gold. In silver position, the Italian team of Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri shook off the vibes from their NHK defeat and came in on fire.  In bronze position, the dramatic and lovely team of Piper Gilles & Paul Porrier of Canada seemed to be skating only for the joy of it and for each other. Programs we have not been super fond of this season showed massive improvement and displayed their true artistry. Madison Chock / Evan Bates, USA, 221.61 Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri, ITA, 215.51 Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier, CAN, 213.58 Lilah Fear / Lewis Gibson, GBR, 202.27 Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Nikolaj Sørensen, CAN, 195.57 Majorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha, CAN, 193.63 Women's Competition As was destined, reigning figure skating queen Kaori Sakamoto dominated this competition with two nearly flawless skates. A gold for the competition and a forever gold in our hearts. In second, Belgium's Loena Hendrickx had a strong short program and a mostly good free program that, while looking a little sluggish, still showed why she is consistently on podiums.  In third, a somewhat unexpected showing from Japan's rising star, Hana Yoshida, made people take notice. Her triple axel in the long may have been slightly under-rotated, but she absolutely shined in the free skate following an iffy short to take the medal. Kaori Sakamoto, JPN, 225.70 points Loena Hendrickx, BEL, 203.36 Hana Yoshida, JPN, 203.16 Nina Pinzarrone, BEL, 194.91 Isabeau Levito, USA, 191.86 Rion Sumiyoshi, JPN, 180.39 Pairs Competition Fresh from back-to-back GP wins, Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase & Nikita Volodin kept the streak alive with another win — this one over the reigning World bronze medalists and the unequivocal favorites for the championship coming in.  In second, Italy's Sara Conti &  Niccolo Macii finally seem to have shaken off the issues that plagued them so far this season and skated two lovely programs that almost won them the competition.  In third, the favorites coming in from Canada, Deanna Stellato Dudek & Maxime Dechamps, had errors in both their short and long programs that held them back from capturing the top spot.   Minerva Fabienne Hase / Nikita Volodin, GER, 206.43 points Sara Conti / Niccolò Macii, ITA, 205.88 Deanna Stellato-Dudek / Maxime Deschamps, CAN, 204.30 Maria Pavlova / Alexei Sviatchenko, HUN, 192.02 Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini, ITA, 188.85 Lia Pereira / Trennt Michaud, CAN, 185.16 Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We preview the upcoming Grand Prix Final in Beijing, China, December 7-10, 2023. We breakdown the action in the hotly contested Men's competition, the uncertainty in the Women's division, the fight for silver and bronze in the Pairs, and why the Ice Dance competition is such a wild card. After six Grand Prix qualifiers that included dozens of thrilling performances (as well as a fair amount of messiness), we're finally ready for the Grand Prix Final for 2023!  To say this competition is stacked would be an understatement — especially when looking at the Men's and Dance competitions. In this episode, we break down each discipline, pick each of our favorites for the podium, and even throw out a few “we wish they made it” honorable mentions. Men's Competition FINALISTS: Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA) — 30 pts / Gold at Grand Prix de France and Cup of Chine Ilia Malinin (USA) - 28 pts / Gold at Skate America and Silver at Grand Prix de France Kao Miura (JPN) - 28 pts / Silver at Skate Canada and Gold at Espoo Yuma Kagiama (JPN) - 26 pts / Bronze at Grand Prix de France and Gold at NHK Trophy Shoma Uno (JPN) - 26 pts / Silver at both Cup of China and Grand Prix de France Kevin Aymoz (FRA) - 24 pts / Silver at Skate America and Bronze at Espoo It's not an overstatement to say that this has the potential to be the best men's competition we've seen since the Beijing Olympics. The six men who qualified have all laid down stellar performances this season — each one showing growth when compared to previous seasons. It's certainly hard to pick a favorite here, but momentum seems to be with France's Adam Siao Him Fa. If we look purely at technical merit, it's hard to beat Ilia Malinin from the USA. Based on overall track record and all-around performance skills, reigning World Champion Shoma Uno of Japan should be a lock for the podium. However, ice is slippery and the other three men are all more than capable of earning a podium spot. Watch out for the resurgence of Japan's Yuma Kagiama, the power of Japan's Kao Miura, and the absolute artistic commitment of France's Kevin Aymoz. It's going to be a wild ride! Pairs Competition FINALISTS: Deanna Stellato Dudek and Maxime Dechamps  (CAN) - 30 pts / Gold at Skate Canada and Cup of China Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodi  (GER)- 30 pts / Gold at Espoo and NHK Trophy Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud  (CAN) - 28 pts / Silver at Skate America and Gold at Grand Prix de France Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii  (ITA) - 26 pts / Silver at both Grand Prix de France and Espoo Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini  (ITA) - 24 pts / Silver at Cup of China and Bronze at NHK Trophy Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko*  (HUN) - 24 pts / Silver at Skate Canada and Bronze at Bronze at Espoo *Replaced Hocke and Kunkel, who withdrew due to injury Of all of the disciplines, the pairs has the most clear-cut favorite. Canada's brilliant Deanna Stellato Dudek and Maxime Dechamps have come out swinging this season and given fans a team to be genuinely excited about. They are certainly not a lock to win, but the odds are definitely in their favor. Others to watch here are Germany's Hase and Volodin, fresh off of back-to-back Grand Prix wins and Canada's Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud, who have looked stronger at every competition. The two Italian teams, Conti and Macii and Ghilardi and Ambrosini, are nearly neck and neck this season — with Hungary's Paclova and Sviatchenko not far behind. All could definitely be in the mix for podium spots if others falter. Women's Competition FINALISTS: Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) - 30 pts /  Gold and both Skate Canada and Espoo Isabeau Levito (USA) - 28 pts /  Silver at Skate America and Gold at Grand Prix de France  Loena Hendrickx (BEL) - 26 pts / Gold at Skate America, Bronze at Cup of China Hana Yoshida (JPN) - 24 pts / 4th at Skate America, Gold at Cup of China Nina Pinzarrone (BEL) - 24pts  / Silver at Grand Prix de France and Bronze at NHK Trophy Rion Sumiyoshi (JPN) - 24 pts / Bronze at Grand Prix de France and Silver at Espoo Will this be the formal Grand Prix coronation of Queen Kaori? Only time will tell. Last year, Japan's Kaori Sakamoto went in as the favorite, but faltered. This year, we've seen a much more consistent and focused Kaori — which may give her the edge here. On her heels, Isabeau Levito from the U.S. and Loena Hendrickx of Belgium have had moments of brilliance already this season — though both have also faltered a bit more. Two more Japanese women, Hana Yoshida and Rion Sumiyoshi, both came on strong over the course of the Grand Prix and showed the promise that could make them contenders here. Also, the consistently improving Nina Pinzarrone from Belgium could be a spoiler! Dance Competition FINALISTS: Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (CAN) - 30 pts / Gold at Skate Canada and Cup of China Madison Chock and Evan Bates (USA) - 30 pts / Gold at Skate America and Espoo Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (ITA) - 28 pts / Gold at Grand Prix de France and Silver at NHK Trophy Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (GBR) - 28 pts /  Silver at Skate Canada and Gold at NHK Trophy Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen (CAN) - 26 pts / Silver at both Grand Prix de France and Espoo Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha (CAN) - 26 pts / Silver at both Skate America and Cup of China The Dance competition is usually the most likely to be predictable, but after Fear and Gibson's upset at NHK Trophy, everything seems a little more up in the air. The top score of the season has been from Canada's beloved Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier — however, their performance at Cup of China saw them nearly lose to another brilliant Canadian team, Lajoie and Lagha. Our reigning World Champions, Chock and Bates, have great material this season and have shown well at both of their Grand Prix assignments, but their free dance at Espoo wasn't as clean as they would like — so we don't yet know what their scoring potential with these programs could be. And then there are the two European rivals of Fear and Gibson from Great Britain and Guignard and Fabbri from Italy who just flipped in their expected standings at NHK Trophy. The Italians are reigning World medalists and extremely strong skaters, but is the momentum with the disco Brits now? Also, because that's not enough, you have the smoldering Canadians, Fournier Beaudry and Sorensen, who may not be favored for the podium but will certainly melt some hearts. And who knows this season — their Top Gun program could take flight here and move them back into the conversation. All in all, this competition looks to be a doozy — we can't wait to see what happens! Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

