# This Week in Skating / 2026 ISU Congress Recap

An episode of [This Week in Skating Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1621874792), 16 Jun 2026, 1 h 15 min.

Audio: https://audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/4f2d15ce-7460-4440-b514-1c602a8fd870/stream.mp3

In this episode, Daphne, Matteo and Gina discuss the ISU Congress that took place June 10-12 in Tenerife, Spain. Show Notes: https://www.thisweekinskating.com/2026/06/show-notes-isu-congress-recap/ ---- This Week in Skating is hosted by Gina Capellazzi, Daphne Backman and Matteo Morelli is a cooperative project between Figure Skaters Online and Ice-dance.com. New episodes are available every Tuesday. Website: https://www.thisweekinskating.com Email: thisweekinskating@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thisweekinskating Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thiswkinskating Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinskating Thread: https://www.threads.net/@thisweekinskating Patreon: patreon.com/ThisWeekinSkating Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/this-week-in-skating-podcast/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

## Transcript

[0:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hi everyone, I'm Vincent Joe.
[0:01] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Hi, I'm Kathy Reed.
[0:03] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And I'm Allison Reed.
[0:05] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Hi, I'm Ashley.
[0:06] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Hi, I'm Grace.
[0:07] \[SPEAKER_04\]: We're from the Haternets.
[0:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I am Martin Rezzi.
[0:10] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Hello everyone.
[0:10] \[SPEAKER_04\]: How are you?
[0:11] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Thank you.
[0:11] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Thank you.
[0:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We're from the Haternets.
[0:25] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Welcome to this week in Skating, the weekly podcast bringing you the latest news from the world of figure skating.
[0:31] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Here are your hosts, Daphne, Gina and Matteo.
[0:36] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And we're back!
[0:37] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Yes, all three of us!
[0:39] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Myself, Daphne, as well as Gina and Matteo, were all here to talk about the ISU Congress and the key takeaways.
[0:50] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's been a while since the three of us have been together, although we have been messaging in our text thread, keeping on top of what's going on, but I've missed seeing you guys.
[1:01] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I got used to seeing you every week or every other week doing the weekly, so it's great.
[1:08] \[SPEAKER_04\]: To be here with you again.
[1:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, it is great to be back.
[1:13] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, I'm not ready though I'm glad to see you guys, but I'm just not ready like this.
[1:20] \[SPEAKER_03\]: No, this Talking about skating I could use a few more weeks of Comments before Madness begins again because I feel like this week is gonna be madness.
[1:33] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I don't know you guys
[1:36] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It's also interesting though, because it feels like there's not really a break, although we are not doing the regular things that we do, but there's always something coming up every week.
[1:44] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So our chat is over buzzing with messages, but to be here together is probably the thing that we wanted to have happening for a while, so pretty happy that we're all back.
[1:57] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Yeah, there have been some new teams announced.
[2:01] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There have been coaching changes.
[2:03] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There have been choreographer announcements.
[2:07] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There have been some splits.
[2:09] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There have just been a lot of changes over the past.
[2:13] \[SPEAKER_04\]: You know, month I would say, plus it's
[2:19] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Coming out of Congress, we have the waiting game for what is considered Christmas for figure skating fans, which is an announcement of the Grand Prix assignments, and according to Jackie over at Rocker's Skating, they could come any time this week.
[2:41] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, that's what I call this week madness.
[2:45] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I know it's kind of Christmas, but I feel like this year, especially it's madness because we're going to get these announcements and we're going to see skaters not on the list who
[2:56] \[SPEAKER_03\]: are we're going to be going are they retiring?
[2:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: What are they doing?
[3:00] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Are they just skipping out on the Grand Prix?
[3:03] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We're going to see partnerships that haven't been announced yet on this list.
[3:07] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So that's why I'm calling it madness this year.
[3:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's not really Christmas.
[3:11] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's madness because there's just going to be so many different storylines coming out of these Grand Prix assignments.
[3:18] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And you know, I did do an episode a couple weeks ago like
[3:23] \[SPEAKER_03\]: talking about everything that had happened since we last in a weekly, and I think I texted both of you and said when things were starting to come out about new partnerships, I was like, do I need to do another episode?
[3:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Like, can't we just have everything happened all at once instead of
[3:41] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Oh, here's news this week.
[3:43] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It news this week.
[3:44] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It news this week.
[3:45] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I just I don't know.
[3:46] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I know that's how things happened, but it's been feeling this way this season.
[3:52] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I think it's just because it's the, you know, we're going into a new four year cycle and I don't know, but it's just been madness.
[4:02] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That's my word for this off season madness.
[4:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I feel, though, maybe the Congress should have actually regulated on skaters are given between these weekend that week to make announcements, no announcement outside of these period will be accepted.
[4:17] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I agree.
[4:18] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Oh, I mean, I still agree on that.
[4:20] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I see that we should tell them to think about the next year's Christmas.
[4:24] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's really interesting, because
[4:28] \[SPEAKER_04\]: single skaters and the pair skaters really don't keep things as secret as I stands.
[4:35] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I feel like when it comes to I stands programs they hold it tight to their chest and I wish I could say well that's a new thing that's been going on for decades.
[4:45] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's been this secret of thing.
[4:47] \[SPEAKER_04\]: You didn't tell people what events you were going to.
[4:49] \[SPEAKER_04\]: You didn't let anyone see your practices.
[4:52] \[SPEAKER_04\]: You didn't tell anyone what your programs were.
[4:56] \[SPEAKER_04\]: it, it's always been an ice dance thing and I don't know if it's because it's supposed to be mysterious or protective, but it'd be great to normalize, you know, letting the information get out there and just getting to where.
[5:13] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I guess.
[5:14] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Well, I suppose your nice dance as well what happens is that the program is fundamental.
[5:18] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Not that it's not in the other categories, but it's fundamental and in a way, if you come out to early, you may give your competitors an advantage because maybe that will think okay, they're doing something melodic.
[5:32] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So let's do something which is opposite to that so that people will have something different
[5:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: being quite obvious over the last two of the years that with the different teams for the rhythm dance there were a lot of okay someone is announcing these music and then two weeks later or these teammates carry on the same music and they are heading on the same music as well so it's become very interesting to see these kind of patterns while these year it's going to be quite different as opposed given that we don't know what's going to happen with the rhythm dance
[6:05] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So no.
[6:07] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And as the day we're recording this, the ISU just released a communication with the technical info and all of the other usual pieces.
[6:21] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's communication to 795.
[6:23] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's junior and senior requirements for technical specifications.
[6:28] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I have not had a chance to read it because it came out just before.
[6:33] \[SPEAKER_04\]: we recorded this episode.
[6:35] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So that's something that I'm going to have to look through and just see what some of the things are.
[6:42] \[SPEAKER_04\]: that's another thing that's really hard is I think some of the changes for the other sports leak out or get started earlier and in dance it's almost like it's last minute so I was made a double change if this is later than usual for the requirements for a stance to come out or is this usually this roughly around the same time I feel like some information gets shared at worlds in the meeting at
[7:13] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I mean, it's been up and down like this for years.
[7:17] \[SPEAKER_04\]: My hope is that things will.
[7:21] \[SPEAKER_04\]: maybe stabilize and we'll get to something that matches more with singles and pairs and when they release their information or at the very least maybe it would have come out in April like an actual documentation in April, but that is really up to the technical committee and they're going to have their hands full because it's basically a brand new I stand technical committee.
