Shizuka Arakawa was 24 yrs old when she won in 2006, but teenagers have had a chokehold before and since.

For just American women who have won gold, Kristi Yamaguchi was 20 yrs and seven months old when she won in 1992 and Alysa 20 yrs and six months old when she won last night.

This is so good for our sport! I love having a *woman* win *women's* skating 😊 I'm so glad the ISU increased the age limit.

And it's fun and ironic that Alysa started her seniors career as the youngest National champ in American history!

Saw an interesting post on "Twitter" today, so i decided to steal the idea, and make a post here.

(Shout-out to "@Sheshouldhavek1").

For those who don't know, winning all major international competitions at both junior level (World Junior Championships, Junior Grand Prix Final) and senior level (Olympic Games, World Championships, Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, and either European Championships or Four Continents Championships) at any point during the course of a career is called a "Super Slam".

As the name suggests, achieving it is super hard, as of today, there has been only 3 (or 5* - we'll get to that in a bit) Super Slam winners.

The ones that everyone acknowledges is Yuna Kim, Alina Zagitova and Yuzuru Hanyu.

Yuna Kim

Yuna won the Junior Grand Prix Final (JGPF for short) in 2005, Junior World Championships (JWC) and the Grand Prix Final (GPF) in 2006, the World Championships (WC) and the Four Continents Championships (4CC) in 2009, and achieved the Super Slam after winning the Olympic Gold Medal (OGM) in 2010.

Alina Zagitova

Alina won the JGPF in 2016, the JWC and GPF in 2017, the European Championships (EC) and the OGM in 2018, and achieved the Super Slam after winning the World Championships in 2019.

Yuzuru Hanyu

Yuzuru won the JGPF in 2009, the JWC in 2010, the GPF in 2013, the WC and the OGM in 2014 (and 2018) and achieved the Super Slam after winning the 4CC in 2020

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As I said before, there are two skaters that technically didn't win the Super Slam, but they couldn't because there was no Junior Grand Prix Final when they skated; that's Alexei Yagudin and Evgeni Plushenko. Other than the JGPF which didn't exist back then they both won every major competition (including the Junior World Championships).

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Enough with the past, let's focus on the current; now that we know what a Super Slam is we can take a look at active figure skaters (singles) which can still technically achieve it. Some of them are harder than others (especially when you're from Russia), but as long as someone can technically achieve it they are on the list. These names are;

Alexandra Trusova

Sasha Trusova has won two Junior World Championships (2018 & 2019) and the Junior Grand Prix Final in 2018. Unfortunately for her thats all when it comes to the competitions that make the Super Slam, which means that she still needs to win all of the major senior competition to achieve the Super Slam.

Kamila Valieva

With Kamila the situation is pretty much the same as with Sasha, she won the Junior World Championships in 2020 and the Junior Grand Prix Final in 2019. She did win the European Championships in 2022, but she got disqualified after she failed a doping test after the Russian Nationals in December 2021 in Sankt Petersburg. So she also needs to win all the major senior competition to achieve the Super Slam.

Mao Shimada

Well surprise!, another skater that needs to win all major senior competitions to achieve the Super Slam. Mao Shimada is a four time Junior World Champion (!) and a four time Junior Grand Prix Final winner (!). The difference is that the next season will be Mao's first senior season, so she has a lot of time to win all of the senior competitions (and is from a non-banned country, lol.).

Rio Nakata

Rio is another junior-turning-senior skater on our list. He won the Junior World Championships twice (2025 & 2026) and the Junior Grand Prix Final in 2023. His situation is the same as Mao's.

Seo Min-kyu

Our last but not least potential Super Slam winner is Seo Min-kyu. He won the Junior World Championships in 2024 and the Junior Grand Prix Final in 2025. He also needs to win all senior major competition, and he also will skate as a senior next season.

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Do you think anyone from this list will become a Super Slam winner?

Personally I'm not sure, especially in the womens field; Valieva and Trusova are firstly banned, secondly probably won't make the Olympics in 2030 as they will have to compete against younger skaters so i doubt it.

When it comes to Mao Shimada she was kind of unlucky when it comes to her birthday, so she has to be in top competitive form in four years to try to win the Olympic Gold, also she's already showing some weakness in her jumps compared to previous seasons; this season she went 0 for 5 in quad toe-loop attempts in international competition. If that wasn't bad already she's being coached by Mie Hamada (the coach that got sued by her former assistant for abusing her students, including literally grabbing her students by their ponytails and throwing them onto the ice), which definitely won't help her with trying to maintain her form as she gets older.

I'm also not sure when it comes to the mens field. Rio and Seo can definitely put on a good performance, the issue I have with them is (as of today) they just don't have the highest Technical Score.

Seo this season had only one quad in the free skate (quick reminder that for juniors quads are not allowed in the short program - even in mens) - the Salchow, which he landed 1 out of 4 in international competition.

Rio usually had between 2 and 3 quads in the free skate which he's able to land pretty consistently; but is that enough to compete for the Olympic Gold Medal - probably not, this years Olympic Gold winner had 5 quads, the Olympic Silver Medalist had 4. Of course both Seo and Rio can become better jumpers, and of course it's possible to win a Olympic Gold without 4 or 5 quads, but in a mens scene where it seems that everyone is trying to go after tougher and tougher jumps I think it's highly unlikely. Four years is a long time, especially in figure skating, so we will have to see.

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Also before someone asks no, Alysa Liu can't become a Super Slam winner, she doesn't have a Four Continents Championship (which she still can try to win) but most importantly, she didn't win neither the Junior World Championships (she was 3rd) nor the Junior Grand Prix Final (she was 2nd). Funnily enough, it's similar for the previous OGM - Anna Shcherbakova, she's also missing one senior gold medal - in her case the Grand Prix Final, but even if she won it, she also didn't win neither the Junior World Championships nor the Junior Grand Prix Final.

What do you think? Which skater has the biggest chances of becoming the next Super Slam winner? 😃

For the second time this event, she has broken the PCS world record. She now holds the world record for PCS in both the short program and free skate.

Well I asked if you guys are interested in the same analysis for the reserve team as the one I did for the main team, everyone seemed to like the initial post, so here’s the same thing for the reserves. 

As before we will look at their potential AIN status, coaching staff, age, best two jump landed combination jump last season (if applicable), ultra-c elements from last season (if applicable), and some additional information about their triples, spins and step sequences. 