The NHK Trophy 2023 in Japan closed out the Grand Prix qualifier series with some of the most wild competition (and results!) we've seen. From a potential change in the tides for which dance team is the favorite for Europeans to a shock winner in the women's event, there was a lot to discuss! Women's Competition There is no way anyone saw this coming! After a rocky short program for many of the favorites, a brilliant Lindsay Thorngren led the way. However, a stunner of a free program gave the edge to another American — 17 year-old Ava Marie Ziegler — who capitalized on the moment and skated her way to gold in her only Grand Prix assignment this season! The surprise win with a score topping 200 points puts Ziegler squarely in the mix for U.S. Nationals. Thorngren also shined and made it a tight competition, landing in second by less than 2 points! In third, the rising Belgian star of Nina Pinzarrone laid down two solid programs and continued to show off the talent and consistency that is bringing her to her first Grand Prix final this December.  For other favorites in the competition — which included reigning World Silver medalist Haein Lee and 2022 Grand Prix Final champion, Mai Mihara — here's hoping the second half of the season is where they will come into their own. Ice Dance Competition It may not be a shock that Great Britain's Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson won NHK Trophy, but it was certainly a surprise for them to defeat reigning World Silver medalists, Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri. Dance rarely sees a “changing of the guard” mid-season, as teams typically rise at a glacial pace when it's “their turn.” This may not officially mark a shift in judges preference for the Disco Brits over the exceptional Italian team, but it certainly sends a bit of a shockwave through the dance world and likely has the top teams looking over their shoulder. In terms of the skates themselves, both teams turned in brilliant performances in completely different ways. The enthusiastic Japanese crowd showed their appreciation for great skating all around, but it was certainly apparent that Fear & Gibson won the day in their collective hearts.  In the bronze position, the talented Lithuanian team of Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius scored their second podium spot of the Grand Prix series and continued to show their growth as a team.  Pairs Competition The pairs here gave us more of a competition than we've seen at many of the other events this season. In their second straight weekend of Grand Prix competition, the new German team of Minerva Fabienne Hase & Nikita Volodin looked even stronger and took gold again! We're super impressed with this team and cannot wait to see how they evolve. Italy took silver and bronze with great performances from another relatively new team, Lucrezia Beccari & Matteo Guarise and veterans Rebecca Ghilardi & Filippo Ambrosini — the latter of whom also earned their ticket to the Grand Prix final with this medal. Men's Competition In what was probably the most predictable event of competition, we saw the thrilling first meeting of the season between reigning World Champion, Shoma Uno, and reigning Olympic Silver Medalist, Yuma Kagiyama.  Both extraordinary skaters threw down gorgeous, beautifully skated programs that reflect the talent and skating skills they both possess — but the day belonged to Yuma by a smidge. Both of them move onto the Grand Prix final with their medals here — and to say we cannot wait for that competition would be a massive understatement. In third, Lukas Britschgi of Switzerland continued his strong season and threw down two strong skates for bronze. Also worth noting, the artistic development of Deniss Vasiljevs continues to impress — fingers crossed that the second half of the season sees more consistency in his jumps since he's truly one of the best overall performers the men's discipline has right now. Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

The fifth stop in the Grand Prix series, Espoo in Finland, proved to be another messy mid-season competition with some big comebacks, a few surprises, and a stellar dance-off that left us wanting more from every team in the top 5! Women's Competition — Queen Kaori and Amber Glenn's amazing comeback As we'd hoped (and expected), Japan's Kaori Sakamoto took her second Grand Prix title of the season — clinching her spot at the top of the standings going into the Grand Prix Final this December. Kaori's programs weren't flawless, but showed her signature style, power, and grit that reflect the champion she's proven to be. After last season's disappointment at the Grand Prix final, we know she's hungry for the title — and this was a good step in getting her to it. Also from Japan, Rion Sumiyoshi held on after a solid short program and a rather hot-and-cold free skate to capture the silver. Rion has definitely put herself in the running for a spot at the Grand Prix Final — now she waits for the shake-out following NHK Trophy next week! In third, with perhaps the skate of the competition (or possibly the season in the women's discipline), Amber Glenn from the United States skated a personal best in her free program and climbed from 11th place to bronze! Her short program was a heartbreaker, so to see her shine as brightly as she did in the long and find redemption in the most spectacular way was a joy. We cannot wait to see her at U.S. Nationals! Ice Dance Competition — Chock and Bates win again The top five teams in the