Since its inception in 2021, the John Nicks Pairs International Challenger Series event has provided a key opportunity for U.S. pairs teams to start their international season, test their programs, and get feedback from international judges. The competition, which normally takes place at Chelsea Piers in New York City, moved to the Skating Club of Boston in Norwood, MA, this year, taking place Sept. 11-12. Six U.S. pairs teams competed at the event, and we caught up with all but one of them. There was quite a lot of news to discuss, so grab a cup of tea and read on!

Shin/Howe

At 2026 U.S. Nationals in January, Audrey Shin, 22, and Spencer Akira Howe, 30, were each other’s top competition for a spot on the 2026 U.S. Olympic team. Then, following an eventful off-season during which they both split with their partners (Balazs Nagy and Emiy Chan), Shin and Howe have now teamed up to compete together. The new pair had a great showing in their first competition, winning the silver medal in Norwood behind overall winners Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii of Russia. 

“We’re super-grateful,” Howe said. “We obviously haven’t been skating long together, so it’s hard to have expectations. We’re still just learning each other. Our personalities are very similar– we both just look forward to any opportunity that comes our way. To come out and capitalize on an opportunity like today, it really feels good.”

Shin and Howe have been skating together for only three months. The duo train at the Skating Club of Boston with Olga Ganicheva and Aleksey Letov, making CS John Nicks a home-rink event for them. While Howe has trained with Ganicheva and Letov since 2019, Shin is a newcomer to the group and to Boston. She had previously trained in Colorado Springs, Colorado, during her singles career, and then in Oakville, Ontario, with coaches Bruno Marcotte and Meagan Duhamel, during her pairs partnership with Nagy.

“I had a very special and close relationship with Bruno and Meagan, and it was hard to leave that situation,” Shin said. “When I was looking for a new partner, I really thought I wanted to be back home in Colorado. But once I tried out with Spencer and [was] aware of his situation, I thought it would be really good to work with Olga and Aleksey. They’re very Russian, but also  give very motherly/fatherly vibes. So it’s just good vibes overall. They make us work really hard, and I like that push. I like everyone here, so it’s been very smooth overall.”

Shin has not had time yet to explore the Boston area, as building the elements and timing in a new pairs partnership is a demanding endeavor. 

“I want to take her into Boston more,” Howe said.

“But when the weekend comes, we’re tired,” Shin said with a smile.

For now, the duo are mostly focused on training and developing their new programs. But they look for ways to have fun even during training hours.

“Before a lot of our sessions, we do pickleball,” Howe shared. “We go to the studio room and take the ballet barre and put it in the middle of the room, and we’ll warm up playing some pickleball. We have fun, but also it’s a way for us to do something together. And then we get on the ice, and we focus.”

That focus paid off at CS John Nicks. Shin and Howe opened the event by placing third in the short program. Then they brought alive the romance and drama in their Romeo and Juliet free skate, set to the iconic 1996 film soundtrack. Their program culminated in a spectacular choreo lift that featured Shin somersaulting up to a fully extended, upside-down position, followed by a lovely choreo spin. Those impactful moves helped propel them to second place in the free skate and overall.

“Alexey has been, from the very beginning, so adamant about it [choreo lift]  having a really good connection with the music,” Howe said. “So we came up with this idea, in this cool position, and we matched it with the bells in the music. We’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from those moments.” 

Howe is a fan of the changes to pairs free skates this year, which include replacing a leveled lift and pairs spin with a choreo lift and choreo spin, as well as reducing the number of allowed jumps in a jump combination from three to two jumps.

“I think it’s great. As someone who’s done pairs for a long time, it’s neat how it changes the dynamic of the programs and offers a lot more creativity,” Howe noted. “For me, it’s like a breath of fresh air, and hopefully the audience will see that creativity through all the different teams. I feel like before, it’s been so heavily focused on the technical side and the levels. A lot of us were doing the same elements and same lift positions. I think it will open a door for more creativity and uniqueness that can hopefully drive attention.” 

Howe said that Olga Ganicheva suggested Romeo & Juliet as a vehicle for this season’s free skate.

“Once we had the full cut, it was like, whoa, this has a lot of depth, a lot of variation, and it just seemed like the perfect program for the start of our partnership,” Howe said. “Romeo and Juliet is such a staple story, so it’s something [good] as a new team, that the theme is very known.”

After such a strong start to their season, Shin and Howe have big hopes.

“I want to say Nationals podium for sure,” Shin said with regard to their goals. “And obviously, the World team, Four Continents, and then, in the next few years, the Olympic Games.”

