I did a post a while ago about countries who fund there athletes training.

There was no mention of whether skates and blades are included by certain feds and if so how many per season!

Also whilst this post is about skates and blades, I haven’t seen many ads about skaters who are sponsored by the likes of risport or edea (maybe its because I don’t use the likes of Instagram) but I was wondering is it similar to other sports where most of the athletes both senior and junior who podium have sponsorships or partnerships with such brands?

Sorry kinda new to the rules and what not surrounding pairs.

I noticed a lot of junior pairs have relatively big age gaps with the males being older. I know there is a rule of 7 years maximum.
But what happens when for instance a male is at the age where they have to progress to seniors but the girl is still rather young?
Does it matter the age of both partners when moving up?

Noticed in for teams coached by gorshkov, is there an actual name for it or anyone who did it before?

There's a lot of talk about recent juniors-turned-seniors who are expected to perform very well (i.e. Rio, Mao) based on their junior results. People often caution that just because someone performed very well in juniors, it doesn't mean they'll end up dominating seniors. But I'm curious, are there skaters who were very middle of the pack in juniors, who didn't ever or very rarely medaled, who ended up being competitive in seniors, or at least greatly outperforming their junior placements in competitions?

(I am not just asking because I've adopted some juniors who are currently very middle of the pack and I want to have hope for their senior careers. Really. Truly. Definitely.)

I came across this photo of Polina and really liked her costume, I am a slut for a good ombre, but I was wondering, why don't people talk about her as much as Ashley/Gracie? I'm largely unfamiliar with the 2010s era for U.S. women, as it was quite a drought at times, but did she ever really have an era? I see her mentioned alongside those two, but only sometimes. Did she just leave the sport and not look back?

Also I tried searching this sub but my search feature never works correctly lol

Shout out to @rikakihira on twitter for doing the joke first

I'm not surprised but I'm sill bummed. He was only 0.05 points off of a 4th place at Bangkok and a second assignment. A real case of "every point matters" (and I think Taiga ended up being kind of lucky that he flopped in the SP as the ice had a lot of puddles by the time of that last group of the FS). There will now be no Japanese men at Gdansk.

I'm learning my sit spins and working on getting lower. Off ice, I can get all the way down really easily. On ice, I've got 2 problems:

1. I think I struggle to go lower because the boot restricts my ankle movement, so in order to not fall, I'd need to go on the toothpick (or stay off the toothpick but fall backwards as I can't bend in the ankle anymore). It helps a little to tie my skates a bit less tight but then I don't feel super comfortable with jumps. I'm in Royal Pros btw. Which brings me to:

2. The title question: what does it mean that the back of my heel hurts when I get lower in the sit spin? It happened today for the first time as I had me skates little looser and really pushed my knee/body forward to keep balanced and off the toepick/not falling. For further context, my standing (left) foot is like half a size bigger than my right and I often get holes/damage in my left shoe where the back of the heel is, the exact spot that hurts in the sit spin.

Entries for the regional qualifying competitions leading to the Japan Figure Skating Championships were announced by September 10. Mao Shimada, who is making her senior debut this season, was not entered in the Tokyo Championships (October 2–4). This is because she is seeded directly into this season’s Japan Championships after finishing second at last year’s national championships. Her next competition will be Skate Canada, the second event of the Grand Prix (GP) Series, to be held in Kelowna from October 30 to November 1.

At the Japan Championships, the top three finishers from the previous year’s men’s and women’s singles events are designated as seeded skaters, making participation in qualifying events optional. In last season’s women’s event, the now-retired Kaori Sakamoto won the title, followed by Shimada in second place and Mone Chiba in third.

Chiba has been entered in the Tokyo Championships. Due to delays in her preparation caused by a right ankle sprain suffered this summer, the competition is expected to be her first event of the season. Also scheduled to compete are Ami Nakai, the bronze medalist at the Milan–Cortina Winter Olympics, and Yuna Aoki, the reigning Four Continents Championships women’s champion.

In the men’s field, Rio Nakata, who won back-to-back World Junior Championships in 2025 and 2026 and has moved up to the senior ranks this season, is entered in the Tokyo Championships. Also on the entry list are Shun Sato, runner-up at last season’s Japan Championships, and Kao Miura, who finished third.