[7:47] \[SPEAKER_04\]: But we'll get to that in a little bit.
[7:52] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So do we want to start talking about the ISU Congress and this thing that we had heard about prior to the Congress and then now they officially said, yes, we're doing this combined world championships
[8:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They gave us a location, it told us when it's going to start happening.
[8:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So this was the, I think for me, the biggest takeaway of day one of the ISU Congress, but they announced that the 2020, eight world championships will combine figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track.
[8:32] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It will take place in Beijing at three venues.
[8:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: All venues that have been used for prior Olympics because Beijing hosted both the summer and winter Olympics not too long ago.
[8:49] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And my first thought was like, I think I texted both of you, why Beijing?
[8:54] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Because I'm like, what is China always seem to get to host a lot of different events?
[9:01] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, my second thing was how long is this like a mini Olympics?
[9:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Is this going to go on for two weeks?
[9:08] \[SPEAKER_03\]: How is this all going to work out?
[9:11] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, they seem, the ice shoe seems very excited about it.
[9:15] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Some skaters are excited about it.
[9:17] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I'm on like the fence.
[9:20] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I, I think it's a great idea.
[9:23] \[SPEAKER_04\]: My thought is, I'm not sure where they can host it.
[9:28] \[SPEAKER_04\]: They're going to have to look at sites maybe that have hosted in the Olympics before, like Vancouver is one Salt Lake City.
[9:36] \[SPEAKER_04\]: If they still have those facilities available to be able to host an event of this magnitude, I'm not sure.
[9:48] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Again, I did not go digging to see what facilities
[9:52] \[SPEAKER_04\]: that are available somewhat it was Michelle Ellis on Jackie's rocker podcast was asking about late-classed they were talking about well maybe late-classed and they do have multiple eye surfaces in late-classed but as far as speed skating the only oval that there is the outdoor one and
[10:15] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I'm thinking March is a little late to have an event outside because you just don't know.
[10:22] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's been getting warmer earlier, so yeah and they actually close their oval outside like because they do a season where people can ski outside on the oval and that's closed by like mid-march.
[10:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I mean, I don't know if they can.
[10:40] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's also in front of the Lake Plast at high school.
[10:43] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Right.
[10:45] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So that doesn't necessarily lend itself to you.
[10:49] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But if you're my governor that she's wanting to bring an actual Olympics to New York state.
[10:57] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So in mentions like placid.
[11:00] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I mean, they could try to do a world championships, multiple sports in like placid.
[11:11] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Well, we know that they can host a skate America-size event.
[11:14] \[SPEAKER_04\]: We know that they can host a world-sincro event.
[11:19] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I don't know if they can host an event of this magnitude.
[11:27] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So we'd have to look at different venues and cities that have access to those
[11:36] \[SPEAKER_04\]: in a close proximity.
[11:38] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It makes me wonder about Japan, like there may be some sites in Japan that are set up for this.
[11:47] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I'm not sure if any of our listeners out there who live in Japan and have any understanding, let us know because we're interested in where this could be hosted because that's what.
[12:01] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I've been thinking, and the original, you know, like, placid is lovely, but I don't believe that it can.
[12:07] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I mean, we could go back to malign and do it in malign.
[12:11] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I mean, we just had an Olympics in malign in it.
[12:14] \[SPEAKER_04\]: They've got to, they need to make it profitable for the host city.
[12:19] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's not something that you, I don't think it's something that governing bodies are going to want to jump into and not have
[12:29] \[SPEAKER_04\]: a possibility to get an income from it.
[12:32] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I think that's one of the things I was thinking about because even when we will get to the Grand Prix schedule that is being discussed there.
[12:39] \[SPEAKER_02\]: You know, how many times have we heard over the last few years of country so and so canceling the Grand Prix or the championship because they did not find a money and the appetite to actually be being able to host this financially.
[12:53] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So that's one of the things that I'm thinking of us and of course you know starting with Beijing, surely there will be a combination of the new revenue that the ISTU announced they're making with what the Chinese Federation can offer to organize
[13:09] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But I think it will be quite an important pilot event, isn't it?
[13:12] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Because if it ends up being like a small Olympics, as we are saying here, you know, if there is kidding across two weeks,
[13:19] \[SPEAKER_02\]: someone like me or media like as including photographers will not be able to say two weeks all of us to to be somewhere and it's not about as but you know there's going to be a chunk of us media that is going to be a cast out of that but also I'm going to be absolutely honest I look figure skating and all in all the other sports but I cannot afford two weeks of
[13:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: working full time and watching figures getting across the two weeks plus auto competitions that we want to to cover.
[13:48] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So it's it's very interesting.
[13:50] \[SPEAKER_02\]: In May end up being a fantastic thing and maybe that will come out with the best schedule.
[13:54] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So I want to be negative here.
[13:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But it's quite demanding for everyone to do something like that, including the audiences.
[14:03] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And so yeah, I think we'll have to see in two years what happens and what we think about it.
[14:08] \[SPEAKER_02\]: You know, maybe we'll have a podcast at a time and say, oh my gosh, it was the best one.
[14:13] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Now they're not going to do this every year.
[14:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That's what I gathered from the Congress.
[14:18] \[SPEAKER_03\]: This is going to be in between the Olympic year.
[14:23] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I guess the next one would be 2032.
[14:25] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So it'd be two years before the 2034.
[14:30] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So if this is successful, they'll do it again in 2032, and so it's like the halfway point before the Olympics is one they're doing this.
[14:40] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But then we go back in those other years to just a regular world championships with just figure skating.
[14:47] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But.
[14:48] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I'm like, I mean, it's kind of intriguing, like to me, like who follows syncro, I could go to worlds and see figure skating and synchro.
[14:58] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But again, how is it going to be scheduled, are the venues going to be close enough that you could travel to both, um, there's a lot of questions.
[15:07] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And so, we'll have to just wait and see.
[15:11] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah, I'm thinking about the shaddle as well because if they split the skating, so if they do, you know, say, the first Monday to Wednesday, uh, we murn and then those are just a Sunday pairs and then the same thing the next week is got half of it, ice dance and you're a half men.
[15:28] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Actually, figure of skating funds want to go and see every cut a dream.
[15:34] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Maybe they do, you know, so you're gonna be able to probably split the entire thing, but maybe that will do something different, maybe that will do, you know, start with speed skating, short track, and maybe the rest of the week will be something different.
[15:50] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It's all developing, so we'll we'll need to find out more.
[15:55] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But if they call up with something that is quite spread out, I think
[16:03] \[SPEAKER_02\]: the fallovership will have to decide if and how to go to these world championships.
[16:08] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I mean, never mind as well.
[16:09] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I know that there's nothing negative about China.
[16:12] \[SPEAKER_02\]: China's, you know, it deserves to host getting events, but it's also not the easiest to get to if you're in Europe, if you're in America.
[16:21] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So yeah, we'll see from a practical point of view how many people
[16:27] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I think making it a really big spectacle can draw people into want to watch it either in person or on TV.
[16:38] \[SPEAKER_04\]: and it's great to come up with wonderful new ideas that can help grow the sport and its viewership but you have to be careful to walk the line to not alienate the viewership that you have.
[16:51] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And right now, at least here in the US, based on all of the stars on ice shows, most if not all of them were sold out, I'm thinking we need to take advantage of this huge rise in popularity.
[17:10] \[SPEAKER_04\]: would be a great time to do that.
