# This Week in Skating / 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics - Men's Free Skate Recap

An episode of [This Week in Skating Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1621874792), 15 Feb 2026, 46 min.

Audio: https://audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/b3de4f89-ac33-444c-8282-066a4b071baf/stream.mp3

Though Gina is back home, she and Matteo recorded an episode recapping all that went down during the men's free skate on Friday in Milan. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

## Transcript

[0:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hi everyone, I'm Vincent Jo.
[0:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hi, I'm Kathy Reed.
[0:03] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And I'm Allison Reed.
[0:05] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Hi, I'm Ashley.
[0:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Hi, I'm Grace.
[0:07] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We're from the Hidden X.
[0:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Welcome to this week in Skating, the weekly podcast bringing you the latest news from the world of figure skating.
[0:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Here are your hosts, Daphne, Gina, and let's say it.
[0:35] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Hello from Milan and upstate New York.
[0:43] \[SPEAKER_02\]: That's right.
[0:45] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I am home, back from the Olympics.
[0:49] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I got home about midnight.
[0:53] \[SPEAKER_02\]: on Sunday and this is when we are recording it is Sunday morning here for me in the on the east coast and for Mateo it's the afternoon and Milan and a better way to kick off being back home by recording a podcast.
[1:13] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah.
[1:14] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And already missing your lot, Gina, over here.
[1:17] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Actually, so just for everyone to know when Gina left, it was raining.
[1:20] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It was quite that weather wise.
[1:22] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Today, it's a glorious day of sunshine, which, you know, doesn't really make too much of a difference because we're always busy doing, you know,
[1:41] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy a bit of that sanction, but I'm sending song your way, you know, please send it my way, please send it my way I'm looking out the window right now and there is like a lot of snow and it's it's actually I do see the sun here So that's good, but yes, I'm missing you.
[1:58] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I'm missing.
[1:58] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I'm wishing I was right next to you talking about this though right now I'm still kind of in my pajamas, so you
[2:05] \[SPEAKER_02\]: You do you don't really want me next to you right now and I haven't like gotten into the day mode yet So I'm still like adjusting literally my suitcases are still in the like that my living room Closed up and I haven't unpacked so that will be today's plan unpacking and
[2:27] \[SPEAKER_02\]: watching the pairs.
[2:29] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And Matteo and I said, we're going to try to record around this time.
[2:34] \[SPEAKER_02\]: You know, throughout the week, we didn't record every day while we were in Milan.
[2:38] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So we've been doing this every other day.
[2:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So I think maybe on Tuesday, we'll come back with another episode.
[2:46] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So we'll try to see how this works here.
[2:49] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Again, I'm wishing I was there.
[2:51] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So we would have to deal with a six hour time difference.
[2:54] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But it is what it is, we'll make it work.
[2:58] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Oh, Mateo, we have to talk about this men's free skate.
[3:03] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And we'll talk a little bit about the pairs that we'll happen later today.
[3:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But, you know, I was hoping we were not going to have
[3:12] \[SPEAKER_02\]: drama in the men's event and boy did we sure have some drama with the results um we all know how much Ili amalanin was the favorite coming into these games I mean he did have a five point lead after the short program but he has been promoted and marketed so much as the next
[3:37] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We were sort of expecting that.
[3:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And that's not what happened.
[3:43] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And if you are to pull up the results of the men's event and you look from short program to free skate, it's a mess.
[3:54] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I've never seen anything like this before.
[3:57] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But our Olympic champion is Mikhail Shutteroff of Kazakhstan.
[4:03] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Um, he was fifth after the short program came up and shockingly surprisingly won the gold medal completely, he was surprised, you know, he was surprised that when he won at least a medal.
[4:18] \[SPEAKER_02\]: He was still like shocked when it was going to possibly be silver, and then he was even more shocked when he took home the title.
[4:29] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And, um, boy, I did not see this one coming.
[4:34] \[SPEAKER_01\]: That was quite shocking indeed.
[4:36] \[SPEAKER_01\]: We were there and I think you've seen all the men's going around that was saying, oh look.
[4:41] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Shader of realizing he's a bronze medalist and then the silver medalist and then the Olympic champion and we were all going through the same journey there.
[4:50] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I feel I feel like you know that the mens vinyl had the entire audience in the arena but also at home going like oh oh oh my gosh oh we were you know it was so difficult to hit
[5:05] \[SPEAKER_01\]: process what was going on within it because we, you know, it's it's quite set when you see some of the skaters that couldn't pull out the best gates knowing how much they can do and how well they can do and and you know, your lean picks are that once every four year opportunity that they have and for them to have needs that chance to shine.
