Figure Skating Worlds

I miss Nathan Chen 🍆

The Georgia, Gubanova could end up on the podium at this rate, from 14th in the short programme!

Malinin short program.

Tha Loena Hendrickx skate was GORGEOUS

Well, damn, Alyssa Liu got her triple axel and landed the US a bronze. Sakamoto was on fire--love her speed and fire. Haven't seen Hendrickx's FS yet, but great to see Belgium get a medal. Really not missing the Russian girlss and their fucked-up jumping technique on this at all. Do miss Nathan, but feeling good about Ilia.

I don't miss the cheaters.

I hope Shoma wins.

Leona's Frees Skate if you haven't managed to catch it yet, R5. The last minute of the programme s beguiling. If she hadn't been carrying that injury and could've been slightly bigger on the jumps, I think it could've been ever closer.

Canadian-Danish ice dancer, Nikolaj Sorenson. = PHWOAR

And the Lithuanian, Saulius Ambrulevičius ain't bad either. The standard of male ice dancers looks-wise is wat higher than the Men';s or the Pairs skaters.

The pair from Ukraine.

Oops, forgot the link-

Congrats to Shoma for finally getting his gold.

What will be Silver Prince Shoma's new nickname now that he has a world title!?

Uno Titleist.

If you'd told me six months ago that the US would win one gold medal at Worlds, I would never have guessed it would be in pairs . . . I'd have assumed it would have been Nathan--who would have won if he'd been there.

But, outside of ice dancing, it was kind of the Worlds of the also-rans and that was kind of weirdly satisfying--Shomo won, Vincent got on the podium again after his truly shitty Olympics experience. There were non-Russians on the Ladies podium. The US medalled in every category for the first time since the 1960s.

There was even some scandal with the ISU announcers (the Brits) getting caught referring to Megan Duhamel as a bitch on a hot mike and getting canned as a result.

That said, I get the sense Duhamel is a bitch--she and Radford were the least connected successful pair I've ever seen skate. It's not surprising that he didn't tell her directly that he was skating with another partner--she found out through social media.

But, honestly--he seems happier with Vanessa James. Or at least they seem to be skating in the same rink at the same time.

R16 every time I see or hear Megan Duhamel, I get serious vibes of Reese Witherspoon's character in Election. One of those hyper-driven Alpha personalities.

I can also imagine Megan raging about the fact that Eric and Vanessa managed to medal.

The women's medal ceremony was so happy and uplifting - total contrast to the Olympics.

Yeah, amazing how much more cheerful things are when the recipients aren't a bunch of drugged-up teenagers with a Cruella de Ville coach.

A number of the female pairs skaters seem really tough--Alexa Knierem and Aljona Savchenko--tiny tough birds who don't mind being tossed through the air, but Megan didn't ever bother with any kind of facade of treating pairs as anything but a purely athletic endeavor. It had to be like skating with your coach, not just your coach's wife. I remember some minor story from when she and Radford skated at the Olympics and he was nervous and she pretty much told him to snap out of it. I guess there's some resentment of James/Radford in Canada, but, honestly, Canada's in such a slump right now, they can use all the help they can get. So strange given that Canada has some of the best coaches in the world.

Camden Pulkinen, meanwhile, who was only there because Nathan Chen pulled out managed to go from 12th to fifth because he was third in the free skate. Was he on anyone's radar for anything?

Wonder just how much the US has been holding backing some of the younger male skaters to keep Jason Brown in contention?

I guess this will be the end of the road for Piper Gillies and Paul Poirier, Such a shame as they never really seemed to reach their full potential. Paul always seemed slightly stiff to me in their performances at Worlds and Olympics. I'm glad they go that bronze last year, just wish they could've pulled out something spectacular this year.

If they continue, even with the G&G and H&D retiring, I think the Italians and the British couple have far more career momentum. I hope they do something special at the gala tonight.

R21, Gilles & Poirier said in their CBC interview that they haven't made a decision yet on whether they will continue competing. Since the Worlds are in Canada in 2024, maybe they will keep their options open.

(R22) thank you for the update. I think they might benefit from a year out to refresh and figure out how to go forward.

Why didn't China compete in Montpellier?

Hubbell and Donohue are retiring, the Russians are going to have a single spot next year. Sounds like Papadakis/Cizeron are sticking around for the time being since they're one title away from the all-time record. There's some room for movement.

I really liked Green/Parsons FS at 4 Continents, wonder if they'll be in the mix next year. Much as I like Hawayek/Baker, I think his petiteness just limits them--they don't skate big.

Gilles/Poirier are always the art-school kids and judges don't love that. Your costume shouldn't draw more attention than your performance. There's a reasonable amount of latitude, but flourescent orange with rainbow details kind of pushes it.

R24, it was never clear. There were rumors that the French government would not allow in skaters who had received the Chinese Covid vaccine. That seems likelier "the paperwork was submitted too late."

Ashley Cain has posted a weepy, apologetic Instagram, where she says she's had a concussion. It's apparently her fourth one. Reading between the lines, it's pretty clear that this is the end of the line for her skating career.

Hot photo of Guillaume Cizeron:

bumping this... because shit's gone down.

Plushenko went to that big pro-war rally that guest-starred Vlad the Impaler himself! So he's pro-war, I take it. Sinitsina/Katsalapov were there as well, not sure there were any other skaters.

Speaking of the missing: Eteri Tutberidze who some think will try to move to the good old USA, her old stomping ground where her daughter was born, and now lives/trains in Las Vegas.

Could she re-work US women's skating like she did in Moscow? Do we even have any raw material? Would Arthur let his darling Alysa train under Eteri?

And will the current Russian skaters ever get a chance on an international stage again? Word is pair Tarasova and Morozov are suing the international skating powers-that-be to force them to be allowed to compete, regardless of Ukraine. Could they succeed, with Lakernik or whatever his name is gone? At least I think he's gone??

Do we have any experts here any more? The times, they are a-changin! Roll on JAPAN and KOREA!

R29, yes, Plushenko and his tacky, tacky wife are big Putin supporters.

OMG, I think Plushenko is playing with fire. Will he (and wife who's connected to the Russian mafia?) go down with the oligarchs - though he isn't one. I have a feeling he doesn't have a Plan B like the real monied ones do -- haven't a lot of them already flown out to Dubai and points beyond?

You in danger, you old big-nosed blond gurl - with the trophy wife. Wait, I think he's the trophy husband ??

I see Anna Sherbakova may be retiring. Only wonder is that she made it this long.

Eteri's evil, but she's not dumb. She may be trying to get the hell out, but I don't see her being interested in Alysa Liu who actually went through adolescence. I'm wondering if she'd be all that welcome in the United States at this point. I'm wondering if China is an option--they're ruthless, rich and like medals. Lots of tiny Chinese girls to exploit.

Not a bad idea. I lived in Shanghai for a year and thought it was great. Weather's probably better than Moscow as well.

I imagine there will be quite a diaspora of Russians thoughout the world, too - Shanghai might be a major destination, since China's been semi-friendly throughout the Ukraine horrors. I'm sure Beijing's ok but I think the pollution is worse there (or maybe I'm misremembering) and I just thought Shanghai was more chic, at the time (2010).

Eteri's from Georgia - maybe that's a possibility? Taking Morisi and her choice of girls who can skate for other countries with her.

"Could they succeed, with Lakernik or whatever his name is gone? At least I think he's gone?? "

Lakernik is still ISU Vice-President for Figure Skating. Congresss is this summer. On current rules, he can't run again because he is too old. There was an attempt to bring an amendment raising the age limit for ISU office holders but it will likely be withdrawn now.

R33 A bunch of Georgia is occupied by Russia. Not sure about their current prime minister but it doesn't seem like the best bet, to be honest.

[quote]Sinitsina/Katsalapov were there as well

So since S&K were at the pro-Putin rally, does that mean their competitive figure skating career is probably over?

Another pair couple were there as well, Tarasova and Morozov:

Other Olympic medalists athletes in attendance included figure skaters Victoria Sinitsina, Nikita Katsalapov, Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov; cross-country skier Alexander Bolshunov; and rhythmic gymnastic twin sisters Dina and Arina Averina.

And of course, his big cheerleader, Plushenko - who keeps posting videos from his skating school. Let's hope there's blow-back on him as well.

Alisa Liu announced retirement today

Aww, and just 16-years-old. But at least she got a Worlds bronze medal.

Alysa, Nathan, Vincent and others have already started their Stars on Ice tour - international again for the first time since the pandemic started.

Liu looked burned out at Nationals. Thought it might be COVID, but she's just done. Too damn hard to get a good triple axel and she doesn't seem to want to refine the other stuff.

Did think she might stick around for another year with the Russians being limited, at best, to a spot or two.

Video clip of Stars on Ice - it looks like Kaori got a short haircut. Nathan does a backflip.

Kaori on SOI

American women are just over. She was one of the few possible bright hopes. Now? Lindsay Thorngren? I mean, there are only the elders Mariah Bell, who can't do a triple-triple to save her life, and the ever-ailing Bradie Tennell. And headcase Amber Glenn, who's already 22.

Roll on Japan and Korea.

Ilia Malinin might save US men. Or he might not. Without Russia - it's all East Asia, and maybe just Japan and Korea.

For the rest? Sad.

Oh I forgot Karen Chen but I think, like Alysa, she's reached the summit with her Olympic team medal - and goodbye and off to the Ivy League.

I wonder if we'll see some Russians defect to other countries so that they can compete.

R44 Isabeau LeVito--just turned 15--third at Nationals. With the Russians out, she's likely to medal at Junior Worlds next week, could even top the podium. Broke 200 points at her international debut. Will have to survive puberty, so we'll see.

Amber Glenn's a beautiful skater, but too many years of being a headcase means the US feds don't trust her to represent them at the big events.

Okay, how the hell long is it going to take to strip the doping Russians of the Olympic team title? It should be a very simple task.

Hmm, I had a google:

[quote] USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said the wait will continue. “RUSADA (Russian Anti-Doping Agency) holds the key for the initial investigation and needs to complete that investigation. WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) is conducting an investigation of its own,” Hirshland told reporters.

I think we can all guess what the corrupt RUSADA will conclude: Valieva will not be suspended, so they get the gold medal. It's confusing but I think the only way they can be stripped of the medal is if RUSADA itself is suspended again by WADA. RUSADA's last 3-year suspension was lifted in 2018.