[17:14] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So I'm interested.
[17:17] \[SPEAKER_04\]: The skaters seem excited based on the ones that Jackie spoke to and so for me it usually comes down to this what did they prefer but I'm with you Mateo about if you spread this out over two weeks it's going to be difficult because
[17:40] \[SPEAKER_04\]: traditional media and skating media is different than it used to be.
[17:45] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And a lot of people are part of volunteer organizations that cover the sport because they love it.
[17:52] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And that's still incredibly important because we're the ones who, yes, went to the Olympics, but we're also the ones
[18:09] \[SPEAKER_04\]: we need to be able to continue to do that.
[18:11] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So there are a lot of things I think there's a lot of potential and a lot of cautious optimism about it because I think that it can be a really good thing they just need to do it thoughtfully and plan it out thoughtfully.
[18:25] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So I want to see some more information come through.
[18:29] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I'm not sure when we might see it.
[18:33] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And there are a bunch more things that we're going to be getting this week that we'll be talking about anyway before that time.
[18:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It kind of links you to the next point though, isn't it?
[18:42] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Because the next thing that they discussed is the changes to make the sport more accessible to audiences, which is something that we know they've been looking at for the last two years because we know that I started with the LED, you know, as he bends to make them different and more appealing.
[18:58] \[SPEAKER_02\]: They changed the way things were happening at home as well, the entertainment.
[19:02] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So it's all interesting to see that they're really investing and understanding, trying and testing,
[19:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: different ways of entertaining and and also to make it more accessible.
[19:11] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So how do they want audiences to not only watch the one off, you know, or live in pics in there, which just happened, but also retained the audiences to make sure that they become new fans that get
[19:25] \[SPEAKER_02\]: There are able to watch our sport which is not easy to follow.
[19:28] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It's not like the regular football and all the others that has got a weekly schedule so you know when it's happening.
[19:33] \[SPEAKER_02\]: If you're skating you've got to know when it happens because we are overwhelmed with a ground-free series and then it's tops and there are some nationals and then there's contentals and then weld and we
[19:44] \[SPEAKER_02\]: you got to know the shadow to be able to follow it.
[19:45] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So it will be interesting to see how they they will do that.
[19:48] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And it seems like you know to be fair that being quite successful with some of the things that we've been able to see so far.
[19:55] \[SPEAKER_02\]: The feedback was very positive, the skaters also love some of the things that have been put in place.
[19:59] \[SPEAKER_02\]: They seem to be quite welcoming of all the new changes and that's quite promising, I think.
[20:06] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It is.
[20:07] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I think one of the things that
[20:11] \[SPEAKER_04\]: We have to think about, and I think they will think about it, and probably already have according to what Jackie said, because I listened to his show earlier today, in addition to reading his notes and reading, and Keller's notes from anything J.O.E.
[20:25] \[SPEAKER_04\]: is trying to get my head around all of the things, because there's so much of it.
[20:31] \[SPEAKER_04\]: they have already listened because that proposed schedule would have things going into the month of April, which is not something that we see unless it's the month of the or the year of the world team trophy.
[20:45] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Usually that's the only event we see in April.
[20:49] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And let's I mean, let's just go through what what they.
[20:55] \[SPEAKER_04\]: had suggested, which is Challenger series events happening from September to February.
[21:02] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Now they're usually September to December.
[21:07] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Yeah, um, six grand prees between September and November with two each month.
[21:16] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Grand Prix semi-finals in January, Grand Prix Finals in February, Euro's and four continents in March, World's in April.
[21:28] \[SPEAKER_04\]: That's extra competitions for some of your top skaters and the potential that the national championships in each country would have to be moved or would overlap with one of these competitions.
[21:42] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There's also the thought that if you take a skater like Iliamalanin or Alyssa Liu, who...
[21:51] \[SPEAKER_04\]: would skate at their Grand Prix events, and then their national championships, then a Grand Prix semi-finals, then potentially the Grand Prix final, and then the four continents, and then it's adding additional things, and it reduces the amount of training time that they have in between these events.
[22:10] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So it could shift some of the thought processes to who goes to what competitions,
[22:20] \[SPEAKER_04\]: you would think your focus on Grand Prix semifinals to try to make the final.
[22:28] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Unless they decided a certain number of the qualifiers, you know, maybe the top three in each discipline, got an automatic buy to the final.
[22:41] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, that's what's like, I don't understand is how are these semi-finals going to work?
[22:47] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Cause we're so used to six skaters go to the final.
[22:52] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So are you going to put six skaters in the semi-final and then three go to the final?
[22:57] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That's no, that's not going to work that way.
[22:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: How many are now going to go to this semi-final?
[23:02] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And how are the points system going to work now?
[23:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: There's a lot.
[23:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: that I was like, what is this?
[23:10] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So, I think the reasoning behind this actually makes sense.
[23:14] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I think some of the reasoning behind it has to do with, we always come down to those last two or three spots, especially, and it really is the lock of the assignment, and you miss out on going to the final because
[23:30] \[SPEAKER_04\]: things change from one season to the next and a skater who may have been in the top six at worlds doesn't do as well at a grand pre-event or does better than expected.
[23:42] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And so you have a skater like say, uh, Lara Naki-Gupman who finishes second in an event like skater America and goes to another competition.
[23:56] \[SPEAKER_04\]: But for some reason, only ends up fourth because the level of competition is higher, but her score would have put her in second or third at any other competition.
[24:08] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Right.
[24:09] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So what it does is it makes sure that
[24:14] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It looks like the best six make the final by putting maybe the top 10 or top 12 at a semi final and then they do get out and maybe the top six go.
[24:28] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Yeah, or maybe it's where you did?
[24:29] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Yeah, that's what I think.
[24:31] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And then we have the reserves as we know.
[24:32] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So if and top C, cool out, we know who is going to be the next in line to go.
[24:37] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But the way I say me finals is almost like, OK, the next in lines are still going to get their chance to go and shuffle it around.
[24:46] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So it's almost as you were saying, Lara Nakib would have had a second chance to actually make it to the final in this new system.
[24:51] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah.
[24:52] \[SPEAKER_02\]: While in the one that we're currently used to, she was not able to go because of the year pouring.
[24:57] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Right.
[24:57] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, that was, I was also thinking maybe it was going to be just like the medalists from every event because you know you get that one of that where there's that random medalist.
[25:09] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I still think of Eva Marie Ziggler who won NHK trophy whatever season that was.
[25:17] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I mean, she wasn't going to the final.
[25:20] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was just a flu.
[25:21] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think she only might have even had one Grand Prix, but would you let her go to a semi-final?
[25:29] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You know, that was my other thought if it just did the medalists going to the semi-finals, because you do get a few, you know, random, hey, they get on the podium, they only get one medal,
[25:43] \[SPEAKER_03\]: and then, you know, don't have the points necessarily to, or they, you know, to go to the final.
[25:49] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They may bomb their second event.
[25:51] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I don't know.
[25:52] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Just things of, I think, as far as I know, this is only being talked about for senior, but I have to tell you, I think it could have some positive effect on junior as well.
[26:03] \[SPEAKER_04\]: If they did this, um,
[26:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They didn't come out as I say when the junior events were, right?
[26:09] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Because we were so used to the juniors going September to what?
[26:13] \[SPEAKER_03\]: October for the JGP.
[26:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah.
[26:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And then they do the final December.
[26:18] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But how are they, or are they planning?
