Latest / The Rocker Skating Podcast / Preview: 2026 World Championships Part 1 (Pairs + Women)
Transcript
- 0:00This episode of the Rocker Skating Podcast is brought to
- 0:02you by MK Blades, the choice of champions.
- 0:05For nearly a century, MK has crafted world class figure
- 0:09skating blades, trusted by Olympians and beginners alike.
- 0:13Whether you're perfecting your first jumps or chasing gold, MK
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- 0:20perfect pair. Welcome to the Rocker Skating
- 0:30Podcast, sponsored by all of our friends at John Wilson Blades.
- 0:35Michelle and I are back. It's been a hot minute, a couple
- 0:38of hot minutes since the last time we were doing this.
- 0:42It's our last preview show, isn't it?
- 0:44Yeah. Hi, Jackie.
- 0:46Hi, Michelle. It.
- 0:48Came up so fast I can't believe we're here.
- 0:51Well, I was, I was texting you last night and I was like, I
- 0:55completely forgot that I had a flight tonight.
- 1:02So that's why we have this special 3:00 PM Eastern Time
- 1:06episode that's happening right now.
- 1:07Doing the red eye to Prague. Red eye to Amsterdam and then
- 1:11actually have a long layover in Amsterdam and where I'm going to
- 1:15do a lot of work and then I'm going to go to Prague tomorrow
- 1:19night, so. Work or work?
- 1:23No work figure skating work I got to do I got I, I got to
- 1:28finish setting up all the things for all the new features of the
- 1:34website. Speaking of which March gladness
- 1:37is going on and there have been lots of votes I've I we have
- 1:43counted over 100,000 votes at this point.
- 1:46I know, I mean, obviously it's a number of people times the
- 1:51number of costumes times the number of rounds, which is
- 1:53leading to 100,000 plus votes, but still lots of votes and and
- 1:59it's it's going on. If if you don't know what March
- 2:01gladness is, go go and take a look at it.
- 2:04It is basically costume of the year as voted by you fans and
- 2:09also based on matchups as nominated by you fans.
- 2:14So go to live.rockerskating.com. There's also, there's so many
- 2:18things going on. There is also fantasy skating,
- 2:21which is not like your grandmother's fantasy skating.
- 2:26This is more like fantasy sports in in the in the US, especially
- 2:31in football and baseball and so forth, where you draft a program
- 2:36of skaters and that program then gets scored based on how they do
- 2:42in the competition. So you know, if you draft skater
- 2:47X for your axle jump and they do a really good one, you get a lot
- 2:52of points for it. So it's fun.
- 2:55We tested it out in at Junior World.
- 2:58People enjoyed it. We now have leagues so you can
- 3:01go and do leagues by yourself so you don't have to deal with
- 3:06everybody else and compete against your friends and, and
- 3:10your and or your Twitter acquaintances.
- 3:13And we got that. And we also have predict your
- 3:16top five prediction central. Both of those things have prizes
- 3:21involved with them. So go take a look.
- 3:23I need to do my top five predictions.
- 3:25I haven't done that yet. I did my draft.
- 3:27You we still you set. You have until the start of the
- 3:32women's short program on Wednesday, so there's plenty of
- 3:38time, but there isn't because everything is coming up.
- 3:41All right, Michelle, shall we get into it?
- 3:44Yeah, let's go. Do we even have any idea who's
- 3:47coming to Prague? Because everybody's left as
- 3:53expected. I feel like every, every time
- 3:56something came out, you and I were like, yeah.
- 3:59Yeah. What I was kind of a little bit
- 4:01surprised by was how many people withdrew from the alternate list
- 4:05as well. I mean.
- 4:08I mean it that I, I got to say it's, that's not a huge surprise
- 4:12either. I mean, recall four years ago
- 4:15when Camden Pokenen was like the second alternate and came and
- 4:18finished fifth at Worlds. There, there.
- 4:24There were actually a few others that I thought were going to
- 4:27happen that didn't end up happening, but we got.
- 4:30A few more days. If we still have a few more
- 4:32days, everybody can still withdraw up until the draw of
- 4:37the short program. I mean, Michelle, you withdrew
- 4:41from Worlds too. I did well, I wasn't entered.