competition made us feel things. Good to great things. They were all superb, but the reigning World Champions, Madison Chock and Evan Bates from the U.S. did just enough to grab the gold — and their ticket to the Grand Prix Final. With a near flawless Rhythm Dance and a gorgeous if imperfect Free Dance, they definitely showed they are very much in the hunt for another World title. In the silver spot, the impeccably smoldering “Cana-danes” — Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen — brought two glorious performances to Finland and walked away with their spot at the final. Not only that, they improved upon their season's best score — making Canadian Nationals even more intriguing considering what we've seen from Gilles and Porrier and Lajoie and Lagha! In the third spot, the rising Finnish team of Turkkila and Versluis made quite an impression, with their free dance especially — creating something wholly unique on ice and setting themselves up as “ones to watch” leading into Worlds and, moreso, the next Olympic Games. Off the podium but equally impressive, Carreria and Ponomarenko from the U.S. were possibly the best we've ever seen — looking incredible in their free skate. Both they and another American team here, Zingas and Kolesnik, applied pressure to other U.S. teams with their showings here leading into what promises to be a VERY competitive U.S. Nationals! Men's Competition — Kao Miura clinches while Kevin Aymoz rallies The men definitely “men'd” in the short program with quite a few messy programs. However, rising to the top, were both Kao Miura and Shun Sato of Japan. The two friends and rivals both skated stunning free programs, with Kao bringing on just enough extra power and emotional commitment to nudge him above Shun's more subdued performance. This was a close one, but locks Kao in for the Grand Prix Final and makes a strong case for both of them to be in the hunt for World team spots at Japan's national championships in December. In another big comeback, after a somewhat disastrous short program, France's Kevin Aymoz skated for the fans and won himself a bronze medal. The emotion and fire that Aymoz brings is almost unmatched by any other man skating competitively today — making this moment a very special one to witness. Fingers crossed he can hold on to a spot in the final after next week's NHK Trophy — it's going to be a nail-biter. Pairs Competition — A surprise win for Hase and Volodin Finally, in the Pairs competition, we saw quite a bit of change from the short to the long — with Germany's Hase and Volodin doing just enough to take a closely fought battle for gold. Both of their programs weren't without errors, but showed a beautiful team finding their footing together and making a case for themselves to be in the conversation this season. Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii continued to perform at a slightly lower level than we saw last season, placing second here with two nice but imperfect skates. This team is genuinely great, so we're hoping they can find their way back. The third spot, by just a few hundredths of a point, went to the Hungarian team of Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko over China's Cheng Peng and Lei Wang, who were in first after the short program. While the Hungarian team's technical content was of higher value that Peng and Wang, this result was surprising as a viewer — if not a little disappointing. Both teams were deserving — however we would have had the result flipped. Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

Scoreography's recap for the Cup of China, the fourth competition in the 2023-24 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series. We discuss upset wins from Japan's Hana Yoshida and France's Adam Siao Him Fa, argue for a different outcome in Ice Dance, and welcome Canada's Stellato-Dudek & Deschamps to the back-to-back GP gold medal club. The 2023 Grand Prix series landed in Chongqing, China for its fourth stop, and it was… a surprising one, indeed. The Cup of China saw some long-awaited Grand Prix debuts (Shoma Uno, Yelim Kim), several upsets (men's and women's champions were both somewhat unexpected), and one BIG step forward for Lajoie & Lagha in ice dance. Men's Competition The continued rise of Adam Siao Him Fa is nothing short of astonishing. Adam, fresh off a win in France last week, came to Cup of China and took his second Grand Prix title after two flawed but fantastic performances. This win makes him the second man to lock in his spot at the Grand Prix Final in December. In second, King Shoma Uno finally appeared — and it was lovely. After a stellar short program that had him in the lead, he had two falls in his long program that dropped him to silver. Maybe not quite the triumphant return some had hoped for, but Shoma seemed genuinely happy and more focused than ever on being the artist — not just the athlete. Rounding out the top men was bronze medalist, Mikhail Shaidorov, who became the first person from Kazakhstan to medal at a Grand Prix since