“Everyone, at the end of the day, is always trying to get the highest score they can and get this achievement and this podium. But when you look beyond any results, it’s not just to win everything, but also to be able to skate strong programs and try to touch the audience,” Howe said. “That’s what I love about skating: It’s so much more than just a technical sport, even though it is very technical. We can really create magical moments that people can feel something from. We want to continue down that route.”

McBeath/Nagy

Also debuting their new partnership in Norwood were Katie McBeath and Balazs Nagy. Like Shin and Howe, McBeath and Nagy are former competitors and U.S. medalists who have now chosen to skate together. Like their compatriots, they also made a strong impression at CS John Nicks, skating with ease and elegance to win the bronze medal.

For McBeath and Nagy, the story goes back even further–because this isn’t the first time they considered partnering together. The duo actually tried out once before, in late spring of 2023, at Great Park Ice in Irvine, California. Back then, they opted not to team up and instead paired with other partners (Daniil Parkman and Chelsea Liu). But both teams trained at Great Park Ice with coaches Jenni Meno, Brandon Frazier, and Christine Fowler-Binder. So when McBeath and Nagy decided to try out again this spring, they were known quantities to each other. What was different this time?

“Honestly, probably the experiences that we bring to the partnership now,” McBeath said in answer to this question. “I think we’re both stronger athletes; we’re both strong people. And I think we bring a level of maturity that blends into something special. Sometimes, timing is funny. I remember during our first tryout [in 2023], it was a chaotic time. There was a lot going on, and sometimes fate has other plans. It was in the cards for us to skate together, but maybe we just needed to learn some things to be able to bring out the best in each other.”

“I agree,” Nagy said. “I think we both became much stronger skaters between the three years when we first tried out, and when we tried out again. I think part of it is that maturity.”

Both skaters said the Olympic season was trying and difficult for them. McBeath and Parkman medaled at U.S. Nationals and made the U.S. World team for the first time last season, but were not eligible for the Olympics due to Parkman’s lack of citizenship. Shin and Nagy, meanwhile, were eligible for the Olympics, but fell just short of qualifying in a close decision after U.S. Nationals.

“Missing the Olympic team was not fun,” Nagy said. As the season went on, he had a sense that he needed to listen to his instincts more. “You listen to everybody around you–oh, you should do this, you should do that. For me, I’m going to listen more to what I feel is right for me. Not ignore other people, but take their advice–Okay, thank you–and make my own decision of what I think is best.” 

“For me, it was similar,” McBeath shared. “Throughout last season, there were some really good and some really low moments. And, just in general, some life-changing moments throughout the year, just as a person. And I learned so much through that entire process. I learned what I needed to not only be a good teammate, but to be able to deliver as a team.”

McBeath, 31, and Nagy, 28, laid their cards on the table when they decided to try out again this spring. Both of them felt it was important to be honest and not hold anything back.

“We went to dinner the first or second night. And I was like: This is what I want, this is what I don’t want, this is my expectation, these are my goals, and I think we can do it,” Nagy said. “And then I just let her take the floor.”

“And in response to Balazs, I was like: I know what I need in a teammate, I know what I can bring to a team. Let’s see if we can make this work,” McBeath said. “We just put what we needed, what we wanted, out there. We were so honest with each other, and honest with ourselves. Which I think was really important. Going into something like this, it’s a big investment. It’s time, it’s effort, it’s money, it’s emotions. So putting all that on the line and starting from a very honest, grounded, strong foundation, I think will lend us to going as far as we want.”

The new team decided to continue at Great Park Ice, where McBeath has skated since 2020. Coach Jenni Meno immediately noticed the duo’s sense of purpose and work ethic.

“From the day they tried out, we could see that it was really going to work, because the elements came together very quickly,” Meno said. “And just the way they skate together and approach their skating. They make it very easy for the coaching team, because they’re mature adults, and they know what they want. They’re very organized in their training. They approach it like, this is our job. It does remind me a lot of when Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier [2022 World champions] started. They knew it was their job, and they were very businesslike and  came in and got the work done. And that’s what Katie and Balazs do every day.”

McBeath and Nagy selected the iconic Carmen as their short program music for the season. It was a very intentional choice.

“Being a new team, we didn’t want our audience to guess what we’re trying to portray in our program, especially the short program, which opens the competition,” McBeath said. 

“We don’t have years of skating together, and chemistry that people know,” Nagy added. “So it needed to be something easily recognizable, easily identifiable, that people know, and a story they can relate to. I wanted something powerful and strong for the short. And the long program can be a little bit more calm and can develop.” (They chose Ludovico Einaudi’s meditative Experience for their free program.)