- 4:46You weren't even, Yeah, you weren't even on the original
- 4:48entries. I know I was I was very, you
- 4:50know, unfabri about it, like I will not be there.
- 4:52You will not be seeing me. It's it's.
- 4:55Going to be very lonely. Nobody like, like nobody from
- 4:58the Olympics is going that. I was like sort of in my circle
- 5:02of Olympics people. I mean, I was so burned out by
- 5:05the end of Milan, I was like, I don't even, I'm not even ready
- 5:08to watch anymore skating for a while.
- 5:09And now that it's been like 5 weeks, I'm kind of like, I kind
- 5:13of want to go. I, I want to go to Prague.
- 5:16I don't know that I'd be up to working it, but I'd like to go
- 5:19and watch and, you know, hang out with friends or friend
- 5:22singular you think could be the only one there.
- 5:24Yeah. Basically, basically, yeah.
- 5:26I mean, you're not there. Not Olympic.
- 5:29Sarah Hughes is not there. An Olympic champion, Sarah
- 5:32Hughes is not there. No Nick Mccarville.
- 5:34Nick isn't there. Scott, isn't there you?
- 5:36Know who is going to be there, Andrea.
- 5:38Joyce. Yeah.
- 5:40I'll hang out with Andrea. Joyce Andrea will be bringing
- 5:42the party to Prague. All right, we're going to talk
- 5:46about the women in pairs first because they're the ones that
- 5:50will start us off on Wednesday. And it's, it's unlike the
- 5:53Olympics where you and I actually, we all had a little
- 5:58bit of breaks in between things. There's going to be no breaks
- 6:01here. It's going to be 1 full week of
- 6:03lots of skating, 33 women in this field, 21 pairs in this
- 6:10field, and O21 pairs means that there will be one pair who will
- 6:19not make it to the free skate, which is just brutal.
- 6:24Sucks. It really sucks.
- 6:26It's like, like just like. Let them skate.
- 6:30Yeah, like. Pairs.
- 6:33Let's do a 5 minute yeah, you know, let's do a 5 pair group
- 6:37and and just let them skate. Be careful.
- 6:40So sad. We we what we do know is we
- 6:44don't have Miyor Kihara the the Olympic champions.
- 6:47We don't have Kanti Machi and we don't have Camin O'Shea and we
- 6:55don't have Golubieva and Giotopoulos Moore, who just
- 6:58withdrew a couple of days ago. Be an interesting set of of
- 7:05pairs there. But you know, if you think about
- 7:10how it all works out, oh, and by the way, the pairs for the World
- 7:16Championships, you actually get 20 pairs going into the free
- 7:20skate. That was a Olympic.
- 7:22Rule. That was a yeah, that was a
- 7:24change that happened actually over the last quad because of
- 7:29how competitive the pairs at one point were.
- 7:33And it didn't seem fair to have 16 pairs go through and and
- 7:38there needed to be more. And so they changed it to more.
- 7:41And now we have gone back to the great shrinking set of pairs,
- 7:46pairs again. So, so we're we're at 21 pairs.
- 7:53So we look at the Olympics, right?
- 7:55You would think your podium favorites are going to be
- 7:59Hasevilodin, Atelkina Berulova and Pavlova Sviachenko.
- 8:05Let's go Hungarian World medal. You know, I am.
- 8:10I have been so excited about Maria and Alexei this season.
- 8:15Like they, they've grown on me so much.
- 8:17They're skating is has gotten so much smoother.
- 8:21Their everything about how they lay, look and feel on the ice is
- 8:26just so good. I, I, I really like them.
- 8:28I mean, frankly, they could pull up a world champion upset.
- 8:33I mean, there's like there is nothing certain in this whole
- 8:36event except for them. They are going to skate 2 clean
- 8:38programs. They are going to go clean and
- 8:41they're going to be they're going to score well, they're
- 8:42going to be on the podium. World champion upset would be
- 8:45incredible with. That would be really would be
- 8:48something. I mean, it's, it's like, you
- 8:51know, I think you've got you one of the big factors for the world
- 8:55championship, the post Olympics world is that there are a lot of
- 8:58skaters who have been, who have had a lot of commitments and
- 9:02obligations after the Olympics, like, you know, going to the
- 9:10meet important people and do important things.
