No idea why he attempted it at the Olympics practice session, I guess he wanted to get injured 😭.
It really shows how dangerous can quints be, without a very high jump you need to rotate so fast that it’s more of a yolo jump than anything else.
New Free Skate Program - 🇺🇸Amber Glenn
Music: Exogenesis: Symphony Pt.3 (Redemption)
Choreographers: Catherine Hill
Amber's description
>A return to when everything changed.
Before I ever got to compete this FS I suffered a severe concussion and then went into survival mode.
Many great things came from this program
First In competition Triple Axel ,First National Title.
Now It's time to start over again.🤍
My girl is not playing this season it seems… - she just posted a video with landing w 4T+eu+3F on her telegram channel.
Kamilla Nelyubova is coached by Daria Gureeva and Adelina Sotnikova.
She will compete at the Kinoshita Cup Challenger.
This jumping pass is worth 14.80 in Base Value alone.
I saw a pretty interesting table on Twitter and decided to share it here.
This table shows who has the highest amount of medals in major competitions, by major competition this means the Olympics, Worlds and the Grand Prix Final.
For people who don’t see the differences between the screenshots - each screenshot is sorted by a different parameter, the first one is by the amount of Olympic Gold Medals, the second by total amount of Worlds / Olympic and GPF Gold medals, and the third by the total amount of medals regardless of the place.
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My observations
Kagiyama having 0 Gold medals but 10 silvers and bronzes is (mostly) sad but also a bit funny
Yuzuru, Yagudin, Plushenko and Chen being at the top of the two screenshots just show how good they were
And the fact that both Asada, Kwan and Slutskaya don’t have a OGM even though they dominating so much is kinda crazy
Let me know what you think!
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Shout out to “MartinaFrammart” on Twitter for this analysis.
In a recent livestream Ilia Malinin revealed that he’s planning to go to the 2034 Olympics and needs to take care of this body - video from the livestream attached.
Fun watch imo!
Also no, your headphones aren’t broken, they messed up the audio in some of the clips, haha.
This is what Deniss said
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Competitive career is very resource intense and limiting in the full spectrum of skating artform. I wish to delve deeper into skating sport industry and offer my experience as I pay greater attention to my curiosities to explore.
Short: I want to recover and refine my skills on the ice and off the ice that competitions don’t account for, yet. I am not quitting! I am shifting focus to expand my abilities and knowledge about the figure skating sports artform.
Whether I will be back season after, will discover in the aftermath of this one. Most important to me is to stay fit physically, power up mentally and expand intellectually to stay up to date.
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Deniss has been competing internationally for the last 15 years, he’s the 7 time national champion of Latvia, bronze medalist in European championships and a 3 time Olympian.
This season he was expected to compete at the Grand Prix event in China, I guess that spot is now empty.
Hopefully this isn’t a soft retirement because he always was a very enjoyable skater to watch. Good luck to him.
In a recent interview Daniil Gleikhengauz spoke about his rise in popularity after the 2018 Olympics, about how professional sports and health don’t get along, and about young successful athletes retiring early, translation below.
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On his rise in popularity after the 2018 Olympics
After those Games, a new life began for me. I gained a certain public profile, and people started recognizing me. I was only 26 years old, and I wanted to have that kind of carefree, young-guy summer. That’s how I’d describe it.
With all the money I received and earned back then, I bought myself a car, a nice watch, and celebrated my birthday at a trendy club.
I spent everything I had earned right away, but not wastefully. The car has served me well for many years, and I still have the watch. And the club is still standing, too. (laughs)
On professional sports and health
Professional sports are not healthy. When people say they should take up sports for their health, that’s a completely different approach. When you practice any sport at a professional level, it’s actually the opposite — it’s wearing your body down.
Your joints, spine, discs, knees, menisci, ligaments — all of that takes a beating over the course of a career. And generally speaking, there are no truly healthy athletes who have finished a long professional career.
