Scoreography Wendy & Adron Buske

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!
 
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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!
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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. Thankful

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. F

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.
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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.
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