[5:26] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Bush VD said to witness, particularly for someone as you said, like Helia, which has been, I think Helia was not even the, the focus or the main attention point of the, that the figures, Kenya dealing because I think Helia was what everyone was talking about in relation to the entire winter and in big games in a way.
[5:45] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And
[5:46] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You know, these said it's just Olympics.
[5:49] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So it's still an experience.
[5:51] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It's something that skaters learn from and it doesn't define who they are when they cannot form, but it defines them who they are when they get to the middle, like what happened with Shidor, if he went out there, he delivered his jumps.
[6:06] \[SPEAKER_01\]: He had a triple axel, a quarter-fold sunk of, you remember, well, combination that was strong.
[6:12] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You know, he's been doing that throughout the entire season.
[6:15] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And yeah, and he was sitting in the Leo chair and not leaving it.
[6:20] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah, yeah.
[6:22] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I mean, he did his trademark combination there that we've we've seen throughout the season.
[6:29] \[SPEAKER_02\]: His performance for me didn't sit, you know, like it wasn't it wasn't an Olympic gold medal performance for me.
[6:37] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It didn't really leave me.
[6:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: um, feeling much afterwards.
[6:43] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I think we turned to each other and we both didn't say a word.
[6:46] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Um, after his skate, because we kind of felt the same way about it.
[6:50] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It was just, it was technically strong, but it didn't leave me feeling a lot of emotions.
[6:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It wasn't one of those performances that had me, you know, crying, or it just, it just kind of let me flat maybe.
[7:05] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Like, okay, that was, that was a good skate,
[7:10] \[SPEAKER_02\]: make me have all those feelings and stuff like that.
[7:14] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And so I didn't expect, you know, gold out of him.
[7:19] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And, you know, with Ilya,
[7:24] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It was so hard, it was hard to watch and Mateo can tell you my head was in his shoulder like every time he went to go jump because I couldn't watch.
[7:34] \[SPEAKER_02\]: As soon as he popped that quad axle attempt, I knew something was off.
[7:42] \[SPEAKER_02\]: He looked, he looked fine in that six-minute warm-up, but as soon as he took the ice, it was like,
[7:52] \[SPEAKER_02\]: the nerves just hit him and you know I thought he could pull it back together after the quad axle attempt but no it just it like was he was not physically there like he was just going through the the skate maybe the motions I don't know how to describe it but just it was
[8:17] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So below what he's capable of, um, he finished 15th in the free skate, um, 8th overall did not metal.
[8:27] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I kind of had a feeling towards that end of the skate that he probably was not going to metal.
[8:34] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Um,
[8:36] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But I do have to say, I have to commend him because the scene that we've been seeing all over social media, all over the web is him congratulating Michaelle, I thought that was a very classy act, great sportsmanship, that photo of him just giving him a hug and congratulating him, I'm sure.
[9:07] \[SPEAKER_02\]: A lot of emotions mostly he was upset and frustrated, but I think in the scheme of things, you know, it was just seeing him hugging and embrace Mikael was a powerful moment for sure.
[9:25] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I think also I want to ask you to guess that we know that Illya's basically been virtually under the video over the last three seasons.
[9:34] \[SPEAKER_01\]: could have made a couple of mistakes because that happened before and still got the gold medal that unfortunately made too many mistakes.
[9:42] \[SPEAKER_01\]: But as you said, what he then brought with that hug after the competition and also, you know, we need to share that in the mix so he was incredibly professional.
[9:51] \[SPEAKER_01\]: He stopped by he just explained, you know, my nerves got the bad the best of me and I just
[9:59] \[SPEAKER_01\]: couldn't deliver what I wanted to deliver, but I want to congratulate all the medalists that's incredibly professional and much here.
[10:06] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And what I was telling Gina as well is he's not coming out of these, you know, defeated.
[10:13] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Hopefully we'll do the reflections that he needs to do he has been speaking up about mental health issues quite a lot as well, which is great for the
[10:24] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You know, one, I don't want to call it in the cater, but I was being in before the Olympic started.
[10:30] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It had half a million followers on Instagram.
[10:33] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Gina, as we speak, is on 999,000.
[10:37] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So close to reach a million, which I believe, but a sandwich finished his recording will be heat.
[10:42] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And it's not, you know, popularity, see,
[10:45] \[SPEAKER_01\]: There has to be something that defines him, but this is the impact that he's having in the world of skating and outside of the world of skating.
[10:54] \[SPEAKER_01\]: He's actually bringing change to the sport.
[10:58] \[SPEAKER_01\]: He's given a new perspective to it and the fact that the
[11:03] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You know, the people like him is something that he hopefully will be able to reflect on, and you know, get all the positive vibes out of these.
[11:11] \[SPEAKER_01\]: He still has the gold medal from the team event anyway.
