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Our long-promised annual Question and Answer episode is finally here. We respond to your queries about the origins of the show, our expectations with the return of the Russians, figure skating's popularity and how to sustain it, and lots more. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:19 Questions We Get Asked a Lot 00:03:18 Do we skate / have experience skating? 00:04:51 How did Wendy convince Adron to do a FS podcast? 00:14:02 Do you use AI in your thumbnails/videos? 00:16:16 Old fans of a young sport 00:21:06 Can FS sustain a surge in popularity? 00:29:44 Russian Return Impacts 00:31:44 Incorrect Historic Olympic Results 00:34:58 Decreasing Jumping Passes 00:36:59 Should Synchro be in the Olympics? 00:37:57 Stars on Ice Questions 00:44:52 Wish Fulfillment Questions 00:49:21 Grand Prix predictions? 00:53:20 Misc, beyond Figure Skating 00:58:52 Wrap-Up

Oh boy, we've been gone for awhile! But the new season has started and, like the Russians, we have returned! Kinoshita Cup gave us the first look at this new season, and we're gonna talk about it and some other figure skating news we've missed. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:55 Skating News Catch-Up 00:13:13 Kinoshita Cup 2026 Recap 00:14:01 Women's Event 00:27:53 Men's Competition 00:37:03 Pairs Competition 00:43:56 Ice Dance Competition 00:52:11 Some Other News and Wrap-Up A new skating season (and quadrennial) is here, and we are back and ready. This summer has seen lots of off ice news including Amber Glenn joining Dancing With the Stars to Alysa Liu taking a break from competition. We'll definitely be following their journeys, but today we're talking Kinoshita Cup. The second event in the Challenger series, this event was especially significant as the first senior international event that saw neutral Russian athletes in four years. In the women's event, Mao Shimada put on an incredible show in her first senior international. She was second in the short, just behind a brilliant Ami Nakai. In the free skate, however, Mao pulled away with a breathtaking skate that included her triple axel, quad toe loop, and the best spins we saw in the competition.  In second place, after missing a full Olympic cycle, Alexandra Ignatova (Trusova) made her highly anticipated return. Her short program was refreshing and evolved, while her free skate was an absolute clinic of technical difficulty. Rounding out the top three with a strong overall showing was Anna Frolova of Russia.

We were away for awhile, and a TON of off season skating news dropped. We catch-up on retirement announcement, exciting new ice dance and pairs teams, the return of the Russians, and more. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:42 Ilia Malinin's... Announcement? 00:05:11 Retirement Announcements 00:12:17 Riku and Ryuchi's Destiny Tour 00:14:12 Alysa Liu wins an ESPY award 00:16:15 New Ice Dance pairings 00:29:16 New Pairs teams 00:37:16 Return of the Russians 00:47:53 First International Events of the Season! 00:55:41 Next up: our annual Q&A episode 00:56:43 Wrap-Up

Marin Honda and Shoma Uno have officially announced that they are returning from retirement — to compete in Ice Dance for Japan. We dig into this exciting news, plus round up what else has happened in this wild off season: Italy's Team Bronze pairs team Conti and Macii have officially split, as have the promising Australian pair Golubeva and Giotopoulos Moore. Starr Andrews has officially teamed up with Danill Parkman to compete for the USA in pairs, while Fiona Bombardier and Loucas Etheir have joined forces in Canada. Other retirements and team-ups have been announced, all while the competition plans for some of the US and Canada's biggest names remains in question. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:33 Marin Honda and Soma Uno Ice Dancers 00:12:07 Conti and Macii Split 00:14:12 Golubeva and Giotopoulos Moore Split 00:15:44 Vladimir Litvintsev Retires 00:16:52 Starr Andrews and Danill Parkman Pairs Partnership 00:20:31 Fiona Bombardier and Loucas Etheir Pairs Team 00:22:01 Milania Kristina Vaananen and Fillipo Ambrosini Pairs Team 00:23:02 What will Team USA and Team Canada look like this season? 00:28:46 Free Agent Skaters Dropping Hints 00:29:34 Wrap-Up and Continued Call for Q&A Submissions

