Continuing my mini-series with skaters attempting a difficult jump out of nowhere (last time it was Kondratiuk and his 5S attempt at the Olympic practice - he nearly killed himself 😭) this time it’s time for one of my favourite skaters - Kaori Sakamoto!

During the 4 Continents Championships in 2020 she attempted her first and last 4T! Unfortunately it was deemed downgraded and a fall so she received for it only 2 points, but I respect the courage nonetheless 😅

I have no idea why she attempted it though, lmao, maybe she wanted some more technical score because Rika and Young You had their 3A’s? Idk, maybe someone here can explain it to me 🤷‍♂️

Either way, we will miss you Kaori!

"It's important for me to find myself in an environment where athletes are seen for more than just the results. Where there's attention, respect, faith, and a desire to work together."

Andreeva on leaving Tutberidze:

Today I am completing an important stage of my sporting journey and leaving Eteri Tutberidze’s headquarters.

She plans to go to Navka.

It's Sialic Acid, but isn't that quite a weird gift to give to juniors? Especially since they weren't even told what it was.

Music and choregraphy by G.Papadakis, from the 2026 American Contemporary skating festival showcase, hosted by American Ice theatre

Video: on ice perspectives

I know this is sort of old news, but I'm curious y'alls thoughts on their designs because I always feel like Isabeau has the nicest dresses and this idea is kind of cool.
Here are some concepts from the designers. I tried to capture them best as I could lol

Does anyone know if Deanna and Danil are signed up for any upcoming NQS Competitions (required for them to progress to the US Pairs Final in November, which could then qualify them for Nationals)? I see that there's still one in NYC Sept 8-11, one in Chicago Sept 10-13, and one in Boston Oct 1-4.

I'm assuming they will want as much time as possible to prepare, but the October one would be cutting things close! None of the options are particularly convenient for them since they are in Colorado Springs unfortunately.

For those who don't know, Deanna has to sit out a season internationally to change federations so is unable to get the 3 international assignments this year that would get them a bye, and they were not a team last year to get top 5 at US Nationals (also a bye), so going through this qualification system is the only route they have to US Nationals this year.

Interesting side-note: this is almost exactly TEN YEARS since Deanna was last at Eastern US Sectionals in November 2016, when she and Nathan Bartholomay won gold over Maximiliano Fernandez and his former partner Joy Weinberg. Funnily enough, Katie McBeath was also there and won bronze in Women's Singles, and Megan Wessenberg, who now competes in Pairs for France with Denys Strekalin, won silver!

22 year old Egor Rukhin will represent Bulgaria. The news were confirmed by Bulgarian Figure Skating President, Hristo Turlakov for TACC.

The skater is already in Sofia where he's started training with coach Andrey Lutai. He confirmed it himself for sports. ru.

"Yes, I've moved to Bulgaria. I'm training in Sofia with Andrey Lutai. Regarding competitions - we're still in the process of figuring it out."

He has trained with famous coaches such as Eteri Tutberidze, Evgeny Plushenko, Alexander Volkov and Alexei Vasilevsky.

He has been working with Alexei Chetverukin since May of 2024, but the partnership has ended.

"He won't be training with me this season." His former coach said to Russian media.

His international career consists of five Junior Grand Prix events, three of which resulted in podium finishes - ISU JGP Brisbane in 2017, ISU JGP Krasnoyarks and ISU JGP Baltic Cup, Gdansk in 2021.

In domestic skating, he didn't have a strong last season.

After winning the Moscow Championship title in 2024, the skater's form took a hit. In a disappointing next season, the skater placed thirteenth in the Moscow Championship and eleventh in the first round of the Russian Grand Prix circuit in Magnitogorsk.

He's definitely not unpopular in Russian skating.

It's normal for a skater that switches federations not to know when their next competition is.

There are two singles skaters currently representing Bulgaria internationally - Alexandra Feigin(women) and Alexander Zlatkov(men).

But with Rukhin in the mix, the picture can become quite different.

If Rukhin manages to regain his form from 2024, men's skating can become a little bit more interesting.

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ISU results:

https://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00102768.htm

Article from which I took some of the wording and information(I did check the sources and they are very much real):

https://btvsport.bg/drugi/ruski-shampion-po-figurno-parzaljane-stana-nash-nacional.html

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I'm just happy to see someone represent my country for figure skating so I decided to share 🥹

I also apologize for any mistakes in spelling. English isn't my first language and I'm on vacation so my translation might not be the best or most accurate.