After a long summer of training, McBeath and Nagy were more than ready to compete for the first time in Norwood.

“I was so excited. I was getting in the elevator at the hotel and I was just smiling from ear to ear,” McBeath said. “I felt the energy; I could feel it in my bones. The nerves, but mostly excitement. I was super-thrilled to skate, because we’ve been working so hard, and we finally get to show it off.”

The pair felt that their performance and results at CS John Nicks set a good baseline.

“I think it was a good start to the season,” Nagy said. “I’m very happy with how we skated. It shows us where we have to grow and where we can fill out the program a little better.”

“We can just continue to build and improve on the technical elements,” said coach Jenni Meno. “And then as far as the skating, the programs, as they become more comfortable with each other, they can just really free it up and skate and perform. I’m excited. I think they can do very well.”

Williams/Lewer

Unlike the top two U.S. pairs here, 2024 World Junior bronze medalists Naomi Williams, 20, and Lachlan Lewer, 23, have been a team for quite a while–since 2022, to be exact. Yet, there’s a sense of newness this year for them as well, because it will be their first full senior season–until now, they’ve skated a mix of junior and senior competitions internationally. So this year brings some butterflies, as they look to up their game technically and artistically. The pair trains in Colorado Springs with coaches Drew Meekins and Natalia Mishkutienok. 

Williams and Lewer placed 6th in the short program at CS John Nicks. Their elegant “Otono Porteno” tango short program was a highlight of that segment of the competition, showing off their long lines and musicality in a delightful manner. It’s the second season the duo are using this program.

“I feel like last season, the short program didn’t reach its full potential,” Williams said. “Our coach, Drew Meekins, knew this. And he told us to keep it, because he thought there was more growing to be done. And even at this first competition, our component score was higher. I’m really happy. I feel like we were able to meet a pretty fair standard for our first competition of the season. Usually, our middle of the season is similar to this performance. I feel like our nerves and our teamwork have been really good.”

“This was our personal best [score] for the short program, so it’s really pleasing to start the season out with this,” Lewer agreed. “And there’s still things that we could build on, even with our great score. So yes, I’m really excited to see how this season goes.”

Williams and Lewer showed some lovely lifts and a nice triple twist in their free skate, but dropped to 7th in this portion and overall due to issues with jumps and throws.

The couple acknowledge that they need stronger jump elements to be competitive at the senior international level. They’re aiming for some big improvements by the time they get to the 2027 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

“We’re building up our program content this year,” Lewer said. “This off-season has been pretty good for us. We’ve worked really hard.”

“We want to look more senior in our components score,” William said. “And having two triple jumps and two triple throws by Nationals is definitely our biggest goal.”

Throw jumps are the most difficult technical hurdle for the team. They performed a throw double loop for their second throw jump in their free skate in Norwood.

“Learning the throws has been very challenging. I was never exactly known for my jumps when I was competing in novice junior and singles,” Williams admitted. “I was more known for spins and artistry. So adding the extra height and the extra space in the air was definitely scary for me. But the more comfortable I’ve been getting with them, the better they’re going.” 

“My technique on the throw has never been exceptional,” Lewer said candidly. “We’ve really been working on it this off-season, and it’s become a lot more consistent. We’re just going to keep building on it.” 

Williams and Lewer said they’ve been working mainly with coach Natalia Mishkutienok on throw jumps. 

“We could work with all of our coaches on it, really–Drew and Danny [O’Shea] as well,” Lewer said. “But when we have too many coaches on it, it rattles my brain a little bit. You need to go down one path and not split, I think.”

“I think Natalia is the best for throws,” Williams said. “She really helps us technique-wise, because that was something that she was really good at in her competition days.”

Following this event, Williams and Lewer will compete at Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany and at NHK Trophy in Japan.

“We’re super-excited to go to Japan. It’s the first time for both of us,” Lewer said. “We’re going to do a little bit of sightseeing, and just honestly enjoy the experience of the crowd. We’ve always wanted to experience an atmosphere like that.”

Flores/Sadusky

Even more than Shin/Howe and McBeath/Nagy, Olivia Flores, 19, and Mark Sadusky, 28, are pretty much a brand-new team. They’ve only been skating together since the first week of July. Considering this short time frame, Flores/Sadusky felt satisfied just to get their programs out and get some experience at CS John Nicks. They placed 9th in Norwood.

“Doing this first competition was a good baseline to see what we could do. It’s hard as athletes when you go out and try your best, but things don’t work out,” Sadusky said.  “But, out of everyone, we’ve been together probably the shortest. To be able to put out a clean short [program] was really nice. And we’ve been dealing with a shoulder injury for Liv, so the first month of our training was just basic skating skills and learning each other’s timing and rhythm. We just need more time to run the actual full program.”