Either way, the optics of giving out gold medals to Russia when they've invaded Ukraine are terrible, so the US skaters will probably be waiting a long time for their medals.

What has been the reaction on FSU and Goldenskate to Sinitsina & Katsalapov and Tarasova & Morozov appearing at the pro-Putin rally?

I want to fuck Nathan Chen till his ass looks like an uncooked meatloaf.

Who's gonna try to get tickets to the gayest ice show in the world (take that, Plushenko and Putin!)

Fantasy on Ice starring Johnny Weir, dressed literally like a middle-aged Karen in white tights, white skates, oh lord help us all.

But there's gorgeous Stéphane Lambiel, even hotter Guillaume Cizeron (and what's her name), Jeffrey Buttle, Javier Fernandez and Nobunari Oda. Four Japanese cities, May 27-June 26.

And the pièce de résistance, the GOAT himself, Yuzuru Hanyu. (try to stay calm, ladies)

Keiji Tanaka, as well, who just announced his retirement, and there have been a couple photos published of him and Satoko doing ice dance lifts hmm. Probably just for shows but after Kana and Dai got together, anything can happen.

A better link in case that account posts more stuff at the top - you've got to see Johnny up close !!

Now that Corona XE is in Japan though... well, hope springs eternal.

Plushenko's recent ice show started with a fucking pro-war pep rally, upsetting some of the skaters who knew nothing about it till they got there.

Kolyada refused to perform, but the rest did. I think Alexandra Trusova was scheduled to perform but didn't show. But the rest went ahead with it: Semenenko, Kondratiuk, Kostornaia, Boikova & Kozlovskii, and Liza Tuktamysheva, who got on Instagram afterwards and said:

‘Everything is a Mess’ I really wanted to believe that sports was outside of politics, but today it turned out not to be so. I love figure skating, I truly love what I do – I live it. I want to compete, I want to skate, I want to do new programs, I want to go to ice shows. But I don’t want athletes’ performances to become a way of manipulation and persuasion. At a total loss … (comments: ‘then she stayed & performed’; ‘you shdn’t have, should you?’)

Junior Worlds this week

Safina/Berulova from Georgia won Pairs as expected in the absence of Russians. They were top 10 at Olympics

The Browns are leading after the RD followed by the Canadian couples and surprisingly by some Germans. Wolfkostin fell on the twizzles and so Wolfkostin/Chen are 9th, 9 points behind the leaders

Malinin leads Men after SP (89) followed by Chiu and the younger Seleveko (both at 81 points)

Women SP skating right now

Thanks R55. Good to hear about Malinin. He should be moving up the ranks pretty quickly if Nathan continues to withdraw from competitive skating.

Can't imagine what Ladies will be like without the drugged-out Eteri bots.

Junior ladies SP

1) Levito 72.5

2) Shin 69.38

3) Yun 66.28

4) Thorngren 66.14

5) Wi 66.09

6) Petrokina 65.90

Well, will Easter be good to our new Qu0dG0d or however he spells it - or will he fall flat on his face?

Levito is something special. She's a young Sasha Cohen who can jump.

Hope LeVito can make it through puberty and the pressure to save American women's skating because she has something special. She'd have been an interesting counter to Alyssa Liu if Liu were sticking around.

Man, the Japanese girls sure tanked in the short. The top five are the US and Korea. Japan is 9th and 11th.

And Ilia Malinin pulled it off. Our new quad prince.

[quote] She's a young Sasha Cohen who can jump.

I wouldn’t go that far. Technique is atrocious.

The Browns won Ice Dance

Wolfkostin/Chen went up to 4th but couldn't catch the Canadian couples.

I thought the German couple who came in 5th - Grimm and Savitskiy - looked really promising. A particularly dynamic programme in the rhythm dance

Junior Men's competition . Who will be the stars of tomorrow?

Isabeau won the ladies' event.

Weird thing about Isabeau LeVito is that she has a knack for performing that you don't normally see in juniors, but her technique needs some clean-up work if she's going to make it as a senior. Pre-rotating and shoulder scrunching aren't really the answer. She needs speed. Her spins are gorgeous though and she's so musical that her two-footed skating looked like it was a choreographic choice.

I wish that whomever taught Gracie Gold to jump taught all the American women--ton of air and no underrotation problem.

The Koreans are coming on strong.

I guess Lindsay Thorngren will be the next Bradie/Rachel Flatt/Polina Edmunds--the reliable skater who doesn't excite audiences and wins if the anointed star is underperforming.

About Gracie's jump coach - Shoma Uno went to him for a while. He's based in Chicago, originally from Ukraine: Alex Ouriashev.

Not sure I can manage to link the article but an excerpt:

"We were looking for a jump coach," said Uno's mother, Junko.

One of her son's Japanese coaches, Mihoko Higuchi, had been impressed with Gold's jumps and wanted to see if Ouriashev was interested in teaching Uno. At the request of Uno's agent, Koji Ohama, skating agent/impresario Ari Zakarian called Ouriashev to sound him out.

Uno first came to the Chicago area, where Ouriashev has taught for two decades, in the summer of 2016. That would also be the first of the four visits Uno made to Ouriashev last season.

Stars on Ice Finale in New Jersey. Jason Brown does cartwheels in the end when they all take their bows. Loud cheers for Alysa Liu. Nathan does a backflip and looks like he’s having a great time.

Putin met with and gave awards to Olympians but there was one notable absence: Anna Shcherbakova, who went to Eteri's show instead.

Eteri may be thinking of defecting - the rumor is that she has put her Moscow apartment up for sale and insisted that Z symbols be removed from her show.

Mark Kondratiuk, Nikita Katsalapov, Kamila Valieva, Victoria Sinitsina, Anastasia Mishina, Alexandr Galliamov and Alexandra Trusova met with Putin.

Terri is a smart girl. She knows Putin is done and she wants none of it.

Eteri likes the US and spends a lot of time in Miami. I would guess that she'd do well. Despite all the allegations you can bet that ambitious parents would want her to teach their kids. I'm not sure if she could get a green card though.

Eteri lived in the states - her daughter Diana was born there - and Diana now lives in Las Vegas, I think? (this is her only child, an ice dancer who magically cured her own deafness, no less!) A family with a magic touch!

Though I'm not sure the long arm of the KGB or whatever it's called now can't catch up to her, if Vlad decrees. New Yorkers have fallen out of windows, Brits' tea has been made radioactive...

Good luck, my dear.

There's no cure for deafness, only aids. Diana is still deaf.

Cochlear implants?

But I take your point. Eteri didn't say she'd had medical treatment that cured it, but it was sheer willpower (or magic, I guess)

Diana's last name is Davis - and I think her father was American? Would that help her in trying to move back to the US where her daughter (and ex-baby-daddy?) reside?

Nah, if it were cured (or as good as cured) Diana wouldn't need to lipread and communicate through her partner like that we saw at the Tokyo Olympics.

I doubt Eteri has state secrets--other than the extent of doping, but she's unlikely to talk about that. If her daughter's an American citizen (and it sounds like she is), she'll be able to bring mom over.

And, yeah, Eteri could make a ton of money over here--it's not like there's an American coach who's been shown to have a golden touch with American women recently. Frank Carroll is ancient and the Gracie Gold thing wasn't a good look.

But if Eteri is really thinking of leaving, she should do it sooner rather than later--Russia's getting more and more Soviet-Union like. It's going to get harder to leave for anyone who's considered valuable to the state. And Eteri is.

New pics of Eric Radford:

#1:

#2:

That's hot. But why why the lack of dick? (Okay, I do know. It just looks weird and obviously photoshopped out?)

Given Vanessa James' last skating partner is in deep doo-doo for sending dick pics to minors I imagine her current partner's dick being plastered all over the interwebs would be a 'twice... shame on me' moment.

R80 But.. there's no dick.

That's the whole fucking point R81

Agenda for 2022 Congress in Thailandia with all proposal to be discussed. They want to reduce PCS to 3 categories: Composition, Presentation and Skating Skills.

WTF is Composition and why isn't that the fault of the choreographer and coach rather than the skater?

The US SOI looks amazing, then comes along the shitty version in Canada. WTF?

Sounds good to me - Satoko !!! Kurt, Elvis, Kaetlyn, Piper and GORGEOUS Paul, Cutie Pie Elladj, Jeffrey Buttle, Maddie Schizas, Weaver and Poje - wish I could go.

Eric Radford #3:

Eric Radford #4:

Yeah - why aren't Vanessa James and Eric Radford at Canada's SOI? Didn't they just win something or other?

And his former partner was furious because she expected that she would be able to do shows with him to make extra bucks. And yet he isn't doing the premiere skating show in Canada with new partner Vanessa? (and I don't remember seeing their name on the many Japanese ice shows this season though they're in need of pairs to add variety - SO many singles.

In fact, one of them, "The Ice" has signed Uno, Chen, Jason Brown, Junhwan Cha, Ilia Malinin, Kevin Aymoz, Vincent Zhou (July) - and another one, "Fantasy on Ice" (most of June) has Yuzuru Hanyu, Johnny Weir, Stephane Lambiel, Javier Fernandez, Elladj Balde, Kaori Sakamoto, Papadakis/Cizeron. And those two are the tip of the ice berg.

Come on, Canada! And does Europe have any ice shows at all, now that the Russians are caput? Well... limited to their own country, like Plushenko's war rally show. BTW, did Semenenko ever get out of the hospital after his horrible double concussion on that horrible ice at Plush's show?

Add Satoko and Jason to Fantasy on Ice for the second half of June, in case you're making your travel plans.

Article from just a couple days ago about James/Radford. Pretty incredible for them to make the Worlds podium despite only skating together for a year and at the ages of 34/37.

James/Radford in Music on Ice in Switzerland earlier this month…

Nathan Chen and Mariah Bell rehearsing together…

Fantasy on Ice 2022…

Eric Radford #5:

Eric Radford #6:

Eric Radford #7

Renowned figure skating coach and 1988 Olympic bronze medalist Peter Oppegard was just suspended by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for “physical & emotional misconduct.”