The Stars On Ice 2026 Tour is in full swing, and we were fortunate enough to get ice-side seats at the St. Louis show. We give you a full breakdown and reaction to this (spoiler: FANTASTIC) show. Plus some skating news, including the announced split of Canadian ice dance team Lajoie and Lagha. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:46 Skating News 00:08:26 Stars on Ice Reaction 00:12:12 The Stargazer Experience 00:15:19 Andrew Torgashev 00:16:18 Isabeau Levito 00:16:59 Carreira and Ponomarenko 00:17:46 Zingas and Kolesnik 00:19:38 Jason Brown 00:22:32 Chock and Bates 00:23:53 Kam and O'Shea 00:25:10 Ilia Malinin 00:27:50 Amber Glenn 00:31:16 Alysa Liu 00:33:57 Final thoughts about SOI 2026 00:39:23 Wrap-Up

After a week away, we catch-up on a ton of figure skating news, including dance and pairs team splits, retirements, and other surprises. We also recount our trip to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. And Adron talks about learning his oldest sister was also a big figure skating fan, just days before her untimely passing last week. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro, the passing of Adron's sister (and connection to skating) 00:08:36 Our Denver Twice Trip 00:11:36 Skating News: Team Splits 00:25:02 Skating News: Retirements and Gap Years 00:32:29 Skating News: Misc 00:41:29 Our Colorado Springs visit 00:55:12 Call for Q&A Episode Questions 00:56:22 Wrap-Up We're back with some offseason news after a short break. There's A LOT happening in figure skating for late April! This month has been a roller coaster for us personally. Adron lost his oldest sister suddenly, which has been difficult for many reasons. We discuss this and how it actually connects to figure skating in the first 8 minutes of this week's episode. We know this type of discussion is challenging for some, so if you prefer to go right to the skating news, the chapter breaks can skip you ahead. In terms of skating, the rumor mill has been going strong after video was shared by Marin Honda from Japan of her and Shoma Uno training at I.AM. The two have been doing ice dance routines in Shoma's tour, Ice Brave, and their time at I.AM. may be a continuation of that. Or, as we and many others are trying not to get too excited about, it could mean a possible return to competition. They have confirmed nothing, so let's keep it chill for now (with our fingers crossed). When it comes to factual news, we talk through the splits of both Korea's Hannah Lim and Ye Quan, as well as Olivia Flores and Luke Wang from the USA.  We also get into our feelings over the un-surprising retirement of Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuchi Kihara. Following their victory at the Olympics, it was very much expected that they would hang up their competitive skates, but this one hurts. Others who have announced they are retiring are Ioulia Chtchetinina of Poland and Josefin Taljegard of Sweden.  Not retiring but taking a break for a season is Japan's Yuma Kagiyama. His absence will be a significant loss for the men's field, but may open opportunities for other Japanese men like Kazuki Tomono — or Rio Nakata, who will be moving up to the Senior ranks next season. There are many other tidbits — like Alysa Liu's music video debut and Johnny and Tara hosting The Kelly Clarkson Show — which all makes for a very active month without competition. There's also discussion of our recent trip to Colorado Springs — the home of the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center for the U.S.. — which was admittedly not as exciting as we'd hoped for.

With the season finally complete, we reflect on the post-Worlds ISU Awards, catch-up on the latest skating news, and hand out our own 2nd annual Scoreography Awards. After an amazing Olympic season of figure skating, it feels appropriate to give out awards to the skaters, programs, and costumes we loved most. Inspired by the ISU Awards, which we discuss in this episode, we  give out our own Scoreography awards that, while involving no actual trophy or medal, we are sending from our hearts ti the skaters. The ISU Awards, given out directly following the Gala Exhibition at the World Championships, is still a fairly young award show but appears to be something the skaters are enjoying — and even campaigning for in a few cases. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:55 Skating News 00:12:12 ISU Awards 00:28:25 The 2026 Scoreography Awards! 00:49:20 Gold in our Hearts — Season Edition 00:52:49 Wrap-Up

The 2025-2026 figure skating season finally wrapped up with the World Figure Skating Champions in Prague, and it absolutely lived up to the promise of Olympic redemption for many skaters. Unfortunately, it also provided more scoring confusion in the ice dance competition. Chapters 00:00:00 Motion Graphic 00:01:15 Podcast Chapters vs AI Slop 00:03:41 Women's Competition 00:31:41 Pairs Competition 00:45:34 Men's Competition 01:08:27 Ice Dance Competition 01:21:01 Fear and Gibson and Controversy 01:46:45 Gold in our Hearts 01:51:27 Wrap-Up