[11:13] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So it's not getting out of these, you know, with an empty pocket.
[11:16] \[SPEAKER_01\]: He's still an Olympic champion.
[11:18] \[SPEAKER_01\]: But, um, being only 21, he's got four years to work on what he needs to work and come back and see what he can do in the next Olympic cycle.
[11:28] \[SPEAKER_02\]: oh yeah yeah he's not going anywhere anytime soon we know that and i just hope he gets the support he needs to handle this disappointment again he's as you said he's not leaving these games with nothing i mean he's an Olympic gold medalist of regardless that it wasn't in the individual event it was in the team event i at the
[11:55] \[SPEAKER_02\]: that we kind of degrade the team event a little bit.
[12:00] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And oh, well, it wasn't an individual metal.
[12:04] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So we don't really care.
[12:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: No, it's still an Olympic medal.
[12:09] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And so he's still an Olympian and an Olympic gold medalist.
[12:13] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It's nothing that should be taken away from him or just, well, it was just kind of nothing.
[12:20] \[SPEAKER_02\]: You just skated two programs
[12:24] \[SPEAKER_02\]: the others around you helped you get that.
[12:28] \[SPEAKER_02\]: No, so I just hope again he's surrounded by people who are going to bring him positive vibes and really help him through this and we're going to see him come back stronger.
[12:42] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We'll see him at worlds.
[12:43] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I'm sure he'll be at worlds.
[12:54] \[SPEAKER_02\]: The podcast who has been on this podcast quite a bit.
[12:58] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yes, I did get to see this person and Matteo got to meet him in Milan and That was sort of the same thing.
[13:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: He was saying was to You know, hopefully he gets this port he needs.
[13:14] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I also hope that we bring down this
[13:18] \[SPEAKER_02\]: hype around him, you know, is the quad god and all this pressure that was put on him bring it down a little bit.
[13:26] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And so that way he can kind of just go back to being a skater without all this hype and pressure put on him because I don't think that helps.
[13:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So again,
[13:43] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Uh, we got to congratulate, uh, Mikhail Shidoroff on his Olympic gold medal.
[13:50] \[SPEAKER_02\]: The first gold medal in figure skating for Kazakhstan.
[13:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I'm sure Dennis 10 is smiling down on Mikhail for how he has represented Kazakhstan in bringing home that gold medal.
[14:10] \[SPEAKER_01\]: of things to add in relation to Shaira Rath, his coach won gold in 1994 at your Olympic Games and it's quite interesting because I'm going to admit I don't remember specifically the event but I was told that it was a kind of a similar situation.
[14:27] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It was an underdog ended up winning gold so it's interesting that history repeats in that team.
[14:33] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And and also I don't know whether people sort of that I really recommend people do look for it.
[14:38] \[SPEAKER_01\]: There is this very funny video of Mikhail going through metal detector.
[14:43] \[SPEAKER_01\]: and the guard stopping him saying, hold on, we need to check and he unzipping his jam bird to show his gold medal.
[14:49] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I feel brilliant.
[14:52] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I love that humor.
[14:54] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And moving on to talk about our silver and bronze medalist.
[14:58] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So silver went to Yuma Kaguyama of Japan.
[15:02] \[SPEAKER_02\]: His second Olympic silver medal in the individual event.
[15:07] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yuma likes silver because he won a silver in
[15:11] \[SPEAKER_02\]: two team events with Japan.
[15:13] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So he's got four silver medals and Shinsato of Japan took the bronze medal.
[15:21] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So we'll talk about Yuma first.
[15:24] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yuma was in second right behind Iliya after the short program
[15:29] \[SPEAKER_02\]: had some mistakes in his free skate.
[15:33] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Though that program, I find it to be a masterpiece.
[15:39] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I was already tearing up watching it and practice.
[15:44] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I teared up a little bit during the actual event, and I think if it was skated clean, I would have, but he had mistakes.
[15:52] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I mean, he finished six in the free skate.
[15:55] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Again, if you look at those,
[15:57] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Short program to free skate results.
[16:00] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It's a hot mess.
[16:02] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Everybody was all over the place.
[16:03] \[SPEAKER_02\]: These results were Anything that we thought they would be But he did still do enough to claim the silver medal He was looked to be very happy about that.
[16:17] \[SPEAKER_02\]: He's got that smile that just makes you feel all happy inside every time you see him so
[16:26] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It was nice to see him, you know, still make it up onto the podium and still claim a medal.
[16:35] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And then Shun Sato, I mean, he was in ninth after the short program.
[16:43] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And so, but we set it was pretty close within like those, like after the third place
[16:55] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It was like everyone, the first second and third were in the hundreds after the short, but everybody else was sort of kind of like jumbled together by just like a few points and, um,
[17:08] \[SPEAKER_02\]: so it wasn't like a complete surprise that he was able to pull up to get on the podium, especially when others did not skate well.
