Olympic and World Champion Alina Zagitova (RUS) will take a break from competing and will not participate in the ISU European and World Figure Skating Championships this season, but has not retired.
Men wear black skating boots, women wear white or sometimes tan-coloured skating boots. However, that was not always the case. In the first decades of Figure Skating competitions, men and women wore only black skating boots as you can see on old footage and photographs.
Many National Figure Skating Federations hold „test skates“ at the beginning of the season where their top skaters present their new programs to judges and technical specialists to receive valuable feedback. These test skates take place in August or September and they are generally closed to the public, sometimes allowing Media to attend.
Kamila Valieva (RUS) landed a quadruple toeloop on her way to gold at the first ISU Junior Grand Prix event of the season in Courchevel and Alysa Liu (USA) hit a quad Lutz in her winning Free Skating at the second ISU Junior Grand Prix in Lake Placid. They now have joined the exclusive Ladies‘ quad club.
When Mao Asada burst on to the international scene at the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Long Beach (USA) in fall 2004, she became a star right away. This tiny Japanese skater nailed the triple Axel in competition and it looked effortless. She came from Nagoya, a powerhouse of Japanese Figure Skating that already produced the legendary Midori Ito, the first woman to land a triple Axel in competition. Mao had the same coach, Machiko Yamada.
Figure Skating’s wonder kids are always popular. However, most of these young skaters that make headlines with their early success are girls. Canada’s up and coming Stephen Gogolev is an exception to the rule.
Japanese star Shoma Uno has surprised the skating world recently when he announced that he is leaving his long-time coaching team of Mihoko Higuchi and Machiko Yamada and has not picked a new permanent coach. “I want a new start,” the Olympic silver medalist stated on his official homepage.
Jayne Torvill/Christopher Dean. Ice Dance. Bolero. These three terms probably will be connected forever in the world of Figure Skating. The British ice dancers made history with their Bolero Free Dance at the Olympic Winter Games 1984 in Sarajevo (at the time Yugoslavia) and revolutionized the sport.
Russia’s Evgenia Medvedeva is only 19 years old, but her career already is a story good enough for two skaters. Instant success at the senior level and two ISU World Figure Skating titles were followed by injury, disappointment, a hotly discussed move to Canada and a difficult post-Olympic year. Evgenia ended the season with a personal victory by returning on to the ISU World Figure Skating podium in Saitama, Japan, in March 2019 which gave her confidence for the future.
Who would have guessed that a kids’ birthday party would lead Vincent Zhou (USA) into a successful figure skating career. When he was around five and a half, Vincent attended the party of a friend at a local ice rink. He had so much fun that his mother decided to register him for group lessons.
When they started, there was no tradition of Pair Skating in their country, not any notable results. When they ended their career as Olympic Champions, China had become a Pair Skating powerhouse: Xue Shen/Hongbo Zhao and their legendary coach Bin Yao built Chinese Pair Skating from scratch.
Tracy Wilson, three-time ice dance World bronze medalist and 1988 Olympic medalist, broadcaster, mother and coach, tells us about her experience and the precious lessons learnt along all the different stages of her life and career.
Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) can look back at an exciting and successful season with many firsts: she reached her first ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, competed at her first ISU World Figure Skating Championships, won her first National title at the senior level and went to her first ISU World Team Trophy.
The most prestigious annual Figure Skating event, the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2019, is In Focus. Have a look at the best pictures from the event, thatcaptured unique moments of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2019.
Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov rose from the ashes this season to capture the silver medal at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships and at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final as well as the National title and medals at the ISU Grand Prix series and other international events.