Kaori Sakamoto Retirement Plans and other Skating News
Scoreography
Three time world champion Kaori Sakamoto announces her post-Olympics retirement plan, and we have some feelings about it. Plus lots of new program announcements, and we talk about our experience at the North American Adult Synchronized Skating Camp. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 0:31 — NAASC Synchro Camp Experience 4:52 — Kaori Sakamoto Retirement Plans 10:43 — Other Skating News 11:06 — Young You’s Triple Axel 13:22 — Gabby Daleman returns 14:32 — Kovalevs change coaches 16:05 — US Summer Sizzler and Program Announcements 17:53 — Riku and Ryuchi choreographers 18:33 — Mai Mihara...
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In the Mixed Zone - featuring Judith Dombrowski
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We talk with figure skating journalist Judith Dombrowski about her work with Golden Skate and Pirouette Magazine, and what it’s like conducting interviews in the ‘Mixed Zone’ at skating competitions. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 2:06 — What is the Mixed Zone? 15:28 — Overcoming language barriers 18:12 — Skaters seeking content creators and alternative press 20:32 — A push to find “drama”? 24:40 — How much skating does a reporter actually see? 30:02 — Covering the Road to 2026 Event 33:56 — Familiar faces at events 35:45 — Best skaters in the Mixed Zone 38:50 — Looking...
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Grand Prix 2025 Assignments and Return of Sui and Han
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We dig into all of the Grand Prix assignments for the upcoming figure skating season, as well as the unsurprising return of the Olympic Pairs champions, China’s Sui and Han. It may be skating’s off-season, but there was a lot to be excited about this past week as the 2025 Grand Prix assignments were announced — and two legends of the sport quietly confirmed their long-rumored return. The biggest story to come out of the assignments was unquestionably the return of reigning Olympic pair’s gold medalists, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong from China. While there had been rumors of their...
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Spring Skating News (May 2025)
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We round-up the past week or so of off-season skating news, including new-and-returning programs from Kevin Aymoz, Kaori Sakamoto, and the Brown siblings. Haein Lee’s suspension has formally been nullified, and the Taschler siblings move to Finland with a new coaching team. And lots more. Chapters 1:17 — Stars on Ice and Show Season 4:57 — Kevin Aymoz brings back Bolero 9:09 — Oona and Gage Brown skate to The Godfather 11:18 — Haein Lee does Carmen; suspension is nullified 13:36 — Chaeyeon Kim working with Benoit again 15:03 — Rion Sumiyoshi working with Misha Ge and Shae Lynn...
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Listener Q&A 2025 Edition — Your Questions Answered!
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In our second annual Q&A episode, we answer listener submitted questions about the upcoming Olympic season, our all-time favorite programs, the origin story of the podcast, and lots more. The off-season can feel LONG… especially the off-season before the Olympic season! This is why it was especially fun to dive into some “what if” scenarios, skating nostalgia, and even a few messy predictions for the coming year. We also dig into a few more serious topics, including the pros and cons of getting into the figure skating creator space, why big success for the U.S. in women’s figure...
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The Shib Sibs Return?!
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After SEVEN years away from competitive figure skating, ice dance Hall of Famers the Shib Sibs — Maia and Alex Shibutani — are returning. Just in time for the Olympic season. We have complicated feelings about it (especially Adron). We ruminate on the sport’s inextricable tie to the Olympic quadrennial, how that both helps and hinders skating fandom, and the role of nostalgia in promoting the sport. Referenced in this episode: Follow Scoreography: Website — Instagram — BlueSky —
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Modernizing the Sport with FS.SkatingStan
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We’re joined by Haley from FS.SkatingStan, one of our favorite figure skating Instagram accounts, to talk about her experience at Worlds 2025, the efforts from the ISU to modernize the sport, and the role content creators play in the skating’s future. Modernizing the Sport, and the Role of Content Creators in Skating’s Future This episode of Scoreography features our very first guest on the show. Haley from FS.SkatingStan — one of our favorite figure skating fan accounts on Instagram — drops in for a wide-ranging conversation about the season, her experience at Worlds 2025, and...