[26:21] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I would assume that they would keep them at the same time as usual, where they start in mid August or late August and go through.
[26:29] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It would not make sense to stop them earlier, because I thought about that at first.
[26:35] \[SPEAKER_04\]: the seasons already long enough, I think that that has been the pushback or the any of the feedback that the skaters have given is that worlds in April is not a great idea because there are a lot of them are running on fumes at that point and if they're doing anything they're doing shows and that's a huge money-making opportunity for them as well.
[26:58] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So you have to
[27:00] \[SPEAKER_04\]: you have to weigh everything out to see what is the the right thing to do and I get the impression that things have been more carefully thought out and while they are throwing this out as a potential idea that this isn't finalized and they're going to be doing some working and tinkering on it to make it better.
[27:21] \[SPEAKER_04\]: The other thing that I took out of a few
[27:30] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There's almost this panic when information is sent out from the ISU to some of the national governing bodies where they want their feedback on it, but instead of reading the words like, please send us your thoughts on this.
[27:46] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's like they skip over that part and all they see right away is these changes and they think the changes are going into effect and that's not the case.
[27:55] \[SPEAKER_04\]: They're just trying to gauge feedback.
[27:58] \[SPEAKER_04\]: But it's hard because this is a sport where things tend to change.
[28:02] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And you don't want to be overreactionary, but you can't help it because it does affect so many people because it's coaches and athletes and families.
[28:15] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And you also look at the, like speaking of coaches, coaches who are working with skaters at different levels
[28:27] \[SPEAKER_04\]: different competing priorities because they're also working with the lower levels in their season starts even earlier.
[28:35] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So right now, I'm in the middle of solo ice dance, but also the club competitions are going on for other disciplines.
[28:45] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So it's it's busy.
[28:48] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Like, it doesn't stop.
[28:50] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There
[28:54] \[SPEAKER_04\]: putting another competition in I think is a good idea.
[28:57] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I think this semi final is is a good idea.
[29:00] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I just think that to be careful when they're tinkering with the rest of the season.
[29:05] \[SPEAKER_04\]: How to approach it?
[29:07] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Because we don't want to overwhelm the skaters even more.
[29:13] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Because they're so much going on and with them trying to be prepared.
[29:17] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And already I feel like because this is Olympic season was so taxing.
[29:23] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Everyone is trying to get into this season and it's just kind of for some reason it feels more different than any other
[29:31] \[SPEAKER_03\]: like new quads that I felt it just feels like rushed almost yeah like definitely we started this podcast at the end of the last Olympics and i don't remember it being like this chaotic in crazy right now i i just don't i don't know there's a lot of change
[29:53] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And as someone who has a hard time personally dealing with change, it's a lot to take in, which is why I was reading everything I could see.
[30:01] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I'm watching people's stories and trying to gauge, you know, what people were saying, because I wanted to have kind of well-rounded,
[30:13] \[SPEAKER_04\]: thought process on it or at least a well-rounded, um, I wanted to have well-rounded discussion points or to be able to have my head around the whole thing, but I don't think I really will until the ISU releases more information.
[30:30] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And I wanted to point out in saying that that they did for the first time, um, invite a few media people to attend
[30:43] \[SPEAKER_04\]: and shout out to Jackie and Anna for sharing everything that they did from the Congress because that's not something that we've had before.
[30:56] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And I think that's really in the, you know, with the thought of more transparency about what's happening and both Jackie and Anna have interviews
[31:09] \[SPEAKER_04\]: J.O.
[31:10] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Kim, who is the president of the ISU, and I have not had a chance to listen to them yet, but I'm looking forward to it because I think...
[31:20] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It'll be interesting to find out what's going on in his mind as he tries to steer the ship for the next four years.
[31:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, I thought that was great that, you know, media was invited.
[31:32] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I like to believe our invitation got lost in the mail because we should have been invited too.
[31:38] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It seems like there was only a small,
[31:43] \[SPEAKER_03\]: group of media that was invited and just again hopefully maybe going forward it is open to more media and so that way more information can be put out there but yeah Jackie and Anna were great they were putting so much information out there and I don't I think they were might
[32:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: that were there.
[32:12] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Yeah, there was one other person from Kyoto news that was there.
[32:17] \[SPEAKER_04\]: But I think they were the only three media outlets or folks that were there.
[32:23] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I think that this was kind of maybe a soft launch to see what it would be like to open the doors because I can tell you that
[32:39] \[SPEAKER_04\]: media were banned for my as you call like there was an article that came out where media was just completely banned i think this was around 2016 um they just no no media it's always been this disconnect but i'm just i'm starting to feel like some doors are being opened and that maybe they'll be more transparency going forward
[33:02] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So one thing I just want to mention briefly that I seem to take away from the Congress is this push.
[33:14] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I already know that there was a push, but I think there's even a bigger push for Syncro to get into the Olympics.
[33:23] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And with people that I've talked to, who are in the Syncro community, many people have been saying 2034, 2034.
[33:32] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I really think the ISU is pushing for 2030.
[33:35] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They kind of came out and said that that they're
[33:42] \[SPEAKER_03\]: and they're doing it with Synchrome 9, J.U.L.
[33:45] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Kim said Synchrome 9 is not replacing
[33:49] \[SPEAKER_03\]: The regular Synchro was 16 to 20 skaters.
[33:54] \[SPEAKER_03\]: This is going to be in unison.
[33:56] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They're going to be both competing at the same events.
[34:02] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But this is the way I think they're trying to see if we can get Synchro into the Olympics is with the Synchro 9.
[34:08] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We're going to see it competed this season.
[34:13] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It is also going to be, I don't know if many people know that the world championships for Sincro, this season is going to be Junior Senior and then Sincro 9 is going to be there all in one event and previously Junior Sincro's or Junior World Sincro's and Senior.
[34:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: World Syncros were separate events.
[34:38] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So, this is the first year.
[34:40] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They're going to be a combined event.
[34:42] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Syncros 9 is going to be a part of the 2028 youth Olympic.
[34:46] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So, I'm really thinking there's more of a push for 2030 than 2034.
[34:55] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Which I'm excited about, you know, I would love, I've been wanting
[35:03] \[SPEAKER_03\]: If we can get it in their sooner, even better.
[35:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I really listening to the Congress, breeding back things from the Congress, there's a big push to get it into the Olympics and doing a so with a Syncro 9.
[35:18] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So I hope that in pushing this, we want our
[35:24] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Friends and Syncro to be included in the Olympics.
[35:27] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I hope that the ISU or IOC doesn't start looking at, well, we want to add Syncro, but we have to take something away because I don't.
[35:37] \[SPEAKER_04\]: want that to happen.
[35:39] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah.
[35:40] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And that's what I was upset about with the 2020, eight youth Olympics because Syncro is going into that event taking out pairs.
[35:51] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And so, yeah, no, we do not need it replacing anything.
[35:57] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Every, you know, add, it just needs to be
[36:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: that pushing Sync Grove 9 is not to say, hey, you know, the regular Sync Grove is, we're disregarding it.
[36:18] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They're there to be kind of in unison together.
[36:21] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I did an interview with a Sync Grove skater for work.
[36:25] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And, you know, she is with the hate in that sense.
[36:28] \[SPEAKER_03\]: She talked about how
[36:30] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They're kind of already starting to think about Syncro 9 and they're going to have a team and but it's going to be a separate team from the regular team.
[36:40] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So, you know, it's interesting.