[quote] Oppegard allegedly bit a teenage female skater on the arm during a 2013 training session, according to the skater, her mother and a person who was present in the rink and said they saw the bite mark immediately afterward. The SafeSport investigation, which began in July 2020, also looked into allegations that Oppegard threw hot water and coffee at skaters he coached on multiple occasions at East West Ice Palace in Artesia, California, where he worked from 2005 until he left in 2018, according to two people who witnessed Oppegard’s actions and have discussed them with SafeSport, and who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Oh my, Safe Sport just jumped right on those complaints against Oppegard, didn't they? Gotta protect those kids from abuse that happened 9 years ago.

Why the hell would you bite your skater? Even in the realms of abusive coaches that seems particularly demented.

Just saw Stars on Ice in Pittsburgh…awesome energy. Karen Chen had missed some shows sick but she’s back. Loved seeing Chock & Bates’ alien program live. Mirai Nagasu opened the show, and even though she retired 4 years ago, it’s the first time I saw her skate live. Ditto with everyone else - haven’t seen live skating since 2007. Everyone was on tonight.

Old dinosaur Frank Carroll interviewed by Polina Edmunds

Apparently Jamie Sale went on another blocking spree because people were calling her out on Twitter for her transphobic views. Cannot wait for this bitch to just die already.

Whoa, she's an anti-vaxxer nut. Hadn't thought of her for years. Turns out it was better that way.

Eric Radford #8:

Eric Radford #9:

Eric Radford butt:

Eric Radford full frontal #1:

Eric Radford full frontal #2:

Body's great but he's just not pretty enough to be the model he aspires to be.

Now Stephane Lambiel, Yuzuru Hanyu, unknown but drop-dead gorgeous Conrad Orzel! Even Junhwan Cha and his pretty baby face... give me those nudie pix please!

R110, uh-uh, it still all begins and ends with Joubert (though, Nathan Chen is quite the piece).

And don’t forget Jason Brown, who always gives 110 percent in these performances. I saw the show in Pittsburgh but I would see it again if I could.

The Skating Lesson has some good gossip:

Eteri's daughter and ice dancer Diana Davis who is an US citizen by birth married her partner Gleb Smolkin in Nevada in March (he found the public record of it). March is also when Eteri "listed her apartment for sale in Moscow and deleted all of her photos with Vladimir Putin. She did not allow the ‘Z’ at her show or attend the war rally."

Davis and Smolkin are going to be monitored by the USFS tomorrow, and they want to skate for the US. Supposedly Diana's instagram has stopped posting in Russian and only posts in English now.

Diana's biological father is Sergei Buianov (Husband of rival coach Elena Buianova !) The Skating Lesson found a document showing that Sergei Buianov previously owned Eteri's apartment.

Maybe they're just in love????

R114 Smolkin needs to get US citizenship to be able to skate for the US (he was born in St Petersburg). Sure they can be in love as well but the timing almost certainly isn't coincidental. Eteri seems as if she is preparing to move to the US. She can get residency and then citizenship through Diana when Diana is 21.

Buianova coached Adelina Sotnikova, Russia's first Olympic gold medallist in women's singles. I can only find this picture of the Buianovs - he's old now but can see the resemblance to Davis..

Oh man, Eteri's coming here, isn't she?

R115 For Olympic Game, yes. For all ISU events, it is enough one part of the couple has citizenship.

Meanwhile, in France, Nathalie Péchalat has been ousted as head of the Federation by a woman no-body has heard before but who was backed by Didier Gailhaguet.

Smolkin is a cute twink. Quite a mop of hair on him.

He looks like he could be tennis player Denis Shapovalov's brother.

Do blond Russian men tend to look alike? There aren't too many of them.

Phil Hersh says the Grand Prix assignments have been moved, probably to the middle of July, because they don't have a sixth location for the Cup of China that China won't have.

US - Canada - France - ? - Japan - Finland.

I think that's right (so far). I may have the order wrong. Finland's taking Russia's GP.

And when are the Olympic Team Trophy medals going to be given out? Did the ISU cover that at their recent Phuket summit?

I doubt the team medals will be given out for a long time. What's really lame is that the Russians are allowed to conduct the investigation themselves.

"@LiftLoopLunge

Olivier Niggli, the Director-General of WADA, explained that the August deadline for RUSADA to complete their investigation into the Valieva doping case is "not a hard deadline" & that procedural issues could lead to a delay.

The team event medals won't be awarded until this is"

What is the purpose of a governing body if they refuse to govern?

I have never really understood why countries do anti-doping themselves. It seems like an obvious conflict of interest - countries obviously want their athletes to win medals. It seems so much more sensible that countries should be required to put those funds towards an independent international body to do anti-doping for everyone.

Okay, this made me laugh, from The Skating Lesson who has been divulging all this:

"@SkatingLesson

Diana Davis appeared very surprised to see me at the rink I skate at."

"@SkatingLesson

Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin confer with a USFS judge."

Ugh, Dave Lease is such a stalker. I miss the days when skating was covered by actual journalists and not creepy stans.

Oh, I absolutely love Dave Lease. Figure skating is at a nadir in terms of interest and his Youtube channel has all of the latest gossip for an old fan like me. Plus, he gets great interviews from competitors, past champs and coaches. And even back in the day, who was covering skating other than cranky Hersh and sanctimonious Brennan? They had the monopoly on print journalism. I’ll also love him for his first blog, Aunt Joyce’s Ice Cream Stand, which was brimmimg with pointless bitchery (including the title) and for calling a certain skater “Hooker Nails” because she possessed, well, hooker nails. It never got old for me.

So Chen's back to Yale so no GPs. Vincent Zhou's going back to school too (Brown?) Jason Brown is "taking a break." Yuzuru Hanyu hasn't said yet - and he's always done so by now.

Should we even have a GP series, with the war and covid and all these retirements and delays - and no Russians who dominated three out of four divisions.

Has figure skating just suddenly fallen on its sword, so to speak?

Sad last days.

Eh, we now have the newbies--Nathan's hips won't last forever. I think we're more likely to see a return of Vincent at some point.

Without the Russians, this could be kind of an interesting season with new people coming forth. I won't miss that boring Russian pair in ice dancing. Are Maddie and Evan finally going to get gold?

At his ice shows, Yuzuru's 4Ts and 3As looked beautiful. He could go on but if Malinin lands 4As in front of him - and he can't match them - I don't know if it would be worth it. But if he gave up trying, he'd probably podium everywhere. But it's not what he wants dammit - gold or 4A or fuck it all.

All sports careers end in tears. (in Hanyu's case, very wealthy tears, but still...)

Pretty sure Hanyu did a 4T-4T combo in an ice show but does that even count, scorewise?

Oh and Chock/Bates. I've never liked her but I can't deny she's quite the performer.

Went to find list of retirements and yep, no more Hubbell/Donohue. I'll miss him.

WOMEN: - Evgenia Medvedeva (Russia) - Sofia Samodurova (Russia) - Anastasia Tarakanova (Russia) - Serafima Sakhanovich (Russia) - Elizabet Tursynbaeva (Kazakhstan) - Satoko Miyahara (Japan) - Rika Hongo (Japan) - Yura Matsuda (Japan) - Rin Nitaya (Japan) - Alysa Liu (USA) - Alaine Chartrand (Canada) - Emily Bausback (Canada) - Aurora Cotop (Canada) - Ivett Toth (Hungary) - Nicole Rajicova (Slovakia) - Danielle Harrison (Great Britain) - Niki Wories (Netherlands)

MEN: - Michal Brezina (Czech Republic) - Keiji Tanaka (Japan) - Nam Nguyen (Canada) - Alexei Bychenko (Israel) - Alexei Krasnozhon (USA) - Ryan Dunk (USA) - Christopher Caluza (Philippines) - Peter James Hallam (Great Britain) - Roman Galay (Finland) - Adrien Tesson (France) - Joseph Phan (Canada)

PAIRS: - Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro (Canada) - Camille Ruest/Andrew Wolfe (Canada) - Justine Brasseur (Canada) - Zoe Jones / Christopher Boyadji (Great Britain) - Miriam Ziegler / Severin Kiefer (Austria) - Ashley Cain-Gribble / Timothy LeDuc (USA) - Brian Johnson (USA) - Mervin Tran (USA) - Nicole Della Monica (Italy) - Jessica Pfund / Joshua Santillan (Switzerland) - Antonio Souza-Kordeiru (Croatia)

ICE DANCE: - Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue (USA) - Sara Hurtado / Kirill Khalyavin (Spain) - already coaching a junior team - Adrian Diaz (Spain) - (“Olivia Smart will follow a new path with the Spanish Federation” - Natalie D'Alessandro / Bruce Waddell (Canada) - Ksenia Konkina (Russia) - Sofia Shevchenko / Igor Eremenko (Russia) - Anastasia Skoptcova / Kirill Aleshin (Russia) - Alena Kanysheva (Russia) - rumor: Arina Ushakova (Russia) - Kiria Hirayama / Aru Tateno (Japan) - Jim Wang (USA)

poohzuruhanyu JSF updated Yuzu's profile in their website! Translation of his comment: "Thank you always for your support. I will aim for even greater heights this season."

So this is the official confirmation. Yuzu will compete next season.

Shame about Hubbell-Donohue--they'd win Worlds this season, but they've been at it a long time. I like Chock/Bates better off ice than on, but if they pull off a Worlds win, I'll clap. Looking forward to the younger teams climbing the ranks.

I thought Gilles/Poirier retired, but maybe not?

So Cain/LeDuc retired--they kind of had to--she's had too many concussions. I see that James/Radford are still around and Knierem/Frazier.

Bradie Tennell's not on the retirement list either, so wonder if she'll come back this season. With Alysa retiring, the US needs somebody. I guess Karen and Mariah are around as well, though I assume Karen will be back at Cornell.

R133 James/Radford are done. They have been pulled out from the World Standing list in the latest update. Radford has been elected to ISU Council as the athlete representative

That turd?

German dance team (Muller/Dieck) also split. Same for German top pair (Hase/Seegert).

Polizoakis came out of retirement and he partnered with Denisa Cimlová to skate for Czech Republic. They are coached by Fusar-Poli.

Armenian Garabedian/Proulx Senecal also retired.

Britain #2 Fear/Waddell split.

Wow, so who does Canada have left? They're in a serious slump.

Oh, no, Brian Johnson retired? Who's going to take his place as cute, hairy-chested pairs skater?