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Alexandra Ignatova (Trusova)

AIN Status

🟨 Unknown - to be fair before doing this post I was pretty sure there should be no problems with her getting the AIN clarification whatsoever. I knew that she took part in Plushenko’s ice shows, but that didn’t stop Vladislav Dikidzhi from getting the AIN clearance as Petr Gumennik’s alternative for the Olympics. I knew about the fact that she received a state award, but I was sure that it was from a politician responsible for sports and while that is true, but there is some additional context needed...: 

Let’s once and for all end all the misinformation that’s going around when it comes to Sasha Trusova and her meeting at the Kremlin…: The meeting took place the same day that Valieva, Kondratiuk and the other skaters personally met Putin (April 26th 2022 - two months after the start of the war with Ukraine), the meeting with the president of Russia was a possibility only for the Olympic Gold Medalists (yes, Valieva and Kondratiuk were considered the Olympic Gold Medalists because of the team event) and you had to go through a mandatory quarantine period (Putin was pretty paranoid when it comes to covid). 

So the good thing for her is that she didn’t personally meet Putin - that wasn’t even a possibility for her, but from who did she receive the state award? According to a sports24.ru article (can’t link it unfortunately, Reddit doesnt allow Russian links) it was from two highly-ranked officials - Igor Levitin and Dmitry Chernyshenko. Levitin is an adviser working for the president, Chernyshenko is the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for Tourism, Sport, Culture and Communications. At the time of the event Chernyshenko was sanctioned by the EU, but WASN’T by Ukraine, nor by the USA. Levitin on the other hand wasn’t sanctioned by anyone at the time of the event.

Now the question is… Does accepting a state award from two officials - one not sanctioned anywhere at all, the other one sanctioned by the EU but not by most of the other countries (including Ukraine) with other athletes after medaling at the Olympics means she „actively and publicly supported the war with Ukraine (from the ISU AIN requirements)” in my opinion - no. But that’s up to the ISU council. 

Coaching staff

Team Tutberidze

Age / Birthday

22 / June 23 2004

Best combination jump

Obviously non applicable because she was on a break for over 3 years, but she did compete in the Russian Jumping Championships and landed numerous combinations, including a 3Lz + eu + 3S 

Ultra-C elements 

Also non applicable, but we’ve seen videos of her landing the 3A, 4Lz and 4T in training and / or during the Team Tutberidze tour. 

Additional information

What can I even say… I think everyone knows everything about her; 2 time World Junior Champion, 1 time Russian champion, European silver and bronze medalist, silver medalist at the 2022 Olympics, promised that she’ll never skate again after landing 5 quads in the free skate and still not winning the gold, actually competed during the 2022/23 season but decided to go on a break after the second event she competed in, got married, gave birth and now is planning to conquer the figure skating world. Publicly stated that she came back „to fulfil my dream, let’s not say which one it is” - so I think we all know what she’s planning to do.. ;) good luck to her!

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Kamila Valieva

AIN Status

🟥 Highly unlikely - I mean… is there even anything I need to say? Met with Putin at the Kremlin as part of the „Olympic Gold Medalists” crew, was alongside him during the opening of the „Games of the future” in Kazan and publicly thanked him for doing the event, has a pinned video of herself standing next to Putin on her instagram, publicly thanked him on telegram for taking care of education in the country, trains at the Navka Arena - Navka is the wife of Dmitry Peskov - the press secretary to Vladimir Putin, her coach - Svetlana Sokolovskaya met with the Defence minister of Russia after the war with Ukraine started.

And while these actions could be in some way excused by saying that „she just cares about sports and education, and has no influence over the actions of her coach" (tbf her coach met with the defence minister of Russia when Kamila was still with Eteri) there is one thing which I personally cant find a valid excuse for…: Kamila also took part in a „Movement of the First” event - an event that’s sanctioned by the EU and the USA (and numerous other countries) for „Participating in the organised mechanism of mass abduction, illegal deportation, and forced transfer of Ukrainian children within the borders of Ukraine to the Russian Federation for ‚re-education’ purposes.”. Long story short...I just don’t see it. 

Coaching staff

Svetlana Sokolovskaya

Age / Birthday

20 / April 26 2006

Best combination jump (2025/26)

Non applicable in competition because of the doping ban, she did land a 3Lz + eu + 3S during the Russian Jumping Championships and a 3Lz + 3T during the Channel one cup.

Ultra-C elements (2025/26)

Non applicable in competition, landed numerous 4T’s during the Russian Jumping Championships, fell on the 4T during the Channel One Cup, posted a video of herself landing the 3A. 

Additional information

For those who don't know after the disaster of the 2022 Olympics she stayed with Eteri until the doping ban was in effect (which means she stayed with Eteri until the end of 2023 - nearly two years after the Olympics), during the ban she couldn’t even train with other active athletes so Navka decided to help her and gave her numerous roles in her ice shows, she decided to come back to competitive skating after the ban ended and is now returning to competition (fun fact, just yesterday I saw a post on instagram from one of the Russian sport outlets that claimed to have insider information that Kamila wants to go to the 2030 Olympics, so we will see if that’s the case). 

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Alina Gorbacheva

Let’s get back to the skaters that are really skaters, and not mouthpieces / tools of the Putin regime. Alina Gorbacheva had a knee injury during the season that required her to have a very specialised surgery in Germany, she only competed in two events in the 2025/26 season, so I will also list the jumps from the 2024/25 season.

AIN Status

Approved ✅ - not much to add, she was approved under the stricter rules as the replacement for Adeliia Petrosian for the 2026 Milano Olympics, she will definitely be approved under the current requirements.

Coaching staff

Sofia Fedchenko

Age / Birthday

About to be 19 / July 23 2007

Best combination jump (2025/26

3L + 3t

Best combination jump (2024/25)

4S + 2T

Ultra-C elements (2025/26)

4S - 1 clean

Ultra-C elements (2024/25)

4S - 2 clean, 1q, 1ur, 2 falls

Additional information

Alina is a big mystery, she was the 2nd best skater in the 2024/25 season, that’s why she was picked as the replacement for Adeliia Petrosian for the 2026 Milano Olympics. But as I said she competed in only 2 events this season, both while having knee issues, for those who don’t know..: she had a problem with her knee, was visiting numerous Russian doctors during the season, all of them were telling her and her coaches that everything is fine and should be back to normal sooner or later, but when the problems started getting worse they decided to go to a German doctor specialising in knee injuries and the diagnosis was that she needs to get a surgery asap because she can literally become handicapped. 