- 9:15And like there's a, there's a reason why a lot of the Olympic
- 9:18champions don't end up coming, partly because the the of the
- 9:24just like general high and like emotional toll of winning an
- 9:31Olympics, but partially because opera like doors just open up
- 9:36for everybody when they're doing this.
- 9:39And so, you know, excited to see.
- 9:43Yeah, let's go on the Today Show.
- 9:45Yeah, let's do a Nike campaign. I mean, Misha Scheidorov has
- 9:49just been like making the rounds in Kazakhstan and and, you know,
- 9:56getting one car after another and being the the hero for all
- 10:01the kids in in Kazakhstan. So, you know, same thing with
- 10:06with some of these pairs, but also, you know, like Metelkina
- 10:11Perulova has been the has been part of the talk of Georgia,
- 10:14right, because they they won a medal at the Olympics.
- 10:19Winter Olympic medal for Georgia.
- 10:20Ever. Exactly.
- 10:22So. So it'll be interesting to see
- 10:25what all of their conditionings like.
- 10:31And you know, I don't know, I like, I, I, I feel like Pavlova
- 10:38Spyachenko is one of those who's who has the most to gain.
- 10:45And like you said, the consistency is is going to serve
- 10:49them really well. That will be the first world
- 10:56Paris title if they win for Hungary since 1949 and the last
- 11:00time Hungary as a country won a world title.
- 11:05Do you know what discipline it was in?
- 11:08Hungary. Yeah, this is a An Upset World
- 11:12title too. This was drama.
- 11:14I don't think either of us were alive though.
- 11:21Men. Nope.
- 11:23Ice dance. And who was who did they upset?
- 11:29The Olympic champions. Which ones?
- 11:32No what? I'm like rotten Eden's.
- 11:35I said no. The Protopovo.
- 11:39No, no, that's Paris too. Oh, we're talking about ISD I.
- 11:42Still like that? Jackie, Jackie.
- 11:44Jackie. Someone we know and love.
- 11:49Someone we know and love. Olympic champions Natalia
- 11:53Lenichuk and Gennady Carpanasov, and they won in. 1980.
- 11:57They also won the free dance at the Olympics, but didn't win
- 12:00over all. So they were like, hungry.
- 12:03And that was, Oh my gosh, I, I'm like, I don't know if I'm doing
- 12:06this right. Christina Rigosi and Andras
- 12:10Saleh. Sure, we got that wrong.
- 12:13I yeah, I know a lot of I stands history.
- 12:16I don't know how to pronounce their names.
- 12:18You know who knows it Mark Han ready knows it.
- 12:21That's that's who knows it. Wow, that's crazy.
- 12:26But but that that's another one of those right.
- 12:28Like that is a post Olympic Worlds and we have seen post
- 12:33Olympic worlds upsets many times and we'll talk about some of
- 12:37that in the women's event because I, I still, I, I still
- 12:44have dreams and nightmares about 2018 Milan Worlds, which was a
- 12:50crazy competition for the women. What?
- 12:55How about so? Lock up up forever.
- 12:57Yeah, so, but like what happens with the rest of the pairs,
- 13:02right? Like I, I.
- 13:03There's a lot of. There could be.
- 13:04Sneaker medalists here. Exactly.
- 13:07Sleeper medalists like there's, there's, I could put a lot of
- 13:11these teams as a surprise medalist, depending on what
- 13:13happens. I mean, I thought.
- 13:15So yeah, a theme of Amitra fan off top of that list.
- 13:18Yes, absolutely, and also not so surprising 3rd place at the
- 13:24Olympics in the short program, Pereira Michaud, who I just had
- 13:29on the podcast. So go go and listen to it.
- 13:33You know, like if they can put down another short program like
- 13:36that and then skate a a, a, a free skate like they, they can
- 13:40really skate. That free game team event.
- 13:43Exactly like that's 210 points right there.
- 13:51There's a lot that can happen with this Pereirami show.
- 13:56FEMA, Mitrofanov, The Who knows the.
- 14:01Nagaoka Moriguchi. Exactly the redemption skating
- 14:04of Nagaoka Moriguchi. That could be a thing.
- 14:09Spoiler alert, but I picked them for my solo jump in the short
- 14:12program in my draft. Oh interesting, I picked Izo,
- 14:17Izzo and Meyerhoff because of the because of the triple
- 14:20Lutzes. No, I'm sticking.
