Scoreography

As 2025 comes to a close, we catch up on a bunch of last minute figure skating news: citizenships, announcements, Olympic teams, a combined ISU Worlds event (?), and much more. We also recap our top Gold in Our Hearts moments for the year. And we share our appreciation for our listeners and community, including a particularly touching Christmas Eve message from an audience member. Chapters 00:00:0...

All-Japan Championships 2025 gave us an Olympics-worthy collection of amazing performances — including final competitive skates from several of our favorite athletes. Kaori Sakamoto and Yuma Kagiyama clinched their Olympic spots, and Yuna Aoki gave two of the finest programs of any skater this season. We also talk about the results of the French and Italian nationals events, including their locks...

We preview the All-Japan Figure Skating Championships (Japanese Nationals) and its hotly contested Olympic team outcomes. We also look back at the Junior Grand Prix Final, particularly the very exciting junior women's event. Golden Spin 2025 receives a recap as well, along with a number of other smaller federation national championships. As mentioned in the episode, here is Rocker Skating's resour...

The Grand Prix Final in Japan took us on a rollercoaster of emotions. Ilia Malinin shattered his own world record. Alysa Liu is golden once again. The pairs competition was outstanding. And ice dance somehow managed to generate even more controversy, outcry, and shocking twists. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 03:34 — Pairs Competition 04:22 — Miura and Kihara 08:17 — Conti and Macii 12:41 — Hase and Volodi...

We get ready for the 2025 Grand Prix Final with a rundown of all the competitors across the 4 disciplines, comparing their scores and performances so far this season, and making our (highly dubious) podium predictions. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 1:58 — Men's Competition 19:09 — Men's Podium Predictions 20:47 — Pairs Competition 34:09 — Pairs Podium Predictions 35:39 — Women's Competition 52:57 — Women'...

The final 2025 Grand Prix qualifier event provided a terrific women's competition, more judging controversies in ice dance, plus blood, tears, and several truly memorable, beautiful performances. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 0:31 — Dance Scoring Controversy 19:47 — Errors and Incompetency 21:21 — Ice Dance Competition 47:50 — Ice Dance GPF Qualifiers 49:47 — Men's Competition 1:02:54 — Men's GPF Qualifie...

The penultimate Grand Prix Qualifier, Skate America, featured a hotly contested women's podium, some spectacular ice dance performances, numerous disasters in pairs, and a surprisingly weak men's event. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 1:44 — Women's Competition 1:51 — Alysa Liu vs Rinka Watanabe 4:56 — Anastasiia Gubanova vs Lara Naki Gutman 7:06 — Starr Andrews 10:00 — Top 5 score comparisons 11:31 — Chaey...

Kaori Sakamoto reigned supreme at her final NHK Trophy competition! The Japanese Grand Prix event gave us exciting podium wins, surprise come-ups, frightening injuries, and a disappointing debut from the returning Shib Sibs. #FigureSkating #GPfigure Chapters 0:00 — Intro 1:33 — Women's Competition 1:50 — Kaori Sakamoto 5:52 — Sofia Samodelkina 7:55 — Loena Hendrickx 10:34 — Young You 14:05 — Sarah...

The third stop on the Grand Prix series gave us a bombastic new world record from Ilia Malinin, a shaky win from Gilles and Poirier, some pleasant surprises in pairs, and a charming trio of medal-winners in the women's event. Plus more frustrating judging, and potentially racist kiss 'n cry fan gifts. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 1:57 — Men's Competition 21:39 — Ice Dance Competition 52:34 — Women's Comp...

The second Grand Prix event of 2025 featured the return of Olympic champions Sui & Han, exciting wins from Amber Glenn and Shun Sato, and a nervous victory for Chock & Bates. Plus more questionable judging, and a kiss 'n cry controversy. Chapters 1:37 — Women's Competition 24:10 — Pairs Competition 39:16 — Men's Competition 57:21 — Ice Dance Competition 1:21:45 — Final thoughts on Cup of China 1:2...

The first 2025 Grand Prix event featured extraordinary upsets (Ami Nakai, Fournier-Beaudry and Cizeron), expected dominant wins (Ilia Malinin, Miura and Kihara), and controversial Ice Dance scoring (Guignard and Fabbri) sure to spark heated debate for some time… We dig into the incredible highs, and truly WTF moments, from Grand Prix de France. Adron savors his perfect podium prediction for the Wo...

We discuss Georgia's first ever Challenger event, the Trialeti Trophy, where Georgian skaters (rightfully) swept the golds. We also preview and give predictions for the Grand Prix de France, which kicks off the GP season. And we talk about the unsettling Shibutani Siblings rink video. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 2:07 — Trialeti Pairs Competition 14:52 — Trialeti Men's Competition 24:57 — Trialeti Ice Da...

The Denis Ten Memorial Challenge gave us our first look at Mikhail Shaidorov's new programs, a terrific showing and win from Haein Lee, and solid first outing from Davis & Smolkin. We also talk about Rika Kihara's move to ice dance, Bradie Tennell's successful program switch, and more. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 0:54 — Men's Competition 23:21 — Dance Competition 39:38 — Women's Competition 49:35 — Adam...