[17:18] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So he finished third in the free skate, took home the bronze, he was very happy as well.
[17:24] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It was nice to see Kauri Sakamoto be there at the metal ceremony taking a photo of the two.
[17:31] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So
[17:32] \[SPEAKER_02\]: congrats to those guys as well.
[17:34] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I think sometimes we're kind of everybody's been focusing on the fact that Iliya did not win and we had McCall be the surprise gold medalist that there hasn't been a lot of attention put on you, Ma and Sean.
[17:48] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I chose the LaGridia, our steel Olympic medalist, which is a fantastic achievement.
[17:53] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You know, in a way of the old.
[17:55] \[SPEAKER_01\]: No.
[17:56] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Sorry, so to speak, because Yuma was incredibly happy as you said, and I think that that was generally genuine happiness to be a silver Olympic medalist again, but you know, the gold medal was there for him to grab.
[18:09] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And, you know, as we said before, your Olympic games are just a difficult competition mentally and still the leader of the beautiful program,
[18:19] \[SPEAKER_01\]: As you said, that's a masterpiece and a tool that I agree with you.
[18:23] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It's beautiful to watch.
[18:24] \[SPEAKER_01\]: He brings in and I still feel that at Worlds, we're going to see a fantastic free program again, because of course, the more we go through the season, the more these programs evolve.
[18:37] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And you must free program is just blossoming.
[18:42] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You know, I wish it's one of those programs that could be kept for another season, because it's so beautiful.
[18:47] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And when he comes to Shun, Shun has had started great season so far, and we love his coach because he's reacting with his huge happiness on the kiss and cry, and almost overtake in the attention, taking attention away from Shun Sasto, which is just sitting there like, oh my gosh, one of us just done.
[19:10] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And I feel like this time that the reaction on the crease and cry from the coach was a little muted, because of course it was still,
[19:17] \[SPEAKER_01\]: that there were so many skaters coming up, but when it was clear that shooting had bronze, man, the coach was just running around the side of the ring, celebrating and it was so great to see a Yuma looking at shooting that was in tears at that stage and clapping hands saying, almost like, well done, you did it, we were Olympic champions, that these are great memories and Olympic moments for sure.
[19:42] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I feel like that was
[19:44] \[SPEAKER_01\]: That was really, really beautiful to witness.
[19:47] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It's what your Olympics are.
[19:50] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You've got some doing really well, some doing not so well.
[19:53] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And so many surprises.
[19:55] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And I think that soon we kind of said it.
[19:58] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I think in one of the previous episodes, before your Olympics, then that soon started could be a surprise winner there.
[20:06] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And actually, look, that happened.
[20:08] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah.
[20:09] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah, I think I said it after like the team event because he skated so well in the team event.
[20:14] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I was like, hey, he could definitely be a medalist and sure enough he is.
[20:19] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Um, yeah, his coaches reaction, we knew we weren't going to see it after the short program because he was in like 9th place, but we did see it at the medal ceremony for sure.
[20:30] \[SPEAKER_02\]: He was so excited and, um, I think, you know, Shun was
[20:35] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Showing the emotions a little bit more, maybe more a little reserved than his coach, but still, you know, he was excited to take the bronze.
[20:47] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Juneua Cha of Korea finished fourth, just like less than a point behind Sean.
[20:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: He was in six.
[20:57] \[SPEAKER_02\]: He finished the free skate in fifth.
[20:59] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So finish fourth overall, but an impressive finish for him, especially given he had some issues this season.
[21:10] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We have to mention from Canada Stephen Golgilev.
[21:15] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Wow, what a free state.
[21:18] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I remember Daphne texting us and said, oh my God, Steven or something like, who is this Steven?
[21:24] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Obviously she knows who he is, but it's been a struggle for him these last few seasons.
[21:33] \[SPEAKER_02\]: and he came out and delivered the second best free skate of this men's competition.
[21:42] \[SPEAKER_02\]: He finished fifth overall, jumped five placements from 10th after the short program.
[21:50] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Again,
[21:51] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We've seen him struggle with injuries these last few seasons.
[21:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: This season was by far his best season since I'm going to say since basically I saw him on the Junior Grand Prix in 2019.
[22:08] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Um, so really good for him, good for Canada and possibly, you know, the future of Canada male figure skating, um, so I remember talking to Danny Allen, she goes, my Steven, my Steven, like she was very happy to see him, um, you know, skate well in the free skate.
[22:32] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So,
[22:32] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Um, but yeah, half, you know, definitely mentioned him.
[22:35] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We have to also on the flip side mention Adam, see how him Vah, of France.
