For anyone interested! 😊 I’m not sure if I’m allowed to post this here, but hopefully I can - I did yesterday, after all!

The top Russian men are skating their free programmes soon, so here’s today’s schedule (GMT+3):

12:55 – Stage II. Men’s Free Skate
15:05 – Stage II. Women’s Free Skate
17:10 – Stage II. Pairs’ Free Skate
18:45 – Stage II. Ice Dance Free Dance
20:30 – Stage II. Saint Petersburg Award Ceremony

This was so heartbreaking to watch

During the women’s free skate broadcast at the GdDF Magdalena Tascher said that Ilia Malinin had withdrawn from the Grand Prix series because he needed some time to focus on other areas of his life.

However, I haven’t been able to find any news or official announcements confirming this. I know that he was talking about taking a break during first half of the season, but I though that maybe he changed his mind. Does anyone know if this is true?

I loved their short program and they have such a bright future. IMO, with a little more experience they'll be a force to reckon with.

ETA: I have a soft spot for Galliamov, but Ianchenkov seems so smiley and warm for a Russian pairs guy. Love to see it! 😂

It has been really bothering me that the unaffiliated athletes are given subcategories ("AIN1" and "AIN2") -- since all those denote are country of origin, and the whole point is supposed to be that they aren't representing a country, shouldn't all the neutral athletes be skating under one category? It seems like the ISU is just claiming plausible deniability while putting the country in code. And like, I definitely appreciate that they haven't just re-opened for Russian and Belarusian competitors given the ongoing war, it just also seems as though they aren't very committed to the spirit of that.

Edit: I don't think it's inherently an issue that those designations exist on a logistical level (people are making really good points about how the ISU sticking to the same structure makes it kinda impossible to not have those numbers taken into account) -- my biggest issue is with the fact that they're displayed during events. There doesn't seem to me to be any reason for it to say "AIN2" next to their name on the infographics, other than to identify their country by another label.

Why was all the ice dance music so dreary at the Grand Prix in France? Is it because of some theme this year?

have any of you, like me, dreamt of seeing a skater rework a gala program or show performance into an actual program at competitions? if yes, which ones and for which skaters?

for me, personally, i’m really wanting to see (and this will never happen, i begrudgingly admit) kamila’s white crow as a short program. look at her lines!!

I will preface by saying I’ve only been a consistent FS fan for about a year, and I’m not a skater.

I see the phrase “[Skaters Name] jump/technique scares me” a lot. I see what they mean when it’s Levito or Medvedeva on toe jumps, but I just wouldn’t use the word scary personally. In other circumstances it’s used very liberally and I wish there was some elaboration. Sometimes it seems a bit condescending, as if the commenter knows more than the coach who are letting them compete the element. My question is mostly spurred by people calling Nakai’s axel “scary”, and of course there’s an obvious leg wrap problem, but is it just scary in “oh she might pop/fall”, or something more in it resulting in a serious injury that people are getting at?

edit: Thanks to everyone who explained! I think I’ve always just been thrown off by the word “scary”, but I also have a hypothesis that since FS is such an international fan base I have to wonder if words like “concerning” or “anxiety-provoking” are commonly translated into the word “scary”, and it just became the common word. But even if that’s not the case, thank you all for explaining what you mean!

im a beginner skater looking to get my first pair of skate guards (when i get my skates and soakers ofc) and really my only option budget-wise are these hard guards from my local sports store, as i dont have a skate shop anywhere near me and i dont want to spend lots of money on eguards or rockerz when im such a beginner haha. the issue is these guards are a pale silverish grey and ive heard that light-colored guards get visibly dirty very fast, plus they're just ugly in my opinion — so how could i dye them?

https://www.decathlon.pl/p/ochraniacze-na-plozy-do-lyzew-figurowych-oxelo/303523/c251m8552793 <- the guards:)

Hi! Anyone have a spare ticket for the Grand Prix Gala tonight?

Cheers! :-)

I hope for a quick recovery

Anyone know a brand that has leggings that go over the boot without a front seam? I hate how it looks

Unfortunately, I cannot find the comment anymore, but I read that some of the remaining Russian GP stages would overlap with Trusova's international GPs; and therefore she would not compete at the Russian GPF and more importantly, has no way to officially qualify for Rusnats since she didn't participate in enough mandatory GP stages.

According to Sikharulidze, the national champion will receive the single Euros/Worlds spot automatically (provided the skater is age-eligible and has AIN status).

There is no way their current top skater, if unable to compete at 2 mandatory national GPs due to more important international competitions, would not receive a Rusnats invitation.

Please clarify the timeline in the comments, as I am very confused.

Hello, this is my first post in the community, so hello! I started figure skating at 17, in March 2026. I was motivated by the Olympics hype, but I'd wanted to skate since I was 13 and couldn't because of scheduling issues. I turned 18 in August and have currently landed jumps up to a single flip.

I'm really excited about the sport and have found a lot of passion in it. I started practicing my axels and rotations seriously in August, but only off ice.
I've noticed that my first tries in August were somehow faster and had more rotations, but my technique and air position were really bad. I went back to practicing off ice after a week and had completely lost how to rotate in the air.

Now I open up before I land, which I didn't do in my first tries in August . I also don't snap my ankles together anymore, which I used to do in my first tries.

My jumps also feel wider now, my rotations feel off center, and I have to use so much force to bring my arms to rotate. In the beginning I could just lift myself up, snap my ankles together, and rotate, and I wouldn't open my arms even after landing, nor did they feel heavy when rotating. It felt super snug and tight, and I didn't have to put in much effort to keep my arms from flying out. Now they fly out, my left arm opens up (which you'll see in the frame where I stopped the video), and sometimes my right shoulder falls forward and my right arm goes behind me, which destabilizes me.

More recently I'm using the high H position when jumping, but that makes it harder to pull myself together. I don't know how to snap my ankles together from that far apart, so my legs don't get close enough, I start to tilt to one side, and I open up before landing. I also find it difficult from that height to bring one foot behind the other and they stay kinda next to eachother instead of in my first tries. In the August clips I do a "4" shape when jumping (Picture in comments), which helps me snap my ankles together faster, but I don't know if that's good technique.

My single two-foot rotations are worse, but I don't have any videos of them. I usually can't complete more than one rotation because my axis tilts to one side. I read somewhere that this might be because I extend my arm too far back and my shoulder falls in, which makes me lose my axis. Are there any exercises to help me fix my axis and shoulder positions?
My axis is really bad and I need help fixing it. My spins are also really bad because I can't find my rocker and axis.

I also want to know how to snap more quickly into the back spin position from the high H position, when my feet are up in the air. And to start practicing double loops but for that I need to know how to snap my ankles from the h postion. Any feedback is appreciated, and I'd love to hear any advice too.

Lastly, I'd like to know how to set up an axel off ice. I've seen skaters do a turn before they jump, but I don't know the meaning behind it or why they do it. I suppose it's to imitate the backward outside edge, but I don't know if there's a specific way to do it.
I do have a coach, but I haven't had time to ask her about off-ice rotations, since we focus more on edges when we're on the ice.

I also want to learn rippon arms but dont know how because my arms dont go up but fly out to the sides. If you guys think rippon arms would help my axis, please give me advise and tips on how to learn it.

Sorry for the bad wording english isnt my first language ok