the late Denis Ten in 2016. Ice Dance Competition Wow, this one was a fight! Favorites Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier of Canada had some trouble in their rhythm dance that opened the door just a crack while fellow Canadians Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha had the best rhythm dance we may have seen from anyone this season. While Lajoie and Lagas held first going into the long program, they did drop to silver behind Piper and Paul — but only by less than 2 points! Their overall score of 206.02 — the fifth best score of anyone this season — definitely moves them forward as they head into the Grand Prix final. Also, Canadian Nationals are going to be fascinating! In third and fourth, two American teams — Caroline Green & Michael Parsons and Eva Pate & Logan Bye — delivered solid performance and scores that continue to make the road to US Nationals an interesting one. Such a deep field of teams vying for the two spots next to Chock & Bates for a trip to Worlds. Women's Competition While this competition was expected to belong to Loena Hendrickx of Belgium, it was the young Japanese powerhouse, Hana Yoshida, who won the day! After her 4th place debut at Skate America, Hana had another great competition here and surprised even herself with the win. In second, another great Japanese talent, Rinka Wantanabe, skated perhaps the event's most solid two programs to improve upon other results this season for a silver. After a messy but strong short program, Hendricks had an uncharacteristally slow and rather lethargic overall performance in her long, but held onto third and assured her spot at the Grand Prix final as well. Pairs Competition Another step on the path to Worlds for Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps was the highlight of the competition, though both programs had noteworthy errors. Regardless, this team was still the class of the field and handily won their second Grand Prix of the season. The Italian team of Ghilardi & Ambrosini had a strong outing to take the silver, as did the new Chinese team of Peng Cheng & Wang Lei to take the bronze in their first appearance as a team on the Grand Prix circuit. Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show  

We dig into the very solid competition at the 2023 Grand Prix de France, including mind-blowing performances from Adam Siao Him Fa and Ilia Malinin, a nerve-wracking win for Isabeau Levito, and podium surprises from Nina Pinzarrone, Rion Sumiyoshi, and Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud.   Grand Prix De France 2023 Commentary In this week's episode, we're talking about the third stop of the 2023 ISU Grand Prix Series — the Grand Prix de France. (a.k.a. the formal coronation of Adam Siao Him Fa as a frontrunner for the World podium!)  Men's Competition It's been a minute since we've seen a super close competition between two of the best in the game, but Ilia Malinin and Adam Siao Him Fa brought the fireworks for Algers, France. Both of them turned in incredible (if not World Championship quality!) programs — with Adam squeaking past Ilia by just 2 points! Worth noting: BOTH skaters went over the 300 point mark! Plus, Ilia Malinin became the first man this season to punch his ticket to the Grand Prix Final.  This competition also gave us our first look at Yuma Kagiyama on the Grand Prix circuit this season — and what a wonderful return it was after almost a full season without him due to injury. He's still leveling back up his technical content, but the pop in his jumps and his gorgeous glide across the ice was the class of the field.  Ice Dance Competition To no one's surprise, this competition was really between two well seasoned teams that are amongst the top in the world: Charlène Guignard & Marco Fabbri and Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Nikolaj Sorenson. Italy's Guignard & Fabbri took the title with two strong, highly technical programs that put them in great position leading into their next Grand Prix, as well as the final.  Pairs Competition Definitely one of the upsets of the competition belongs to the relatively new team of Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud. The Canadians took gold over Italy's reigning World bronze medalists, Sara Conti & Niccolo Macii. Pereira & Michaud, fresh off their Skate America silver medal, all but locked in their trip to the Grand Prix final with their first big win! Women's Competition The most volatile competition of the event! Isabeau Levito took her first Grand Prix gold here, but to everyone's surprise was less than perfect in the long, with several uncharacteristic mistakes. Still a gorgeous short program, strong technical content, and fewer mistakes than most solidly scored the GP win she's been seeking—as well as a ticket to the Grand Prix final.  The other two women on the podium, Nina Pinzarrone and Rion Sumiyoshi, both moved up significantly and took advantage of the moment when others faltered — with Rion even landing her first ratified quad toeloop in International competition!  We also saw the return of one of skating's most beloved stars – Japan's Wakaba Higuchi. She may have placed fifth, but she showed the power, precision, and passion that she's known for — and we can't wait to see more!  Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show

