It’s hard to believe that another Olympic season is here already. Thanks to covid-19, the last four years have been unlike any other quad in figure skating. The sport saw the unprecedented cancellation of the 2020 ISU World Championships at the start of the pandemic, then a truncated 2020-21 season that ended in a World Championships without an audience (Stockholm 2021).

Now, 20 months after covid-19 first impacted figure skating, the sport is trying to get itself back on track with what will hopefully be its first complete season since 2018-19. That’s right; we have had only 1 complete season of figure skating since Pyeongchang. No wonder this Olympics feels too soon, in some ways. 

What does it all mean for the pairs discipline, as the athletes look toward Beijing? The landscape of pairs has changed substantially since 2018. There are different faces at the top; different elements being performed, in many cases; and different types of programs, with the new shorter timeframe of the free skate. A lot has changed. Let’s take a look at where pairs skating stands now, with less than 4 months remaining until the 2022 Olympic Games.

Continue reading “Pairs Season Preview 2021” →