We recount a long, LONG weekend of skating with two major Challenger Series competitions: Nebelhorn Trophy and Nepela Memorial. The highlight reel includes big wins from Amber Glenn, Lara Naki Gutmann, Hase & Volodin, and Smart & Dieck. But, wow, were there some sloppy skates in there too… Chapters 0:00 — Intro 2:13 — Nebelhorn Women's Competition 14:31 — Nebelhorn Pairs Competition 24:06 — Nebelh...

The final Olympic spots have officially been decided, the Russians have (sort of) returned, some of our favs punched their tickets, and the judges pulled some funny business at the Skate to Milano Cortina — aka Chinese Nebelhorn. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 1:26 — Women's Competition 25:01 — Ice Dance Competition 39:24 — Men's Competition 53:03 — Pairs Competition 59:52 — Gold in our Hearts 1:01:05 — Ou...

We examine the results from a very enjoyable Lombardia Trophy competition, including a great season debut from Ilia Malinin, a dominant gold from Conti and Macci, and surprise wins from Rion Sumiyoshi and Pate & Bye. Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:07 — Men's Comeptition / Ilia Malinin 7:26 — Yuma Kagiyama 12:24 — Nikolaj Memola 14:00 — Shun Sato 14:48 — Adam Siao Him Fa 16:28 — Kao Muira 17:22 — Andreas No...

We recap a busy week of skating comps with the four-discipline Kinoshita Cup in Japan, the John Nicks Pairs Challenge, and the Bolero Cup ice dance event. Many heavy hitters debuted their new programs, and we have lots of feelings about them! Chapters 0:00 — Intro 0:50 — John Nicks Pairs Competition 15:06 — Kinoshita Cup Men's Competition 22:49 — Kinoshita Cup Pairs Competition 30:52 — Kinoshita C...

We check out the French Masters event, featuring the debut of ice dance team Fournier-Beaudry and Cizeron, and a fantastic performance from Kevin Aymoz. We also look at the Junior Grand Prix, including a controversy in Pairs, and a breakout gold in women's.   French Masters 2025 — Fournier-Beaudry & Cizeron Debut, Aymoz Dazzles In this week's episode of Scoreography, we dig into the French Masters...

We dig into the new program previews on display at the US Summer Sizzler gala, featuring almost all the top American skaters and teams. But first — Canadian hero Keegan Messing returns for the Olympic Season! Chapters 0:00 — Intro / Return of Keegan Messing 5:59 — Returns Uncertain? (Sui and Han, Shib Sibs) 9:40 — Fear & Gibson Free Dance Announcement 10:35 — Lombardia Trophy Men's Comp is mini Ol...

The Olympic season is upon us with our first notable singles competition, Cranberry Cup. We talk about exciting wins from Isabeau Levito and Roman Sadovsky, a standout showing from Sofia Samodelkina, and Sonja Hilmer's marvelous short program. Plus news and other program debuts. Stargate Fandom Podcast Appearance You can hear — and SEE — Wendy and I as guests on the Stargate Fandom podcast! We tal...

Three time world champion Kaori Sakamoto announces her post-Olympics retirement plan, and we have some feelings about it. Plus lots of new program announcements, and we talk about our experience at the North American Adult Synchronized Skating Camp. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 0:31 — NAASC Synchro Camp Experience 4:52 — Kaori Sakamoto Retirement Plans 10:43 — Other Skating News 11:06 — Young You's Tripl...

We talk with figure skating journalist Judith Dombrowski about her work with Golden Skate and Pirouette Magazine, and what it's like conducting interviews in the 'Mixed Zone' at skating competitions. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 2:06 — What is the Mixed Zone? 15:28 — Overcoming language barriers 18:12 — Skaters seeking content creators and alternative press 20:32 — A push to find "drama"? 24:40 — How muc...

We dig into all of the Grand Prix assignments for the upcoming figure skating season, as well as the unsurprising return of the Olympic Pairs champions, China's Sui and Han. It may be skating's off-season, but there was a lot to be excited about this past week as the 2025 Grand Prix assignments were announced — and two legends of the sport quietly confirmed their long-rumored return. The biggest s...

We round-up the past week or so of off-season skating news, including new-and-returning programs from Kevin Aymoz, Kaori Sakamoto, and the Brown siblings. Haein Lee's suspension has formally been nullified, and the Taschler siblings move to Finland with a new coaching team. And lots more. Chapters 1:17 — Stars on Ice and Show Season 4:57 — Kevin Aymoz brings back Bolero 9:09 — Oona and Gage Brown...

In our second annual Q&A episode, we answer listener submitted questions about the upcoming Olympic season, our all-time favorite programs, the origin story of the podcast, and lots more. The off-season can feel LONG… especially the off-season before the Olympic season! This is why it was especially fun to dive into some "what if" scenarios, skating nostalgia, and even a few messy predictions for...