Whether it’s Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, it’s impressive and worthy of respect when an athlete at that age can maintain their body and physical condition at such a high level. But they are the exception, not the rule.
On young successful skaters retiring early
The hardest thing in figure skating is making people think it’s easy. So much blood, sweat, falling, and injuries go into making it look effortless.
If an average person steps onto the ice, even if they already know how to skate, just skating two laps without stopping is enough to leave them out of breath, with their muscles starting to burn and their legs getting tired. A professional figure skater, however, has to stay in that state for four minutes while performing highly complex, coordinated movements.
They’re not simply skating and repeating the same motion. They’re jumping, spinning, stopping, making sharp movements, doing turns and transitions, constantly disrupting their breathing rhythm. The hardest part is training everything together into a single program — the one spectators eventually see performed in a dress or costume.
An athlete has to skate that program so many times before it finally comes together in competition — and do it without running out of breath. You have to do that work 200, 300 times in practice.
Not everyone understands how much has to be sacrificed. People only see the final stage. They see a moment of triumph, perhaps at the World Championships or the Olympics. Then, when an athlete says they’re done and don’t want to continue, fans are shocked: ‘How can that be? We’ve only been watching you for a year or two!’
But that athlete has been in the system since the age of four, with nothing in life except training. Your whole life is training, recovery, extra training sessions, the gym, the pool, preparing for training, resting after training, massages… Whether you can keep going for another four years or eight years is something very individual.
So this is my message to fans and spectators: be more understanding if athletes don’t live up to your expectations. Because, as one great man once said: your expectations are your problems.”
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He also spoke about his skating career, revealing that he was a singles skater until the age of 18, but due to his ankle injury and surgery he transitioned to ice dance, but when he was 21 his father passed away to cancer, which forced him to focus more on the current family situation rather than his long term dreams, so he started working as a coach and in low level ice shows. Pretty sad story
Let me know what you think!
At the Summer Cup in Shiga on August 11, Hana Bath, who won silver at the 2026 World Junior Championships, claimed the junior women’s title with 195.82 points after landing two triple axels. Here’s a translation of her comments.
Bath scored 131.70 points in the free skate and finished first overall after also leading the short program. The 16-year-old Australian said,
I’m super happy. I’m happy that I was able to give a good performance in front of everyone, and I’m happy that I landed both triple axels.
She opened her free skate with a triple axel-triple toe loop combination, then landed a solo triple axel that received +2.40 in grade of execution. She fell on a solo triple flip in the second half of the program and said,
I’m a little frustrated that I fell, - but added - I was able to keep fighting until the end.
As part of her prize for winning the competition, Bath received Omi beef steaks.
I’m going to eat them! I love meat! - she said with a smile.
Bath said she looks up to 2024 Grand Prix Final champion Amber Glenn of the United States for her triple axel.
Her jump is high and beautiful. I watch all of Amber’s competitions online,” Bath said. “I really like her personality. She is strong as a skater, and her performances are beautiful, so I love her.
When it comes to her plans for the upcoming season she said with a smile
I just want to reach the junior Grand Prix Final
Bath was born to a Japanese mother and Australian father. At the end of 2024, she relocated to Osaka, where her grandmother lives, and has trained at MF Academy in Minami-Funabashi, Chiba, since January 2026.
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Source - fsgossips
On the final day of the Summer Cup figure skating competition, held on the 12th at Kinoshita Kansai Ice Arena in Ōtsu City, the women’s event was won by Mao Shimada, who is making her senior debut this season after winning four consecutive World Junior Championships.
Following her first-place result in the short program, she also topped the free skate with a score of 138.77 points, finishing with a total of 220.58 points to claim the title.
After the competition, Mao and her coach - Mie Hamada spoke to reporters.
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So, how was it?
>There were good parts and bad parts; it was a free skate with a lot of ups and downs. But there are still things I need to work on.
What about landing the triple Axel and the quadruple toe loop?