[22:42] \[SPEAKER_02\]: He was third after the short dropped to seventh overall, had the 12th best free skate.
[22:51] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah, it was hard to see him make the mistakes and you know pull himself basically out of metal contention because he was so close after a really good short program and I know some people said he hasn't been able to produce two good skates in a while at the same event and unfortunately that happened here at the Olympics.
[23:17] \[UNKNOWN\]: Yeah.
[23:17] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It was, yeah, the way I mean, we were discussing how many changes from short free programs we saw at this event with literally, you know, from 3rd to 12 from 12 to 4th and combined, blah, blah, blah.
[23:31] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So it's just insane to have seen how much the short program could not really predict what the free program and the final results would have looked like.
[23:39] \[SPEAKER_01\]: But surely the where, you know,
[23:45] \[SPEAKER_01\]: had to unfortunately drop a few positions.
[23:47] \[SPEAKER_01\]: We mentioned Ilya, you mentioned Adam, just now Daniel Drassel potentially was one of them as well because it was poor after the short program and he ended up having the eight best prescades to finish ninth overall.
[24:00] \[SPEAKER_01\]: But overall it's, you know, when I think about your Olympics, I feel like it's still special and the result, yes,
[24:14] \[SPEAKER_01\]: skater said that at the end you can feel, I don't know what it's the same for you, Gina, but you can feel that some of them have been going through your Olympic experience and they kind of realized that they are in a special moment of their lives, um,
[24:28] \[SPEAKER_01\]: We've seen so many other beautiful moments as well, I want to mention Donovan Carillo of Mexico.
[24:35] \[SPEAKER_01\]: He finished in 22nd place, based overall, but you remember the funds there.
[24:41] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It was all of Mexican flags, and when he was waiting for the scores, people were chanting Mexico, Mexico, Mexico, and those moments are crazy.
[24:51] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You can see these people that have been skating on these,
[24:55] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Olympic eyes and they're making history for their country sometimes so they have your responsibilities.
[25:02] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Also, one dimension, of course, Maxime, known of which ended in 20th place, but he, it was basically moved and appears at the end because for him, that was the most special case.
[25:15] \[SPEAKER_01\]: He was there.
[25:16] \[SPEAKER_01\]: He
[25:17] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I'm pretty sure he dedicated the skate to his parents.
[25:20] \[SPEAKER_01\]: He had a foot of them if you remember, so she was talking to the father.
[25:24] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So it was almost like he was talking to his parents and he felt that they were there with him at your Olympics and that was incredibly moving.
[25:34] \[SPEAKER_02\]: yes indeed and you know congratulations to him for making it because we didn't know what Max was going to do following that tragedy last year and so it was great to see him on Olympic ice and I'm sure parents his parents were beaming with pride
[25:54] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And since we are talking about the U.S. Andrew Torgashev finished 12, he did have like the 9th best free skate.
[26:05] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So again, if you pull those results up and you just look, there's numbers all over the place.
[26:12] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And that was the first thing that our...
[26:16] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Um, guess that has been on this week and skating more than anybody else set me when we were chatting about it via text message was he goes, I've never seen this result like this before like to see the dramatic you know placements between short and free and overall it's across the board, but you know congrats to Andrew again for an Olympic
[26:45] \[SPEAKER_02\]: a great Olympic debut um you know for some of these skaters just being out there on Olympic ice is enough and we we say that that's an accomplishment all in itself and you know
[26:59] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Elia said it in one of his interviews it's so much different the Olympics is so much different than any other competition and if it's your first Olympics You may be feeling that stress in that pressure More than anyone else because you don't know what to expect you don't know how you're gonna be able to get out there and handle handle it all
[27:23] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Others who have been there and done that before, they may find it easier.
[27:28] \[SPEAKER_02\]: They may have figured out how to handle everything.
[27:31] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And so we saw this happen with Nathan Chen in 2018.
[27:38] \[SPEAKER_02\]: The pressure for him was intense.
[27:41] \[SPEAKER_02\]: He struggled.
[27:43] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Was it what he expected?
[27:45] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And he came back in 2022 with an Olympic gold medal.
[27:52] \[SPEAKER_02\]: most likely do the same in my opinion.
[27:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: He's gonna come back from this.
[27:59] \[SPEAKER_02\]: He's gonna come back stronger and we're gonna see him an Olympic champion in either 2030 or 2034 because he told us as long as his body was capable he was going for another two.
[28:11] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So it's not the end for him at all and so
[28:18] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Again, very, you know, shocking and surprising results, you know, when I decided to go, well, once I was approved for the Olympics and I was trying to figure out if I was going to be able to go for the whole Olympics or if I was only going to be able to do part of it.
[28:41] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I mean, the schedule was one of the first things I looked at and said,
[28:47] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Okay, what can I do?