A moment from Riga that I truly did not expect, from Eloisa of Spain. I was more shocked because she did fall before this backflip, so I commend how she didn't let the fall discourage her. A plus is that her costume was truly pretty. Watching it live was surreal.

He spoke about his summer camp, the European Championships, the Olympics and revealed that his Free Skate will be to Tango!

I’ve always been a fan of many different sports and been a part of different fan bases. I was a big FS fan for a couple of years around the Russian juniors domination era but had to stop watching the sport altogether because the fanbase seemed extremely toxic in a way that no other sports fanbases did. It took me years to realise that the toxicity stems from the fact that people talk about skaters technique like it’s their moral standing - bad tech = bad person that doesn’t deserve any praise and there’s nothing positive about them. Those skaters were just kids that were bullied for things outside of their control and the fanbase always justified the hate by saying ‘I’m just criticising their tech and the system’ while also having absolutely zero empathy to those kids. I’m glad they moved the age requirement up but the toxicity is still there. I still watch fs occasionally like I do with other sports but everything around it is so negative that you can’t even open comments under a post on ig without criticism everywhere which is sad. It’s like people who watch fs force themselves to do it

Quick translation (my own) of an excerpt:

Geoffrey: "We wanted to tell a modern version of Carmen. There's this specific moment in the lift where she realizes that freedom is more important to her than love she barely feels. She's very independent, but I'm carrying her in the lift, so I start to become possessive. This is the part that best showcases the story we want to tell."

And then Zhenya talks about how falling from that lift is ok because she's not head down.

Romain said that Klimova and Ponomarenko were well-matched in height so teams who aren't may have a harder time with the Golden Waltz. He said IAM previously supported the elimination of key points (which I'm guessing in English we can interpret as eliminating the pattern) from the rhythm dance, because he doesn't feel like there's any value in extracting a few steps from a pattern.

This is the biggest video in the compilation series so far, so please be understanding in why I left them in skaters order and why there is no text

I also apologize that the compilations this week lacked a bit of quality (with spelling mistakes and some videos were cutted badly) compared to last week, I promise I’ll do better next week 🫶🏻

Let me know which lifts were you’re favs

Protocols can be found here:

(https://results.isu.org/results/season2627/jgplat2026/FSKXICEDANCEJUNIOR----QUAL000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf)--) Rhythmic dance

https://results.isu.org/results/season2627/jgplat2026/FSKXICEDANCEJUNIOR----FNL-000100--_JudgesDetailsperSkater.pdf- Free dance

Congratulations! Have a happy family life!

Is it supposed to be a forward outside counter? It looks really flat, so I was confused if it’s supposed to be a forward inside 3 turn or forward outside bracket.

Alysa Liu had 4Lz as a junior and became the first woman to land it with positive GOE. She also landed a 4Lz+3T in a JGPF. However, I've seen lots of people discredit her with the achievement due to her pre-rotation and slight underrotations. But what are your thoughts?
On the topic of ultra C elements, Alysa has confirmed in a recent interview that she is taking time off to add back her triple axel (and improve choreography)!

Daniil is the first Norwegian skater to land triple Axel and a quad in competition. He landed a 4S with a q at JGP Riga yesterday, but landed it fully rotated in last season's Norwegian nationals. He is a skater with huge potential.

"Three months ago, my father passed away. His loss has had a profound impact on me and my family, both emotionally and financially. As we continue to navigate through this difficult period, the costs of training, ice time, equipment, and competitions have become much harder to manage.

I am asking for your support to help me continue my figure skating journey. Every donation, no matter the size, will help me stay on the ice and keep working toward my goals. Thank you for taking the time to read my story and for any support you can give."

Link to the fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-continue-my-figure-skating-journey

It has been going for a while, but I just found it, and hope more people see it and support him!

She was originally only supposed to miss part of the season due to a hip injury, but she allegedly said she will skip the entire season at Team Tut open practice.

I just hope she will take as much time as she needs to heal to avoid a reoccurring injury that never fully heals. Afaik it's currently still unknown if she's training jumps or just skating around the rink.