Wendy and Adron discuss the results of Skate Canada, the second event in the 2023-24 Grand Prix of Figure Skating season. Explosive performances from Pairs team Deanna Stellato-Dudeck & Maxime Deschamps and Women's reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto headline our experience. But some surprise meltdowns and sketchy judging muddy our perception of an otherwise terrific event. PAIRS The marquee moment of Skate Canada 2023 has to be the free program from Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps that scored a phenomenal 142.39. This vampire-themed program could not look better on them, and seeing how conditioned they look this early in the season solidifies them as not just World podium favorites, but in the running for the World title!  WOMEN Queen Kaori Sakamoto came to Canada on a mission and absolutely completed it. Unlike the shaky start she had last season, Kaori skated two gorgeous programs at Skate Canada. A resounding victory was well earned amongst a very strong field, which saw particularly impressive showings from South Korea's Chae-yeon Kim, Rino Matsuike of Japan, Maddie Schizas from Canada, and Lindsay Thorngren of the United States. DANCE We saw the season debut of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier — who solidified their status as co-favorites for the World Title this season with two sumptuous programs. They faced the fan-favorite disco Brits, Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, who brought their ever-evolving “Rocky” to Vancouver and came up big for silver. There was also a “competition within a competition” between three American teams — Oona Brown & Gage Brown, Emilia Zingas & Vadym Kolesnik, and Eva Pate & Logan Bye. The Browns siblings took this round by a smidge, but we won't see them again till US Nationals... MENS Japan's Sota Yamamoto secured victory with a fantastic short program and solid free skate. His countryman, Kao Miura, nearly stole the top of the podium with his powerful long program. Things get messy after that, with the disastrous free skate from Korean superstar JunHwan Cha, a surprise bronze for Italy's Matteo Rizzo, and dubious under-scoring that kept Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan off the podium. Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show

Scoreography returns with the beginning of the Grand Prix 2023-24 season, as we talk about Skate America 2023. We recap the competition with commentary about stand-out performances, heartbreaking disappointments, and up-and-coming skaters we're excited about. Taking place in Allen, Texas, from October 20th-22nd, Skate America kicked off the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series.  The competition featured Women's and Ice Dance divisions stacked with competitive talent, a lopsided Men's event with a small handful of clear favorites, and a struggling Pairs event with only 7 teams (but also some reasons to be hopeful). We discuss the explosive performances from Ilia Malinin, Loena Hendrickx, Chock & Bates, and Kevin Aymoz. We also highlight exciting podium placements for Niina Petrokina, Shun Sato, Chelsea Liu & Balazs Nagy, and more. And we get hyped for new talent like Hana Yoshida, Hannah Lim & Ye Quan, and new dance team Olivia Smart & Tim Dieck. There were huge moments (like Amber Glenn's spectacular triple axel) and bitter disappointments. It was a dramatic weekend of skating, and this early event sets the stage for what's to come as the Grand Prix continues. Mentioned in this podcast: On Ice Perspectives: Ye-lim Kim performs to 'A Thousand Years' at An Evening with Champions (2023) https://youtu.be/8htyCI7JSiQ On Ice Perspectives: Young You skates to 'When We Were Young' by Adele https://youtu.be/fv2uUaYiA-Q Follow Scoreography: Website — https://scoreography.show Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/scoreography Threads — https://www.threads.net/@scoreography BlueSky — https://bsky.app/profile/scoreography.show

We talk about our experience seeing Stars on Ice in Chicago, featuring the farewell tour of legend Kurt Browning. We also look back at the awesome World Team Trophy event, and share our highlights from the 22-23 season. After such a unique and exciting post-Olympic season, we were beyond hyped to see some skating in real life! This Stars on Ice cast was especially exciting. From Olympic Champion Nathan Chen, to 4-time Japanese National Champion Satoko Miyahara, to a very special goodbye performance from Wendy's all time favorite skater, Kurt Browning, it was a show we could not miss! Along with our Stars on Ice recap, we reflect on the super fun World Team Trophy event, and discuss why that unusual competition is a perfect jumping on point for new skating fans. 