- 14:22I'm going to stick with, not a. With the Moraguchi, there's
- 14:24nothing. More beautiful than.
- 14:25Those loops when they hit. If they do those loops well
- 14:29there, there's really nice. I thought about that as well.
- 14:33Hakikunko. If they can skate like they did
- 14:36at the Olympics and awesome and not get screwed over by the
- 14:40judges. Let's yeah, listen up.
- 14:44Give them what they deserve. Yeah.
- 14:46Exactly GOE. GOE is important.
- 14:52How? Do I make beef Parkland?
- 14:55Mcbeef Parkland, Shannon, I mean, Shannon Howe, the way they
- 14:59skated at the Olympics, you know, I think, I think as, as
- 15:03we're going further and further with these pairs, they're, it's,
- 15:07it's a, it's darker and darker of horses, but still like you
- 15:11just never know. You really just never know.
- 15:16Shannon Howe, by the way, are the ones who replaced Cam and
- 15:21O'Shea after Cam and O'Shea with Drew, Shin and NAJ were the
- 15:26first alternates and did not take the spot.
- 15:29And so see, we'll see what happens after the season.
- 15:35We haven't. Had an announcement yet but
- 15:38publicly you can see that they are no longer following each
- 15:41other on Instagram so not sure if that team exists anymore.
- 15:47Which is sad, yeah. Super sad.
- 15:51So, yeah, like this is it's, it's going to be a very
- 15:57intriguing set of pairs. And then also you, you look at
- 16:02not just the, the, the, the competition itself, right?
- 16:07These World Championships will determine the number of spots
- 16:10that we get at the next World championships.
- 16:12And this one is always something of a great reset for number of
- 16:18spots because some of the top teams aren't going right.
- 16:21So Nagoka Muruguchi, for example, in order to keep 2
- 16:26spots for the Japanese pairs, they need to finish in the top
- 16:2910 so they can't have another meltdown in the short program.
- 16:34And if they do, Japan loses a spot, right?
- 16:37Yeah. Italy is down to one pair.
- 16:39My gosh. Crazy.
- 16:41With Kaudar and Maglio, because Kantimachi withdrew Gilardi
- 16:47Ambrosini, we're not even on the list to begin with.
- 16:51And so Caldar Amaglio are going to need to be in the top 10 to
- 16:58keep the two spots and it's going to that's going to be a
- 17:01tough. Tough, tough one.
- 17:03Yeah. Can we call Valentina?
- 17:05I mean, it's crazy because Italy a couple years ago had so many
- 17:08pairs. I know.
- 17:09And yeah, I think. Valley Valley and Andre just
- 17:12like yeah, get get back on the. Ice, you guys can do it.
- 17:14Come on, it's just a gala program.
- 17:16Just have fun. Just do your just do the Barbie
- 17:19girl. Program, You know, what's crazy
- 17:20is that I feel like Valentina could absolutely pull out a few
- 17:24throw landings. She could do it.
- 17:26I know, yeah. Yeah.
- 17:29So, so yeah, it's, it's it's, you know, we come in literally,
- 17:34we come in with only the US pairs having three spots.
- 17:40Crazy. Isn't that like that is mind
- 17:43boggling. Well, I think Georgia has two
- 17:45spots, but they don't have a second team, which I also find
- 17:48mind boggling. They literally only have one
- 17:51entry for each club for each event.
- 17:54And. And if you remember last year at
- 17:57World Team Trophy, Alina Urshadze and Maurice Kaviti
- 18:03Lashvili came out of retirement so that they could do World Team
- 18:07Trophy, which was actually kind of fun.
- 18:09Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the pairs.
- 18:15I think it's 3 favored for the podium, but a lot could happen.
- 18:23OK, should we revisit my nightmares from dreams and
- 18:27nightmares again from 2018 Worlds for the women?
- 18:30Oh yeah, sure. The podium, if anybody still
- 18:36remembers from the 2018 World Championships was Caitlin Osmond
- 18:42winning Wakapa Higuchi silver and I can't remember who was
- 18:49bronze. Was this Satoko?
- 18:51No. Oh, I it probably was saying I
- 18:53have the world's medals in there.
- 18:55My. Goodness, Jerry, what drama?