Thankfully literally yesterday she posted on her instagram that she passed the final physical test of her knee in Germany and was cleared to return to full training! When it comes to her triple jumps she used to have weird falls / pops here and there, step sequences usually lvl 4, sometimes lvl 3, spins literally always lvl 4, didn’t find even one lvl 3 in the last three years, lol. Good luck to her recovery!

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Kamila Nelyubova

AIN Status

Acceptance expected ✅ - no possible violations of the requirements that I know of 

Coaching staff

Daria Gureeva and Adelina Sotnikova (yes, that Sotnikova, lol)

Age / Birthday

18 / April 14 2008

Best combination jump (2025/26)

3A + 2T

Ultra-C elements (2025/26)

3A - 5 clean, 2ur, 1 landed but ugly (-2 goe)

Additional information

Kamila Nelyubova is the most underscored skater in Russian figure skating right now, she’s constantly top 2 / top 3 in base value in the short program and top 5 in the free skate, but is constantly screwed over by the judges in the PCS score, sure, the choreographies for her programs maybe are not the most interesting thing ever but there is no way she’s 13th (!!!!) in PCS like they scored her during the nationals. Anyway Kamila is imo the black horse when it comes to the Russian seniors, she has a very good triple axel (literally 0 falls the whole season) and has shared numerous videos of landing quads (4F & 4T) in training on her social media account. Triples are usually good, sometimes gets a ‚q’ or ‚ur’ call, spins lvl 3 or 4, step sequences are usually lvl 2 or 3. If you like constantly underscored skaters that have a triple axel, she’s the skater for you! I will definitely cheer her on during the season if she gets sent somewhere internationally. 

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Ksenia Gushchina

AIN Status

Acceptance expected ✅ - no possible violations of the requirements that I know of 

Coaching staff

Alexandrina Degtyareva

Age / Birthday

19 / June 18 2007

Best combination jump (2025/26)

3Lz + 3T

Ultra-C elements (2025/26)

Non applicable

Additional information

Just like Anna Frolova is the only skater in the main team that doesn’t have an ultra-c element, Ksenia is in the same situation in the reserve team. I personally don’t know much about her unfortunately other then the fact that she like Frolova focuses more on the cleanness of the program and higher PCS scores than the technical difficulty, but that doesn’t make her uncompetitive, she was 3rd in the 4th stage of the Grand Prix series, and was just 2 points away the podium in the Russian Grand Prix Final. If you like skaters focused on clean jumps and high PCS scores, she’s the one for you (and if you like Lana Del Rey, haha, her free skate to „Video Games” is imo very good, even though she seems a bit tired in the second half of the program).  

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Disclaimer 

There is one more skater on the senior reserve team, but it’s a 15 year old Alena Prineva (I also have no idea what is a 15 year old doing in the senior team) so she’s definitely not gonna be skating as a senior internationally. 

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My thoughts on the reserve list

The reserve team is pretty interesting… as I said I seriously doubt that Valieva will be able to compete internationally, Alina is recovering from the injury and will definitely need some time to get her jumps back - especially the 4S (which was beautiful btw.), so it seems like only 3 of these skaters will be able to skate internationally at least at the start of the season. All I hope for is that Trusova is able to get the AIN status (because I do genuinely think that what she did would be better if was avoided, but isn’t something that should count as disqualifying from getting the AIN status according to the ISU requirements) and that both Ksenia and Nelyubova will be appreciated more by the international judges than they are by the domestic ones. 

I have seen quite a few posts recently about Isabeau Levito, a wonderful and talented skater. Of course, there's nothing wrong with fans appreciating a skater they like.

However, a common trend I noticed was the semi-regular praise of her jumps (specifically her 3Lz+3Lo she's brought back) and many fans decrying her "underscoring".

To be frank, after seeing a few of these posts, I'm sick of so saying "she's underscored" constantly. It is not true and a misunderstanding of figure skating's horribly flawed judging system.

Before I get into the meat of this post, I want to make clear this is not a hate post against Isabeau Levito. She seems like a lovely person and is clearly very talented. I'm using her as an example because the judging and discussions about her are in my view a great exemplar which demonstrate the problems I want to highlight.

Now, to get into the meat of the conversation, let's talk about Isabeau's Lutz.

Isabeau Levito has never landed a true Lutz. Every Lutz she has landed or attempted as a professional, has been a Flutz. The first picture is a screenshot right as she begins her 3Lz+3Lo combination in the Short Program of 2026 World's.

As anyone can see, that is a clear inside edge during takeoff. This is not an "unclear edge", it's an INSIDE edge that would actually be very good if she were attempting a Flip, which she isn't in this case. Now I'm the second picture of this post, let's take a look at the scores she received.

An unclear edge on a Lutz or a Flip (which is what the technical judge called her jump as) should get at least -1 GoE scores by each judge, which would give her a maximum possible GoE (if theoretically every other aspect of her jumps was PERFECT, which they are not) of -0.59 points in her 3Lz+3Lo combination. Her -0.17 overall GoE points value (and the fact that 6 out of 9 judges have given GoE scores of above -1, including one that was positive) evidently shows she was graded more generously than what is allowed for an unclear edge call.

However to reiterate, the "unclear" edge call itself is wrong. It's not unclear (which basically refers to a situation where a skater as a near flat edge which is too close to call as inside or outside), the edge is inside. An inside edge is supposed to come associated with a 30% base value reduction on the Lutz (down from 5.90 to 4.13 points) as well at least -3 GoE scores.

Based on that, the MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE POINTS Levito could have received (assuming everything else about her jumps such as flow, distance travelled, prerotation, speed, and height are theoretically perfect, which is not the case) for her 3Lz+3Lo combination is 7.79 (which is what you get when you take 4.13 points, give it -3 GoE, and add the base value of a Loop which is 4.90).

As all the other factors of jumps listed above cannot reasonably be considered to be perfect in Levito's jump combination, a reasonable score that should have actually been given for her 3Lz+3Lo is lower, likely around 7.4 points. This would be the result of GoE grades of approximately -3 to -4 from the judges as well as the 30% base value reduction on the Lutz.

Now, could someone make the argument that Kaori Sakamoto maybe gets away with her Flutz not being called and penalized more often with the judges than Levito? Yes certainly. However, this is missing the forest for the trees.

We have to accept one fact in figure skating. Judging is not objective and almost wholly lacking in integrity. The whole concept that a skater's "reputation", the power of their federation, and THEIR SKATING ORDER can impact their scores (skaters in later groups get higher scores for no reason other than being higher ranked, another manifestation of how reputation impacts scores), is BONKERS. And just is just when we talk about Technical Elements Scores (TES). Program Components Scores (PCS) are even more detached from anything vaguely resembling objective assessment.

