figure skating interviews : The Manleywoman SkateCast

February 2026 Figure Skating podcast. An interview with 1956 Olympic Champion Tenley Albright. She’s the first American woman to win Olympic gold in figure skating (but don’t forget she also won silver in 1952!). Hers is a remarkable story of overcoming polio to stand on top of the podium, and then continuing on to become...

December 2025 Figure Skating podcast. An interview with American Pairs skaters Alexa and Chris Knierim. Together, they were 3-time National Champions and 2018 Olympic Bronze medalists in the Team Event. After Chris’ retirement, Alexa paired up with Brandon Frazier to win two more National titles, Gold in the 2022 Olympic Team Event, and Gold at...

Figure Skating podcast. An interview with American Pairs skater Timothy LeDuc. Timothy is a two-time National Champion in Pairs with Ashley Cain, a 2022 Olympian, and the first out non-binary athlete assigned to the Winter Olympics. 1 hour, 8 minutes. A full transcription is below. (TL: Timothy LeDuc, AM: Allison Manley) AM: Welcome back to the...

Figure Skating podcast. Ice skating analyst Jackie Wong’s website at rockerskating.com is the top source for the latest news about the sport. But most critically he has a deep understanding of the judging system, which makes him an invaluable resource for those trying to understand the outcome of scores and placements. 1 hour, 1 minute,...

Figure Skating podcast. With partner Guy Revell, Debbi Wilkes was a two-time Canadian National Champion, 1963 North American Champion, and the 1964 Olympic Silver medalist. After retiring from competition, Wilkes became a television ice skating analyst, an author, coach, and Skate Canada’s Director of Marketing and Sponsorship. Ms Wilkes was inducted into the Canadian Figure...

Figure Skating podcast. Courtney Jones is a World, European, and British ice dancing champion, and the only skater to win World Championships in Ice Dance with different partners. He’s been an ice skating judge, an Olympic Team Leader, and creator of two  compulsory dances. And he designed the iconic Bolero costumes worn by Torvill and...

Figure skating podcast. Elizabeth Manley is a 3-time Canadian Champion, 2-time Olympian, the 1988 World Silver medalist, and the 1988 Olympic Silver medalist in women's figure skating. This Canadian Hall of Famer is also a commentator and...

November 2014 An interview with Parker Pennington. He won four US national titles (Juvenile, Intermediate, Novice, and Junior titles), is now a coach and choreographer, and the creator of SkateDanceDream. He discusses having Carol Heiss Jenkins as a coach, how he loves to help people any way he can, and how he was once a stunt...

October 2014An interview with Tamara Moskvina, one of the most legendary coaches of all time in figure skating. She was a 5-time Soviet Champion in Singles, and 2-time Soviet Champion in Pairs with different partners: Alexander Gavrilov and Alexei Mishin. With Mishin she was the World Silver medalist and competed in the 1968 Olympics. Since becoming a...

September 2014An interview with Renee Roca. Roca was a three-time US National Champion in Ice Dance with different partners: she won the 1986 title with Donald Adair, and the 1993 and 1995 titles with Gorsha Sur. Her longevity in the sport is hard to top, spending 14 years in the Senior ranks. Roca is probably best...

August 2014An interview with Brian Orser. This Canadian phenomenon was the Men’s Canadian Champion from 1981 to 1988, was the 1987 World Champion, and the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Silver Medalist. He performed brilliantly in two Olympics in a row, which is especially impressive. He was also the first person to land three triple axels in...

July 2014 An interview with Tom Zakrajsek. Tom competed in Men’s Singles and Pairs, then became a judge. But he’s made the biggest impact as a coach. Known for his technical coaching, he has groomed many elite skaters over the years including Ryan Bradley, Rachel Flatt, Jeremy Abbott, Max Aaron, Brandon Mroz, and Mirai Nagasu. He...

June 2014An interview with Cecily Morrow. She’s a coach and former student of some of the best coaches out there (Carlo Fassi, Gustave Lussi, and Natalia Dubova). But her main and lasting contribution to the sport of figure skating has been her in-depth recordings of the teachings of Gustave Lussi and Natalia Dubova, through the video...