[36:43] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with Syncro this season and into the future for sure.
[36:50] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And I'm sure too, as things amp up, we'll definitely have folks on the podcast to talk about what this means to them, because this is a really big deal.
[37:01] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And we want to promote it as much as we can.
[37:06] \[SPEAKER_04\]: One cool thing that has come out of Congress, the ice you was close to reaching an agreement with one of the major music labels that would really help
[37:18] \[SPEAKER_04\]: with the whole audience is getting an opportunity to see skating because the streaming issue and the copyright strikes that has been a thorn in figure skating side for the last four years, since the 2022 Olympics and everything that went down with the heavy young heathens and yeah, we won't, we'll, we'll,
[37:46] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's well known figure skating lore now, that is a game changer, truly a game changer for the sport to get that ironed out would really help the athletes so much.
[38:00] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So, uh, also Swiss timing has been developed in tools that will take eight cameras and stitch together, skater moments to track the skater by on mechanics.
[38:10] \[SPEAKER_04\]: This tool can help the technical panel with more information on things like the angle of rotation.
[38:17] \[SPEAKER_04\]: What I like about this is we are going to use tools that we have because technology has just advanced so much.
[38:28] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's time that we start being more efficient and we start utilizing tools that can help us understand and track elements as they're being completed on the ice.
[38:42] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's a huge step in the right direction and we'll help back up tech panels if you think about it.
[38:49] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And then finally, mailstrom has been developing a tool to measure judge effectiveness through accuracy of fairness.
[38:58] \[SPEAKER_04\]: That seemed to be a big part of the conversation at Congress, which is for things to be fair and judging anomalies and correcting things that are out of whack and making sure that they don't happen in the first place.
[39:16] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So I know that Sean Redstatt, formerly of the IS Dance Technical Committee, said that more judges are needed.
[39:25] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I think Mailstrom is, again, another tool that they're going to use at the ISU to help make sure that the judging is more fair and more transparent.
[39:39] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So let's,
[39:41] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Let's hope I look forward to more information on that.
[39:46] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There were a bunch of judging anomalies this season that had negative impacts on teams and I would.
[39:53] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I mean I say teams in particular because the I stance issues were at the top of my mind.
[39:58] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I feel like I stance is where it happened the most.
[40:01] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So I'm hoping that this is something that's going to pull us away from that.
[40:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I think it was day one if I'm wrong, I'm sorry, but they were talking about the badges and the finances are, yeah, it's huge as well.
[40:14] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And I remember that Anna shared a couple of things, so it's very interesting to see that their investments rather gspane back because their revenue are raising.
[40:23] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I remember that I think Anna was saying that they're not yet profitable, but it's a good directional travel because the reason why they can talk about all these improvements, these changes in technologies because they are investing also financially.
[40:37] \[SPEAKER_02\]: In something and of course you have to invest for a few years for it to give you a result of investments that makes you profitable.
[40:43] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But one of the things that was discussed as well was the
[40:46] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Increase in the prize money that is going to be given to skaters, which is something that, as we know, was quite a big deal after the, um, um, um, Kirstie Coverny of the IOC said that she doesn't really believe a thing she said at athletes should be paid at the Olympic Games and that became a massive debate.
[41:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Olivia's Mars had a video talking about it.
[41:09] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So the fact that the IHU is actually actively investing in giving back to the athletes is a really
[41:16] \[SPEAKER_02\]: What I hope it's going to happen is that it's going to be an equitable thing.
[41:20] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So it's going to hopefully benefit quite a lot of skaters.
[41:24] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Because we know it's very expensive sports and not everyone can afford that.
[41:27] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But I thought that it was quite interesting to mention that as well.
[41:30] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Because it's as we know it's something that made a lot of athletes react when they find out found out about this.
[41:38] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And you know, let's not go around it.
[41:39] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It's quite a good event incentive as well.
[41:41] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Isn't it?
[41:42] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So maybe skaters will push themselves even more knowing that there is.
[41:46] \[SPEAKER_02\]: a more appealing money price for them to earn if they were to medal or reach certain positions.
[41:52] \[SPEAKER_04\]: That's true.
[41:53] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It is definitely more incentive and I've also been thinking about the increased popularity of the sport, especially coming out of this Olympics.
[42:03] \[SPEAKER_04\]: That's something else, Gida.
[42:05] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I don't remember out of the last Olympics that we had this push with new fans.
[42:10] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I see it on Twitter.
[42:12] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There are lots of posts from new fans asking questions like new to skating, when do the Grand Prix assignments come out?
[42:19] \[SPEAKER_04\]: What is the Grand Prix like asking questions like that?
[42:23] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And with that increased attention, it just makes me think about how skating is changed over the last couple of decades and how some of the athletes are staying in competing longer.
[42:38] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And someone asked that, like, is it normal for skaters like Diana Stilato
[42:52] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It wasn't something that we saw.
[42:55] \[SPEAKER_04\]: This is something that's happening over time.
[42:58] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I also think that one of the biggest issues is, we used to have a lot of opportunities in events called Prowams, where professional and amateur skaters, which is how they were differentiated, professional was out touring, making money, amateur was still eligible, competing in competitions and really couldn't make any money.
[43:25] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There were a lot of opportunities like that that don't exist anymore.
[43:29] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And so I started thinking about maybe now is the time to start thinking about bringing some opportunities like that back for athletes so that they can still have a chance to make money and do something they love.
[43:47] \[SPEAKER_04\]: without as much structure because the professional competitions were different than what we saw or see in a more competitive arena was much more relaxed and so i don't think i'm the only one thinking about this because i've been in this sport at the end of this week twenty seven years i've been it's been twenty seven years at the end of this week since i created
[44:14] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And so I just remember some of those things and I'm not saying we have to go back to all of that.
[44:19] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I'm just saying, hey, that now might be a good time for someone who has resources to put something together, just saying.
[44:32] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So that was a lot of day one.
[44:33] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Day two was a lot of like rule updates.
[44:38] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So specific changes for each discipline.
[44:42] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And for singles, the big thing was the maximum of six jumps in the free skate and that's going down one jump from seven.
[44:54] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We were used to seven.
[44:57] \[SPEAKER_03\]: and they have to one has to be an axle, so you have to do an axle in the free skate for singles.
[45:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We have one step sequence, one choreo sequence in the program.
[45:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Three spins in the free skate to another thing that was interesting.
[45:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I'm not going to tell you.
[45:17] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I've all of the things that changes with the rules, but one is a jump type can be done a maximum of three times with other repeat rules still in effect.
[45:29] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So that was another thing.
[45:33] \[SPEAKER_03\]: With pairs, it was short program requirements, our group three left, pair spin combination, and forward inside desk biral.
[45:44] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Free skate was maximum of two lifts, one choreographic pair left,
[45:50] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, one choreographic pair spin and one desk by roll that is not the one from the short program.
[45:57] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So you have to do a different desk by roll.
[46:00] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, the lift group.
[46:02] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Now we had some, um,
[46:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: this past season we had some like controversy with lifts some we're saying that wasn't a press lift one said it wasn't a lasso lift this rule says a lift group is determined by the hold at the moment the woman passes the top of the man's head.
[46:24] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So changed from the shoulder.
[46:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So maybe that'll help determine if something is actually called the correct left because I know there was some issues with that this season.
[46:37] \[SPEAKER_02\]: There was also something in relation to greater creative freedom and encouraging artistic expression, which I think is something I'm quite glad to hear about, because there has been very often a focus on the elements more than just artistic delivery of a program, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that is going to be implemented.