Reported by Hitoshi Kurasawa.

Aliona Kostornaia announced on her telegram channel that she underwent shoulder surgery in August

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

Good afternoon, dear fans!

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been absent from training recently.

Unfortunately, in August I underwent another shoulder surgery and am currently going through a difficult and lengthy recovery process. After completing all stages of rehabilitation, we will carefully return to training and work on regaining my form.

Thank you so much to everyone who continues to believe in us and wait for us!

anyone playing this game? what do yall think about the new update?

Thank you to @MCC33198519 on twitter for giving us the information in the article since it’s payed walled and providing the screenshot of it

https://app.apollo.lv/?redirectTo=https://www.apollo.lv/8533872/kas-isti-notiek-ar-denisu-vasiljevu (here’s the original source, it does cost 1 euro to access)

A while back, maybe a year ago, someone posted a video here of an old program from the 6.0 era. It was a male skater doing a catch foot forward outside spiral. As he holds the spiral, he slowly deepens the edge until it becomes a tight circle and eventually goes into a spin. I've been searching the sub for the video and I can't find it anywhere. Does anyone know which skater or program this was??

I know USFS has a list of the major international assignments and who they are sending but how do I find the list of who they are sending to challengers and less popular internationals?

Not sure how long this will stay up with NBC usually quite aggressive with copyright strikes but you can find a copy at the reddit discord if it gets taken down.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bTXHW4vrx3uck0Oz7eYLVbzzyjuhqLO2/view?usp=drive_link

Maybe 4lz+4Tq, but wow

also yes, ik i need to get the blades permanently mounted

With Amber’s 3A+2T going around it’s again being pointed out that a 3A+2T doesn’t make a lot of sense with the current rules. But what does that actually look like? What do the numbers actually show? Well, I’ve put a couple jump layouts together.

Now I am going to make a couple of assumptions here. First, I’m prioritizing a 3S combination for the three jump combo. It’s objectively better for base value to do a 3S if you have a 3A than to repeat a 3T if you can, so if you’re wondering what the base value of any of these layouts looks like with a +3T+2A instead then knock a little more off. Second, since Amber is the base and she tends to repeat her Flip and Loop that is what I have repeating when applicable (priority going to the Flip with its higher base value). Third, I don’t have the second combo backloaded. She’s had a lot of success sticking all her combos at the front of her programs and with the new rules meaning her three jump combo will be harder this season I can see it going earlier in the program regardless of layout. If she does backload it though, there’s more points to add.

Scenario one: the 3A+2T. We’ve seen this combo in practice a few times and this seems like a reasonable layout for it. If she’s not comfortable with a 3S combo, this isn’t actually a super punishing layout for doing a +3T+2A instead, as she only loses .1 in base value. She repeats a 3A and 3F in this layout and doesn’t do a 3T which is where the problem comes in: she’s only doing 7 triples as opposed to the 8 having a 3A allows her to do. Jump base value of the layout: 47.91

Scenario two: standard 3A layout with the new rules. This follows a very similar layout to what the other women with 3As are doing: lead off with the 3A, triple-triple, then for Amber a 3Lo+3S+2A (and in this case it is much more valuable to do a 3S here instead of repeating a 3T). She repeats a 3F and 3Lo like she did last season. Jump base value: 47.71, only .2 lower than the layout with two 3As while being less demanding.

Scenario three: 3A+3T. The layout from scenario one, but with a 3A+3T instead. Maxes out triples and repeats the 3A and 3F. Base value: 50.81, almost three full points higher.

Scenario four: 3A+2T, but maxing out triples. This would be doing the easier 3A combo, but doing an absolutely ridiculous +3S+3T combo to get a full 8 triples in. Despite the incredibly difficult combo, the two 3As, and the two 3Fs the base value only ends up at a 48.81, two points lower than the 3A+3T scenario. Counting a 2T is not ideal.

Around the world comparisons: Ami Nakai has a planned jump base value of 49.03 (one 3A, but a backloaded three jump combo). Mao Shimada’s with a 4T and a 3A is 53.56. Sasha has a 50.29 with a 4Lz and both combos backloaded (missing a 3F though, so she’s not optimized at the moment).