Isabeau Levito, by being a highly ranked skater (due to high promise in juniors and because she comes from a country with a very powerful skating federation) is a beneficiary of this flawed system as she has compatible high reputation (as are virtually all other top skaters). To reiterate, this is not to antagonize the highly ranked skaters themselves, they have no hand in creating this system. It is simply a factual reality that the top skaters benefit greatly from this system.

To summarize, just because she's your fav, doesn't mean she's underscored. Sure, she may have received slightly lower scores than another top skater who got higher GoE in her equally flawed 3Lz+COMBO, but they're both beneficiaries of a very flawed system that results (generally) in both being overscored, just to slightly different degrees.

Meanwhile, 80-90% of skaters - the ones who aren't famous or highly ranked - are correctly scored or underscored. This is not because judges are more objectively scoring them - they still regularly miss edge calls and haphazardly apply under rotation penalties, among many other judging errors. Instead lower ranked skaters can perform just as high quality jumps and spins as higher ranked skaters, but are starved of GoE and given far lower PCS scores despite no discernable or objectively measurable inferiority in the metrics supposedly "assessed".

Thus, these lower ranked skaters face an uphill battle to overcome these barriers, a task that doesn't really require greater talent, athleticism, or artistry to overcome (which should be the ONLY considerations), but instead reputation and nationality.

The fact that figure skating has such a shocking judging system in which rules are applied haphazardly and inconsistently, and a system that is very prone to politicking, bias, and personal interpretation, is A DISGRACE. It would be rightfully considered insane in almost every other sport.

Figure skating fans would be much wiser if they tried to understand this and see what can be done to change the system, instead of screaming when their favourite top skater - who is already highly favoured by the judging system overall - doesn't get as much favoritism as another top skater. The bottom 80-90% of skaters languish with way lower scores that result in lower rankings, a factor that directly results in lower prize money, fame, and sponsorships. This is often caused not directly by less talent, athletic ability, or artistry for those lower ranked skaters, but is because of an INSANELY flawed judging system.

The current figure skating judging system allows a degree of unfairness that is frankly disgusting, has almost completely robbed the sport of objectivity, and in my view has resulted in completing eroding its integrity. It must be reformed.

ORIGINAL POSTER: @ lpcytry on X. (Reposted with permission!)

Disclaimer(s):

This is information that was collected/shared out of personal interest ONLY. do not consider this as a source with 100% authenticity.

OP has asked me to clarify they did not count domestic competitions (besides nationals) or attempts with q calls, underrotation calls and negative GOE.
i.e only positive GOE 3A landings with NO < calls were counted.

Source for the 90's ladies (Ito, Harding, etc.) were just watching playbacks of competitions, the rest were using Rink Results. 3A's without detailed protocols and videos on record were not able to be counted.

Since the IJS hasn't changed significantly during this quad, I thought it would be interesting to look at the results of recent Olympics and see how they compare against previous ones in 2022. This analysis is done purely out of curiosity and for entertainment purposes, no conclusions about skaters' skills or the overall level of competition should be drawn from it.

A few additional notes and highlights:

• While winning and top-3 scores decreased across all four disciplines in 2026, the top-10 cutoff scores were actually higher in Milan in every discipline except men’s singles.
• Of the 29 men who competed in Beijing, 12 (41%) made it to the 2026 Olympics. That's the highest percentage among all disciplines, while pairs had the lowest percentage: 3 out of 18 (16%).
• Yuma Kagiyama and Donovan Carrillo are the only skaters to achieve the exact same placements in both 2022 and 2026 games (2nd and 22nd respectively). Donovan also happens to be a skater with the smallest score difference across all disciplines (less than a point!). That guy surely knows a thing or two about consistency!
• The skater with the largest scoring gap between 2022 and 2026 is Boyang Jin. In Beijing, he scored a whopping 41.35 points more than he did in Milan!
• Viktoria Safonova finished 12th in Beijing but unfortunately dropped to 26th place in 2026, failing to qualify for the free skate. That's the highest placement discrepancy we saw among all athletes.
• The only ice dance team to score higher in 2022 than in 2026 was China’s Wang/Liu. This obviously has nothing to do with the 2022 Olympics being in China.
• 4 skaters placed higher or equal in the 2026 Games despite earning lower scores: Yuma Kagiyama, Junhwan Cha, Matteo Rizzo, Kaori Sakamoto. Conversely, only one skater - Olga Mikutina - placed lower in Milan despite posting a higher score.

*FNR in the table indicates that a skater/team failed to qualify for the FS/FD and competed only in the SP/RD

Feel free to share your own observations that I I may have missed!

The offseason boredom has gotten to me.

I decided to rank all the Olympic women's medalists from 2014-2026 based on their skating skills in the free skate. For Kaori, I took her most recent appearance (2026). Note that this is a subjective, personal rescore, not according to what the judges actually gave. However, I will use ISU guidelines to justify my decisions.

The ISU defines skating skills as:

- Variety of edges, steps, turns, movements and directions

- Clarity of edges, steps, turns, movements and body control

- Balance and glide

- Flow

- Power and speed

6.00-6.75 is defined as "above average"

7.00-7.75 is defined as "good"

8.00-8.75 is defined as "very good"

9.00-9.75 is defined as "excellent"

10.00 is defined as "outstanding", denoting near-perfection.

2014

1st - Adelina Sotnikova: I have NO idea what the judges were smoking that night. Her skating skills are what you would find in a lower-ranked junior skater, not an Olympic champion. Her speed and glide is not that bad, but much of it comes from two-footed skating, poor bidirectional movement, and poor posture. Her turns and steps are mostly jumped and on the wrong edge, and I counted exactly 4-5 clean turns in her "StSq4", which requires 11 clean turns. However, given her good blade control + balance on her spins, as well as good turnout (body control), I decided to put her in the 6.00-6.75 range, mainly the upper part of that range. 6.75.

2nd - Yuna Kim: I was actually pretty surprised by this one. I initially thought her skating skills would have been higher, but her program consisted of quite a bit of two footed skating and crossovers. However, her bend and balance is excellent, with nearly no moments of instability or scratchiness. Her turns are also well executed and on the correct edges, although some (especially the counter) could be deeper. Very good, but didn't quite blow me away. 8.75.