[46:56] \[SPEAKER_04\]: In Ice Dance, there is a new creative dance element for the rhythm dance.
[47:01] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It can be performed in contact, it may include hand in hand with fully extended arms.
[47:08] \[SPEAKER_04\]: A brief release to change hold is not considered a separation and skated to any rhythm and dance style.
[47:14] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There are a bunch of requirements and...
[47:19] \[SPEAKER_04\]: nuances that are part of this new element and that information will be in our show notes.
[47:25] \[SPEAKER_04\]: As I mentioned the ISU released that communication 2795 today and so there's more information in there.
[47:35] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Last bit of dance news.
[47:38] \[SPEAKER_04\]: International solo dance has had rapid growth over
[47:43] \[SPEAKER_04\]: The last couple of seasons, they had two internationals in the 23-24 season and now have nine competitions from 25-26.
[47:50] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There is a plan to hopefully create a solo dance final, which would be international, and maybe a challenger series in the future, and there have just really been a 32% increase in solo dance entries,
[48:11] \[SPEAKER_04\]: The passion is so infectious when you talk to someone who's a solo dancer, it reminds me of people who do theater on ice or some of the secret teams we have spoken to.
[48:25] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There's just so much love and passion for this sport and I'm excited for the athletes to have even more opportunities on the international scale.
[48:36] \[SPEAKER_02\]: There were also mentions about the provision of the decadimental health and safeguarding resources, which I think it's really good because we need to see much more of that to support the athletes and the environments that are working.
[48:48] \[SPEAKER_02\]: They also talked about athletes welfare if you saw that they analysed the interference on social media, particularly during your limpic games.
[48:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And the dates that I came out was quite interesting because we were showing that there were a lot of negative comments or a thing fake post.
[49:03] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I don't remember exactly what the outcome was, but it was interesting to see how much social media which we know have been something that skaters have been talking about, where affected by
[49:15] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah, but these interactions that are not very healthy, so it's good that things are being monitored and maybe you know, when needed controlled in whatever way will work for the mental health and safety of the athletes in first place.
[49:31] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Definitely, it's so important and the athletes continue to speak up about it and I appreciate it for their sake.
[49:38] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I think the more
[49:41] \[SPEAKER_04\]: who feel that they are comfortable coming forward and talking about the struggles and the stress, it's only going to make things better.
[49:49] \[SPEAKER_04\]: We have to continue to push that and make skating a safe space for people to be able to come forward and talk.
[49:59] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And I think there are athletes involved today that have just really helped build that bridge.
[50:15] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So moving on to elections, Jail Kim ran unopposed.
[50:23] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So he was once again re-elected to the top post in the International Skating Union.
[50:33] \[SPEAKER_04\]: The vice president of figure skating on the other hand is different, and I wanted to share a little background information.
[50:42] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Georgie, Alec, is a Hungarian former ice dancer.
[50:48] \[SPEAKER_04\]: He is someone who was part of the ISU Council over the past four years.
[50:54] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I saw him compete as a nice dancer back at Junior Worlds in 2005 in Kitchener Waterloo.
[51:01] \[SPEAKER_04\]: He's been building or working his way up in the ISU for quite some time.
[51:06] \[SPEAKER_04\]: He's an attorney.
[51:08] \[SPEAKER_04\]: He was part of the ISU's Technical Committee.
[51:13] \[SPEAKER_04\]: He brings a lot of knowledge to the table.
[51:16] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And I was honestly surprised because he beat and incumbent vice president because the vice president of figure skating was Benoit Levoi of Canada.
[51:33] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And so he Georgie, I like his now the vice president.
[51:41] \[SPEAKER_04\]: The Council members, Tina Lungren, of the U.S. Tut-Suro Matsumura of Japan, Ben Wilde-Livoy of Canada, Susan Lynch of Australia, and Fabio Bianquetti of Italy.
[51:56] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Susanna Rockamo, who had been part of the ISU Council for quite some time, was not re-elected.
[52:03] \[SPEAKER_04\]: In singles and pairs, Lena Lackonsen, of Finland, is the chair of the Singles and Paris Committee, along with Daniel Delfa of Spain, Lea Bates of Australia, Fang Wong of China, and Kristen Kim Minnes of Germany.
[52:18] \[SPEAKER_03\]: for the technical committee for synchronized skating, Nina Biscoff of Switzerland was elected as the chair of the technical committee.
[52:28] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And also on the technical committee is Jennifer Betz of Canada.
[52:33] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Ida Heldstrom of Finland and Karen Cher of the US.
[52:38] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So we saved Ice Dance for last because, well, a lot happened when it came down to the technical committee.
[52:45] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Over the last year there seems to be, there seems to have been some, I'm not sure what to call it.
[52:54] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There's just been some stress when it comes to Ice Dance.
[53:01] \[SPEAKER_04\]: for various reasons.
[53:03] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Basically, in Ice Dance, we have a brand-new committee.
[53:07] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So two members of that Ice Dance Tech to who committee did not run for reelection, Hillary Selby of Great Britain and Ingrid Charlotte, Walter of Germany.
[53:17] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There were still two members of the Ice Dance Technical Committee that were running again.
[53:23] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Sean Rudstatt of the US who was the current chair and David Molina of France.
[53:30] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Rudstatt had been part of the committee since 2016 and I believe Molina had been on since 2022.
[53:39] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Rudstatt was elected the chair in 2022.
[53:46] \[SPEAKER_04\]: David Molina and Sean Redstatt, first of all, Michaela Cesarow of Italy, defeated Sean Redstatt for chair with a vote of 78 to 37.
[53:58] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And then neither Sean Redstatt nor David Molina were elected to the committee.
[54:04] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So we have a brand new committee.
[54:07] \[SPEAKER_04\]: going forward, Michaela Cezero of Italy, the chair, Maria Bones of Canada, who's a former eye-stanceer, and an ISU technical specialist, Marcine Cossieback, a Poland, another former eye-stanceer and an ISU judge, and Saba Balint of Hungary, an ISU judge and international referee,
[54:32] \[SPEAKER_04\]: another former ice dancer.
[54:34] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So basically we're looking at a brand new ice dance technical committee and I'm interested in seeing how well they work together and
[54:46] \[SPEAKER_04\]: their efficiency in pulling things together.
[54:50] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There should also be an appointed uh... skater representative and I believe an appointed coach representative but i'm not sure who those are.
[54:59] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Caitlyn weaver had been the skater representative but i'm not sure if she will be at this point because there's already a Canadian representative now on the committee
[55:15] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, should be interesting to see what happens.
[55:20] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You know, it's always good to have new faces on technical committees with new ideas.
[55:27] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And so just have to, you know, I look forward to seeing what happens with all of the disciplines with these now new committees that we have.
[55:38] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But no more drama, please.
[55:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: No more drama.
[55:42] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There were definitely some challenges, especially in the ice dance front, with program theme development and the judging anomalies and issues that took place in, I can only speculate that that may have had something to do with that, where the
[56:06] \[SPEAKER_04\]: representatives decided they wanted to start over and try something different with a whole new slate of people.
[56:13] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So we'll see.
[56:15] \[SPEAKER_04\]: As we said earlier, Grand Prix assignments were waiting, will the Russians or Belarusians be allowed back in?