May 2014 An interview with Ryan Bradley, the 2011 US Figure Skating Champion, 3 time Collegiate Champion, coach and one of the favorites on the show circuit for his charisma on ice. Ryan talks about how he’s been able to develop that charisma and work with it, how he always wanted to be a “conversational skater,”...

April 2014 An interview with Sjoukje Dijkstra, the 1964 Olympic champion in ladies’ singles, the 1960 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World champion (1962–1964), five-time European champion (1960–1964), and the six-time Dutch national champion (1959–1964). We talked about how she’s glad she became a figure skater rather than a speed skater, traveling and training in London as a y...

March 2014 An interview with Silvia Fontana, 5-time Italian Champion, 2-time Winter Olympian (for the 2002 Salt Lake City games and the 2006 Torino Games), show skater, coach, reality TV star, and founder of Karisma Sportswear with her husband American pair skater John Zimmerman. She talked about working with Carlo Fassi, why her cats didn’t...

February 2014 An interview with the legendary Dick Button. What hasn’t he done? He’s practically the father of our sport (if Jackson Haines were Grandfather). The two-time Olympic Gold medalist invented many of the jumps and spins we see today, and he invented figure skating commentary. He’s a skater, producer, commentator, actor, truth-seeker, hall-of-famer, stirrer-upper,...

January 2014 A compilation of short, live, off-the-cuff interviews with whomever I encountered at the 2014 United States Figure Skating Championships in Boston, MA. Interviews include choreographer and coach Doug Mattis, Peter Biver, Dick Button, Hayes Jenkins, David Jenkins and Carol Heiss, Jirina Ribbins, the mother/son team of Stan and Fran, some local fans and...

December 2013 An interview with Doug Wilson, the ABC Producer and Director that I interviewed in 2008 on SkateCast #16. He contacted me again to talk about his new book, “The World Was Our Stage: Spanning the Globe with ABC Sports.” It’s full of wonderful stories of not only his coverage of figure skating, but so...

December 2013 An interview with John Misha Petkevich, the 1971 US National Figure Skating Champion, two-time Olympian, USFS Hall of Fame member, author of two skating books (“Figure Skating: Champion Techniques” and “The Skater’s Handbook”), and the creator of the fantastic Harvard-run show “An Evening With Champions.” He was also a commentator for NBC, CB...

November 2013 An interview with Donald Jackson, four-time Canadian Champion, 1960 Olympic Bronze Medalist, show skater, coach, author of several books, creator of Jackson skates, and member of more than a few halls of fame. He’s most notable in the history books for being the first person to land a triple lutz in competition (see...

September 2013 An interview with Tania Bass, dress and costume designer to world class skaters including Miki Ando, Sarah Hughes, Emily Hughes, Pang and Tong, Ina and Zimmerman, Michael Weiss, Jeremy Abbott and more. Her website is www.taniabass.com. Her dress for Sarah Hughes was featured on the cover of Time Magazine in 2002. She talks...

September 2013 An interview with Rohene Ward. What couldn’t he do well? Jumping in both directions! Amazing and unusual spins! Flexibility beyond belief! Choreographing his own programs! Signature moves! And all that talent from a kid with a disadvantaged background who had to take several bus transfers by himself to make it happen. And while...

June 2013 An interview with Ricky Harris, the first dedicated figure skating choreographer, and author of three books on figure skating and choreography. Ricky Harris skated with the Sonia Henie show, and created a series of successful workshops that are being continued by American Ice Theater with Jodi Porter. She did choreography for Evan Lysacek,...

May 2013 An interview with Caryn Kadavy, four-time US medalist at the US Figure Skating Championships, 1987 World Bronze Medalist, 1988 Olympian, professional skater, coach and choreographer. We talk about how she developed her fantastic triple loop jump, what it was like to work with Carlo Fassi and Toller Cranston, performing her brilliant short program,...