"Tatiana Tarasova: If the topic of changing sports citizenship of Smolkin and Davis is being promoted, then the skaters, who had not previously considered the same possibility, will think about not sitting idle for a year.

Now I have no idea what is really happening, I’m just speculating, but next week I will go to Novogorsk, where I would like to hold a meeting with our skaters, to express my opinion on this matter.

We need to know what the guys think on this issue. Davis and Smolkin are a good pair, but you need to understand what the guys who are closer to the first place think.

Of course, they are unlikely to tell frankly about everything, but I will be able to understand their moods."

I love how she shades Davis and Smolkin there - 'a good pair' ... but not the top ones.

R133 - Isabeau LeVito? Don't know much about Audrey Shin but she was 3rd at Four Continents. And whatever happened to Ting Cui?

And will Eteri start coaching? That's the subject of the latest "The Skating Lesson" with Dave Lease. Eteri took down all photos of Putin she had on Instagram, was even quoted as saying she doesn't like him. She didn't show up at the big pro-war rally that Plushenko went to - she didn't show off the letter "Z" at her ice show.

Gleb and Diana being married gives Eteri some sort of easier access to a green card and eventual US citizenship I think. And she did live and work here before and has connections. Dave spoke of coaches who only accept cash (which can't be traced) on the off chance she's not allowed to coach because of Safe Sport or whatever, but they'd have to prove she was drugging the girls -- and likely she wasn't. That doctor who was always hanging around or some gov't official, who knows, but her hands are probably clean enough, on that front.

How many stage mothers would pay to have a proven winning coach like Eteri work with their precious babies? I would assume quite a few. She worked miraculous wonders with Russian women, I don't think anyone would dispute.

*Audrey Shin was fourth at 4CC, not third.

The GP is going to be fantastic without the Russian druggies and cheaters.

Sooo, is Tarasova basically saying the Russians will change nations in order to skate and, just as possibly, return to Russia when Russia's allowed to play again? Seems likely, given all those Russian satellites. This would be particularly valuable in ice dancing where placements get so fixed.

I assume China's out because its COVID vaccine doesn't work, but the Chinese won't use anyone else's, which means they're always one spike away from a regional shutdown.

Isabelle LeVito is a lovely skater with kind of jumping technique that won't get her through adolescence. If she fixes it, she might be around, but that's a big "if".

Maybe Amber Glenn will finally have stabilized. She's a beautiful skater when she's not doing a Gracie Gold.

I think the Chinese vac works if you get three shots. But the elderly haven't gotten them.

Though they're close on an mRNA (link)

Don't know what that means for their skaters (I understand they can't do Cup of China - or maybe any kind of comps inside the borders?)

Amber Glenn is showing a triple axel in practice on Instagram. Anyone want to tell me how fully-rotated it is? I can never tell.

Looks good to me - but I'm not good at telling either. We shouldn't worry - the judges are hit and miss, as well.

If Amber and Wakaba could just get it together. Come on girls. We'll be missing out on our one reliable 3Aer, Tutkamysheva, who never got her due because of witch Eteri. But then, unlike men, jumping jack girls never get propped - see FIVE quad Trusova losing to whatsername, even after Kamila crashed out. Midori, Tonya, Surya -- guys can get away with zero artistry if they have the tech - females? They're almost punished for it. Even poor Mao vs Yuna - not clear on those details but I think there are other examples.

R147 Well at least you have Adelina Sotnikova who won over the far more graceful Yuna Kim.

Looks like Malinin is landing some sort of quad axel in practice as well. If he pulls that off in competition, he'll definitely be the new quad king for the U.S. Nathan Chen is timing his exit well. Wonder if Vincent will stick around--he sounded like he was a real mess at the Olympics--maybe the Bronze worlds is enough of a high note for him--that and whatever Olympic team medal finally shows up.

Karen Chen seems to have put up an Instagram post that people are reading as a soft-retirement notice. Bradie's still silent. With Alysa Liu gone, there's definitely room for some of the also-rans to move in. Naturally, the Gracie Gold fans are still wishing. And, hell, this might be the year Gold has a moment to shine and do some sort of redemption thing.

R149 Ilia didn't land the 4A in Japan this week despite several attempts. I think his IG was making it seem like he had the jump more than he does. As in we don't know how many attempts he's doing before he lands a clean one to put on IG. His level of skating is so far below Shoma and Yuma's though, it'll be interesting to see what happens. But I'm sure USFS will push him hard. Focusing so much on the 4A seems silly. Just do 5 clean solid quads and work from there. History making achievements don't mean much if you can't win.

Karen is probably done. She was barely hanging on. Mariah will stick around for a season or two. With the new SEQ rule changes, she doesn't have to really rely on a 3-3 anymore though, so maybe she sticks around longer? Vincent could come back in a couple years, but he can also probably read the room. I'm sure he'd love a national title, but if Ilia even reaches half his potential that seems unlikely.

And Nathan held up as long as he could I think, the timing was perfect for him. He has major hip issues he's not talking about much. We know about the one hip, but this injury is the other hip. Two bum hips at 23 doesn't bode well and it's good to get out and walk without pain in 10 years. He mentioned he can't rotate jumps well because of it but wouldn't go further into the issue. He's got zero reason to ever return anyway. He'll go out and top and shade to a lot of the other skaters who hang on but I think he has more of a life outside skating. Some of these people obviously have no idea what to do with themselves if they aren't skating.

R150, Yeah, I always kind of thought Nathan would have retired if he'd won back in 2018--he'd have been perfectly happy to go to college and do a few shows. He knows his hips won't last forever and would probably prefer not spending the rest of his life crippled. He and Bradie both have a certain stiffness that I attribute to having to protect areas prone to injury--with her it was the back. Not sure what it is now. Despite his not having officially retired, I'd be shocked to see Nathan in competition again. With Malinin showing potential, the focus will shift to him anyway.

Japan has that other young guy along with Shoma and Hanyu. The rule changes should really benefit Japanese ladies who don't have the same puberty monster issue and have the kind of technique that can be sustained.

[quote] With the new SEQ rule changes, she doesn't have to really rely on a 3-3 anymore though, so maybe she sticks around longer?

How has it changed? You don't need 3-3's anymore?

Sorry - I don't really understand the technical side of skating very well.

One thing about Malinin, who I'm pretty sure has landed a rotated 4A that he put on Instagram (though not in Japan yet which the promoters are desperate for him to do, I guess) -- but the thing about him, his legs look too long for the rest of him. And I remember thinking that about Stephen Gogolev who subsequently seems to have crashed and burned. Got too tall? It'll be interesting to see if Malinin can make it long enough to land that thing in competition.

Some of the successful men have been, if not tall, fairly close to average height--Vincent Zhao is 5'9" and while he's had his issues, he's never flamed out. Yuzuru's 5'8", which has got to be around the average for Japanese men.

Ilia's currently 5'6", so he may have a couple of inches to go, but I doubt he'll "outgrow" the sport, not with both of his parents being singles skaters.

R152 It used to be when you did SEQ you only got 80% of the base value (the point value of the two jumps added together). A sequence is when you change feet or edges or put your free leg down. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva does a 3lz+2A SEQ quite a bit. You are going to see a lot of easier combos now with the rule change since you get full points for them. Basically, women (espeically) who can't do 3-3's will have other ways to make up points. You'll still need a 3-3 to be a top skater though, but it does help a bit.

And I feel Ilia just has insanely long legs. He's the same height as Nathan, who is like 5'6. Nathan has good proportions though while Ilia looks very lanky.

Ilia probably hasn't 'filled out' yet and has very long legs.

The long legs would definitely be a disadvantage for a female skater, but I think it might not be the same hindrance for a guy--he can use all that leg muscle to propel himself up and doesn't have a lot to lift. The women just don't have the same kind of brute strength so they have to be compact. Nathan is relatively short-legged, like Javier and Shoma, but I'm thinking there have been some leggier guys among the Russians--Plushenko, who was 5'10". Different era, but he made his reputation as an early quadster.

Melanin's overall jumping technique looks pretty good to me, but I don't actually know much--I notice he can actually go straight up, which seems to me would indicate good lift-off and turning position. Right?

The changes in women's skating are definitely going to favor longevity more than they have in a long time. Basically, it's the Mariah Bell rule. Not sure I love it because the top ladies really should do triple-triples.

I'm too lazy to research but I feel like Urmanov and or Kulik had long (ish) legs..

Ilia's feet look bigger than Nathan's in that photo, but then if they're both just 5'6" Ilia has several inches to go before he runs into trouble.

And there are some current tall quadsters - Junhwan Cha is 5'11" - Roman Sadovsky 6 feet (though he hasn't had a good showing lately but he can do them when he's on) - Makar Ignatov 6 feet - probably others.

He has great technique. He's already 17, yeah he can grow some but I doubt it'll be like Gogolev . I think the more obvious issue he'll deal with is injury and focusing too much on jump/combos he doesn't really need. The name of the game is still being consistent (to build up reputation) and clean to win. He wants to make a splash which is understandable, but 2026 is a long time away in figure skating years. It's also expected for men to do 4-5 quads and that's a looot of wear and tear on their body for four years. I see people already saying it'll be Yuma vs Ilia for Olympic Gold in 2026, but way too soon to tell.

Yeah, wish Ilia had been able to go to the Olympics instead of Jason Brown. He could have used the experience and if he stays uninjured, he's the future of US Men's. Kagiyama v. Malinin could be a great rivalry, I won't be sorry if those two dominate the current quad. Malinin's only going to be 21 then.

I guess he should have been sent over Jason - but Ilia did fuck up at Worlds just the next month, ending up 9th. And that's with no Nathan or Yuzuru. So if they'd been there, he'd have been 11th?

Don't know why he did so bad - but he did. He choked in his one chance to show the USfed that they were wrong.

He did win Junior Worlds which was a. month later in April - but so what? It was a lot easier than Senior Worlds with Shoma, Yuma, Vincent (the podium - but also ahead of Ilia were 4 Kvitelashvili, 5 Pulkinen, 6 Tomono, 7 Grassl, 8 Siao Him Fa, so what the fuck happened to him?)

I would not be sad if Nathan retired. I can appreciate his jumping ability, but point collecting is pretty much all he does.

R162 Yes, skaters like to win. Point collecting is how you do that within the current rules. Others are really welcome to try it. But he does more than that anyway. People who act like all he does is jump are delusional, possibly brainwashed and maybe dumb. He wouldn't have such universal praise by so many skaters and coaches if he weren't the full package.