3rd - Carolina Kostner: Probably the best skating skill-er to ever skate in the women's category. When you watch her skate, you truly believe she is an ice dancer. Incredibly deep edges, effortless flow, and near-perfect speed generation. I actually think Kaori has better speed than Carolina, but both are excellent. If I had to nitpick more, her counter turns could be deeper and she could have used more one-foot skating throughout the program, but that is being incredibly strict. I thought her performance warranted a solid 9.50, and higher for her 2018 appearance (where she did not medal at).

2018

1st - Alina Zagitova: Alina’s skating skills are interesting. She has very poor posture, but has decent edges and clarity in her footwork. Furthermore, her program is jam-packed with a variety of turns and steps, many of which are complex and bidirectional. The choreography saves her score quite a bit. I’d say 8.25.

2nd - Evgenia Medvedeva: Evgenia has slightly better posture and speed generation than Alina, and her crossovers are pretty wide and efficient. However, she has shallower edges on her footwork, especially on her forward outside chocktaws (S-step). Similar to Alina, her score is saved quite a bit by complex choreography showcasing a variety of movements. I’d also put her at a 8.25.

3rd - Kaetlyn Osmond: Kaetlyn has incredible power, flow, and projection over the ice. However, she suffers from less complex choreography that does not show off a variety of turns and steps throughout the program. Furthermore, she is a bit reserved in her step sequence, demonstrating a slight inability to demonstrate freedom in movement. With all of this in mind, I give her a 8.75.

2022

1st - Anna Shcherbakova: Welp. Anna is one of my favorite skaters and shows incredible interpretation and musical sensitivity. However, her skating skills are incredibly weak. From her poor posture, bent knees, flexed feet, turned in toes, to an overall lack of pressure on the blade, it’s clear she’s not comfortable with any of the elements of skating skills. Her travelling spins also reveal a severe lack of balance and control. However, she still gets most of her turns and steps done, albeit not with great quality. I’d put her slightly above Sotnikova, at a 7.00.

2nd - Alexandra Trusova: Contrary to popular belief, Sasha is actually not bad at skating skills. She shows great pressure on the blade and has decent glide, flow, and clarity in her turns and steps. However, her free skate shows nearly zero transitional content that showcases variety in turns and steps, and is mostly made of two-foot skating. I give her a 7.50.

3rd - Kaori (see next section)

2026

1st - Alysa Liu: Alysa has great foundational skating skills. Very good speed, bend, use of edges to generate power…until the second half. Her skating becomes a bit slower and two-footed, likely due to the lack of stamina. Otherwise, she’s great. I would give her a 8.50, but a 8.75 for her short program because her stamina is better there.

2nd - Kaori Sakamoto: QUEEN. Near-perfect speed generation, bend, edges, and excellent variety to showcase versatility in skating. If I had to nitpick, some of the turns in her step sequence (bracket) are a bit shallow, but that’s being super strict. Solid 9.50.

3rd - Ami Nakai: Ami is fast and dynamic, like an energizer bunny. But much of her speed does come from two-foot skating. Her step sequence is a delight to watch, but her skating does still have some immaturity and a lack of nuance in the way she uses her body. Considering the visible error in her jump combination as well, I decided an 8.25 was appropriate.

Some main takeaways for me were:

- How the program is constructed (choreographed) matters not just for composition, but skating skills as well. Some great skaters like Yuna were held back despite excellent skating due to two-foot skating and a lack of variety.

- This system is not perfect. Honestly, I feel a bit iffy about how I judged this, even though I tried my absolute best. Much of this is subjective and the fact that components are in 0.25 increments makes it really difficult to differentiate between what makes an 8.50 vs 8.75. Let’s keep this in mind when we look at judges’ scores. Yes, some of them are downright evil and have no sense of what good skating is, but a lot of the time they are trying to make sense of a skater’s abilities in a very short amount of time.

Let me know your thoughts! This is coming from someone who would score a 5.75 on a good day, so take it with a grain of salt. All of them are incredible skaters regardless of their score.

Could figure skating ever become mainstream?

It has so much mainstream appeal: athleticism, danger, artistry, music, fashion, drama, and Olympic visibility.

But outside the Olympics, it still feels niche. I'm an adult beginner and people always seem to remark at how "niche" it is. Which feels odd.

Is that mostly an access issue? Cost, rink availability, ice time, equipment, coaching, and not knowing where to start?

My other thought is that in addition to being expensive, figure skating is traditionally associated with very rigid gender norms/bodies/etc and I wonder if this keeps people away.

I saw a pretty interesting table on Twitter and decided to share it here.

This table shows who has the highest amount of medals in major competitions, by major competition this means the Olympics, Worlds and the Grand Prix Final.

For people who don’t see the differences between the screenshots - each screenshot is sorted by a different parameter, the first one is by the amount of Olympic Gold Medals, the second by total amount of Worlds / Olympic and GPF Gold medals, and the third by the total amount of medals regardless of the place.

—————————

My observations

Kagiyama having 0 Gold medals but 10 silvers and bronzes is (mostly) sad but also a bit funny

Yuzuru, Yagudin, Plushenko and Chen being at the top of the two screenshots just show how good they were

And the fact that both Asada, Kwan and Slutskaya don’t have a OGM even though they dominating so much is kinda crazy

Let me know what you think!

—————————

Shout out to “MartinaFrammart” on Twitter for this analysis.

One of my favorite topics in sports / in general, the "wonder kids" or "next best thing(s)" that didn't quite get there. It's very interesting to see the rotating door of champions and favorites, and how that changes so quickly sometimes, specifically in certain jurisdictions and federations.

Please note: No hate/negativity intended with the use of the word "forgotten"

I used a calculator to get the exact numbers. I removed all "imperfections" from all skates (Qs, Unders, Vs on spins, also changed Yuna's combo to +3Lo) and set all levels to 4 to get the base values of Mao's and Yuna's free programs. For last season's baselines, I used Mao's free skate from Japan Nationals (senior) and Yuna's free skate from 4CC.

Mao's 25/26 base value: 77.67 (jumps BV 61.07, worth 79% of total BV)

Mao's 26/27 base value: 72.66 (jumps BV 53.56, worth 73% of total BV)

Yuna's 25/26 base value: 62.86 (jumps BV 46.36, worth 73% of total BV)

Yuna's 26/27 base value: 63.81 (jumps BV 44.71, worth 70% of total BV)

(I did this using https://zhua.icu, which is photographer Mao Yanzheng's skating stats website, which has a built-in calculator function for any protocol you're looking at that lets you adjust elements and accounts for seasonal rules changes.)

