This Week in Skating is hosted by Gina Capellazzi, Daphne Backman and Matteo Morelli is a cooperative project between Figure Skaters Online and Ice-dance.com. New episodes are available every Tuesday.
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Season 3: Episode 40 (Jan. 14, 2025)
- Sasha Giammarco, who skates for the Philippines lost her home in California wildfires. There’s a GoFundMe for her and her family. https://www.gofundme.com/f/aid-sasha-giammarcos-family-in-fire-recovery.
General Skating News:
- U.S. Figure Skating announced the 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships will be held in St. Louis, Missouri. All-Event tickets will go on sale this month.
- Deanna Stellato-Dudek became a Canadian citizen in December, clearing the way for her and Maxime Deschamps to compete at the 2026 Olympics.
- Ava Ziegler and Clare Seo withdrew from the U.S. Championships in early January. They have been replaced by Alexa Gasparatto and Brooke Gewalt, respectively. In junior ice dance, Yahli Pedersen and Benjamin Starr were listed as withdrawn on Jan. 2:
- Updates to roster posted here: https://www.usfigureskating.org/news/press-release/2025-prevagen-us-figure-skating-championships-lineup-announced
- Wesley Chiu has withdrawn from the Canadian Nationals.
- The entries for the 2025 European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia have been posted.
- The Japanese Skating Federation announced their teams for the World Championships, Four Continents, and Junior Worlds:
- Worlds: Yuma Kagiyama, Shun Sato, Tatsuya Tsuboi, Kaori Sakamoto, Mone Chiba, Wakaba Higuchi
Miura/Kihara, Nagaoka/Moriguchi, Shimizu/Honda, Yoshida/Morita - 4CC: Taysuya Tsuboi, Kao Miura, Kazuki Tomono, Wakaba Higuchi, Mone Chiba, Rino Matsuike, Miura/Kihara
Nagaoka/Moriguchi, Yoshida/Morita, Tanaka/Nishiyama - Junior Worlds: Rio Nakata, Sena Takahashi, Shunsuke Nakamura, Mao Shimada, Kaoruko Wada, Ami Nakai
Shimizu/Honda, Kishimoto/Tamura
- Worlds: Yuma Kagiyama, Shun Sato, Tatsuya Tsuboi, Kaori Sakamoto, Mone Chiba, Wakaba Higuchi
- Tickets for the Gold on Ice show in Omaha, Nebraska on January 27 are now on sale. Starring in the show are numerous Team USA skaters including Ilia Malinin, Amber Glenn, and Alysa Liu.
- The 6th Annual International Solo Dance Camp hosted by the Dallas Figure Skating Club is open for registration via Entryeeze.
- Adam Rippon is currently competing on the new season of Worst Cooks in America on the Food Network.
- Canadian Olympic gold medalist and four-time World Champion Bob Paul passed away on December 19.
Event Results Brief:
Recent Interviews/Articles:
- The Case for Same-Sex Figure Skating by Gabriella Papadakis (in French & English) on Substack
- Video: Joel Savary, founder of Diversify Ice, appeared on the Kelly Clarkson Show. Kelly surprised him with a $10,000 donation to the program.
- #SCNats25: Some early thoughts on the road to Laval, by Robert Brodie
- Five things to watch for this year in Canadian figure skating, by Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
- Von Felten transforming herself into a complete skater, by Kama Stigall, by U.S. Figure Skating
- Ilia Malinin was one of USA Today sports editors’ 10 picks for breakout athletes poised for a big year in 2025.
- Podcast: A Story of Resilence with Nicole Bobek, by Polina Edmunds, The Iron Butterfly podcast
- Podcast: Gritt and Glitter featuring Tim Goebel, by Polina Edmunds, The Iron Butterfly podcast
- Sierra Venetta: From Team to Georgia Tech, by Yanet Chernet, Georgia Tech’s Wallace H. Coulter Department of Bioengineering
- Kate Wang: From the rink to the reef, by Haneen Zain (Rachel Carson ’21, politics), UC Santa Cruz Magazine
- Podcast: Future of Figure Skating Podcast with Peter Grutter
- Fabbri/Ayer: “We plan to turn everyone’s heads”, by Claire Cloutier, A Divine Sport
Social Media Updates
- Lucy Hancock announced on Instagram that she and Ilias Fourati have ended their ice dance partnership. She is looking for a new partner.
- Italy’s Anna Valesi announced on Instagram that she and Martin Bidar have teamed up and will be representing Czechia in pairs.
- Eva Pate and Logan Bye posted a vlog from Finlandia Trophy on their YouTube channel.
Upcoming Events for the Week
| January 13-25 | FISU World University Games | Torino, Italy |
| January 14-19 | Canadian National Championships | Laval, Quebec |
| January 16-19 | Volvo Cup | Riga, Latvia |
| January 16-18 | Synchro: Mozart Cup (Challenger Series & International event) | Salzburg, Austria |
IDC and FSO spotlight & TWIS updates
- New at TWIS: This Week in Skating is now on YouTube Music
- New at TWIS: This Week in Skating store
- New at TWIS: This Week in Skating Patreon
- New at IDC: Tali & Lafornara Are Focused on Their Future
- New at FSO: 2025 U.S. Championships Hub
- New at FSO: Sydney Cooke and Matthew Kennedy prepare for senior Nationals debut in Wichita
- New at FSO: Logan Higase-Chen on pressure, progress and preparing for her senior Nationals debut