[56:22] \[SPEAKER_04\]: That's something that the ISU Council talked about and made a decision on and there are allusions on social media that that decision is also
[56:35] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Um, so we'll, we'll keep you posted on that.
[56:41] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's likely we'll do another episode relatively soon, once those grand parry assignments come out.
[56:47] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Um, also, uh, we're still waiting on four continents location.
[56:52] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Come on.
[56:54] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I issue, like, seriously, I'm with all the other fans that are waiting on four continents because I'm kind of wondering if that's going to be an event that I could swing this season.
[57:07] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You know, I got so lucky the last three.
[57:11] \[SPEAKER_03\]: seasons where I got to go to an event after nationals, uh, two worlds and then the Olympics last year and I'm like, come on, tell me where four continents are going to be, or I may just be going to nottingham Great Britain for the combined world sinkrose, uh, happening.
[57:31] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I don't know, but yeah, let's go.
[57:33] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I issue people need to plan.
[57:35] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Come on.
[57:36] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There are rumors that it will be in the US, but I have no idea if that's what's going to happen.
[57:42] \[SPEAKER_04\]: But Gina, if it were say in a location that's proximity is not far from where we are, I could be easily persuaded to go.
[57:59] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Yeah definitely.
[58:01] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I know people have been thrown out there a stonia.
[58:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Just as you know, as a joke, as a joke, because that's the place that has come to the rescue so many times before.
[58:13] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Always.
[58:14] \[SPEAKER_04\]: But always, honestly, the ISU should have them on speed dial for the rescue, because they are like,
[58:22] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Magyver, or the ATM, or the Delta Warriors.
[58:28] \[SPEAKER_04\]: If anyone has ever heard of any of those things, they're the one that comes in to save the day.
[58:32] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So yeah, okay, we just have a few, you know, I feel like we covered the Congress.
[58:43] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So let's talk just a little bit about some of the news we have about the season coming up.
[58:52] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Well, we mentioned that things have been a bit of a merry-go-round or musical chairs with the U.S. pair situation.
[59:00] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It really has felt a lot like 2011-I-Stance when everyone broke up in switched partners.
[59:07] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And it does continue to happen.
[59:12] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There have been the announcements of the splits and now people are getting together.
[59:21] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, what was it that came out this year that had, was it during the Netflix documentary that showed who was connected to who, we need that for you as pairs this year.
[59:34] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We need this like, what, somebody, some fan come on, do it, that shows who's been connected to who, because it is musical chairs, musical partners.
[59:44] \[SPEAKER_03\]: it is like every time I'm going on social media and I'm seeing another announcement or a split or whatever I'm like oh okay here we go you're with them you're with you need like a score card to keep track it's just crazy it's more like an excel file with an algorithm to predict to
[1:00:09] \[SPEAKER_03\]: or going old school and getting a pegboard with strings?
[1:00:14] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Yes!
[1:00:15] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Yeah!
[1:00:16] \[SPEAKER_04\]: That's what you got to do.
[1:00:17] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So, here's a little bit of a rundown.
[1:00:23] \[SPEAKER_04\]: In the dance world, we were...
[1:00:26] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I mean, Madrid, Lichwa, and Zachary Lodge, a split up, and that was really devastating for a lot of fans because
[1:00:35] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Everyone was viewing them as being the air's apparent to be the Canadian champions.
[1:00:42] \[SPEAKER_04\]: They made a decision to split and then the big surprise after, Marjorie LaShua is teaming up with Jean Look Baker.
[1:00:51] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Now Jean Look last competed in 2022.
[1:00:56] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And he has been very active doing choreography, doing commentary.
[1:01:03] \[SPEAKER_04\]: He's just been very busy in the skating world.
[1:01:08] \[SPEAKER_04\]: He does these camps with Sam Schwinnard and Nathan Chen.
[1:01:12] \[SPEAKER_04\]: He's still very active.
[1:01:16] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Marjorie and Zach skated together for 15 years, but this is a brand new partnership for her and based on what I've seen so far, I'm really interested in seeing more because there just seems to be a stop.
[1:01:32] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I think a style match here and a personality match.
[1:01:36] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So we'll see.
[1:01:39] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Carolina Peroni Pietro Puppetti, our new Ice Dance Team for Italy.
[1:01:45] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Um, Pietro, we had skated with Lea Dozi and Carolina skated with Michael Kratesky.
[1:01:54] \[SPEAKER_04\]: That is a brand new team.
[1:01:56] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Um, but there are also a bunch of splits that happen.
[1:02:02] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And we don't have partner names yet.
[1:02:05] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So we're going to have to wait and see as people announced.
[1:02:09] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Every day.
[1:02:11] \[SPEAKER_04\]: On Instagram, I, I look through to see if anyone has released any information about being a new partnerships.
[1:02:21] \[SPEAKER_04\]: But on the ice dance front, wow, and it's, it's not only ice dance, like US ice dance is a big chunk of it, but there's also a few teams in other countries that split and have four new partnerships as well.
[1:02:37] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So yeah, and then with the U.S. pairs, here we go.
[1:02:41] \[SPEAKER_03\]: These are the ones that have split and now are new partners.
[1:02:46] \[SPEAKER_03\]: New partnerships have been announced.
[1:02:48] \[SPEAKER_03\]: These are confirmed.
[1:02:49] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So Katie McBeath and Blasch, Nage, are a new team.
[1:02:55] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That was posted on Instagram.
[1:02:57] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Now, Katie,
[1:02:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: you might want to write this down and draw your lines.
[1:03:02] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Katie previously skated with Daniel Parkman who was now skating with star Andrews that was announced.
[1:03:09] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I did that in our episode a couple weeks ago.
[1:03:15] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Blasher previously skated with Audrey Shen who just recently announced that she is
[1:03:28] \[SPEAKER_03\]: and Spencer and Emily have split.
[1:03:34] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So Audrey and Spencer are now a new partnership.
[1:03:38] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They announced new programs as well.
[1:03:40] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Emily has not announced a new partnership.
[1:03:43] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So again, it's this, who's with who, who was with who before it's craziness?
[1:03:50] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I'm sure we're gonna, once Grand Prius Simon's come out,
[1:03:55] \[SPEAKER_03\]: this week as we are hearing.
[1:03:58] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We're going to see maybe some teams that haven't announced that they are together.
[1:04:03] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So it's just a lot of fun right now madness as I say madness.
[1:04:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I do have to say I would like to congratulate Katie McBeath got engaged like this past weekend.
[1:04:17] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was really cool if you got to see her Instagram.
[1:04:20] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I'll post it in the show notes.
[1:04:23] \[SPEAKER_03\]: She was climbing some, I don't know where, but somehow in and he was at the bottom or she was yeah, doing some rock climbing or something like that.
[1:04:31] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So congrats to her.
[1:04:34] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So not only she got a new partnership, but she also got engaged.
[1:04:37] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So yeah, we also have a little bit of news just before the Grand Prix assignments come out, some things have been confirmed.
[1:04:47] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Evan Bates, well, at the ISU Congress, revealed that he and Madison are not competing this year.
[1:04:53] \[SPEAKER_04\]: We don't know if this is it and they are just taking a year off or any of that, but this season will be the first one in 15 years that chalk and baits won't be competing.
[1:05:07] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's very, it's going to be incredibly strange to look at the list and not see them on it.
[1:05:13] \[SPEAKER_04\]: uh... french tv reported that lorance for neobodry giams is around our continuing uh... they mentioned the twenty thirty Olympics being in France
[1:05:25] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I don't know that they're actually committing to that, or just looking at one year at a time, which is what some dancers do.