[28:49] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Can I go for the whole thing, or can I go for part?
[28:52] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And I looked at it as well.
[28:58] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Let me go at the beginning because I get the team event.
[29:01] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I also get ice stands, and I also get men.
[29:04] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And I,
[29:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Thought, you know, dance, team USA had a very good shot at being gold medalist, and in the men, Iliya was the strong favorite to win gold, and did either one of those things happen?
[29:22] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Did that change how my experience at the Olympics went?
[29:28] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Absolutely not.
[29:30] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And when I talk to our producer of the podcast in the airport yesterday morning, who came to the Olympics for dance and men because of that same sort of thing, the US was favored in both of those.
[29:47] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I said to her,
[29:52] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Are you still happy you came?
[29:53] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And the answer was yes.
[29:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I mean, the result does not take away the experience.
[30:01] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And I am wishing I was still there right now, but again, not seeing
[30:09] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Medi and Evan taking gold or not seeing Iliya taking gold does not take away the experience that I had over those 10 days, and it just comes to show you you can't take anything for granted that
[30:24] \[SPEAKER_02\]: whatever happens is going to happen.
[30:27] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We can't predict anything.
[30:28] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We can try, but it can't predict what's going to happen.
[30:33] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And you have to be excited and appreciative that you were there to witness whatever you have.
[30:43] \[SPEAKER_02\]: to see you happen to see so yeah so a little you know was there a little disappointments for sure you know where people still talking about the fact that Ellie had didn't win in the airport yesterday and I'm like please stop yes but I would not take
[31:04] \[SPEAKER_02\]: anything.
[31:05] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I would not trade anything for the opportunity that I had to be at those to be at the games.
[31:11] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It's still in the history as well, isn't it?
[31:12] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So as we mentioned, Shadow of Scourge in 1994 are getting gold at your Olympics.
[31:18] \[SPEAKER_01\]: People remember that who knows, but it went years down the line somewhere would tell us, or do you remember when Ian Malene did not get gold and the cassette, the guys from Kazakhstan got gold and you will say, I was there.
[31:30] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Exactly, exactly.
[31:32] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Or in the Ice Dance event, well, did you realize that there was some controversy with the judging there?
[31:39] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And I'll say, yep, I was there.
[31:42] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Can I also say Agents check Elias, Instagram, and if reach about a million followers?
[31:49] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So as I said, again, show in how in
[31:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yes, yeah, you know, definitely it's everybody's following skating.
[32:02] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I mean, we've said it on the podcast before I got people who are messaging me that I had no clue.
[32:08] \[SPEAKER_02\]: cared or even thought about skating, but they, you know, are reaching out.
[32:14] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So be quickly before we go, we should talk about we are now moving on to the pairs that is happening later today in Milan.
[32:27] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And we have five.
[32:30] \[SPEAKER_02\]: groups, 19 teams, and only 16 teams will advance to the free skate, and I think the big story right now for the pairs event is the fact that we are going to see Diana Salado Dudek and Maxim Deschamps.
[32:51] \[SPEAKER_02\]: compete.
[32:52] \[SPEAKER_02\]: There was all that question about what they compete or not after they withdrew from the team event and there was the talk of the fact that she was injured during training, but they did touch down in Milan.
[33:05] \[SPEAKER_02\]: They have practiced.
[33:07] \[SPEAKER_02\]: They have spoken to the media.
[33:09] \[SPEAKER_02\]: They're not going in and saying exactly what happened.
[33:13] \[SPEAKER_02\]: They're kind of keeping it very vague right now.
[33:17] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But I know that they are not going to do that backflip that they've been doing all seasons.
[33:24] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So that leads me to think there was something that happened with that element that caused the injury and caused them to miss the team event.
[33:37] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But it will be interesting to see how well they do
[33:42] \[SPEAKER_02\]: on Olympic ice.
[33:44] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I guess practices have been going well in Milan, but I think everyone is going to be watching them for sure.
[33:51] \[SPEAKER_02\]: They are in the second to last group.
[33:55] \[SPEAKER_02\]: They'll skate right before that final group and that final group.
[34:00] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We have Anastasiya Melzakina and Luca Bruvilla of Georgia.
[34:07] \[SPEAKER_02\]: They are the
[34:11] \[SPEAKER_02\]: one of the favorites for Olympic gold in Milan, after them competing are newly crowned Olympic bronze medalists, Sarah Conti and Niccolo Machi, we did not see them.
[34:25] \[SPEAKER_02\]: at Europeans, but they didn't do so bad in the team event.
[34:31] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So definitely a team that could be on the podium and claim another medal in Milan.
[34:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We saw Riku Mira and Riyachikara of Japan in the team event with strong skates from them.