- 18:57Happened there besides Alina Zagitova melting down.
- 19:00Yeah, it was Satoko. Yeah, I.
- 19:02Can't remember anything else but that but.
- 19:04So Alina melted down Carolina Costner.
- 19:08Yes, Carolina, and it was Milan. She won the short.
- 19:12Right. Wasn't.
- 19:13There like a complete reversal from the short.
- 19:14Yeah, OK, OK. Yeah, Yep.
- 19:19Carolina went from one to four. Caitlin went from 4:00 to 1:00.
- 19:23And and so it was like I, I still remember being in Faro
- 19:30Asago Milan, just like with my hands on my head being like,
- 19:35what is going on? And it was like, you know, at by
- 19:39that point, Caitlin had skated like walk up and skated like
- 19:44hours. Ago.
- 19:46Caitlin has skated, Satoko had skated and it was like down to
- 19:50Zagitova and Carolina Costner and it was like 2 back-to-back
- 19:57disasters. Yeah, I remember Caitlin was
- 19:59backstage and she was tweeting and she's like did I just win
- 20:01worlds question mark? Lol you.
- 20:05Can't even believe it. I don't I added the lol but it
- 20:08yeah question mark. She was like a disbelief.
- 20:12It was a it that that was one of those events where you really,
- 20:19you thought, especially after the short program, you thought
- 20:22you knew what the the, the standings were going to be, the
- 20:28podium was going to be, or at least some semblance of it.
- 20:30And it resembled none of it, maybe except for Satoko.
- 20:36Yeah, that O Kaba James Bond free skate that that's like one
- 20:44of the all time moments. I mean, that was just out of
- 20:48this world. I go back and watch it again and
- 20:50again. She just was like a machine in
- 20:52that second-half, just nailing those combinations.
- 20:55God. And that was that was after a a,
- 21:00a a rough season for her. I like she was she, she went
- 21:03into that Olympic season being one of the favourites to get on
- 21:08to the Olympic team and. Yeah.
- 21:11Unfortunately, just didn't have. Just didn't have it that.
- 21:14Calorie happened, yeah. Calorie happened, yeah, so the
- 21:20women in. Prague Dun Dun, Dun.
- 21:26You know, share a little bit of my age here.
- 21:28The last time the World Championships was in Prague was
- 21:311993. And that was that was my Second
- 21:36World. Yeah, that was my Second World
- 21:40as a as a an observer. And I remember listening to our
- 21:47fave, Sandra Bezik, and she was and this is the era when triple
- 21:53let's double toes were the thing that like beat everybody, right?
- 21:57This was. Could happen again, yeah.
- 22:02And, and I remember her saying and another one and another one.
- 22:06And, and there were there were all these triple let's double
- 22:10toes and there were all these clean short programs that were
- 22:13being done by the women. And it was like a very exciting
- 22:17women's competition. And then you went into the free
- 22:20skate and Nancy Kerrigan, melt it down, yes.
- 22:24And she melt it down. Jose Schwinnard, melt it down.
- 22:31So. So we've had two very ominous
- 22:34recollections from Jackie now for this women's event.
- 22:37I'm very. What will happen?
- 22:39I feel, I feel very scared going into this, but you know, it is.
- 22:51It is Kaori Sakamoto's time to say goodbye.
- 22:54It really is this time. Yeah.
- 22:57Oh God. We thought it was going to be at
- 23:00the Olympics. No.
- 23:04But it wasn't, and now we got one more chance to see Kaori
- 23:08Sakamoto and maybe a four time world champion.
- 23:12And maybe a Japanese podium sweep.
- 23:14Maybe a Japanese podium sweep. That could very well happen.
- 23:19I mean, Japan brings its Olympic team here.
- 23:23The Americans do not because Alyssa Lou is not here.
- 23:27She's very busy getting sponsored by Fortnite.
- 23:31Yeah, and doing Allure makeup tutorials.
- 23:35And and, you know, get ready with me for the Oscars with
- 23:38Vanity Fair. She has 8 million Twitter or
- 23:44Instagram followers. Now she at 8 million.
- 23:46She's at 8:00. Whoa.
- 23:48She'll be happy about that because that's her, like,
- 23:49favorite number. She's born on 8/8, right?