Someone has posted a full show of Fantasy on Ice on YouTube. Features Jeff Buttle, Mai Mihara, Johnny Weir, Shizuka Arakawa, Jason Brown, Stephane Lambiel, Javier Fernandez, Kaori Sakamoto, Satako Miyahara, P&Cizeron, and Hanyu, plus Nobunari “Lola” Oda.

4th GP officially assigned to Sheffield

Grand Prix saignements will be published today

[quote]Grand Prix saignements will be published today

Will it really happen this time? Because the ISU has postponed the Grand Prix assignments about 10 times so far already.

Can someone please help identify the skaters, especially the bigger guy with the killer thighs and butt?

It's strange how no one is talking about Zabijako being bi/gay. By the way, why did Canada drop her as soon as she came out?

For context, Zabiiako is dating Russian tennis player Daria Kasatkina who recently came out.

R169, it’s being discussed. A lot of quotes from Russians about Zabiiako coming out are towards the end of the video.

Also on Eurosport…

From 2019, Zabiiako and Enbert…

I saw some new posts on this thread and figured they had to be about Yuzuru's retirement, but nope . . .

Until now . . .so injury, age, upcoming Japanese skaters. But what will he do now. The guy's been the monk of figure skating.

R170 that's exactly what I mean. Everyone and their mother (including Tarasova) has commented on Kasatkina's coming out. But Zabiiako? Crickets. Not a word from Tarasova, Mozer, Enbert, Yagudin etc. While poor Daria is being crucified in the Russian media, no one in the Russian figure skating world is commenting on Natalia. Either condemning or supporting her. I find that very curious.

“On May 18, 2022, it was announced that Zabiiako "is resuming her career and will compete for Canada" with Zachary Daleman as her partner under the guidance of a coach Bruno Marcotte.[27] On July 20, 2022, it was announced that Zabiiako no longer trains in Canada and the request of the Canadian Figure Skating Federation was withdrawn.[28”

I was thinking the Russian figure skaters’ comments were strictly the party line. They actually don’t say anything like “homosexuality is wrong,” although the worst of them describes it as an unfortunate birth defect. But where the aggression towards Natalia comes in is their criticism of Russian skaters who try to skate for another country. Natalia wanted to skate for Canada and she had to withdraw the request.

R173 Yuzuru did his own ice show once (and one-off) so after the one this summer that had some effortful (if strange) new exhibition skates, I think that's on the docket. Keiji and Satoko did "Romeo and Juliet" - sort of ice dancing (saw photos of a couple lifts) - I love both of them so hope they're included (they just retired as well).

Santiago Hanyu also said he'll continue hunting the great white fish- the quad axel that Ilia Malinen has already landed (albeit only in practice). We'll see. I think he should forget it and do his thang (poured a cup of water over his head in one skate - orgasmically squirmed on the ice in the other one - did some peek-a-boo lifting his shirt - maybe a striptease is next??)

All sports (and political) careers end in tears. But I think he still has his groupies (even new ones in China and that's a massive market if this pandemic would cooperate).

R167 Michael Parsons and Trent Michaud

Grand Prix Men

Grand Prix Women

Grand Prix Pairs. It is an EPIC mess of a line-up

And finally the ice dancers

So Piper and Paul are sticking around.

US Ladies is kind of a mess.

So is the season for Deanna Stellato to shine having outlasted every other skater?

Has Mariah flown with the wind?

I haven't forgiven her for stabbing Eunsoo with her skate so good riddance, freckle-face!

R177: thank you! I knew DL would come through

Elvis Stojko fucked Johnny Weir, that blows my mind.

R185 when was this?

[quote]So Piper and Paul are sticking around.

I had a feeling they would. Back in March at R22 I posted that they were keeping their options open. It makes sense that they want to stick around until 2024 Worlds in Canada and try to win another world medal on home ice.

At Philadelphia Summer International 2022, in the SP

Levito 70.72

Thorngren 69.57

Gracie Gold 67.01

Go Gracie Go! Hope she still has those big beautiful grown-up jumps - so nice to see in the women's field again.

She studied under that Ukrainain (?) coach in Chicago, Alex Ouriashev - and Shoma's coach Fluffy noticed how good her jumps were looking and sent Shoma there, multiple times, to work with him.

Gracie's Free Skate.

I'm wondering what the new world of figure skating is going to be like. Maybe Yuzuru's quads were just too beautiful and Nathan's were just too consistent - and the little drugged up Russian wonders were just too efficient, with their skinny-sparrow bodied quads (Trusova excepted)... I mean those things were just beyond human.

Let's get back to reasonable tech - and people concentrating on artistry more than tech - and, well, I guess I'm saying quads were destroying figure skating, even with the men ?? Or maybe I'm just full of shit, but I'm excited about the massive changes in the sport with the retirements of some huge names and with the Russians down for the count (for this season anyway - and will they somehow be redeemed for '23-'24? How? Will the ISU just say never mind - the way they did when they decided to let them run for office or whatever?)

Yuzuru Hanyu has made a Youtube account and tonight he live-streamed a two-hour practice session. I don't think he's had an official social media account before - nothing on Instagram, for example.

Tweet about Yuzuru's stream:

Happy to see his session end with a smile on his face. “I’m glad I was able to show that I could still do SEIMEI in full in the Olympics version.” He said it will be once every 6 months that he’ll do something like this session. He says he’s really really tired!

Kurt Browning and Alissa Czisny just got married.

And I didn't get invited.

I had to look up their ages...she is older than I thought, but still young enough to be his daughter. Ew. Wouldn't be as bad if he was in his prime, but he is old and bald now.

Did the resident “I hate Alissa Czisny” troll weigh in?

A man who marries his mistress creates a vacancy.

Paul Poirier (in the centre with his 2 arms raised) at this month's Montreal Pride:

Green/Parsons officially moved from WISA to MIDA

Interesting. Green/Parsons are, IMO, the most interesting of the up and coming teams. Loved the Martha Graham piece.

Junior GP starts next week

Entries of first stage

So, are the cheating Russians allowed to keep their team gold medal? It seems that nothing is being done. How soon until they are all allowed to compete again, as if nothing happened?

R201 They are not allowed to compete because of war against Ukraine. If it wasn't for that, they would already be competing. Valieva is finished because she will grow and lose all her jumps in the meantime.

[quote]Kurt Browning and Alissa Czisny just got married.

Ew. I still remember an incident where, after a horrible free skate, Alissa skated to the boards and was embraced by her secondary coach, Jason Dungjen. But it was this very long, intimate embrace where he whispered into her ear for like what seemed an eternity--way too intimately for a coach and student relationship. I got such a creepy vibe watching it, like he was her boyfriend comforting her. And then, after that, she turns to her main coach, Yuka Sato, and give her just a quick little hug.

Such an odd, weirdly creepy dynamic all around...I always suspected Jason and Alissa were hooking up on the side after watching that. Yuka and Jason divorced not long after, and I always wondered if it was because Yuka discovered a possible hook up between them.

And now, to see Alissa marry a man old enough to be her father...I can't help thinking that again.

Thanks, R202, but are they still gold medal winners?

R204 For now, yes, they are. It's a ridiculous system where RUSADA gets to run the investigation themselves and they've been dragging it out for over 6 months now. I'd imagine that eventually there will be appeals to CAS.

Yes, in 2030 we will probably have the final verdict on the team event

Women Short Program at Junior Gran Prix Courchevel streamed by ISU YouTube channel

It starts at 2pm French time

Men Short tonight at 7pm local time

That Korean girl is everything I hate about the sport. Twelve years old, covered in five pounds of rhinestones and absolutely skeletal. A kid walking into school looking like that would require a home visit from CPS. Yes I know being thin is important in figure skating, but watching this sickens me. This is far too thin for any child.

I don't link Tango for Junior Rhythm Dance.

Not that I am a fan of Latin for Seniors again either.

Anyway, Lim/Quam leading RD in Courchevel JGP

Czisny creeps me out. She has a fetish for old men, so congrats to her for landing a sugar daddy.

Never done before quad axel landed in competition.

Yeah and clean. He was landing them in practice, great to see him officially deliver. And the pressure is on.

So, Jonny Weir has his announcing job *and* he still does ice shows.

Can someone please explain to me how Tara Lipinski wins a gold at 15 and is financially set for life? She works for NBC now, but did she make a ton of money right after Nagano? Or some great investments? Or have family money?

I'm out of the loop - were Russian competitors all banned?

Because of corruption....or the war?

[quote] She works for NBC now, but did she make a ton of money right after Nagano? Or some great investments? Or have family money?

Pretty much. Her father was an oil executive and lawyer, so she came from money already. When she won gold in 1998, skating still had a pretty lucrative professional circuit where skaters could earn a decent living skating in shows if they were Olympic or World medalists. As an Olympic champion, I'm sure Tara raked in plenty of money doing skating shows, appearances and endorsements before retiring from skating completely. I wouldn't be surprised if her father made sure she invested wisely. Now that she's a NBC commentator, also probably making a decent salary off the gig.

So, all these combined factors equals a spoiled little daddy's girl who wanted for nothing and never had to do a hard day's work in her life.

R216, uh...never had to do a hard day's work in her life? She's an Olympic and World Champion figure skater ffs, what do you think that just happens by taking some magic beans? By all accounts, Tara was relentless in her perfectionism while practicing and wouldn't leave the ice until she had landed a certain amount of each jump daily.

R217 I didn't mean it literally.

I'm talking about REAL work you HAVE to do in order to pay the bills and survive. Chasing after a childhood dream to be an Olympic figure skater--a wholly person pursuit funded completely by your money bags father who can afford to pay for all your private coaches, ice time, designer-made costumes, etc.--is a privilege, not work.

I'd say it's both, just to chime in here.

She worked hard but was privileged, sure.

R218, again you make it sound like anyone could do what she did and that's far from the reality. And to presume that an Olympic level athlete doesn't know the vaule of hard work is ludicrous, regardless of whether the 'hard work' they have done lives up to some arbitrary criteria you created.