[34:48] \[SPEAKER_02\]: They are looking to possibly be Olympic champions.
[34:54] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So we'll definitely have to see what comes of them today.
[34:58] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And the closing out that final group is Manerva Fabian Hase and the Kita Voloden of Germany haven't seen them yet.
[35:07] \[SPEAKER_02\]: On Olympic ice because Germany was not part of the team event, so it will be interesting to see how they skate.
[35:15] \[SPEAKER_02\]: They've had kind of like up and down a little bit this season.
[35:19] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So that's, I mean, that's who we're looking at, but of course there's other teams as well that could, you know, could possibly
[35:30] \[SPEAKER_02\]: be contenders or for you know, for metal or could just have some great skates in Milan.
[35:38] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I'm looking forward to seeing it and I'm going to message you as if you were there with being so worried not to guess all the behind the scenes.
[35:46] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I told you that I am still and I actually did it today.
[35:50] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I fix my phone so I have now the East Coast time and the Milan time.
[35:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So I am still like
[35:57] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You're still here.
[35:58] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I'm still there, I am texting still with everybody who is still there, I was texting with Robin this morning.
[36:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So yeah, so though I'm not physically there, I am there in spirit, I'm going to be following along thankfully today, I don't have to work.
[36:15] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Tomorrow is a holiday, I don't have to work, so I get to watch.
[36:22] \[SPEAKER_02\]: pairs, and then as I said, a TV is going in my office.
[36:28] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Come, come, what Wednesday?
[36:30] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We have the women's short program or Tuesday.
[36:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Tuesday.
[36:35] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Tuesday.
[36:35] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We have the women's short program, so that TV will be going in my office Wednesdays a day off.
[36:42] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So I'm okay there and then Thursday.
[36:45] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I mean, it's just two days, not like the end of the world, but yeah, it's Matteo, can you believe it's like, you're now, we're at the halfway point, but you know, you only have a few days left.
[36:58] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I was thinking about it yesterday because, yes, there are only two segments, but actually four segments left.
[37:06] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So short, free program affairs, short, free programs on the women's
[37:09] \[SPEAKER_01\]: and then I will head back to London because unfortunately I cannot do the Kala and the closing ceremony I would have blocked two of us as everyone knows we are taking time off from work to be here and we got to be mindful of how much time we take of work and how much time we give ourselves to rest and recuperate as well because
[37:27] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You know, even last night, I want to mention I went to Pride House in Milano for the Out and Proud event, which was a fantastic night where all Olympians were talking about and professional athletes were talking about out there being a or less-beons or queer.
[37:45] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So anyone in the LGBTQI-plus community, there were big names there, Eric Rockforce, Caitlyn Weaver,
[37:57] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I'm trying to think about everyone, oh my gosh, Olivier's March got there as she also delivered a beautiful beautiful speech and she announced that she's engaged to Jean Luke Baker, Congratulations!
[38:08] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I know how exciting!
[38:10] \[SPEAKER_01\]: That was so exciting, she was peeing and almost emanating lies when she had to share it.
[38:16] \[SPEAKER_01\]: But yeah, it was a fantastic night.
[38:18] \[SPEAKER_01\]: They all shared their experiences of being athletes that decided to came out, whether they did this, you know, while competing or after competing.
[38:27] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And how they hoped to inspire everyone to, you know, to be there through sales.
[38:35] \[SPEAKER_01\]: But yes, you know, the then I got back quite late.
[38:40] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And again, a few hours of sleep today, it's another day of competitions, tomorrow, another petition.
[38:47] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So, the time to sleep is very limited, both because not really having too much time and also because you're adrenaline, you know, being at super high levels.
[38:57] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So after everything is done, I'm looking forward to hopefully take some really good, you
[39:09] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I'll probably head back to London, full of happy memories and mindful that I'm probably with even one of, if not the best experience of my life so far, because I think that that's your Olympics for you.
[39:23] \[SPEAKER_01\]: We are all passionate about the skating.
[39:25] \[SPEAKER_01\]: That's why we talk about figure skating.
[39:27] \[SPEAKER_01\]: That's why we talk to you and you follow words to a lot of figure skating.
[39:30] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And yeah, your Olympics are just
[39:33] \[SPEAKER_02\]: special incredibly special is and even though i'm not there anymore it's i i don't think i'm gonna be able to come down off of this high of the Olympics for a while i mean i haven't
[39:49] \[SPEAKER_02\]: gotten to talk to anybody else other than all of you you guys on this podcast and you know of course Mateo and it deafening and and all of our friends that are in Milan too but yeah once people start coming up to me and talking about it I don't think I'm going to be able to stop
[40:10] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And so, yes, I'm kind of still, even though I'm here, yes, like, I think my mom asked me, well, get some sleep.