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World Team Trophy 2025 RECAP
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We look back at all the fun shenanigans and terrific performances from the 2025 World Team Trophy competition in Japan, including a dominant win from Team USA and first WTT medal for Team Italy. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 1:51 — Predictions and Results 3:09 — Women's Competition 15:49 — Pairs Competition 23:27 — Men's Competition 33:00 — Ice Dance Competition 40:05 — Mao Shimada in the Gala 41:50 — Gold in our Hearts 46:16 — Wrap-Up Recap of 2025 Figure Skating World Team Trophy The 2024/2025 figure skating season finally came to its official end in Tokyo, Japan, at the World Team...
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World Team Trophy 2025 PREVIEW
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We look ahead to one of our favorite and most fun figure skating events, the bi-annual World Team Trophy. The competition features teams from the USA, Japan, Canada, Italy, Georgia, and France. Chapters 0:00 — World Team Trophy Overview 9:57 — Team Rosters 29:50 — World Team Podium Predictions 32:22 — Wrap-Up Follow Scoreography: Website — Instagram — BlueSky —
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Scoreography Awards 2025, ISU Awards, and Olympic Qualifications
Scoreography
We reflect on the post-Worlds ISU Awards, dig through the official Olympic Qualifications, and then hand out our own 2025 Scoreography Awards across 10 different categories. Chapters 0:00 — Intro 0:54 — Olympic Spot Qualifications 19:43 — ISU Awards 28:38 — The Scoreography Awards 29:10 — Favorite Program: Men 31:09 — Favorite Program: Women 32:27 — Favorite Program: Pairs 34:03 — Favorite Program: Ice Dance 35:15 — Breakout Skater or Team 38:44 — Best Costume 41:16 — Best Gala Performance 44:03 — Future Star 45:48 — Skater or Team of the Year 48:34 — Moment of the...
info_outlineThree time world champion Kaori Sakamoto announces her post-Olympics retirement plan, and we have some feelings about it. Plus lots of new program announcements, and we talk about our experience at the North American Adult Synchronized Skating Camp.
Chapters
0:00 — Intro
0:31 — NAASC Synchro Camp Experience
4:52 — Kaori Sakamoto Retirement Plans
10:43 — Other Skating News
11:06 — Young You’s Triple Axel
13:22 — Gabby Daleman returns
14:32 — Kovalevs change coaches
16:05 — US Summer Sizzler and Program Announcements
17:53 — Riku and Ryuchi choreographers
18:33 — Mai Mihara brings back her ’23-’24 programs
20:39 — Mao Shimada’s programs
22:05 — Mona Chiba’s programs
23:11 — Conti and Macii working with Romain Haganaur
24:38 — Thoughts on the Pre-Season
26:51 — Wrap-Up
This week, we glide through quite a few off-season updates. But first, we give a shout out to the North American Adult Synchronized Skating Camp — or NAASSC for short. We were able to record at this event for a YouTube video we’ll be sharing soon! This exciting, sold out event happened the weekend of June 20-22 in St. Louis, MO and was an absolute blast. Big thanks to founder & director, Ashley Carlson, COO Ryan Carlson, and Assistant Director Victoria Smith for allowing us to be flies on the wall… er, boards in this case. More to come from this soon!
Back to the news….
The most notable announcement of the week was certainly Kaori Sakamoto’s confirmation that she will retire at the end of the 2025-2026 season. Commence sobbing! In all seriousness, this was not a huge surprise — especially considering her Olympic short program music was announced to be “Time to Say Goodbye” — but it will absolutely make each remaining competition with her a little more significant. Kaori is such an incredible ambassador of figure skating, and we look forward to her still being one as a coach.
United States Figure Skating announced that they would again be having “Summer Sizzler” event at the Skating Club of Boston — which apparently will be the stage where some US skaters will be premiering their Olympic season programs. We are skeptical that we’ll see competitive program peeks from Chock and Bates, but they will be there on August 14th along with Ilia Malinin, Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, Jason Brown, Isabeau Levito, and many more.
We talk about all of that, share a bunch more program announcements, and muse on a few more updates we’ve been drinking up online while we wait for Dreams on Ice (where it is rumored that a good number of Team Japan favorites will be debuting their programs for next season). Fingers crossed!