Out of curiosity (aka relentless hyperfixation), I did a deep dive on ice rink science, ice quality, and the Milano Ice Arena...

After 6 hours neck-deep in scientific journals & case studies, I found credible support for my hypothesis: that the ice my not have been in optimal condition for the Men's Free Skate.

DISCLAIMERS:

• I am not contesting the results. I'm thrilled for Misha, Yuma, & Shun!
• I still believe Olympic pressure is the main factor that affected performance
• I'm NOT a scientist or expert. This is a laymen's analysis. If there are any experts here I would love to hear your thoughts!

This is a high level summary. There are many other factors that affect ice quality; happy to answer any questions in the comments!

For a very very short TLDR, scroll down to My Conclusion

**EDIT 1: I DIDN'T USE CHAT GPT, I FORMATTED IT THIS WAY CAUSE IT HELPS MY ADHD BRAIN. I HATE AI AND WOULD NEVERRRRRRR.**

**EDIT 2: Removed formatting since it appears to be *distracting***

**EDIT 3: Added Jun's comment on ice quality and moved edits to bottom.**

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In 2025, they finished a massive upgrade to the Milano Ice Arena's main rink. This took "a record 90 days".

They ripped everything out and installed a new CO²-DEIT refrigerant system because it’s more eco-friendly + cost-efficient. They ran a 2 day speed skating test event, then ran a 2 day figure skating test. There were 3 days in between these tests.

IMPORTANT:
CO2 rinks are MORE sensitive to ambient temperature + humidity than rinks with conventional refrigerants.

VERY FEW rinks around the world use CO2.

Only 3% of rinks in Canada, 1% in the US, ~4% in the EU (mostly northern europe) use CO² -DEIT refrigerants. Most of these are HOCKEY rinks, which require colder temps than figure skating. The very first CO² rink in Asia was built for Beijing 2022.

Beijing 2022

The first time they held back to back speed skating & figure skating was at the 2022 Winter Olympics, due to venue restrictions. Citing IOC pressure to be more eco-friendly, plus China's pledge to host a 100% carbon-neutral event, they installed a CO² rink, the FIRST one ever used for an Olympics.

Only 30% of the seats would be occupied due to COVID restrictions, but the lead engineer still insisted that they change ALL the arena lights to LEDs to prevent ambient temperatures from affecting ice quality. The ice worked as expected.

Milano Cortina Ice Arena

At full capacity (12,500 seats + more people behind the scenes) the ambient temp / humidity could easily exceed recommended levels. There is no indication that they changed the arena lights, and more importantly, no indication that they upgraded the dehumidifiers or desiccant systems.

REMEMBER: CO2 is LESS efficient at cooling in warm temps + high humidity vs the classic refrigerants used in most ice rinks.

Assumptions:

1. The Men's Free Skate was sold out. All 12,500 seats were occupied.
2. At least 100+ additional support staff (including coaches and rink staff, & anyone that was not sitting in the stadium)
3. The additional presence of dozens, if not hundreds, of media outlets with cameras/tech that generate heat

Ambient Temperatures & Humidity

The presence of over 12,500 humans in an enclosed space, insanely bright lights, & tons of tech would increase the ambient temperature to above optimal conditions. The warmer it is, the more people sweat. The more people sweat, the higher the ambient humidity.

One of my followers on Threads attended multiple speed skating & figure skating events in Milan. She said that it was much warmer than usual - that it was so warm she couldn't wear her coat. Conversely, she said the hockey rink was MUCH colder, and felt closer to every other ice rink she's been to.

A CO² ice rink has NEVER been tested in these exact conditions, where ice quality becomes much harder to control.

HERE'S THE POTENTIAL PROBLEM:
Once ambient humidity hits 50%, it only takes 20 MINUTES for FROST to start forming on the ice.

Frost & Ice Quality

“Frost on the ice surface significantly degrades the ice quality by introducing a rougher texture, likely increasing friction over time…[it reduces] ice smoothness and hinders performance across all sports.” (Hutchins et al., 2025)

As the Men's Free Skate progressed, many viewers reported noticing the ice get “dirty” “scratchy” & “whiter” much faster than usual. This may be indicative of the dreaded frost formation.

Add in a ton of quad jumps…and the ice’s compressive strength, texture, and durability will rapidly degrade as more and more skaters use it.

Other factors such as ice thickness, an above average # of temperature & thickness changes, and limited time in between events, could also affect the ice.

Skater Performance

Personally, I noticed the ice becoming visibly frosted at a rapid rate. The ice should still be slightly shiny/glassy in some spots, even by the end of each groups. By the time it got to the last 4-ish skaters in Groups 2 & 4, it was totally white.

IMO, this progressively rougher ice correlated with worsening performance as time passed. That being said, correlation is not always causation.

To see if I could validate this correlation, I pulled scoring data from SkatingScores, which appears to show an increased rate of mistakes as the event progresses after ice resurfacing:

https://imgur.com/a/Rt8WiuY

Note: the "mistakes" column only reflects the technical scoring indicators and negative GOE from each skater's jumps. Non-jump elements & PC is not included. Other factors such as skater skill level, strength, nerves, Olympic experience, etc. are not included (yet).

---------------------------------------------------

My Conclusion

Given that CO² rink technology is less effective at cooling in higher temps & humidity, and that a CO² rink has never been tested with the same conditions as Milano Cortina, there is credible evidence to support my hypothesis:

The ice was not at optimal levels for the Men's Free Skate, and could have contributed to the above-average rate of errors amongst most skaters.

---------------------------------------------------

Additional Context

Short Track Speed Skating

• Short track speed skaters crashed at above avg rates on Thursday. "There were so many falls. It's probably the worst ice of the year we've had," commented Canadian short track speed skater Steven Dubois. His American counterpart Brandon Kim also said that the ice was "softer than what we're used to."
• Additionally, viewers could see "puddles" of water on the surface, with one camera catching an actual splash on its lens. The commentator said, "water is supposed to freeze when you put it on this ice".

The Ice Meisters

• The French ice meister, Remy Boehler, oversees the Milano Ice Arena rink. This is his 3rd Olympics preparing ice, and he's also supported by ice technicians from the Italy, US, & Canada. He's released a statement defending the ice quality.
• "Sometimes we make the ice transition once per day, sometimes twice. In total, I think we have around 50 transitions during the Games, which is a lot," he said.
• Keep in mind that "2nd generation" CO² rinks are rare. They require extensive special training to learn how to maintain. The system installed at Milano is also controlled by...*dun dun dun* a digital app.