Result from first Challenger of the season - Lake Placid

1) Malinin 257.28 2) Aymoz 236.17 3) Pulkinen 219.49

1) Yelim Kim 190.64 2) You 183.40 3) Kawabe 180.11

1) Ghilardi/Ambrosini 189.22 2) Chan/Howe 181.81 3) Plazas/Fernandez 166.25

1) Fear/Gibson 190.80 2) Pate/Bye 179.63 3) McNamara/Spiridonov 179.03

Did anybody see Malinin’s quad Axel? I guess it was ratified?

We all saw it a R212.

Watanabe beats Sakamoto at Lombardia Trophy

1) Watanabe 213.14

2) Sakamoto 205.33

3) Kurakova 188.41

Loena Hendrickx leading the SP at Nebelhorn Trophy. Gracie Gold 15th out of 17th competitors (45 points)

Sadovsky and Lee leading Men SPs over Messing.

Hocke/Kunkel, Stellato/Deschamps and Efimova/Blommaert all pretty close at the top of Pairs SP

Oh Gracie . . . well, at least she's back on the international circuit, sort of.

Gold

Leona

Is YouTube becoming the only place we can see the performances?

Nebelhorn Trophy is live-streamed by German Fed

Women FS is tomorrow at 11am German time. Free Dance follows

Fear/Gibson Free Dance (won US International and Nebelhorn Trophy challengers)

So they have done Donna Summer, Madonna and Lady Gaga in the last 4 seasons. Cher for next season?

Guignard/Fabbri FD (won Lombardia Trophy)

Other top teams left (Chock/Bates and Gilles/Poirier) haven't debuted yet

This one was gorgeous, I'm impressed:

Mariah Bell's retiring. This year's nationals truly are going to be a free-for-all.

Junior Gran Prix finalists

Women

🇯🇵 Mao Shimada

🇯🇵 Hana Yoshida

🇰🇷 Jia Shin

🇯🇵 Ami Nakai

🇰🇷 Chaeyeon Kim

🇰🇷 Minsol Kwon

MEN

🇺🇸 Lucas Broussard

🇮🇹 Nikolaj Memola

🇯🇵 Shunsuke Nakamura

🇯🇵 Takeru Amine Kataise

🇯🇵 Nozomu Yoshioka

🇺🇸 Robert Yampolsky

ICE DANCE

🇨🇿 Kateřina Mrázková / Daniel Mrázek

🇨🇦 Nadiia Bashynska / Peter Beaumont

🇰🇷 Hannah Lim / Ye Quan

🇩🇪 Darya Grimm / Michail Savitskiy

🇬🇧 Phebe Bekker / James Hernandez

🇫🇷 Celina Fradji / Jean-Hans Fourneaux

PAIRS

🇦🇺 Anastasia Golubeva / Hektor Giotopoulos Moore

🇺🇸 Cayla Smith / Andy Deng

🇺🇸 Sophia Baram / Daniel Tioumentsev

🇺🇦 Violetta Sierova / Ivan Khobta

🇨🇦 Ava Rae Kemp / Yohnatan Elizarova

🇨🇦 Chloe Panetta / Kieran Thrasher

2025 Worlds assigned to Boston

2025 Euros to Zagreb

2025 Junior Worlds somewhere in Hungary

2026 Worlds to Prague

2026 Euros to Sheffield

The ISU has voted to make solo ice dance an international discipline.

And RUSADA have farcically said that they won't tell anyone the outcome of their Kamila Valieva investigation which leaves the team medals in limbo.

Men at Skate America

1) Malinen 2) Miura 3) Cha

Pairs:

1) Knierim/Frasier 2) Sellato/Dechamps not far behind. Then some unknown couples

Women SP: close rance between Sakatomo and Levito. Decent Short for Gold (64.18, #5)

Rhythm Dance: Chock/Bates leading with an unconvincing (to me) RD

Wow, Malinin lands the quad axel again in competition. What an achievement. I'm really curious to see if Nathan Chen will continue competing. These two could have a pretty interesting rivalry heading into the next Olympics.

Chock/Bates almost lost Hawayek/Baker. Less than 1 point

@239 I would be really surprised to see Chen skating in competitions again. Same for Zhou and Brown.

Yeah, I think Chen is done. His body can't take doing those jumps and he's not going to acquire a quad axel without some heavy-duty training.

Malinin makes it look easy.

Why would Nathan keep going? He's achieved everything. Why tear up his body when he can go ahead and finish college and move on with his life. He's always struck me as someone who has more to do with life than just skate (unlike Hanyu).

[quote]He's always struck me as someone who has more to do with life than just skate

I get the sense he's crazy competitive though. Malinin presents a real challenge and is someone who can equal (and surpass) him technically. Athletes want to beat the best of the BEST. It makes the victory is sweeter and more meaningful that way. I think Nathan would retire if he didn't have a decent rival. Hard to savor victories when you're winning by 20+ points. But when there's real competition to be had, you never know.

It's why Virtue and Moir came back. They wanted to beat Papadakis/Cizeron who were being hailed as the best ever. I doubt they would've returned if their biggest rivals for gold were the boring Shibs.

I think VIrtue/Moir returned because they hated going Gold then Silver in two Olympics. They wanted to finish on a high note.

Wonder if Hawayek/Baker will medal at Worlds.

I'm very interested to see what Piper and Paul come up with at Skate Canada. I got the feeling that their heart wasn't really in it last season after they performed poorly at the Olympics.

Chock and Bates look very beatable based on what they showed this weekend. There are about 4 teams at a similar level so far this season. If Piper and Paul can come up with a Free Dance on the level of 'Vincent' and a more solid RD than last season they could, finally, clean up.

Piper and paul brought the heat in the Rhythm Dance at Skate Canada - personal best and edged out Gibson and Fear. I think their score tops Chock and Bates from last week.

Paul looked rejuvenated.

I think, other than skating shows, Nathan Chen is through with competitive skating, now assuming the life of a college student and everything he missed about the experience. He has nothing else to prove.

The men were an absolute splatfest mess at Skate Canada. Every single one of them fucked up their quad(s) or triple axle.

The level of jumping is now too high to produce clean programs. Maybe 1 in 50 goes clean (if they have high level technical content - one or two quads in the SP along with a 3A -- and more in the free).

Since nobody else can do it, I foresee Malinin dominating - with a couple Japanese men also capable, on a good day (Uno and Miura - maybe Kagiyama if he recovers from whatever his injury is).

One thing Nathan had was consistency so I think he could compete and win a lot, because of the rate of flubbed jumps, but does he want to? Maybe after a year off, he might start dreaming of a second Olympic gold, especially if the three or four contenders trip up.

I hope Chen never comes back. He is unbearably boring and I can't take any more of his fugly costumes.

Lilah Fear is as almost as bad as Diana Davis.

Muramoto/Takahashi won the Challenger Series - Denis Ten Memorial competition. Very generous scoring all around that competition. It was a cluster of Eastern European judges all put in the same place.

Watching Skate Canada and I give up. What was with the Japanese dancers? What are those costumes doing?

The Japanese were skating a Fifth Element program. Could have been executed better, but at least they are trying to do something different than some generic LaLa Land program.

[quote]I hope Chen never comes back. He is unbearably boring and I can't take any more of his fugly costumes.

Sorry, but I prefer seeing the men look like men, rather than sequin encrusted drag queens. Let the skating speak for itself.

Is this letting the skating speak for itself?

The men were a hot mess in Boston last weekend, too.

Every man fell🫣🤭

Oh for the days of the manly jumpsuits - Orser Hamilton Boitano John Curry....

In defense of all the tacky outrageous costumes, since the beginning of figure skating...

R255, sorry, I don't see the sequins.

Scroll down to Toller Cranston (blue jumpsuit with sequined flowers, 1976) in R258 link and a bit further down to 1984 Jozef Sabovchik

"....Adams cited a German writer who wrote this about the two in a book recapping the 1976 Winter Olympics: “If either the handsome Toller or the graceful John had worn a small skirt they could have become the best female skater of this year’s winter games. … Never before have men skated so femininely.” What this writer is pointedly saying is that there is functionally no difference between the performances of the women and those of Curry and Cranston other than costuming. And what they’re acknowledging is that the distinction between men’s and women’s skating is largely a performative one, not an athletic one...."

well, the quote is about skating style -- but the costumes pictured there speak for themselves

I love Shoma Uno (Gold Medal after free skate at Skate Canada) and his costumes are to die for (like this one)

I just watched that clip and now it's gone. The powers that be are trying to destroy figure skating by denying access to videos. ;(

Here's his SP at least (we'll see how long it takes them to take it down)

Men are eschewing the sequins and going to more conservative, masculine dress because of Nathan Chen.

I haaaaate that the Grand Prix circuit is no longer being broadcast on network TV (yeah, yeah, crappy ratings, blow me). I watched the first round of skaters in the Skate Canada free dance live on Peacock, and it was just the video feed -- no Tara, Johnny and Terrence, just a chiron at the beginning on who the skaters are and the music they're skating to and then the kiss-and-cry results at the end. I turned it off after two teams. Granted, I often think Tara, et al. talk a bit too much during routines, but their commentary can be insightful (when Tara and Johnny aren't squealing; Terry Gannon has the patience of a saint). It would have been nice to know what the required step pattern in the free dance was, but no. I did find a 90-minute hodge-podge of Skate Canada on NBC Sunday morning, but it only covered some of the women and men, and the other two categories were given a brief mention. Gah...

I think this is why figure skating is dying in the US. Maybe it was inevitable with the demise of cable/satellite tv. I don't understand why the streaming service that used to do it (Peacock - I think the Olympic Channel before?) can't do it. You could even choose your sports and figure skating was one of them, and they kept the recordings for the whole season... Now there's this worthless shit.

I guess they just decided there weren't enough people interesting in FS so it wasn't worth whatever resources were required to post the videos. End of.

Die-hard fans are getting VPN's and tracking down the video in other countries, but I'm not that engaged. If I can't find the few programs I'm interested in on Youtube, then I'm out.

The replacement of the Pattern with the Choreographic Rhythm Sequence in the Senior Rhythm Dance is a travesty.

I'm not that engaged either, R266, but I won't even search YouTube for programs. I want it on my TV, not my computer (yes, I know, I can hook one to the other). Back in the day (i.e., last season), I would record something like Skate Canada and watch it at my leisure (since FS has next to no media traction it was easy enough to avoid the results). If a skater went splat more than once I'd FF to their kiss-and-cry. Commercial blocks? FF! I realize I'm probably the type of viewer that led to FS being shunted largely to streaming live, but I don't see why streaming sports events can't have a shelf life of a couple of weeks or a month (I think Premier League matches are available on Peacock for a month). I'll even sit through the commercials! (Well, I'll leave the room until they're over. I'd sooner have a gun held to my head than take an American Cruise Line trip.)