Ice Dance at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships could set the stage for the next Olympic cycle. Two of the three Olympics medal-winning teams are in Prague, along with teams from the US, Lithuania, and Great Britain all vying for medals.  The ice dance competition in Prague promises to tell several different stories! One will very likely be a victory lap for the Olympic Champions, Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron. With Chock and Bates not coming to Worlds (and possibly retiring soon), the biggest threat to a first World title will be Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada. However, it would be quite an upset at this point for "GuiLo" to be defeated after a dominant season and the wave of momentum off of their Olympic victory. They have kind of indicated they will be continuing after this season, so this could be the start of a new World's dynasty. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:51 Withdrawals: Who Won't Be Competing 00:03:08 Fournier-Beaudry and Cizerone 00:04:35 Gilles and Poirier 00:07:34 Fear and Gibson 00:09:14 Zingas and Kolesnik 00:11:31 Lopareva and Brissaud 00:13:03 Reed and Ambrulevicius 00:14:55 Davis and Smolkin 00:16:18 Smart and Dieck 00:18:08 LaJoie and Lagha 00:21:04 Carreira and Ponomarenko 00:22:30 Turkkila and Versluis 00:23:48 Rest of the Field 00:31:34 Podium Predictions 00:33:05 Wrap-Up

The men's event at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships is all about redemption. Ilia Malinin comes in as the favorite, but with questions around the effect his Olympic experience may have on what he delivers in Prague. Best case scenario is he "goes ham" and holds nothing back. Ilia is almost always at his best when he's going for the biggest and boldest programs. Also looking to have two consecutive clean skates are the Olympic Silver and Bronze medalists from Japan, Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato. Both of these men had one brilliant skate in Milan, and several that were less than they would have wished for. If they can bring great short and free programs to the competition, they will try likely both be getting medals on this podium as well. There's a long list of others that are sure to make this an exciting — and likely nerve wracking — event to watch. Who gets their redemption arc?! Only time will tell.  Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:52 Withdrawals: Who WON'T Be There 00:05:32 Ilia Malinin 00:12:21 Yuma Kagiyama 00:16:14 Shun Sato 00:18:12 Daniel Grassl 00:19:07 Adam Siao Him Fa 00:21:11 Stephen Gogolev 00:24:52 Kao Muira 00:26:12 Nika Egadze 00:27:51 Kevin Aymoz 00:29:15 Andrew Torgashev 00:31:19 Other Men in the Competition 00:33:55 Podium Predictions 00:36:38 Wrap-Up

The pairs competition at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships will be missing some of the top competitors from Milano Cortina — including Olympic Champions Riku Miura and Ruche Kihara. Olympic silver medalists, Anastasia Metelkina and Luka Berulava, have the advantage of momentum being on their side to take their first World title in Prague, but several other extremely talented teams are standing in their way. Most notably, the German pair of Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin are fresh from earning bronze at the Olympic Games and were first after the short program in Milan. They are more than capable of taking their first World title here, but will likely need a very strong free skate to beat the Georgians. Also in the running for a Worlds medal will be Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary. They are the season's most improved pair and have taken big steps forward. Making their first World podium is definitely within their grasp. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:38 Withdrawals: Who WON'T Be There 00:06:17 Metelkina and Berulava 00:08:57 Hase and Volodin 00:11:04 Pavlova and Svietchenko 00:13:10 Efimova and Mitrofanov 00:15:37 Nagaoka and Moriguchi 00:18:20 Chan and Howe 00:19:26 Pereira and Michaud 00:21:38 Other notable teams competing here 00:25:50 Podium Predictions 00:27:29 Wrap-Up

The 2026 World Figure Skating Championships are just a week away, and the women's competition may again be the most hotly contested event! While Olympic Champion, Alysa Liu, has withdrawn, there will be a wildly talented group of women competing for the title, including 3-time World Champion and reigning Olympic silver medalist Kaori Sakamoto of Japan. This will be Kaori's last time on competitive ice, so emotions are sure to be running high for her and all of us watching! Japan could very well sweep this podium, as Olympic bronze medalist and rookie of the year, Ami Nakai, will be bringing her triple axels to Prague. And Mone Chiba will be hunting for the elusive medal she just missed in Milano Cortina. Likely seeking a little redemption is one of Milan's "Blade Angels", Amber Glenn of the USA. Amber is entirely capable of taking this title or getting on the podium. We expect she'll be coming in hungry after one small mistake in her Olympic short program lost her a medal.  Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:55 Alysa Liu is too famous for Worlds (j/k) 00:04:51 Kaori Sakamoto 00:07:15 Ami Nakai 00:10:00 Mone Chiba 00:12:26 Niina Petrokina 00:13:50 Amber Glenn 00:15:53 Isabeau Levito 00:17:06 Sarah Everhardt 00:18:32 Haein Lee and Jia Shin 00:20:16 Sofia Samodelkina 00:21:48 Nina Pinzaronne 00:23:01 Kimmy Repond withdrawal and coaching change 00:23:58 Olga Mikutina 00:24:17 Maddie Schizas (and Gabby Daleman pairs girlie?!) 00:26:18 Iida Karhunen 00:26:48 Anastasiia Gubanova 00:27:48 Lara Naki Gutmann 00:29:16 Podium Predictions 00:30:29 Wrap-Up