>After doing the big jumps, I ended up making two mistakes that I never make - not even in practice. So I guess that was the difference; it must have been my mindset.
You’ve won your first two competitions since making your senior debut. That must give you good momentum heading into international events.
>Yes. Since the Russians will be competing, you really want to have at least one quadruple jump. I want to improve the success rate a bit more, because my quad isn’t exactly consistent yet. I think if I were landing it regularly, the mistakes afterward wouldn’t happen. The Axel is something I almost never miss. But with the quad, my success rate is less than half. Today I landed it, and then maybe I got nervous afterward. I want to get to the point where I can do it routinely, like it’s no big deal.
How do you think the landscape of women’s skating will change with the Russians returning?
>I think it will definitely change. I think it will change dramatically. Things will shift very quickly, so I’m prepared for it to be different from what we’ve seen up until now.
(Question to Hamada) Have you been giving any special advice or encouragement?
>No, because every skater has her own strengths. Some can compete through their jumps, others through their skating skills. Just as there are many different ways to climb a mountain, I always tell them to stay true to themselves. For each of my students, the important thing is not to lose sight of who they are.
Shimada, have you noticed any changes since moving up to the senior level?
>I’m happy and I’m having fun. It took me a long time to get there, so I’d really been looking forward to competing as a senior.
(From now on every question is to Hamada) Does that show itself in training as well?
>I always tell her, ‘You finally got to compete as a senior.’ She had been waiting for it for so long. Those four years felt very long.
It sounds as though some of the pressure has been lifted from her shoulders.
>Yes. Personally, I’ve always thought that, at the senior level, she doesn’t have to win.
What kind of season do you think this will be? Are you excited?
>Yes, of course. We’ll watch the Russians and compete against them with the mindset of learning from them at first. Then we’ll think about what we need to do to take the next step. That applies not only to Mao, but also to how we coach the next generation of skaters. Of course, big technical elements come with the risk of injury, so I hope we can learn from them comprehensively - not just about jumps, but also about physical conditioning and many other aspects.
What impact do you think the rule changes will have?
>Regardless of the rules, I believe the best skating will win. What I do wonder about is the doping issue. That remains a question in my mind. I believe clean sport is absolutely essential. The circumstances surrounding Russia’s exclusion from international competition were different in figure skating than in other sports, and I witnessed those events myself. I think it’s important for everyone to take another look at what happened. As athletes, there are certain lines that should never be crossed.
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva plans to continue working with French choreographer Benoît Richaud and prepare another program with him, a source familiar with the situation told RIA Novosti.
Earlier, it was reported that the 20-year-old skater had arrived in France to work with Richaud as part of a training camp. During the camp, she plans to create a second program with the French specialist, reportedly her free skate. In May, during Richaud’s visit to Novogorsk, Valieva had already worked with him on her short program.
Previously, the skater's free skate program was choreographed by Angelika Krylova.
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Seems like their partnership is thriving.
The Kinoshita Cup Challenger entries are out
Total score 64.12 (36.30+27.82)
I read a pretty interesting article on sport24.ru about quads and how they are ruining the future of Russian figure skating, translation below.
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Pain is an inseparable part of the profession in figure skating. Everyone knows this: fans, coaches, and the athletes themselves, who step onto the ice every day knowing that a single failed jump can result in months of recovery. When an experienced, decorated athlete gets injured, we sympathize but understand that this is the price of achieving top results.
But when, season after season, we lose young skaters who have not even had the chance to fully establish themselves, it becomes a sign that the pursuit of ever-greater technical difficulty has crossed a line beyond which a teenager’s body can no longer cope.
Another confirmation of this troubling pattern came from the training camp of Eteri Tutberidze, where 17-year-old Nikita Sarnovsky is only now preparing to return to the ice after a month of training was wiped out by a stress fracture in his leg.
Sarnovsky was, in a sense, fortunate. His break did not drag on for six months or a year - by today’s standards, a month off the ice is almost a luxury. But the very ease with which we now react to injury news involving yesterday’s junior skaters is the most alarming warning sign of all.
