'25 US Nats: Ice Dance Preview

Bronze never looked so much like Gold.

They aren’t competing at this event. I just miss them.

Now that we’ve covered Pairs and Women, the disciplines with the most uncertainty, let’s dive into the discipline that could be an email if it wasn’t for the bronze medal: Ice Dance!

The Gold

Chock/Bates: I don’t have anything new to say about them. They’re going to win unless they withdraw. They could come out in sweatpants and do the chicken dance and they would still win. If they’re sick again this year, Madison Chock could vomit like The Exorcist on the ice and Johnny Weir would call her stunning while the judges give her a positive grade of execution for it. Piper and Paul just scored a record 229.55 at CanNats. Look for the US judges to find every reason to surpass that.

The Likely Silver

Carreria/Ponomarenko: This is slightly less assured that Gold, but Team USA has clearly selected them as the #2 team and their scores this season reflect that. If they perform as they usually do, it’s theirs. Now, that said….if they do make a major error like a fumbled twizzle or botched lift, then they absolutely do open the door for someone else to overtake them. Their goal is to maintain and stay the course. Look for their choreographed lipstick smeary kiss in their Carmen free skate, and watch for their coaches Scott Moir and Madison Hubbell to look stone cold irritated about their scores. (Also, if you need a reason to love them, here they are dressed as Minions to Scott’s Gru for Halloween.)

Battle for Bronze

Team USA could just tell the top two to stay home and let these teams compete for bronze, but where’s the fun in that. With the Olympics next season and with Ice Dance favoring momentum, all of these teams will be eager to solidify their argument for being the #3 team.

Green/Parsons: Both of them were paired with their siblings until their siblings retired, and then they paired up with each other. Up until last season, they weren’t just the assured third team— they were actively hot competition for #2. But then then there was a coaching change and and an injury and some lackluster programs and they lost some ground. A lot of ground. I love Caroline Green and her murder eyes, but I’m not sure these two have enough of the magic right now to make a definitive case. Of the three options here, they’re the most consistent, and that may be what pulls them through.

Zingas/Kolesnik: Team USA wants to back them so badly, but Emilea only started in Ice Dance a couple of years ago and she makes goofy mistakes pretty often. There’s a clear X-factor here, real chemistry. I’m not going to say they sizzle like Scott and Tessa, but there’s something fizzy about them. Whether they’re doing it on purpose or not, they appear to be working the “are we dating or just partners” angle on socials. Not to the extent of Bella Flores and her partner who will not be named. But there’s a winking flirtation there. They have the highest raw potential of the US teams, but it all comes down to Emilea being clean on the day.

Bratti/Somerville: They had a golden opportunity last year when Team USA gifted them a spot at Worlds… which they promptly fumbled with an uncharacteristic fall that meant they didn’t even make it to the free dance. The picture above is pretty accurate for their partnership. Somerville is the star here, which is really unusual in ice dance. There’s rumbles on skating twitter that he should ditch Bratti and partner with the likely free Bella Flores or even get Annabelle Morozov to dump Jeffrey Chen. But I actually think it’s refreshing to let the guy be the diva. Anyway, they’re looking for a Worlds redemption, but they’ll have to be clearly superior to the other two teams to get it after their catastrophe last year.

Other Stories:

Brown/Brown: They really should be in the hunt for bronze based on their technical prowess, but I think they suffer from being siblings in a field that rewards romantic chemistry. Personally, I think they’re more creative and pick better music since they can’t rely on sexual tension to earn artistry points, but that’s not really being rewarded these days.

Pate/Bye: They THINK they should be in the hunt for the bronze, and certainly Eva Pate’s hair is so marvelous that you would think that would be enough. But international judges are just lukewarm on them. I don’t see Team USA trying to make them happen when they have so many other options.