- 23:53And she's the eighth woman American woman to win an Olympic
- 23:56title. Wow, That is the most Chinese
- 24:01lucky thing I've ever heard. Yeah.
- 24:04So, so, yeah. So 3, there's three.
- 24:08Japanese women are very much favored, I would say.
- 24:12Realizing in this moment that Nina Petrokina has a higher
- 24:14season's best total score than Amber Glenn.
- 24:17Just by like a, a, a point and 1/2 right?
- 24:20It's like 2216, yeah. And I was at Europeans, so you
- 24:27know. Speaking of machines, Nina
- 24:28Petrokina can lay down a clean free skate with a lot of
- 24:31content. So I feel like if there's not a
- 24:34Japanese sweep, I feel like she's a big spoiler.
- 24:37I think she's up there. Amber's up there.
- 24:42I mean, will we get Amber Glenn to clean programs?
- 24:49I would love for that to happen. Yeah, me too.
- 24:55I don't know. I know.
- 24:59I think Isabel's probably hunting for a little bit of
- 25:01redemption too, after her Olympic free skate.
- 25:04I know she's still mad about that combo, so she'll probably
- 25:09skate really well here. I don't know if it'll be enough
- 25:11for a metal, but it might be. I think what was interesting
- 25:15about Isabel at the Olympics was I felt like neither of her
- 25:20programs had the kind of like spark that we're used to seeing
- 25:25from Isabel, and I'm not sure what it was.
- 25:26I think she was too relaxed, she had too much fun.
- 25:29Which is crazy. She.
- 25:30Was just enjoying herself too much.
- 25:32And I don't know, maybe she has a different explanation for
- 25:35that. But that's, that was my
- 25:37impression because she's usually such a fierce, fierce
- 25:39competitor. And I saw her more relaxed and
- 25:42happy and just enjoying herself in those weeks leading up to her
- 25:46her event that I've ever seen her like ever.
- 25:49She was just having the time of her life.
- 25:51And that's great too, you know. Which is.
- 25:53Which is crazy because you think it'd be the other way around,
- 25:56but but. I mean, like, it worked the
- 25:58other way around for Tara Lipinski, but you know.
- 26:01And and Alyssa. Right and.
- 26:04Yeah. So yeah, Sarah Everhart is the
- 26:10third US entry. She's probably looking for a
- 26:13little bit of redemption as well after the season that she's had,
- 26:18which has been hasn't been the season that she's wanted.
- 26:22And she replaced Alyssa Lou because Brea Tennelle, who was
- 26:27the first alternate, decided to not take the spot.
- 26:32And she she had actually said that she told US figure Skating
- 26:36she wasn't taking the spot very early, like even like at the
- 26:40Olympics or something in that time frame, so that Sarah could
- 26:47feel like she is the first alternate and, and, and continue
- 26:52to be ready for it. So, you know, it's like it's the
- 26:59Japanese, it's the Americans, it's Nina Petrokina, it's also
- 27:04the Koreans. Yeah, Jiya Shin, Dark horse Jiya
- 27:09Shin. I want her to do 2 clean
- 27:12programs. And I just.
- 27:14Want to see what happens when that happens?
- 27:16Yeah, so she. Crazy thing about Gia.
- 27:22Her season's best total score is two O 8.45, but if you add up
- 27:27her season's best short and her season's best free skate, it's
- 27:30215.49. That puts her like squarely in
- 27:33medal contention, right? Come on, Gia.
- 27:37If the if the judges will give her the right.
- 27:40They better. Component I.
- 27:42Don't know if they can resist. Her skating is so beautiful.
- 27:45Those jumps are just like, they're just so beautiful when
- 27:49she does them well. Yeah, very floaty.
- 27:53Everything's very floaty. You know, you, you again, look
- 27:57down this list. You can't.
- 28:00You can't say no to Sharknaki. Yeah, with her new 71.62
- 28:06personal Best in the Shore program from the Olympics, let's
- 28:10see it. She could totally get in there.
- 28:14Sofia Salvadelkina could get in there like this is a this is
- 28:21another one of those you could see some crazy results that come
- 28:28out of this. And you know, we what the, the,
- 28:32the skaters we won't have here, right, are Alyssa Lou.