The abnormal has become normal. And that is far more frightening than any individual diagnosis.
The reigning Russian jumping champion, whose arsenal included almost every quadruple jump except the Axel, is now returning amid complete uncertainty. Will he burst into the season with the same technical ambition as before? Or, after such an injury, is a revision of his program content inevitable?
The question is rhetorical, but these are precisely the kinds of questions that now accompany almost every skater who has gone through health problems and, for a time, fallen out of their training routine.
It is no secret that figure skating is a high-risk sport when it comes to injuries. The impact loads on the spine and joints, multi-rotation jumps with hard landings, and twists performed at the limits of human physical capability are all inherent to the discipline itself.
But it is one thing when injuries affect fully developed athletes whose bodies have spent years adapting to such demands. It is quite another when an epidemic of fractures and stress injuries sweeps through athletes who, according to their age, still have a great deal of growing left to do.
Teenagers who should be building muscle mass and strengthening their bones are instead spending months unable to jump. And there are now too many such cases to dismiss them as mere coincidence.
The most severe and illustrative example in women’s singles is Sofia Akatieva. In December 2022, she won the Russian Championships, defeating more experienced stars. She was seen as the country’s main hope for the upcoming Olympic cycle, and her skating was described as the gold standard for the new generation.
Then, during the off-season, she suffered the same familiar injury - a stress fracture of the foot.
Since then, three years have passed, spent not fighting for medals but fighting for her own body. According to insider reports, Akatieva risks missing the first half of the 2026–27 season - again, just as she did last year and the year before. Such is the reality of a life in perpetual recovery.
And the most horrifying aspect is the uncertainty. An injury that never fully heals moves an athlete from the category of “temporarily sidelined” to that of “chronically unprepared.” Returning to a previous elite level after that is virtually impossible.
Right now, Alisa Dvoeglazova risks following the same path. The Russian vice-champion, winner of the Russian Grand Prix Final and the national jumping championship, and owner of one of the most technically demanding programs among today’s elite skaters has had everything put on hold because of a hip injury sustained in the spring.
Daniil Gleikhengauz described the situation with complete honesty:
>She hasn’t even returned to the ice yet. We’re not rushing anything and are strictly following all the doctors orders.
It sounds sensible and mature, but in essence it is yet another case of an athlete at the peak of her form being sidelined for an indefinite period, while her greatest strengths - the very ultra-C elements (quadruple jumps and other ultra-difficult technical content)—remain in question.
Unfortunately, the injury spiral has also engulfed several of the most talented junior skaters of the past Olympic cycle.
Just a couple of seasons ago, Lyubov Rubtsova was one of the most competitive skaters in her age group: technically strong, determined, and equipped with a consistent triple Axel. She was expected to make the transition to the senior ranks and establish herself among the elite.
But her body said “no” in the harshest possible way. Spinal problems required a series of surgeries.
What followed was a journey that can hardly be called training. She literally had to learn how to walk again and readjust to the most basic movements.
Even in this condition, Rubtsova has at times pushed her preparation forward and continues to work on ultra-C elements, as well as on backflips - perhaps the only way to remain noticeable while the battle for a place on the national team remains out of reach.
Alina Gorbacheva is another name that once sounded like a promise of a great future. The bronze medalist of the 2025 Russian Championships, a skater with unique artistry, a recognizable style, and a high-flying quad jump in her repertoire.
In January 2026, she underwent knee surgery in Germany and was forced to spend more than half a year away from the ice. It was only in July that she was cleared to resume training.
Within a couple of weeks, Alina regained her triple jumps, but that is only the first step. No one knows how much time will be needed for a full return. Every month missed erodes the competitive sharpness built up over years, while her peers continue moving far ahead. Time does not stand still, and that is simply the reality.
Alena Kostornaia is one of the most gifted figure skaters of her generation, possessing phenomenal skating skills and a jumping repertoire that allowed her to defeat rivals even without quadruple jumps. But injuries followed her with frightening consistency.