[40:19] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Don't, you know, worry about things.
[40:20] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I'm like, oh, I can't yet.
[40:23] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I mean, we still have a couple more days of the Olympics, and just because I'm not physically there, I still have to be on my Milan time, East Coast time, and still, you know, following along and doing
[40:39] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah, it was an experience that it's still hard to put in words, but definitely grateful that I was able to be there regardless that I wasn't there for the whole entire time.
[40:53] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Will I do the whole entire time in France?
[40:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Maybe by that time I would feel like I have an off vacation, maybe I should store it up now.
[41:03] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But you know, I will definitely want to try to do more of it.
[41:09] \[SPEAKER_02\]: You know, we never know what the schedule will look like for those events.
[41:13] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Those games, but this schedule as I was telling An-Less Night, while I was at the airport worked in my favor because
[41:24] \[SPEAKER_02\]: The first six days we had six days without a day off, that meant I got to see six days escaping.
[41:31] \[SPEAKER_02\]: The team event was three days then we had rhythm dance, men's short, and then free dance.
[41:38] \[SPEAKER_02\]: If it wasn't as jam packed like that, I don't know if I would've gotten to see so much in such a short amount of time.
[41:46] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So, again, who knows what the schedule will look like for years from now and with all this talk about moving or skaters wanting the team event to move to the end,
[42:01] \[SPEAKER_02\]: we'll have to see what what it'll look like going forward.
[42:05] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It's so hard because we have added that team of that, that we have now made figure skating.
[42:11] \[SPEAKER_02\]: The beginning starts all the way at the beginning and goes all the way to the end.
[42:17] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yes, and we need time for the skating because we have things happening individually.
[42:22] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You've got basically 10 days of figure skating.
[42:25] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Actually 11 thinking about the team event.
[42:32] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And you know that your Olympics are just two weeks long.
[42:35] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So you've got to make it happen that way.
[42:37] \[SPEAKER_01\]: But let's see, it's going to be interesting.
[42:40] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And we'll see a lot of different faces at the next winter Olympic games.
[42:44] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Firstly, I'm saying this particularly with ice dance, because in ice dance, we had a lot of teams that are enjoying a remarkable longevity in the sports.
[42:53] \[SPEAKER_01\]: But we're expecting some of them to retire after it is Olympic cycle.
[42:57] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So it's going to be interesting to look forward to that.
[43:01] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Wake all the bears coming up.
[43:02] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So we'll be back with you.
[43:04] \[SPEAKER_02\]: He's coming up.
[43:05] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yes.
[43:05] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And we kept that.
[43:07] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yes.
[43:09] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So yeah, again, even though I'm back, I'm going to pretend like I'm still there by recording.
[43:16] \[SPEAKER_02\]: at early in the morning here on the east coast with Mateo before he heads to the arena for the day and he gets his prime location.
[43:27] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I don't think you should have as hard of a time today getting a spot.
[43:30] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I feel like some of the
[43:33] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Some of the journalists may not all be around maybe more for the free skate, but I don't know.
[43:38] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I mean, as you are as there were quite a lot of people for the pairs event, so you never know.
[43:44] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Well, we'll see it.
[43:45] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I mean, each event has been incredibly well attended, so despite of the rumors that there were no tickets being said, not all tickets were being sold.
[43:53] \[SPEAKER_01\]: What we saw at the arena were very, very few empty seats.
[43:58] \[SPEAKER_01\]: a lot of special guests as well as their and the men's final Simone Bells was there.
[44:03] \[SPEAKER_01\]: We had Jeff Goldland not too far from us and he was cheering for every single man at the end of each competition He was just standing up and clapping for them and I feel that that was incredibly heartwarming and a lot saying that But yeah, we'll we'll report back and Shall I conclude with the Italian sentences I've been doing so far Gina unless you tried to say something
[44:30] \[SPEAKER_02\]: you spoiled now so I don't have to feel like I have to say Italian all the time so it's all up you're exempted okay so I'm going to say born-up competition at the lecopia which means happy bears competition I think I got that without you translating it well that was drama talk later
[44:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Thanks for tuning in to another episode of This Week in Skating.
[44:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Remember, you can keep up with us throughout the week by visiting our website at www.thisweekenscading.com.
[45:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Connect with us on social media for additional updates.
[45:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You can find us on Twitter at This Week in Skating without the ease or Facebook Instagram and Threads at This Week in Skating.
[45:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You got a burning question or feedback for Gina Daphne or Mateo?
[45:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Reach out to us via social media or drop us an email at thisweekenscading at gmail.com.
[45:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And if you're really enjoying the show and want to support us further, consider joining our Patreon community at patreon.com slash this week in skating.
[45:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Until next time, have a nice week!

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