I still think changing the judging system killed the sport. The general public understood the 6.0 system. No layman understands this ridiculous point system, with all its levels and GOEs, etc.

Agree, R269, there's also a sameness to the program structures that few skaters but the very best can transcend.

Also, more points for jumps (completed or not), fewer for artistry. Now we have "skate to the other end -- jump -- skate back -- jump, and there's not very much in between (there are exceptions to that, of course, but they're few and far between).

And no one can spin anymore. They give more points for a leg over the head than a combo with multiple edge changes and a consistent center. Make everyone go to a Swiss spin clinic.

NBC killing off the Olympic Channel was a killer, unfortunately. If you still have cable, you can at least go to Search and enter "skating" and have the chance to find what little IS telecast.

Thinking the archaic 6.0 system is part of the problem is nuts. That just made it all completely political. At least the scoring system blunts much of that.

I find so much of the music these days to be unbearable. Horrid pop songs and cheesy covers, often with a bunch of different cuts sloppily put together. Some of the rhythm dances were beyond cringe worthy - random "Latin" tune with some samba shoved in at the end - wtf? I often wish they had never allowed vocals in competition.

R246, yeah, Piper & Paul skated well in both the Rhythm Dance & the Free Dance.

Paul looks hot in his RD costume -- a muscle shirt with no sleeves, showing his deltoids.

Their Evita FD was also pretty good and has more potential than their FD last year.

The Russian scandal also turned people off. The lack of resolution by the cowardly ISU, also did it. In the US, the lack of any competent women skaters is a killer, since they were always the featured event on television and the beneficiary of endorsements.

Those of you watching Grand Prix France this weekend, please report back. I am not getting up before the asscrack of dawn in California to watch it live-streamed (and not banked for replays) on Peacock. Anyone know why Papadakis and Cizeron aren't competing? Have they retired? I can't keep up.

R277 Pap & Ciz haven't officially retired - at present they're 'taking a year out'. Cizeron is choreographing some other couples this year.

I just watched the Ice Dance RD - a few mistakes from some of the fancied couples, but generally high quality. The italians, Guinard & Fabri are leading just ahead of Beaudry & Hot Hot Hot Sorenson - who PB'd. Both couples about 5 points behind Piper and Paul's score from last week in Canada.

Japanese Sota Yamamoto and Kazuki Tomono top two men after short program; Belgian Loena Hendrickx first, Yelim Kim of Korea second, in women's SP..

R278 I doubt we will see P/C again in competition.

Papadakis had some rough couple of years leading to Olympics according to recent interviews. She suffered from depression. She got pregnant in 2021 and got an abortion. Coaches sounded pretty cold with her during her depressive phases

If anyone in the US wants to watch the Grand Prix live on Peacock, the free dance is starting now and the men’s free skate will start in 2 hours and pairs free in 4 hours. Women’s free has finished…New this season, it won’t be available for replay after you watch live.

Jason Brown will be competing at Nationals…

Jesus Christ, doesn't Jason have anything else to DO with his life? He shouldn't have been given the Worlds spot last season; it should have gone to Malinin to start him up the international ladder.

One to watch out for the future - Lukas Britschgi of Switzerland - a bit uneven at the moment but bags of personality on the ice, and cute for a single male skater

Face is a bit Picasso-esque - well, it's just one photo. Out of this bunch, I think Sota is hot! And silver is great -- for him! How did Adam Siao Him Fa come back to pass him though? dammit

I'm not really a fan, but Jason is sweet - and I think he's the type who'd make a good coach. So many top names don't have the personality for it - either too egotistical or too shy or not into it enough.

Poor little Mana Kawabe, falling out of medal contention. She's got so much promise but Japan is a hunger games for skaters, on the national level. This sport would really be over without Japan. Though I love Loena - well, you have to.

R283. Malinin went to Worlds last season. And finished 9th

R280 Why did she talk about her abortion?

R254 Chen is a MANLET and not a man….

Evan, you couldn't do a quad even if your life depended on it.

Nathan. Quad stud.

GP Sheffield

Mia Mihara leads Women SP with Levito just behind. Tennell is not ready: 2 falls and one of the lowest TES

Men SP see Sadovsky leading Grassl and Vasjlievs. However, everything can happen tonight in the Free given how inconsistent men are

Guignard/Fabbri and Lewis/Gibson very close in the Rhythm Dance. Italians leading by 1 point.

Danny O'Shea has always had a creepy smile. Now he is bold, he looks even creeper

Grassl won Men at GP Sheffield after Sadovsky predictably bombed

Mia Mihara won Women over Levito.

Lithuanian Ice Dance Hottie, Saulius Ambrulevicius (and friend), absolutely killing Hallowe'en

Chock/Bates behind Fournier Beaudry/Sorensen in the RD at NHK

There's shaping up to be an almighty 4-way fight for the medals at the Worlds between Piper and Pau, Beaudry/Sorenson, Chock & Bates and Guignard/Fabri. They're all scoring at similar levels.

Big question will be whether Chock and Bates have 'fixed' their Free skate which was unconvincing first time out.

They should dare and do a program with Conrad Orzel as a Nazi soldier.

Grand Prix Final is taking shape with 1 stage left.

WOMEN

Yelim, Sakamoto and Levito already qualified.

Hendrickx and Mihara are likely to qualify next week.

1 spot left. Watanabe leading. Gubanova needs a Silver in Finland to pass her

MEN

Uno, Miura, Yamamoto and Grassl qualified.

Malinin will get in next week.

Last post is between Siao and Sato. Sato needs 2nd place next week

PAIRS

Miura/Kihara, Knierim/Frazier, Stellato/Deschamps, Chan/Howe and Conti/Macii qualified.

Last spot probably between Ghilardi/Ambrosini and Metelkina/Parkman. Needs a 2nd next week. If neither finishes in top 2 in Espoo, Kolovev/Kolovev qualify.

ICE DANCE

Guignard/Fabbri, Fournier-Beaudry/Sorensen, Chock/Bates, Fear/Gibson are qualified.

Gilles/Poirier and Hawayek/Baker will join them next week

I'm OBSESSED with the Reed/Ambrulevičius Free Dance to 'Insomnia' by Faithless. Great to see a couple doing something different. Just off the overall podium in Tokyo, and 3rd in the Free Dance.

They could be carving out a niche for themselves like Fear/Gibson. Could be in with a chance of a bronze at the Europeans?

Poor Conrad Orzel. Should move to pairs like fellow hottie Canadian Nic Nadeau.

R299. Yes, I think they are a strong contender for Euro Bronze. They beated Lopareva/Brissaud here who were among the contenders for that medal. Finnish Turkila/Versluis may challenge them. I can't think of anybody else being in contention. Taschlers siblings could be close in RD but will fall behind in FD.

Remember baby Yulia Lipnitskaya? Her husband has been conscripted. Apparently he could get out of it but still wanted to go. He had been posting a lot of Z stuff. The irony is that Lipnitskaya's father was mobilized when her mother was pregnant with her and decided to not return to the family.

So glad I woke up early to see the Espoo splatfest that was the men's short program. Morisi Kvitelashvili had one of the worst skates ever. I wonder if Putin will have him conscripted after that.

And Keegan is quite heterosexual, if anyone is wondering.

Good to see a great skating performance rewarded (Kevin's) over a jumpingfest - with some crappy 'skating' squeezed in between (Ilia's).

If Kevin could build up to a quad or two in his programmes by the time of the Worlds, he could be in with a shout of a medal.

[quote] I wonder if Putin will have him conscripted after that.

he left Russia for Italy last month.....

I think Georgia Federation got their Russian men out of the country. The dancer and the pair guys also moved their training base to Italy or Germany.

R303, I should hope so. Keegan is married with a kid.

r307, that's weird. I don't think he's ever mentioned it. You'd think he'd have a picture of his kid to show us in kiss and cry!

Men's skating right now is horrifically bad minus Shoma.

R309 Okay, I also forgot Kao Miura, who is the 2nd least offensive men's skater right now. But seriously for all the hype Ilia can't score a 90 in the SP and for some reason can't fully rotate anything else. Not sure why he can do a 4A like it's nothing, but struggles with his other quads. They are also rather tiny, again minus the 4A which is huge. Wonder if Yuzu is regretting retiring seeing the scores this season. He could have won worlds in Japan pretty easily with a 3 quad FS and his usual killer SP.

I AM IN LOVE with US pair skater Danylo Siianytsia. What grace and magnificent talent.

A killer ass, big bulge, and a gorgeous face.

I hope they win tomorrow because that man is destined to be a world champion some day.

I know R308, he just leaves his young family alone while he goes jaunting off to international skating events.

You'd think he'd realize that if he pushed the whole 'dad' thing he'd get some product promotion opportunities.

Gilles/Poirier get a new SB to take the lead in the Espoo Rhythm Dance.

Paul looking hot:

Gosh, I witnessed Ghilardi/Ambrosini winning a GP....

r314, not to mention the forgettable German pair with two falls moving up from 4th to 2nd.

Speaking of Pairs skaters with big bulged all s - Dutch cutie, Michel Tsiba. Unfortunately couldn't find a pic highlighting the bulge.

The young Estonian, Aleks Selenko is future hottie. Incredible hydroglide. 90% of his body was connecting with the ice!

Why are the pairs guys so hunky and masculine? If I were the partner, I would fall in love with them.

R318 - you need big ,strong guys to be able to pull off the lifts and the throws they do in Pairs.

Yes, R319, but they're almost all straight dudes.

the winner of pair competition in Finland today is gay

Kevin Aymoz and his Italian coach, Silvia Fontana, look like they'd be a riot on a night out!

Timothy LeDuc is an 'out' pairs dancer! (remarkable because most of them are not out)

Also Eric Radford of Canada

I bet even in pairs, it's more than half.

I think Tim retired at the end of this past season though. Maybe Eric did too?