Hip problems (and not only those) prevented her from increasing her training load and stabilizing her signature triple Axel, and without ultra-C elements, there is very little room to compete at the top level in women’s singles.
In the end, Kostornaia made a decision that many considered a forced one: she switched to pair skating.
Officially, it was a new chapter, new challenges, and a chance to fulfill her ambitions - all very much in the spirit of the fearless Kostornaia. In reality, it was an acknowledgment that her worn-down body could no longer withstand the demands of singles skating.
What unites all of these cases is that each of these athletes was either at their peak or approaching it when their body said “no.”
The level of technical difficulty in modern figure skating has reached such heights that almost every junior skater is now learning elements that, just ten years ago, were considered the domain of only a select few.
This is where the medical paradox lies: the adolescent nervous system can master extremely complex coordination patterns faster than an adult’s, but bones and connective tissues do not adapt to these stresses quickly enough.
The brain is already capable - the body is not.
The slightest disruption in recovery sets off a chain reaction: a micro-injury, insufficient healing, compensatory stress placed on other areas, and a new injury. It becomes a vicious cycle that only a few manage to escape.
But the problem goes deeper than physiology alone. The system itself contains an inherent conflict of interest and is not eager to change.
A coaching team is objectively focused on results here and now: victories strengthen a school’s reputation, attract new students, secure funding, and draw the attention of the federation. Investing in the long-term health of an athlete who may change training locations in a couple of years - or end their career altogether - is economically inefficient.
This is rational behavior within the competitive environment created by the race for ultra-C elements.
In words, a different approach to coaching is what Evgeni Plushenko appears to be trying to promote (while also, in a sense, taking a jab at the Tutberidze coaching team):
>We are raising champions, but it takes time. Figure skating is one of the most difficult sports; it has become much harder than it was even 10 years ago. Now spins are worth almost as much as jumps, whereas before we would do two rotations and move on. Nothing can happen here at the snap of a finger. The important thing is that athletes remain healthy. We can look around now: there are coaching teams and groups where, out of 15 children, only two have remained injury-free. It is important that they stay in the sport for a long time, train, and achieve results.
But acknowledging the problem is not the same as solving it.
After an injury, it is not enough to simply restore the muscles and ligaments - you also have to rebuild the mind. Every risky element now becomes a battle against your own instinct for self-preservation.
The body remembers pain, and forcing it to work at its limits again is a task comparable in difficulty to learning the element from scratch.
In this reality, any attempt to return to competitive ice is already a victory. The saddest part is how accustomed we have become to it. We have stopped being surprised by news that another promising figure skater broke down before ever reaching the biggest stages.
While we discuss predictions and scenarios for upcoming competitions, somewhere at a rink another young talent is learning to walk again after spending a month in a cast, then spending another month simply relearning how to glide, and only afterward - if everything goes well - attempting jumps.
These breaks turn into years, and those years turn into lost careers.
One can only hope that, for at least some members of this generation, time away from the ice will remain just a chapter in their story rather than the defining feature of their entire career. However, the higher the bar for technical difficulty rises, the less reason there is for that hope.
Men: Petr Gumenik, Evgeni Semenenko, Mark Kondratiuk. Substitute - Vladislav Dikidzhi
Women: Alexandra Trusova, Kamila Valieva, Maria Zakharova. Substitute - Anna Frolova
Pairs: Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Gallyamov, Alexandra Boikova/Dmitry Kozlovsky, Ekaterina Chikmareva/Matvey Yanchenkov.
Ice Dance: Vasilisa Kaganovskaya/Maxim Nekrasov, Ekaterina Mironova/Evgeni Ustenko, Elizaveta Pasechnik/Dario Chirizano.
This lineup will be valid provided that all participants receive neutral status, but substitutions are possible. Russian figure skaters will travel to Tokyo with neutral status.
