Hello listeners and fans of TWIS!
Upon the conclusion of the 2022-2023 season, we decided to take a little break to recharge and prepare for season two of This Week in Skating. Daphne and I will return to our usual weekly podcasts and kick off season 2 of This Week in Skating on May 22, which just so happens to be my birthday!
Though we are on a break – we haven’t actually stopped podcasting. You may have seen (or should I say heard) our interviews. Since we took a break, we launched interviews with Olivia Smart and Kurt Browning. We talked with our friend, Melanie Heaney, who traveled to Japan for the first time and attended World Team Trophy. We had a good discussion on team events within our sport. Of course, we had Jackie Wong on the podcast for the third time this season to help us recap the season. Later this week, we have another interview coming out. We are working on some other interviews in the coming weeks and we’ve got some new things coming in season 2!
But of course, just because we aren’t doing our usual weekly episodes at the moment – doesn’t mean the news in the skating world stops. Below is a recap of some of the news that came down this week. Just think of it as our show notes!
And we have TWO giveaways going on right now! Make sure you check out the end of this blog for the details!
Have an Ice Week!
Gina and Daphne
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Event Recap
Theatre on Ice International was held at the Skating Club of Boston, April 20-23. The event took place for the first time since 2019. Here are the links to the results:
Nations’ Cup Senior/Junior/Novice results
General Skating News
Todd Sand is home from the hospital. Jenni Meno Sand posted the wonderful news on the couple’s Instagram page.
Skate Canada announced that Calgary will host the 2024 Canadian National Championships, Jan 8-14, 2024 in WinSport Arena at Canada’s OlympicPark. You may recall that the 2023 World Junior Figure Skating Championships was held in Calgary.
U.S. Figure announced its 2024 Adult Qualifying Season and the 2024 Adult Nationals will take place in Cleveland, Ohio. (Maybe Melanie will be the event photographer!)
Kana Muramoto and Daisuke Takahashi announced that they are retiring from competitive skating. The two teamed up in 2020. Kana had previously skated with Chris Reed. Takahashi was the 2010 World champion and 2010 Olympic bronze medalist. He retired in 2014, but returned in 2018, competing in ice dance. This season, Kana and Daisuke were the 2023 All-Japan Figure Skating Champions and just recently won the bronze medal at World Team Trophy. We loved watching Kana and Daisuke and wish we could have seen more of them!
Olympic Ice Dance Champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron will not compete next season.
Japan Skating Federation official confirmed the partnership splits of pair team Haruna Murakami and Sumitada Moriguchi and the ice dance team of Nao Kida and Masaya Morita (April 26):
Nao Kida also posted about their split on Instagram
Cathy Reed’s blog post about the partnership splits of her ice dance team of Kida/Morita & the pair team of Murakami/Moriguchi for whom she had choreographed (April 25).
Recent Articles & Interviews:
Talia Barrington, wife of Jordan Cowan of On Ice Perspectives, published a thought-provoking article on same sex gender pairs/dance teams for SLATE on April 19.
Talia also spoke on Slate’s April 24th podcast (starting after the 47-minutre mark).
Jordan posted videos of Gabriella Papadakis and Madison Hubbell working together to show that the sport of ice dance has room for partnerships of any gender.
Golden Skate interviewed USA’s Lucas Broussard at Junior Worlds (April 24).
Olympics.com interviewed Haein Lee on her resurgent season, World Team Trophy, Yuna Kim & more (April 28).
U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone spoke with Nathan Chen at the Ice Chips show at the Skating Club of Boston (April 28).
U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone spoke with the ice dancers for International Dance Day, which was April 29.
Segment – Social Media Updates:
Team USA’s Raffaella Koncius / Alexey Shchepetov have moved coaches from Marina Zueva, Johnny Johns, and Ilya Tkachenko to Charlie White, Tanith White, and Greg Zuerlein.
New Zealand’s Charlotte Lafond-Fournier / Richard Kang In Kam have ended their partnership. Lafond-Fournier is searching for a new partner on Ice Partner Search.
Italy’s Young Goose Academy and Accademia del Ghiaccio have now merged.
Isabella Flores and Ivan Desyatov performed a “Dirty Dancing” tribute on the floor at the Dance Wonderland Grand Night for Dancing Showcase in Colorado Springs on Friday, April 22.
Team USA’s Joseph Klein announces he will be attending Northwestern University in the fall. He plans to “continue his athletic pursuits and academics” in Chicago. Joseph is from the Chicago area and had moved to Colorado Springs a few seasons ago – so looks like he’s moving back home!
Canada’s ice dance team of Miku Makita & Tyler Gunara trained at the Extreme Ice Center in Indian Trail, North Carolina this past week. Mathew Gates posted that he has choreographed Makita/Gunara’s 2023-24 free dance.
Segment – Upcoming Events for the Week:
Stars on Ice Canada is underway!
Ice Theatre of New York Home Season Show – May 5 & 6
Ice Theatre of New York Gala Honoring Jason Brown and Rohene Ward – May 8
Contests:
Ice Theatre of New York Tickets
We are giving away tickets to Ice Theatre of New York’s Home Season shows May 5 and 6 in New York City. To enter: Like/Follow “This Week in Skating” on social media and then comment to contest post with the hashtag #ITNY2023. Deadline is May 4 at 12 p.m. Eastern.
This Week in Skating Coffee Mug
Over the next month, we are holding a contest for our first This Week in Skating swag – a coffee mug! All you have to do is visit Apple Podcasts & leave us a written review by May 20!
We will announce the winner on our May 22nd episode.
Where they can find us (socials & website)
You can find us at www.thisweekinskating.com
We’re on all the socials including Twitter (@thiswkinskating), Facebook (facebook.com/thisweekinskating) and Instagram (@thisweekinskating)
We’d love your feedback or questions and you can reach out to us on social media or email us at thisweekinskating@gmail.com.
IDC and FSO spotlight
New at IDC: Val & Kazimov develop their own style
New at FSO: Doing some behind the scenes things right now!