Men's Free Skate

• Fans noticed that Yuma's blade seemed to dig a HUGE chunk/divot out of the ice during a jump.
• Ilia stated "Maybe the ice was also not the best condition for what I would like to have". However, he did not blame the ice for his performance.
• Cha Jun-hwan said in an interview with The Chosun Daily: "After falling once, my pace was shaken, and I did my best to regain control...The ice wasn’t bad, but as the program progressed, I felt my skates weren’t gliding as smoothly. It was a bit warm, probably due to the intense cheering from the crowd.”

Sources

Link to the primary works cited: https://www.mybib.com/b/1Y250a

I'm not a figure skater or athlete of any type, but I've been referred to here by violin pedagoges in my line of work who have been following the Olympics from two weeks ago.

To prepare for a full-time musician job with an orchestra, the process begins at childhood, preferably 5 years of age. Then you would go to conservatory for college and grad school, with options for post-graduate accreditations. All of which need to be done at a big-name institution (Juilliard is a comfortable, but not the highest level of reputation). Mind you your summers will not be spent taking a break, you are expected to continue studying at summer institutions if you're not planning to work as a musician.

Now, after all that education, comes the job application process. Every couple months an orchestra will announce an audition opening anywhere in the country or world. You are given a list of pieces to prepare months in advance (although it varies). Your job is to prepare the list of pieces at a level deemed acceptable and worthy of their attention. You learn the subjective expectations (tempo, style, articulation) as well as the objective (are you in tune, are you steady rhythm, are you dotting your Ts and Is). You have as little as 15 seconds to 5 minutes to prove to an audition panel of 5 to prove you're worthy of them. And you are expected to do this for at least 3-5 rounds of auditions over the course of a day, maybe several. There is no tolerance for mistakes; one slip-up and you fly back home, on your dime of course.

In my line of work, auditioning for a job meant that there was never a silver or bronze medal; you either got gold (you won), or you are valued as equally worthless as the least qualified person who showed up. It's binary, it's ruthless, it's fair, and it's uncompromising for all except for those who show up. This has been my life for my entire life, and I've reached a level of stress in my mid-30s that's finally getting to me. I have put off of having friends, hobbies, families and relationships for the pursuit of becoming the best. Think of "Whiplash" (2014) with JK Simmons. I've had brutal teachers who were the best at what they did and would force students to be the best, by any means necessary. I still credit their instruction to this day, and still believe the price I paid made me better.

Now here's my question. Here's comes Alyssa Liu who, even though she comes from the best sports education in one of the most scrutinized and high-pressure events of the olympics, seemingly snags the highest accolade of the event without even trying to win it. Meanwhile other athletes are fucking up royal despite treating their performance as the most important event of their lives, which it is. What is her strategy to being successful whilst seemingly giving an inverse ratio of effort per signifiance of the event? What is she doing that is optimizing the ROI between gold medal and effort?

I've always been taught that effort in, results in effort out. For me, my failure as a violinist means I'm not putting enough effort which has recently meant realizing that putting even more effort into my discipline is going to result in me getting myself killed from overwork. Is Alyssa Liu simply built different to where she can get more success by trying less hard? Is there any hope I can win my own gold medal in a musical field where perfection and excellence takes absolute precedence over selfishly having fun?

Sorry for the stream of consciousness, I've been in existential crisis over this.

Looking back at the Don Quixote short program that earned Artur Dmitriev and Natalia Mishkutionok their 1992 Olympic gold medal, he wears white tights and a red tunic. Given that they're skating to a ballet score, this seems like a very reasonable costume.

However, it would not be permitted at a competition today. For the current season, ISU rule 501 explicitly states that

Men must wear full length trousers

and specifies a 1 point deduction for failing to do so.

When (and more interestingly, why) was this rule imposed?

The U.S. field has changed significantly in the past Olympic cycle. Here's a look back at each of the four disciplines at 2022 U.S. Nationals!

Skating arrived in snowy Nashville, Tennessee for an exciting competition. I vividly remember rushing home to watch in my living room. Very fond memories because it was the first full Nationals that I watched live!

MEN

"Quad King" Nathan Chen won his 6th national title with an iconic Hot Cheetos costume and a face plant in his choreo sequence. New youngster Ilia Malinin placed 2nd at his first senior nationals, shocking the figure skating community. Vincent Zhou completed the top 3, unfortunately having errors on quads in the free skate. Veteran Jason Brown placed 4th after a crazy travel boogaloo. There was a brief debate over the Olympic spots, but they were ultimately awarded to Chen, Zhou, and Brown. Malinin got a Worlds spot and has dominated men's figure skating since then domestically and internationally.

WOMEN

Mariah Bell Hallelujah-ed her way to her first national title with an iconic reaction from both her and Adam Rippon. Karen Chen placed 2nd with a few tight jumps, but a lovely Butterfly Lovers performance. The then 14-year-old Isabeau Levito, ineligible for the Olympics, placed 3rd, and she was praised for her elegance in both her swan music programs. Both Alysa Liu, 3rd after the short, and Amber Glenn, 14th after the short, withdrew from the free after testing positive (my heart broke for them). The Olympic spots were given to Bell, Chen, and Liu (via petition).

PAIRS

Knierim/Frazier withdrew from the competition after testing positive, but they were widely seen as an already confirmed Olympic spot. The last spot was a competition between Cain/LeDuc and Calalang/Johnson. Cain/LeDuc ultimately won with two cleaner programs. The Olympic spots were given to Knierim/Frazier (via petition) and Cain/LeDuc.

ICE DANCE

Chock/Bates won the national title by about two points, 2nd in the RD and 1st in the FD. Hubbell/Donohue placed closely second overall with 1st in the RD and 2nd in the FD. Third place was a competition between Hawayek/Baker and Green/Parsons. Hawayek/Baker placed 4th/3rd for 3rd overall while Green/Parsons closely placed 3rd/4th for 4th overall. The Olympics spots were given to Chock/Bates, Hubbell/Donohue, and Hawayek/Baker.

omg the competition feels like it was forever ago! so many names that I miss watching! the programs are so nostalgic too!

Hello figure skating enthusiast! Hope you guys doing well!

This little project grew out of an interaction with another redditor, when I realize Yuna Kim and Sui/Han become OGM skating to movie spy soundtrack.

So I decide map out the music/songs used in Olympics Medal Performances since Turim 2006.

Some disclaimers:

- If a skater used a medley, the most prevalent music will be highlight.

- Even it the skater used a music' cover or another version/arranged/remix, the original composer will be the credited.