Edit 14:02
Kamila Valievas coach denied the report that Valieva will participate in the Kinoshita Cup
“This is the first time I’m hearing about Japan. We have plans for other tournaments”.
Silver medalist of the 2022 Olympic Games, figure skater Alexandra Trusova, is planning to return to competition at a Challenger Series event in Tokyo, a source familiar with the situation told RIA Novosti.
According to the report, the 22-year-old athlete has already submitted her application for the tournament and is in the process of obtaining a visa. However, she is still awaiting approval of her neutral status.
Another source told the agency that “all available Russian figure skaters from the national top three” are expected to participate in the Tokyo event.
Among the notable exceptions are multiple-time Russian ice dance champions Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. According to the source, they plan to begin their international season in Europe.
The tournament in Tokyo will take place from September 4 to 6.
Ria Novosti
In a recent interview for ESPN Amber Glenn defended Alexandra Trusovas behaviour at the 2022 Olympics, saying that “there was a line crossed there” when referring to cameras being pointed at Sasha’s face when she was having a hard time, and adding that “this didn’t need to be broadcasted for everyone to see”.
Additionally she reminded everyone that competitive figure skating is a figure skaters job, and is firstly performing for the judges, not entertainment for the fans, even saying that “if you want to see entertainment go to a (ice) show”.
The whole clip is attached to this post.
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It’s nice seeing Amber defending Sasha, and I’ll never forget how she defended Kaori at the 2026 Olympics when she was also having a very hard time.
Also it’s nice seeing how she reminded everyone, that first and foremost figure skating is a sport and a job for these figure skaters, there are judges, there are competitions and medals to fight for, there seems to be a lot of delusion recently in the fan base from people thinking that this sport is some sort of entertainment for the fans, when it’s not.
Now this doesn’t mean that this sport can’t be entertaining, it definitely is (Amber also acknowledges that), but people put their mental and psychical health on the line because they want to win, or at least fight for better spots, not necessarily to be entertaining for the fans.
I highly doubt that people like Yuzuru Hanyu, Yuna Kim, Gracie Gold, Zhenya Medvedeva, Anna Shcherbakova, Nina Petrokina and many many more would sacrifice so much, if this was just entertainment.
Let me know what you think!
This is Elena's Black Swan Free Skate for the next season, during the test skates she was able to land two 3A and a 4S, the planned 4T turned out to be a 3T, but I'm sure she will try it when the season is fully ongoing.
I'll post more stuff in the comments!
According to RIA Novosti, to nobody's surprise all of the junior national champions have been selected as the competitors. This is what the article said
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The leadership of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR) has decided not to change skaters at the stage of the international junior Grand Prix series in China, a source close to the situation told RIA Novosti.
It is noted that this decision was made at a general meeting, which was held following the results of closed test skates for contenders for the Grand Prix stages. Performances took place on Thursday and Friday.
The first stage of the Junior Grand Prix in Xi'an, China has been announced Lev Lazarev and Elena Kostyleva (singles skating), as well as Maria Fefelova / Artem Valov (ice dancing) and Polina Shesheleva / Egor Karnaukhov (pairs skating).
The stage in Xi'an will take place from August 20 to 22. The next Grand Prix tournament for the Russians will be the stage in Bangkok (September 3-5, pair skating will not be presented), and pairs will perform in Ankara (September 17-19).
Edit (10:53) - new information
The federation will make replacements at the stages in Bangkok and Ankara if the junior athletes fail to achieve the required results in Xi'an.
According to RIA Novosti Sport, the goal for everyone is to finish in the top 3 in China. If this goal is not met, the skater / pair will practically lose their chances of qualifying for the series final. In that case, a reserve skater / pair will travel to the next stage (Bangkok, Ankara).
The decision was made after closed practice sessions.
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Unfortunately Sofia Dzepka did not get the junior Grand Prix slot 😔.
I wrote about Lev Lazarev here
And about Fefelova / Valov here
Two more to go, will post about the pair team tomorrow!