We're still in the afterglow of the Olympics, but one of the final major ISU events of the season just went down in Estonia. The 2026 World Junior Figure Skating Championships featured a record breaking short program from Rio Nakata, and an incredible 4th consecutive win from Mao Shimada. While Japan took the top spots in the men's and women's event, the rest of those podiums were no less impressive. Korea's Minkyu Seo delivered two gorgeous programs, even though his total score lagged almost 25 points behind Nakata. Australia's new superstar Hana Bath gave stunner skates on her way to a Silver. American ice dancers Hana Maria Aboian and Danniil Veselukhin edged out terrific French and Ukrainian teams for Gold. With huge charisma and sharp skills, this young US team could be dominant in Juniors for several years to come. Canada took the top two spots in Pairs, with the win going to Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov. But the big surprise for us was the Bronze finish of terrific new Ukrainian team Hannah Herrera and Ivan Khobta. (Also, how many Hana's and Hannah's were in this competition?!?) After we wrap the Juniors, we catch up on other skating news — primarily who's in, or out, of the upcoming senior Worlds competition. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:28 Junior Women's Competition 00:19:06 Junior Ice Dance Competition 00:25:09 Junior Men's Competition 00:37:47 Junior Pairs Competition 00:46:26 Gold in our Hearts 00:47:52 Other Skating News 00:58:36 Wrap-Up

The Olympic Games are complete — but our complaints are not! In the spirit of good faith critique, we recount some of our least favorite aspects of the figure skating competition at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games. It's an Olympic Airing of Grievances!  And these aren't just OUR opinions. We asked our audience for their concerns, quibbles, and frustrations with the games, the scoring, the broadcast commentary, and more. And YOU delivered!  These Olympics were exhilarating, heartbreaking, stunning, and confounding. Some moments are going to be LEGENDARY. But there's a lot that could have been done better, and plenty of things to fix in the future.   Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:04:01 Attack on Iran and impact on figure skating 00:10:04 Let the Grievances Begin 00:10:34 The Media 00:22:51 Questionable Judging 00:32:00 Olympic Quality Control 00:37:18 Commentary and Broadcast 00:51:28 NBC-ification 01:00:02 Listener Grievances! 01:15:21 Coal in our Hearts?! 01:18:29 Look ahead to Junior Worlds 01:19:54 Wrap-Up

Olympic figure skating competition is complete at the Winter Games in Milano Cortina — but the show wasn't over! The Olympic Exhibition Gala allowed medalists and other notable skaters to perform a wide range of entertaining programs, showcasing artistry, acting prowess, and lots of humor. Women's champion Alysa Liu dazzled with a new dress and new dance number. Men's winner Mikhail Shaidorov delivered his fan-favorite Kung-Fu Panda program, complete with full-body panda suit! Pairs silver medalists Metelkina Berulava combined Mortal Kombat with Spandau Ballet. Korea's Haein Lee transformed into a Kpop Demon Hunter. Estonia's Niina Petrokina unalived her male counterparts in the theatrical Cell Block Tango. And USA's Ilia Malinin mesmerized with a high impact performance addressing the pressures and media attention athletes face in the spotlight. We also highlight some of our favorite moments from Olympic figure skating overall, and pick our ultimate Gold in our Hearts recipients from these Games. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:45 Your Input Needed! 00:03:12 The Olympic Gala 00:04:35 Carolina Kostner and Team Italy 00:06:36 Ami Nakai 00:11:05 Amber Glenn 00:13:32 Junhwan Cha 00:15:25 Adeliia Petrosian 00:17:01 Metelkina and Berulava 00:19:11 Niina Petrokina 00:21:54 Adam Siao Him Fa 00:24:46 Haein Lee 00:27:26 Yuma Kagiyama 00:29:58 Kaori Sakamoto 00:32:06 Ilia Malinin 00:37:44 Mikhail Shaidorov 00:40:13 Alysa Liu 00:45:01 Figure Skater Flag Bearers 00:45:57 Other Favorite Olympic Moments 00:59:48 Gold in our Hearts 01:02:14 Wrap-Up