* oops LeDuc competed in Pairs not Ice Dance - I made them confusing - and he's an American from Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Big gorgeous Guillaume Cizeron of France is also out and proud (France, Ice Dance) - I think his partner is bi? (Gabriella Papadakis of Greece)

Paul Poirier and his gorgeous giant ass is also gay. Ice dance though.

Honestly probably quite a few pair skaters who are gay, just most don't come out until later

Morisi did not redeem himself in the free program. Ended up last. Keegan did terrible as well. A Finn skater who works as an ER doctor, and is in his mid-30s, skated amazingly, ended up 7th or 8th IIRC.

Bradie Tennell’s free skate with the Greta Thunberg voiceovers is cringey beyond belief. What is Benoit smoking?

For real R328. When I saw that dress I was hoping she would do a Greatful Dead tribute. That would have been an improvement.

That Finnish doctor, Vallter Virtanen, shaded Yuzuru Hanyu, saying all he had to do was practice, while he (Vallter) worked part-time at a hospital as a doctor. So I'm sure he would have done as well if he'd had the time.

(not really true - Yuzuru completed a thesis and got his Master's from a Japanese university, their equivalent of our Ivy League, "Waseda Univ" I think was the name of it -- his thesis was about using artificial intelligence to score jumps in figure skating)

It's an online university and almost positive he didn't get a master's degree. Not really the same thing as being a literal doctor

Gilles & Poirier got a higher score at Espoo than Skate Canada. They got a Free Dance PB of 131.69 (4 pts more than Guignard/Fabbri) for a total of 219.49 -- the 4th best score in history. (almost 6pts more than the Italians.)

R332 Paul's ass is so big it has a gravitational force so strong it could pull the planets out of orbital alignment.

Agreed, R333. Paul's boyfriend is a lucky guy to get his hands on Paul's muscular thighs every night:

Now, Fillipo Ambrosini (the gay Italian Pairs skater) has lost the moustache, he's actually quite hot!

The mustache made him look like a tragic Castro clone.

Is this still the main thread for figure skating discussion? Any thoughts on the Grand Prix Final?

Paul Poirier & his amazing ass & Piper Gilles won the dance event. Not quite as high a mark as in GP Finland, but good enough to win their first GPF.

Chock & Bates 2nd; Guignard & Fabbri 3rd.

Chock & Bates showed a massive improvement over their early season outings. Think Paul & Piper are going to have to up their game if they want to retain their lead going into the Four Continents and Worlds.

In other news: so glad Shoma beat Ilya in the Men's. Outside the jumps, Malinin is like a giraffe on skates!

Mihara Mai 🇯🇵 208.17 Isabeau Levito 🇺🇸 197.23 Loena Hendrickx 🇧🇪 196.35

R338, I like Shoma too but Ilia is about 7 years younger than him and still growing. He looks the same height as Sota now(5’8) and his dad is 5’9. Going through the growth spurt phase is hard. I’m wondering what he’s going to become when he outgrows calling himself the quad god. Height and size can be a factor in the sport but even Yuma, who is only 5’3, has been out all season with a serious injury so it’s hard to say.

R338, I agree that Piper & Paul can't take anything for granted. They have only recently attained the #1 position in dance and so it's too soon to predict victory for them yet. However, for now they are in a stronger position than they have been before. They beat Chock & Bates by 3.7 points at the GPF, which is more than the 1.66 point win Piper & Paul had at 2021 Worlds when they beat C & B for the bronze. So it's a good start, but as you said they would still be smart to up their game.

Piper & Paul have had to withdrawn from next week's Canadian Nationals because Piper had to have her appendix removed. They say they will be back on the ice soon.

Suprise, surprise:

"Kamila Valieva: Russia clears figure skater over doping case

Valieva bore "no fault or negligence" for a positive doping test, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) has found.

She will not face any sanctions except the disqualification of her results when the sample was taken in 2021.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) says it is concerned by the finding and may appeal against the decision."

It's the fault of the ISU for letting Russia conduct their own investigation. Talk about clueless and corrupt.

I simply don't understand that. Isn't it obvious that the country would have an obvious conflict of interest when it comes to their athletes. This stuff should be done by a neutral organization (all countries can put funds towards that neutral org.).

I thought after Rusada finished their investigation it went to the international agency WADA, World Anti Doping Agency, and they would make the final determination about the Olympic medals - this affects the "Team Medal" (she helped Russia win gold before her prior violation was found). So Russia may still get gold, get demoted to bronze-giving the gold to USA; or Russia may be kicked out, giving a bronze to Canada (which wouldn't get any team medal otherwise)

Way to destroy the sport, ISU!! Good job!!

R346 WADA will have to appeal the decision that RUSADA has made... such a mess. (Remember that CAS cleared Valieva to skate? WADA doesn't have final arbitration.)

Oh I thought the case automatically went to WADA for the final determination.

Wil the team medals ever be decided? They ended 1 Russia, 2 USA, 3 Japan, 4 Canada.

Even without Valieva's points, Russia had more points than Canada.

Well, congratulations to Alexandra Trusova at least:

"According to the results of the RUSADA investigation, the results of Kamila Valieva at the Russian Nationals-2022 have been cancelled. Gold goes to Alexandra Trusova."

R349 If one person is disqualified due to anti-doping violations the entire team is disqualified. You see that with Olympic relay events: it will be the same with figure skating.

I'm thrilled for Trusova. 5 quad FS by a female!! I don't know if she did it there but she did at the Japan Open (Nathan Chen was there and posted a photo of her on his Instagram and said "Mind BLOWN !!!!"

At least she'll have that National Championship.

Oh and when Yuzuru Hanyu skated by at the gala after the Beijing Olympics, he held up his hand with 5 fingers spread out -- he noticed !! The judges would have given the gold to any man who did that, but... well, politics and all that.

*when Yuzuru Hanyu skated by HER at the gala... She saw it and held up 1 finger (I guess meaning she should have been number 1)

the thing is though is that we all know that all of Eteri's skaters were doped up. Valieva just seems to have got unlucky.

R355, it's incredibly implausible that all of her skaters were not doped. Supposedly girls respond much better to the drugs, plus there's much more competition with the girls, so they would be all be particularly vulnerable and compliant.

My boo, Lukas Britschgi, pulled out all the stops to snatch a bronze at the Europeans.

Are there any American skaters worth caring about?

Short program US nationals.

Jason Brown is still going.

I was at US Nationals and 2 or 3 of those pair boys are chubbos! WTF? Either that or they were wearing back braces, but their partners weren't big enough for them to need help.

Yeah, there was that fat ginger, I think.

Then there was the one with the bad back, or were they the same person 😝

The Junior men were so good. They ought to encourage some of them to get into pairs.

High profile Canadian skating coach Richard Gauthier found guilty of sex assault, gross indecency

25 year-old, Dmytro Sharpar, silver Ukrainian nationals medalist (2015/16), two-time Ukrainian junior nationals medalist (2014 – 2015) and Youth Olympic participant has died in combat fighting near Bakhmut.

R365 meanwhile 'Moscow Dan' Grassl quad toe-loops over Dmytro's dead body to 'further his career'.

[quote]“I think the coach has nothing to do with it.”

Technically it's going to be the doctor who gives them the drugs isn't it? But I am pretty sure that Eteri knows all about it.

It will be interesting to see whether the Russians will be able to compete in the next Olympics. The IOC seems to be saying that they can as 'neutral' athletes again (so much for that when everyone knows it's the Russian team) but there's a campaign led by Ukraine to prevent that.

BUT WHAT ABOUT MEEEEEEE!

I didn't tell that fat fuck to cap that skinny bitch in the knee. I demand respect!

One of my favorite lesser known facts about the Tonya Harding case is that her mother really did wear a wire to try to entrap her.

R361, love fit fat guys, especially ones with a football build.

It is so refreshing to see men's singles skaters not all decked out in sequins like drag queens on ice. Thanks to Nathan Chen for that.

My favorite of all time was Evan Lysacek. That man used to cause a stirring in my nether regions.

R372= Vera Wang

Fit/fat works OK in many situations. Don't think it looks good in pairs skating. Sorry.

This Finnish ice dancer is the very definition of Big Dick Face. Lucky partner. Skip to the kiss and cry part at the end for close up of him and his hot bearded coach.

Speaking of hot skater/coach in the kiss and cry, I'm very partial to Saulius and Adrian Diaz!

Adrian Diaz is engaged to the butch Madison Hubbell.

R377, since 2018…now they are both coaching together. But as a skater/coach dynamic, the skaters and the coaches are close in age, which is interesting. Saulius was born in 1992, Díaz in 1990.

Saulius has great skin - he's 30 but could easily pass for early 20s

Saulius reminds me of Chord Overstreet.

Is Roman Kostomarov still with us?

R381 Both feet amputated, still in critical condition.

Cute-as-a-button Ukrainian Pairs skater, Ivan Kotba, picks up a bronze at Junior Worlds, with partner, Violetta Sierova.

Suck it, cheating banned Russians!

So the 2923 World Champs start tomorrow. Who are people rooting for? I'm hoping Piper & Paul finally manage to get it over the line in the Ice Dance, Kaori or Loena in the Women's, Shoma or Adam in the Men's, and the Japanese pair in Pairs.

[quote]So the 2923 World Champs start tomorrow.

It's been over 900 years. Have the Olympic medals for team skating been awarded yet?

Hoping Chock and Bates finally get the gold!

Kaori absolutely slayed in that short programme. Her jumps are SO satisfying.

Great competition so far - so many women delivered season's bests.

What channel, R384?

R388, it’s streaming on Peacock (right now, in fact), and it starts on USA at 6:00 am (Eastern Standard).

Oh, thanks, R389.

🙂

Canadian Pairs hunk, Trentt Michaud about to go in the Pairs Final.

So handsome I could even forgive him the ridiculous second 't'

The second 'n'!

*self-facepalm*

Pairs has the huskies guys.

I meant hunkiest

Kevin Aymoz finally gets some love from the judges and is 5th after the Short programme.

Shoma leads from Illia, Junwa, and Keegan. Top 5 could all realistically medal.

Junwa was sublime and should be above Malinin. Shoma was excellent by overmarked a bit.

Cha Jun- Hwan performing a dance routine with Park Sunghoon, former figure skater, and now a member of the group Enhypen. They are performing to BTS's " Black Swan."

Jun-Hwan and Sunghoon's paths to stardom took different roads.

Cha on " King of Masked Singer."