[1:05:35] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Olivia Smart and Tim Diek are staying in and are looking at 2030 and just gaging how it goes year to year.
[1:05:43] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Yeah, just,
[1:05:50] \[SPEAKER_04\]: You know, the little pieces, I guess we're going to get to see the the retirements, the information or as it comes out, we really don't know.
[1:06:01] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's it's a waiting game right now.
[1:06:06] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So yeah.
[1:06:11] \[SPEAKER_04\]: A couple of things to share on on line updates just just basically.
[1:06:19] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Piper Gillis throughout the first pitch at the Toronto Blue Jays game on June 13, the shoes wearing her bronze medal.
[1:06:28] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Matthias Versluis, a Finland got married earlier in June, and he posted photos on Instagram.
[1:06:36] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And I have to say this, our good friend Jordan, you see him when he's out on the ice recording and doing on ice perspectives or working for NBC.
[1:06:47] \[SPEAKER_04\]: He was very, very busy working for the New York mix and that venue because the next just won the first national championship for them in
[1:07:03] \[SPEAKER_04\]: God, I heard it was since Richard Nixon was the president, like it's been a really, really long time since I won.
[1:07:10] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And so he was part of like filming.
[1:07:14] \[SPEAKER_04\]: He was on the basketball court filming different things at halftime and just around.
[1:07:21] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And so was really cool to see that.
[1:07:24] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, I mean, that is his job when he is not.
[1:07:29] \[SPEAKER_03\]: doing ice skating things.
[1:07:31] \[SPEAKER_03\]: He works at Madison Square Garden and so um so he's had quite the year.
[1:07:38] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I was telling our friend Anne.
[1:07:40] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I was like first he's got the Olympics and now he's at the like doing filming for the NBA finals.
[1:07:49] \[SPEAKER_03\]: What's next?
[1:07:51] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So yeah, very cool.
[1:07:53] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Jordan.
[1:07:53] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I know we're all
[1:08:00] \[SPEAKER_03\]: props to the next and props to Jordan.
[1:08:03] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think Jordan needs some downtime now.
[1:08:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: What do you say?
[1:08:07] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Things are just damping up and I think it's going to be a really wild season.
[1:08:11] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So let's buckle in.
[1:08:14] \[SPEAKER_04\]: What you know that we like to and every episode by shining a lens on what's going on on our respective websites.
[1:08:21] \[SPEAKER_02\]: This weekend's skating is you know we have a store which has been out there for a few months now where we have items from IDC NFS as well so go check it out because it's support us and you can rock some cool as well.
[1:08:35] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And also we have the option of joining our Patreon for access to ad free episodes.
[1:08:40] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Well at IDC it's been very busy and spoke with
[1:08:51] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Anthony a program that was from champions on ice way back in the day and there were pictures of his mom and dad in it from when they were on champions on ice so she shared that.
[1:09:04] \[SPEAKER_04\]: So she has those stories.
[1:09:06] \[SPEAKER_04\]: We have the first photos of the 20, 26, 27 season.
[1:09:09] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Harumi went to Prince
[1:09:18] \[SPEAKER_04\]: collection for the season and those are all posted.
[1:09:21] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I have a new team series interview with Finlands Iris Latte and I'll Skyri Lydon Poia.
[1:09:30] \[SPEAKER_04\]: There's an interview with Christian Bennett and his experience touring with Disney on ice, and then also coming this week are an interview with Amy Sweet and Jonathan Rogers of the U.S. as well as a solo Q&A with Marina Nicolova.
[1:09:49] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Well, over at FSO, I posted an interview with Olivia Seraphini, and Olivia is now a dietician with the New York Yankees, so it was very cool to hear what she is up to now, and I thought it was a cool story, especially since it's now baseball season, and so
[1:10:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Definitely go check that out if you haven't and Scott didn't interview with Matt Savoy and that will be up later this week and Mara's working on stuff and so there'll be more coming to FSO in the coming weeks.
[1:10:24] \[SPEAKER_04\]: We do want to wish everyone a happy Pride.
[1:10:27] \[SPEAKER_04\]: We are in the middle of June and it's a month that we take celebration very seriously and happy Pride to all of the athletes
[1:10:39] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Family members, coaches, officials that celebrate.
[1:10:44] \[SPEAKER_04\]: We hope that you have a wonderful month.
[1:10:47] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And if you, I mean, where I live, pride goes beyond June, because our pride parade is in July.
[1:10:56] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I feel like we celebrate pride here for like a month and a half.
[1:11:04] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I know we're in the midway point of June, but I want to say beyond just because the month is coming up,
[1:11:16] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah, it's the same in London because probably will be on the fur of July, which is also my birthday.
[1:11:20] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So DZR got a double celebration on the same day, and I'm very much looking forward to it.
[1:11:26] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Last thing I want to say is a huge thank you to Ethan Peel for his efforts to reboot rebuilds redesign reimagined the ice partner search.com website.
[1:11:42] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Oggy Hill created this website back in 2003, and he signed it over to me a couple of years ago.
[1:11:49] \[SPEAKER_04\]: I did my best with it, but it really needed some love and attention, and after Ethan launched his skating storage site, I reached out to him for some advice, and he,
[1:12:02] \[SPEAKER_04\]: offered to you take care of it and get it back to you or get it to a place that was that looked better, that function better, and took Augie's original vision and just pushed it forward.
[1:12:17] \[SPEAKER_04\]: And so I'm very appreciative if you haven't taken a look at it.
[1:12:21] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It looks fantastic.
[1:12:24] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yes, well done, Ethan.
[1:12:25] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It looks so much better, so much better.
[1:12:28] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Thank you so much.
[1:12:30] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Check out iceparnersearch.com to see all the updates and check out EthanSightScaatingStorage.com.
[1:12:37] \[SPEAKER_04\]: It's a really cool concept.
[1:12:38] \[SPEAKER_04\]: We had him on to talk about it.
[1:12:41] \[SPEAKER_04\]: so check that out.
[1:12:43] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Gina and I will be back with an interview coming probably early next week and watch for us or check your feeds for an episode talking about Grand Prix assignments and more because I have a feeling the landslide has started.
[1:12:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And one more thing.
[1:13:01] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Next week is a special day to that we celebrate and so just keep in eye out on our social media for a little celebration for a June 23rd Olympic day.
[1:13:18] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's just more special this year for Mateo and I since we got to experience our first Olympic
[1:13:27] \[SPEAKER_03\]: some celebrating of that as well.
[1:13:30] \[SPEAKER_04\]: Yes, and on Saturday, June 20th, happy birthday, IDC, officially 27 years old, and you don't look a day of a five until next time.
[1:13:45] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Thanks for tuning in to another episode of This Week in Skating.
[1:13:48] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Remember, you can keep up with us throughout the week by visiting our website at www.thisweekinscating.com.
[1:13:55] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Connect with us on social media for additional updates.
[1:13:57] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You can find us on Twitter at This Week in Skating without the ease or Facebook Instagram and Threads at This Week in Skating.
[1:14:05] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You got a burning question or feedback for Gina Daphne or Mateo?
[1:14:08] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Reach out to us via social media or drop us an email at thisweekenscading at gmail.com.
[1:14:13] \[SPEAKER_01\]: 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.
[1:14:21] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Until next time, have a nice week.

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