Morozov/Chen: This pair has so many juicy little gossip nuggets hanging around them, that it’s hard to decide where to begin. Annabelle is the daughter of a notorious Russian skater who seems to have bred her specifically for citizenship in every Ice Dance power house country (Russian dad, French mom, born on US soil). She WAS skating for Russia with a partner who is now her very own secret husband, but she switched allegiances to skate in the US for reasons that are obvious. Meanwhile, Jeffrey— brother of Queen Karen Chen- was available to partner her because he first seemed to unexpectedly break with his partner (Katarina Wolfkostin) to pair off with a younger skater, but then he broke off that partnership within a year, which is maybe great for both of those young women because not only did he trip both of them during programs, he also ALLEGEDLY has Safe Sport allegations hanging over him. AND THEN, they were skating with Charlie White at his Ice Dance academy but then quietly switched mid-season to skating with Marina Zoueva, who USED to coach Charlie and who Tessa and Scott ditched SUPPOSEDLY because she favored Meryl and Charlie. I honestly can’t wait to see how their scores shake out. And I look forward to seeing Marina in the Kiss-n-Cry. Will she have a small dog in her purse? Probably not, but you can imagine if anyone would try, she would. There is so much politics involved here, and I really can’t tell you how that might work for or against Annabelle and Jeffrey.

Wolfkostin/Tsarevski: The most interesting thing about this pairing is their former partners. Katarina, as already mentioned, skated with Jeffrey. Dimitry is the one who skated with Bella Flores until he ghosted her right before Nationals one year. At the time, he seemed like either a huge jerk or under the control of strict parents. In retrospect, maybe he was fleeing from a wild coaching situation. Regardless, they won’t really make waves here, but Team USA seems to be using them to hold on to Ice Dance spots at the Junior Grand Prix and at Junior Worlds. They just barely still qualify as Juniors and are good enough to place well there, and it helps to hold the spots while the younger Ice Dance teams build some momentum. It’s not a terrible strategy for them as a new-ish couple; they’ll probably win a medal at Junior Worlds and get some world standing points that will help them out later in Senior international competition.

Neset/Markelov: The newlyweds who absolutely got married as soon as Leah turned 17 for no other reason other than true love and definitely not because Markelov needs to be a US citizen by 2030 and this is the quickest way to do it. It would be more believable if they weren’t from that Ice Dance group with about three other teen marriages. At least they were open about their wedding and didn’t try to hide it. Anyway, it’s too bad they have this scandal hanging over them because they really are fresh and talented, and Leah is a queen at matching her hair to their programs.

My Prediction: Chock/Bates, Carreira/Ponomarenko, and then… Zingas/Kolesnik. That last one is a gamble, but I think Team USA really wants to make them happen. And they’re not wrong— there is something a little magic about them. If they don’t have any obvious mistakes (big if), it’s theirs.

Three Non-Figure Skating Things:

Three things that are worth the money:

• Bombas socks. I’m sorry this is true. I too am annoyed by the expense of good socks. But so many socks cut little lines into my ankles and calves, and I’m now obsessed with these Ultra Stretch Calf Socks. They’re like a cozy, wireless bralette for my feet/legs.

• The Scrub Mommy. I am always annoyed when I pick these up at Publix. Why does a sponge cost more than my produce? But I tried the Publix knock-off version, and it crumbled to bits pretty quickly, and it wasn’t particularly great at scrubbing off the crusty stuff. Brand name actually makes a difference here. And I actually will pay extra to get the little bow.

• An travel external monitor for your laptop. I work from home, and my company provides enormous external monitors so we can all live the luxurious multi-screen life. I do take advantage of the generous remote work policy to work places other than home, and I used to wrap my external monitor in a blanket and gently cushion it between pillows in my backseat for travel. NO MORE. I got a travel monitor a couple of years ago, and it folds up small enough to fit into my laptop case. It’s maybe the smartest work-related thing I’ve done in years. I balked at the price initially, but now it seems negligible.

What’s Next: Tomorrow, we check in on the Men, where I might as well just write the word “Ilia” and then shrug at the rest. (Not totally true. I could also write “Torgashev.”)