- 28:36We've talked about that. We won't have Luna Hendrix
- 28:39because she's she's been dealing with injuries.
- 28:43We won't have Maria Sanuk Kimi Rippon is not come is not going
- 28:48to be here either. So, so there there there is,
- 28:52there is some, there is some opening.
- 28:56But you know, again, like with the pairs, a lot of these, you
- 29:01wonder how these countries going going to do to keep their two
- 29:05spots or keep their three spots. And you know, Belgium's going to
- 29:10have a lot of work to do to keep their two spots, right?
- 29:14Switzerland will have a lot to do to keep their two spots.
- 29:18Laranaki Goodman could finally get that second spot for Italy,
- 29:23which would be very nice. So lots of lots of interesting
- 29:29things here and I think I I would just like to see some
- 29:36clean programs. Yes, please.
- 29:40Because of the aforementioned nightmares of past worlds that
- 29:47we have seen yeah. And and like we've talked about
- 29:53before, the the the post Olympic World Championships can have
- 30:01unexpected results. You know, Yuka Sato winning in
- 30:071994 wasn't wholly unexpected, but it was certainly something
- 30:12of an upset. I wasn't upset.
- 30:19You know, Kimmy Meisner winning in 2000 and.
- 30:23Six. That was crazy.
- 30:26She beat Sasha and Fumier. Crazy.
- 30:30Yeah, yeah. Kaylin Osmond in 2018.
- 30:34Like there's, there's, there's a lot things can happen.
- 30:39So very excited to see how this all goes.
- 30:44I was talking to Piper and Paul in an interview we released a a
- 30:52a week ago. So go back and listen to it.
- 30:54But they were telling me that they're sort of taking this
- 30:59World Championships like they took a World Team trophy.
- 31:03Like they're going into it with like a similar attitude and a
- 31:06similar vibe of like it's a it's still a big competition, but
- 31:10it's we're going to we're going to have fun with it.
- 31:12We're going to do some good stuff with it.
- 31:14So, you know, like, as exhausted as a lot of these skaters
- 31:18probably are by this point, you wonder how the atmosphere is
- 31:24going to be, how different it is going to be than the Olympics,
- 31:27because the Olympics was such a proper pressure cooker, and it
- 31:33was just a month ago. Yeah, maybe they'll bring their
- 31:35Maple Leaf glasses and moose handlers.
- 31:40We just they should just have team boxes.
- 31:43Yeah, they should. It doesn't like we don't.
- 31:46It doesn't need to be a team event, just have team boxes.
- 31:49There. Yeah.
- 31:50And have the athletes, like the athletes are there cheering for
- 31:53their teammates anyway. Like, why not?
- 31:55Yeah. And it would encourage more
- 31:57people to come to the events. And you could do it.
- 31:59I mean, I know you don't have enough boxes for like all the
- 32:01countries that are competing, but you could do it for the last
- 32:04like two or three warm up groups, you know?
- 32:06I mean, it would just be interesting actually if the if
- 32:10the athlete seats are just in the like kiss and cry area along
- 32:17the ice so that you actually feel and and see the energy
- 32:21coming from your teammates. That's.
- 32:22A good idea you should. You should put that in your ISU
- 32:25survey response. I haven't filled mine out yet,
- 32:27but. I have a idea like the the last
- 32:31ISU survey that I filled out was very long.
- 32:33Oh yeah, I'm going to wait till I'm like bored at work and then
- 32:37I'll do it. I'm going to spend my weekend
- 32:39doing that. Do it on the plane, like my
- 32:44prizes are pretty good for for my fantasy skating stuff.
- 32:49All right, so that was the women and the pairs and those will be
- 32:56very exciting competitions. And then let's keep our fingers
- 33:00crossed that it will be a good competition.
- 33:05So that was part one of our two-part preview for the World
- 33:09Championships. And we will be back tomorrow
- 33:13with the ice dance and the men's event, which will certainly have
- 33:19some interesting results coming back from what we saw at the
- 33:24Olympic Games. For Michelle Ellis, this is
- 33:27Jackie Wong, chief skate nerd of rockersgate.com.
- 33:30Thanks, as always, to John Wilson Blades for your
- 33:33sponsorship and to Tara Nichols for being our editor and
- 33:38producer. We'll talk to you again
- 33:40tomorrow. Bye.