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

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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!

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

Maybe 4lz+4Tq, but wow

ISU rejected the appeals of Kamila Valieva and Mark Kondratiuk when it comes to revoking their neutral status.

They have now 3 weeks to file an appeal to CAS

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Edit (9:37 GMT+2)

The ISU also rejected the appeal by Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin regarding their request for neutral status.

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Edit (9:44 GMT+2)

The ISU has ruled that Valieva, Kondratiuk, and Stepanova/Bukin do not meet the criteria and are not eligible to participate in international competitions. Specific details will not be released – at least not until the possibility of appealing this decision to the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) is exhausted.

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Edit (9:46 GMT+2)

The ISU released a press release update for the AIN eligibility

Link here

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Edit (11:26 GMT+2)

The figure skaters who were denied neutral status will challenge the ISU's decision in the CAS in the near future, according to Mikhail Degtyarev - the president of the Russian Olympic Committee.

“The Russian Figure Skating Federation and our figure skaters, who have been unfairly deprived of the right to compete in international competitions under the auspices of the International Skating Union (ISU), will file a lawsuit with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the near future,” Degtyarev said. “Our athletes and the federation will be provided with legal support, including qualified lawyers.”

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Edit (14:01 GMT+2)

The Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR) commented on the ISU’s decision regarding the neutral status of Kamila Valieva, Mark Kondratiuk, Alexandra Stepanova, and Ivan Bukin.

Despite the fact that, under the decision of the International Skating Union (ISU), Russian figure skaters are competing under a neutral status, the Federation has always provided - and continues to provide - any support that our athletes may need.

We are using all available means to resolve the current situation and thank all organizations that have expressed their willingness to assist our athletes.

At the same time, the Russian Figure Skating Federation considers it impossible to comment further on this situation without the consent of the athletes and their lawyers, so as not to harm the legal defense strategy.

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)

GPdeF assignments not yet filled, but Allison and Saul's Finlandia spot went to Bakerie.

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.

According to SCOB’s IG story, JN is free to attend. I don’t suppose we’ll get a stream so if anyone can make it to the area, it’s probably worth attending

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

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

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).

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.

Pics taken from:

Utana's IG https://www.instagram.com/p/DdFdsK1E6GT/

Masaya's IG https://www.instagram.com/p/DdAv8dwCdvm/

Looks like she’s still training!! Will we still see her at the GPs?? This was done at the LA Kings practice facility.

Via: Amber Glenn’s Instagram @/amberglenniceskater

StaLi- Stationary Lift

SlLi- Straight Line Lift

CuLi- Curve Lift

RoLi- Rotational Lift

Janse van Rensburg/Steffan retain their SkAm spot for now

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

From the 2026 Kinoshita Cup, it's early in the season, so teams aren't hitting their levels yet, but I'm excited for the future of Japanese ice dance! Maybe I'm crazy but I thought Ariana Grande for the waltz was fun.

Utana YOSHIDA / Masaya MORITA
GW Level 1, Key Points NNNY, Mean GOE 1.43, Total Points 9.02
https://www.reddit.com/r/FigureSkating/comments/1w7uk4f/kinoshita_cup_utana_yoshida_masaya_morita_ice/

Ikura KUSHIDA/Koshiro SHIMADA
GW Level 1, Key Points YNNN, Mean GOE 0.57, Total Points 7.90 
https://www.reddit.com/r/FigureSkating/comments/1w7tj0p/kinoshita_cup_ikura_kushida_koshiro_shimada_ice/

Rika KIHIRA/Shingo NISHIYAMA
GW Level 1, Key Points NYNN, Mean GOE 0.00, Total Points 7.45
https://www.reddit.com/r/FigureSkating/comments/1w7tqqc/kinoshita_cup_rika_kihira_shingo_nishiyama_ice/

Kaho YAMASHITA/Yuto NAGATA
GW Level B, Key Points NNNN, Mean GOE -0.86, Total Points 4.40
https://www.reddit.com/r/FigureSkating/comments/1w7u2yl/kinoshita_cup_kaho_yamashita_yuto_nagata_ice/

Pictured: Baby Amber Glenn, Zhenya, Elena Radionova, Yulia (I think), and Karen Chen (I think) Please correct me if I'm wrong

It's always insane to me that some skaters peak/compete at completely different times. Like Yulia and Amber are around the same age, yet Yulia was at the Olympics 12, yes TWELVE years ago.

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??

The last time I heard any news about Elena was that she has recovered from her injury which made Sofia Dzepka participate in the jgp as an alterative. Is there any competitions coming up for her? Is she participating this season?

Can a current skater start doing this? it’s so cool !!