'25 Worlds Preview!

Also known as the race for the Milan Olympics.

These people are silver medal dancers.

Well, this is embarrassing. One minute, you have a month to carefully plot out and write a series of newsletters preparing your audience to really appreciate the Figure Skating Worlds Championships. The next minute, you’re on a plane with shady wifi, trying to bang out one newsletter to rule them all, while the lady next to you keeps eying the bathroom sign and YOU JUST KNOW she’s gonna ask to squeeze past you and interrupt your writing flow any second now.

Friends, I won’t bore you with excuses. I’m here now, and I’m ready to give you the quick and dirty on what to watch for this week.

FIRST OF ALL— the fun starts TOMORROW. YES. ON A WEDNESDAY. I know, we’re used to figure skating being a weekend activity. But here we are, no consideration at all for people who have to work for a living. Given that Prevagen and Amlactin are major sponsors of US Figure Skating, I guess everyone is assuming the audience is retired and doesn’t have a concept of “weekdays”. As always, So You Want to Watch Figure Skating has the details on where/how to watch.

SECOND OF ALL—you’ve been hearing me speculate about who might win all season. (Unless you just joined me. In which case… hello!) I think you could probably glance at the archives at have a sense of who might be a contender here. In short:

Ice Dance: Chock/Bates (USA), Gilles/Poirier (CAN), Guignard/Fabbri (ITL)

Women: Kaori Sakamoto (JPN), Amber Glenn (USA), Cheayeon Kim (KOR)

Men: Ilia Malinin (USA), Yuma Kagiyama (JPN), Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA), Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ)

Pairs: Hase/Volodin (GER), Miura/Kihara (JPN), Stellato-Dudek/Male partner (CAN), Maybe the Georgians if karma doesn’t bite them in the ass for also competing at Junior Worlds and dominating actual children because they want world standing points.

But here’s what else I’m watching:

• The hunt for Olympic spots. Placements at this year’s Worlds determines the number of Olympic berths for each country. There’s some fairly complicated rules that Jackie Wong lays out here, but you’re mostly watching for the magic number of 13. (Taylor Swift approves.) If the top two placements for a country add up to 13 or less, they earn 3 Olympic spots for their country that discipline. So, you could have someone finish 1st and someone finish 12th, and you can earn three Olympic positions. The other magic number is 10. If you’re the only entry from your country, you can earn a second spot for the Olympics by finishing in the Top 10. These skaters aren’t just facing the pressure of Worlds; they’re facing the pressure of making sure their country is represented well at the next Olympics. And if you tank, it is ABSOLUTELY held against you during Olympic team selection. Just ask Ashley Wagner.

• Team USA Three spot watch: A few countries have realistic chances at three spots in some or all disciplines. If I’m being real, I know most of you are American and just care about Team USA. I’m here to tell you we look good for Ice Dance, pretty good for Women, nail bitey for Men, and Hail Mary for Pairs. It all comes to people peaking at the right time and other people not doing as well as they could. Japan, Italy, Canada, France and South Korea will all be gunning for three spots in various disciplines, too. Special call out to the French Ice Dance teams who would LOVE to earn a third spot for their country so that one of them doesn’t get booted next year when GuiLo (Laurence Fournier-Beaudry/Guillaume Cizeron) start competing (if you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’ll get back to you this summer when I am hunting for gossipy content).

• Two spot watch: Honestly, I’m rooting harder for some people in the hunt to earn two spots for their countries. Maddie Schizas has NOT been convincing this season, but she could hit at the right time and bring it home for Canada. Mikhail Selevko of Estonia and Emily Chan’s Instagram is hoping to snag an extra spot so he can go to the Olympics with his baby brother. Lara Naki Guttman (ITL) would love to be a home town hero and earn a second spot for Italian women at the Milan Olympics. Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck would be thrilled to give another Spanish team a crack at the Olympics for Ice Dance. Nina Pinzaronne is praying she gets two spots so that she doesn’t have to compete with Leona the Belgian spot next season. To me, these underdog fights have potential to be the best emotional payoffs.

• Jason Brown & Isabeau Levito. Both Jason and Isabeau petitioned for Worlds spots after pulling out of US Nationals. Neither one has competed much this season, and neither one looked particularly spectacular when they did compete. It’s a bit of a gamble to put them on a Worlds team when Olympic spots are on the line, but at the same time… I doubt Team USA would take a risk if they weren’t convincing during monitoring. I’m especially eager to see Jason. His “Spiegel im Spiegel” program has the potential to be extraordinarily lovely; ever since it was used in a pivotal The Good Place scene, I’m a sucker for it. I’d love to see him nail it and remind everyone why he’s still in the game, despite being quadless.

• Can Piper and Paul make it interesting? Gilles/Poirier managed to beat Chock/Bates fair and square at Four Continents. Neither team made a major error, and the Canadians pulled off an upset. I think it’s pretty tough to beat a two time World Champ US Ice Dance team at a US-based Worlds, but if Piper and Paul can inch past them again, it turns the Olympic season on its head. Ice Dance could actually becomes some what unpredictable for the first time in years.

• As always, I want to see what Johnny is wearing. Will there be an actual live bird in his hair? A replica of a bald eagle? A diamond broach in the shape of Ilia Malinin’s face?

• The Boston Crowd can make or break a skater— who will they get behind this year? The last time Boston hosted Worlds, they went so feral for Ashley Wagner, that the arena had to turn up the volume on her music half-way through her free skate. A home audience is a HUGE advantage for Team USA, but Boston will also get behind someone who is just having a moment. A lot of teams chose music that would be familiar to an American audience, hoping for that crowd boost. Where will it pay off?

• Some other skaters I’m excited to see but who probably won’t win any medals: Donovan Carillo (Mexico- charisma leaking from his pores), Andrew Torgashev (USA- if he’s clean, it will be his breakout moment and catapult him to higher scores next year); Niina Petrokina (Estonia— won Europeans, out to prove it wasn’t a fluke, has murder eyes), Gabby Izzo and whoever her partner is (Switzerland Pairs- you know her from American singles skating, but this is her first big international event for Pairs for another country).

• How will Carreira/Ponomarenko handle the LED boards? CPom skates to “Carmen” in their free dance, and they have a crown favorite moment when Christina pushes Anthony up against the boards in a particularly sexy moment. Sadly for all of us, Boston is using LED boards, and it seems unlikely they will want to smack very hard into TV screens while they skate. How will they adapt without losing the Big Moment?

I could say a lot more here, but I fear it will take an hour to send this newsletter over the airplane wifi, so I need to wrap it up. I just want you to know that I am VERY NERVOUS for Amber Glenn, and I really hope she doesn’t succumb to the pressure of winning a home Worlds with Olympic spots on the line. LOCK IN, AMBER.

If you want to watch along with me, you can check out my Instagram or Blue Sky.

Three Non-Figure Skating Things- some things I have eaten on this plane:

• Wild Mushroom Ravioli. Honestly, I doubt the mushrooms were wild and it was mostly pasta dough, but sure.

• Mini Sun Chips. This is just a smaller bag of Sun Chips. Not cute, bite-size Sun Chips like I expected. Disappointing.

• Vegobears— Vegan, organic Gummy Bears. I know you’re dying for me to be snide about this, but they’re actually great. I like the texture better than regular Gummi Bears.

What’s Next: Post Worlds Debrief! Bests, Worsts, and did someone wipe the smug smile off Eteri’s face?