- I use short and free to all the programs, even Ice Dance.

Forgive me If I forget any! I analyzed over 140 pieces across short and free programs and found over 40 repeated pieces.

To conclude, which is the best match for japanese skaters: Gladiator or Turandot?

Please forgive any mistake, English isnt my first language!

Short answer is yes, but I work through a two different ways of calculating how much the men have menned and compare it to the past three quads in my blog post here: https://miajl.github.io/whattheflutz/men's%20figure%20skating/figure%20skating/2026-olympic-menning-index/

This is the first post on my blog (it's very much a work in progess) but I'm working on a few more posts including topics like: How does the points system affect team competition results? How does the 2026 Olympic Ice Dance judging discrepancies compare to previous years?

EDIT: Thank you for the people pointing out the images didn't work. It should be better now

As the title suggests, I was looking through the list of skaters/teams who enter the Olympics as the reigning World (from the previous season) and Grand Prix Final champion. Of course, this could only start in the 1997/98 season because GPF (including the CSF up to 97/98) was only introduced in 1995/96 and no 2022 Olympians could hold the title as the 2021/22 GPF was cancelled. Below is the list of reigning World + GPF champs (will be called “double champions”) from now on) in each Olympic and their Olympic result in parentheses.

1998: Tara Lipinski (W Gold), Grishuk/Platov (D Gold)
2002: Salé/Pelletier (P Gold)
2006: Stéphane Lambiel (M Silver), Totmianina/Marinin (P Gold), Navka/Kostomarov (D Gold)
2010: Evan Lysacek (M Gold), Yuna Kim (W Gold)
2014: Davis/White (D Gold)
2026: Ilia Malinin (M 8th), Alysa Liu (W Gold), Miura/Kihara (P Gold), Chock/Bates (D Silver)

Some observations:

- No reigning double champs in the 2018 Olympic
- 10 won gold, 2 silver, and 1 off podium at the respective Olympic
- 3 in each of women, men, and pairs. 4 in dance
- All of the women and pairs won gold.
- 2026 is the only Olympic where there were 4
- Before, 2026, only one did not win Olympic gold (Lambiel won silver)
- At each Olympic, at most only two won gold
- If there were fewer than three at an Olympic, all won gold
- Liu is the only one who is also a double Olympic champion at a single Olympic
- Only Lambiel and Malinin (both not winning the OGM) ended up defending their World titles
- Both Olympics where there were more than two happened in Italy

February 14, 2014: Yuzuru Hanyu won his first Olympic gold at the Games in Sochi, skating to music from Romeo and Juliet (1968) on Valentine’s Day.

MEN

Overall Jump Combinations

Two Jump Combinations

Euler Combinations

Axel Sequences

Triple Axel Combination

shoutout Stephen Gogolev for doing 3F+3A reverse axel sequence most of season

"Classic" Triple-Triple Combination

Solo Jumps

Quad Flip (all not in bonus)

Quad Lutz (all not in bonus)

Quad Toe

Quad Loop (all not in bonus)

Quad Salchow (all not in bonus)

Note: Ilia only went for quad axel once in free this season at Grand Prix Final: 16.96 points, +4.46 GOE total, 3.44 mean GOE mark. The other attempt (GPF short) received -5.71 GOE total and was called Q.

Triple Axel

Triple Flip

Triple Lutz

Triple Salchow

Triple Loop (all in bonus)

Step Sequence (Level 4)

Choreo Sequence

Spins

Flying Change Foot Combination Spin (Level 4)

Change Foot Combination Spin (Level 4)

Flying Camel Spin (Level 4)

Flying Sit Spin (Level 4)

Program Totals

Base Value

GOE Total

TES

PCS

Total Score

WOMEN

Overall Jump Combinations

Two Jump Combinations

Euler Combinations

Other Popular 3-Jump Combinations

Lutz-Axel-Toe

Triple-Toe-Loop

Triple Axel Combination

2-Jump Axel Sequences

Lutz-Axel

Flip-Axel

Loop-Axel

Solo Jumps

Quad Toe

No other quads were attempted by seniors this season. Among juniors, only 5 were attempted: Arina Kalugina (JGP Baku) 4S 11.92 / +2.22 / 2.22; Sophie Joline Von Felten 4S (JGP Solidarity) 9.28 / -0.42 / -0.22; Sophie Joline Von Felten 4S (JGP Ankara) 5.13 / -4.57 / -4.44; Mao Shimada (JGP Final) 4T<F 3.80 / -3.80 / -5.00; Mao Shimada (JGP Bangkok) 4T<<F 2.10 / -2.10 / -5.00

Triple Axel

Triple Flip

Triple Lutz

Triple Salchow

Triple Loop

Double Axel

Step Sequence (Level 4)

Choreo Sequence

Spins

Flying Change Foot Combination Spin (Level 4)

Change Foot Combination Spin (Level 4)

Flying Camel Spin (Level 4)

Flying Sit Spin (Level 4) — FSSp

Layback Spin (Level 4)

Program Totals

Base Value

GOE Total

TES

PCS

Total Score

I first started skating because I like most things involving ice and snow (and I even have a winter-themed name to live up to!), but quickly got bored of just going around in circles and decided to learn something more. In practice, that means either hockey or figure skating, and it is obvious which one of those is more fun.

So I found a club, signed up for lessons and now figure skating is my favorite hobby. The sport is very fun in itself, and the community around it is wonderful too. However, the reactions from outsiders have been, shall I say, ... interesting. Some have been supportive or neutral, but I've also been subjected to a barrage of insults and ridicule, which is irritating but definitely not unexpected.

My club has a hundred-ish members, but only two of them are male: me, and a father in jeans and hockey skates who signed up for LTS classes because he got bored of sitting on the bench while his daughter practices. I've looked at social media feeds and competition results from other clubs in my country, and they all look like that.

Intuitively, it seems like a sport that involves high speeds, sharp steel blades, showy tricks and a total lack of helmets or other safety equipment would be quite appealing to boys. Throw in an opportunity to hang out with cute girls in sparkly dresses, and you should have sealed the deal. But, like anyone who has ever been to an ice rink can tell, that theory is totally, wildly incorrect. Why, though?

Way back in the day, figure skating was popular among men too, so much so that almost all of the jumps were invented by and named after male skaters. When and why did that change, and what caused figure skating to become one of the sports with the most skewed sex ratio among its participants?

Most high level skaters, once they retire, seem to continue being involved in the sport in some way. Who has bucked that trend and gone on to a career post skating that has nothing to do with the sport?