We review the action from the World Figure Skating Championships 2023 in Saitama, Japan — triumphs, surprises, disappointments, and occasionally questionable scoring. ... Analysis of the Figure Skating World Championships 2023 After a long post-olympic season, the best-currently-competing-skaters from around the globe converged on the World Figure Skating championships in Saitama, Japan. They and gave us a few disappointments, some great surprises, and a lot of gorgeous (even when it wasn't not perfect) skating! In this super-sized episode, we cover each of the disciplines in a lot of detail — comparing notes on our favorite performances of the competition and talking through everything from the emotional kiss-and-cry's to the questionable-as-ever judging.  Pairs Competition Highlights Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara's win—in spite of a flawed free skate—brought Japan their first Pair's world title. They are our favs of the season, making us feel our full range of emotions every skate. Alexa Knierim & Brandon Frazier coming through for silver—in spite of the terrible health crisis their coach and friend, Todd Sand, is going through. Sara Conti & Niccolò Macii from Italy skated to the moment with two exceptional programs. Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps skated strong, if not flawlessly, for 4th place at their first worlds. That, in and of itself, is an incredible feat for the Canadians. We saw particularly great showings by Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud from Canada (they are ones to watch next year!) and Emily Chan & Spencer Akira Howe from the US. Final thought: We need more pairs teams ASAP! Women's Competition Analysis Kaori Sakamoto held on after a phenomenal short, and a not-as-perfect long program, to claim her second world title. The grit she showed completing the second triple in a combo after popping the first shows why she is a champion's champion. That, and her fantastic sportsmanship during the medal ceremony celebration. An absolutely amazing performance by Haein Lee for the silver caps a breakthrough season for this young talent from South Korea. We expect her to be a THREAT next season. Loena Hendrickx's resolute fight through both programs to grab bronze was lovely to see, and a nice way to end a rocky season for her. Isabeau Levito was near-perfect in the short, but an unfortunate fall on the triple lutz and other small mistakes dropped her to 4th overall. Still wildly impressive, even if disappointing for the young American. Now if we could just get the America program and media to stop over-hyping her so she can just concentrate on her skating… Mai Mihara was a dream in the short, but could not sustain the momentum in the long and dropped to 5th. Still, big season for the Japanese veteran and reigning Grand Prix champion. What a competition for Germany's Nicole Schott! A Top Ten finish and a personal best is a huge accomplishment this deep into a long career. Amber Glenn and Bradie Tennell were scored low enough to land outside the top ten — leaving the US with only 2 Women's spots for 2024 Worlds. Thank goodness Maddie Schizas changed her long program. (We were practically begging her to get rid of that wretched West Side Story free skate.) Redemption is a great way to end her season! Final thoughts: Not the best overall competition. A lot of little mistakes from nearly everyone except Haein and Nicole. Hoping to see some more personality and variety in next year's programs. Ice Dance Competition Thoughts FINALLY, Madison Chock & Evan Bates go from bridesmaid to bride, taking home the World Championship gold — even with a fluke (and largely irrelevant) fall. Surprise-but-well-deserved silver for the highly technical Italians, Charlène Guignard & Marco Fabbri — already making their case for the 2026 Olympic podium. A bronze for Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier with lovely, if a bit tight and sluggish, skates. Not what we expected, really, but great to see them skate well. Very surprising 4th place finish for the good time dance team of Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson. This often mid-tier team lit up the Japanese crowd and, apparently, the international judges. Deeply underscored (or were others over scored??) Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Nikolaj Sorensen of Canada unquestionably deserved to be on the podium. Their 5th place finish is our biggest complaint in all of the Worlds judging. Best moment: Kana Muramoto & Daisuke Takahashi, no contest. Their free skate was an explosion of emotion and pure joy. Though Ice Dance is the least popular discipline in Japan, this performance on home might just change that trend. Final thoughts: Impressive skates by the top 12 teams, but WTF is up with the scoring?!  