'25 Worlds Debrief

Are you a Liunatic, yet?

After watching four straight days of wall-to-wall figure skating, I am less like the Jason above and more like the Mirai below.

The skating hangover is real. You mean tomorrow I am supposed to WORK and not unpack Lilah Fear’s slow and steady plan for World Domination? Inconceivable.

In the meantime, here’s what stood out to me over the last few days:

• First of all, winners all listed here.

• And the Olympic spot allocations noted here, per Jackie Wong’s calculations: Men, Dance, Women, Pairs.

  • Team USA managed to qualify three spots in all disciplines, with the asterisk that a third US Pairs team has to secure the third Pairs spot at an Olympic qualifying event this fall. Our government can calm down because America is now great again.

  • Maddie Schizas (CAN) JUST MISSED, Lara Naki Gutmann (ITL) missed by a mile, and Nina Pinzaronne (BEL) managed to pull it off.

  • Jason Brown saved the US Men’s bacon AGAIN when Torgs had a meltdown. I admit, I doubted him this time. When will I learn? (Or do I need to accept the reality that this is the last time they can play the Jason card??)

• Rather than just stepping on to the ice and waving like they usually do, skaters had to essentially walk a runway to get on the ice for their warmup groups. Alysa used this opportunity to do a cartwheel, most skaters just ran to the ice smiling, a couple of skaters pulled out the finger guns, and Ilia strutted like a model. Because I guess he thinks he can be famous like Messi or The Rock?

• A lot of skaters had great moments with the exuberant Boston crowd, but the Finnish ice dance team, Orihara/Pirinen, really seemed to land like an ice cream sundae in July. The crowd roared like they were seeing a Quad Axel when they did their campy Chrous Line choreography, and they were also rewarded with a lusty “boooo” toward the judges when their scores came back average. Several of you DM’d me on Instagram to confirm this was a genuine audience favorite. It’s a good lesson to all of the B-team players across all disciplines: If you aren’t going to win a medal, win the audience. Do the fun program. Hey, it worked out for Lilah Fear. She originally broke through with Lewis as “the Disco Brits,” and now they’re a whisker away from an Olympic medal.

• Another couple with big audience reaction: Alisa & Misha, following their free skate. Misha spun Alisa around so that she could take in the full arena roar, and it was like something out of a romance novel. I am blushing just thinking about it. (Related: Isn’t there a rumor that they’re married, likely for citizenship reasons?)

• As long as we’re shipping people, what about Kirsten Moore-Towers and Chris Whatever-his-last-name-is? For those of us watching Peacock or other World Feeds, we got the two of them instead of Johnny and Tara. And look, Kirsten is married, and I obviously don’t really want her to dump her husband for this, but I ship it from a work perspective. They were great together! Kirsten brought good technical commentary, Chris brought the Britishisms (“Sharp as mustard!”), and they had a fun rapport. At one point, Kirsten asked Chris what a “humdinger” is, and you could see her smirking at him. I buy it.

• Speaking of love, Gracie and Nam are still going strong, as they were caught several times on the jumbotron while Nam did his his full extrovert and Gracie laughed and hid her face. I have no idea what it’s really like between the two of them, but I hope he’s bringing out her sunshine.

• Also hamming it up for the cameras, Deniss Vasiljevs of Latvia in the “leader’s chair.” He landed there after a truly well done free program, and he loved every minute of the short time he was there— playing along with crowd karaoke and holding up his cell phone light for a “Don’t Stop Believin’” sing-along. The newly instated “leader’s chair” seems most fun for those skaters who know they won’t sit there long and therefore have no pressure to perform goods sportsmanship when they lose. Less fun for people with a gold medal on the line, biting their nails while being forced to watch their opponents.

• Alysa never got to sit in the leader’s chair because she skated last, but you get the sense she would have enjoyed it there. I still can’t believe she actually pulled it off— she truly idgaf’d her way to the top. Adam Rippon told The Runthrough live show that Alysa seemed pretty chill backstage before her free skate, not even aware of the current skating group on the ice and the time she had left to prepare. When Adam pointed out her group was going on next and maybe she should brush her hair, she ran off with a quick, “Bro….” I notice none of the official skating accounts are replaying the clip of her repeating, “What the hell,” over and over to Ashley Wagner in her post-skate interview, but that’s another true highlight for me. I know that all of the current top Women skaters gush about camaraderie and good vibes backstage, but you have to think that Alysa’s seemingly casual approach to competing must drive the rest of them nuts. “lol i think i’ll try sk8ing again. ooops i won.” Readers, may you be the Alysa Liu of whatever you do this week.

• Did you catch that subtle movement in Ice Dance? I thought the Olympic Ice Dance season would play out about as predictable as a sunrise, but I think we’re in for an actual roller coaster. With Guillaume Cizeron returning to French Ice Dance and the Russians allowed to send a “neutral” entry to the Olympic qualifier in the fall, there’s already two wild cards out there. But now the Brits officially outstripped the Italians when neither made any obvious errors. And I noticed some teams dropping in the standings while some suddenly surged a little— like Olivia Smart/Tim Dieck (Spain) and CPom (USA). Pretty sure Chock/Bates and Gilles/Poirier will still be in the hunt for gold and silver next year, but the placements behind them look a little murkier to me. I don’t think the Italians are taking it well, and I’m not sure they’re wrong about the judging being more fair for some than others. That said, they need much better programs next year.

  

• On the subject of Ice Dance, keep your eyes out for Allison Reed at the Olympic qualifier in the fall. Allison has previously earned an Olympic Ice Dance spot for Lithuania, but she’s been unable to take advantage of it due to citizenship issues. This year, Lithuania FINALLY handed her a passport, but then she had a fluke fall in the rhythm dance, and she didn’t even make the free dance at Worlds. I think I’m rooting harder for her to make the Olympic team than I am for Chock/Bates to win the gold.

Overall, an extremely fun few days in Boston. But now I’m ready to care about something else for a few months.

Three Non-Figure Skating Things: Weird Things I Saw in Palm Springs Last Week

• Bob Ross-themed energy drinks. Is there anybody who is LESS of a poster child for high energy?

  

• A fountain with metallic blue angels. Very Mardi Gras float. This was just casually outside a sandwich place.

• Princess Baby Doll Snail, who also has a choker made from a hair bow I used to wear in third grade. Just normal stuff to see in the window of a French antique store. Very Louis Quatorze.

  

What’s Next: The last big event of the season, World Team Trophy, is about three weeks from now, but surely I’ll have something to say before then.