Men's Competition Celebration Shoma Uno showed up, regardless of ankle injury concerns and weeks of terrible practices, to win his second consecutive world title. The Short King Reigns! Wow wow wow, Junhwan Cha is The Moment!! Possibly the performance of the competition overall, the South Korean skater nabs silver with two fantastic skates. Ilia Malinin gave us a great quad axel and a slightly tight performance in the long to earn his first world medal, bronze. Though an extraordinary jumper and technician, the international judges sent a clear message that his artistic elements were not equal to the rest of the top 5 skaters. Its something Ilia clearly took to heart, commenting on it during the press conference, with an intend to focus more on artistry next season. OMG, what an unexpected competition for Kevin Aymoz — a 4th place Worlds finish for him is gold for us all. Two flawless performances elevated this French artiste well above his own expectations. WE LOVE YOU KEEGAN MESSING! This short program was a thing of beauty. The free skate saw him drop in the standings, but not in the hearts of the audience and skating fans everywhere. Thank you, Keegs, for all these years on the ice. You're a legend. Jason Brown lands in 5th on the scoreboard, but first in our hearts. His performances were simply perfect, top to bottom. “Master of the Blade”, indeed. Kazuki Tomono is a force of nature.  Wasn't perfect, but a damn delight on the ice. Expect big things for his future. Lukas Britschgi from Switzerland made his case for one-to-watch status going into next season. Final thoughts: A stellar competition to end Worlds 2023! 

We discuss the favorites, the long shots, and all of the in-betweens leading up to the 2023 World Championships, happening this week in Japan. This season has been the deepest dive we've personally taken into figure skating in a very long time, and looking back — for all of the post-Olympic year doldrums and troubling political issues that are very real — there's a lot of skaters to be excited about leading into the biggest competition of the year.

After a brief absence, Scoreography returns to take a deep dive into the US Nationals 2023 competition! We celebrate the triumphant return of Jason Brown, and impressive first place performances from Ilia Malinin and Isabeau Levito. We dig into the scoring controvery around Bradie Tennell's 2nd place finish, and lament a rather thin Pairs competition. We talk about the evolution of Chock & Bates's programs this season, and the hurdles ahead of their way to the top of the Worlds podium. And we get excited about some surprising, huge long programs from Josephine Lee, Jimmy Ma, and Andrew Torgashev. 

We double up this episode, looking back at two Grand Prix 2022 events: the MK John Wilson Trophy in Sheffield, UK, and the NHK Trophy in Sapporo, Japan. We discuss a handful of fantastic performances in two otherwise fairly forgettable competitions, and explore why Pairs is a failing discipline—yet also a great medal opportunity for otherwise mid-tier skaters.

Wendy and Adron discuss the highlights from the Skate France 2022 Grand Prix event, including explosive performances from Loena Hendrickx, Guitard & Fabbri, and Adam Siao Him Fa. We also talk about the return of Jason Brown to competition, our desire for skaters to diversify their music choices and move away from the same classic pieces, and why US Skating needs to promote the international camaraderie of skating. 

Wendy and Adron breakdown the performances from Skate Canada 2022 — including standout performances from Rinka Watanabe, Shoma Uno, and Miura & Kihara. We also discuss issues watching skating on Peacock, some bizarre scoring during the women's short program, and an often disasterous competition for the men. 

In the first episode of Scoreography, hosts Wendy Buske and Adron Buske discuss Skate America 2022, and the Quad Axel heard around the world. We explore the biggest moments and surprises of this figure skating season's first Grand Prix event. And we explain the premise, origin, and intended audience for Scoreography. We examine the competitive performances of Ilia Malinin, Isabeau Levito, Amber Glenn, Kaori Sakamoto, Chock & Bates, Hawayek & Baker, Knierim & Frazier, Stellato-Dudek & Deschamps, and more. Wendy and Adron Buske are experienced podcasters whose work includes the long-running show Nerd For A Living, about careers in pop culture entertainment. Adron is also the host of Fictitious, a podcast and YouTube program about the storytelling craft of science fiction and fantasy.  Scoreography views figure skating through the perspective of a lifelong super fan (Wendy) and a fairly recent but enthustiastic convert (Adron). The show is intended for the casual skating fan looking to learn more about the sport, and aims to promote figure skating to a wider audience.