Flores, who was 2024 Junior World silver medalist with former partner Luke Wang, said she started looking for a partner in January after U.S. Nationals. She and Sadusky both did a pairs camp in June, which helped lead to their partnership. 

“I think it’s a lot of U.S. Figure Skating’s influence and our coaches’ influence,” Flores said of their decision to team up. “They were the ones that really got us together, and when we were doing elements together, we just seemed to have fun.”

Fun is also the watchword for their Stranger Things free skate, which they debuted in Norwood. Set to the score of the popular streaming show, this program definitely has the potential to be a crowd-pleaser in the future. The duo said it was their idea to skate to this theme.

“We were just looking through music and Spotify, and it popped up,” Sadusky said. “I found this orchestrated piece of Stranger Things, and I was like, Oh, I really like this. We brought it together with the coaches, and they suggested adding a couple different pieces to it, and everyone got on board.”

Flores and Sadusky are assigned to compete at CS Nepela Memorial in a few weeks. However, their main goal for the season is simply to grow as a team and enjoy skating together.

“I think our plan is just to enjoy the process again and have fun, because I think the last couple of years we have not had that same love for skating as others,” Sadusky said. “For me, this is the first time in a very long time that I’ve really loved skating again, even through the hardships. We obviously want to be competitive; we want to try to make the Four Continents team, World team, and win national medals. But I think for right now, our goal is to find each other’s rhythm and understand how we compete.”

Cooke/Kennedy

Sydney Cooke and Matthew Kennedy are not a new team–they’ve been together since 2022 and captured a U.S. junior bronze medal in 2024. However, they were competing in their first-ever international competition at CS John Nicks, where they placed 10th. 

“We just got these jackets a week and a half ago!” Cooke giggled excitedly, gesturing to their blue Team USA jackets. “Honestly, since then, I’ve felt a lot more settled with myself and my ability.”

The road hasn’t always been easy for Cooke and Kennedy since winning their U.S. junior medal. The couple have dealt with a significant injury for Kennedy, a coaching change, and the challenge of bridging the technical gap between junior and senior. Receiving an assignment to compete at this event was a major boost to their confidence and motivation.

“It’s so interesting to be at our first international,” Kennedy said. “I mean, there were some huge names here. It was incredible to see the throw quad [performed by Boikova/Kozlovskii].”

For Cooke and Kennedy, it was also a hometown event. Cooke grew up in the Boston area, skating at the Colonial Figure Skating Club in Acton, and the couple now train at the Skating Club of Boston with 2010 Olympic team medalists (and local pairs legends) Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir. (Carrie Wall is also part of their coaching team.) Cooke and Kennedy frequently train on the same sessions in Norwood as Shin/Howe and current U.S. pairs champions Alisa Efimova/Misha Mitrofanov (who were in the building for CS John Nicks, although they did not compete).

“Obviously we train with Audrey and Spencer, so we see how bright they are every day. But, it was just really nice to be able to push ourselves in this environment and see where we stand with all these other great teams,” Kennedy said.

When Cooke and Kennedy first teamed up, they trained in Delaware. They moved up to Boston fairly recently.

“About this time last year, I tore my ATFL [ligament] on my ankle. We tried to compete through it, but we couldn’t jump. It was hard to run programs. So we chose to pull out of [2026] Nationals,” Kennedy said. “We also spent the summer that year in Amsterdam with Dmitry Savin and Fedor Klimov, who are the coaches of Akopova/Rakhmanin, Hase/Volodin and everyone who’s anyone. And we came to the realization that we needed to make a coaching change. We’re forever grateful for our coaches in Delaware, but we are quite happy with our decision to move here to Boston.”

The duo say that Castelli and Shnapir have made a big impact on their skating, both in terms of technique and their approach to training.

“It’s a focus on consistency and pushing for things, even though it’s hard,” Cooke said. “Managing our training attitude; not giving up. There were times when we just felt like, Oh, is it even worth it? They basically make us understand you’re going to have some rough spots, but you’re going to push through, and you’re going to be better for it.”

“It also helps that they’re so detail-oriented,” Kennedy added. “We’ll come back to the wall and they’ll be like, Well, that was great. Except your hand was an inch too low.”

Castelli and Shnapir are also helping them break down barriers on the technical side.

“The biggest one, honestly, is the triple twist,” Kennedy said. “We’ve always been pretty good with the jumps when it comes to competition time. The thing we haven’t really done is the twists. And again, that’s where the coaches have really come in. Marissa’s experience with twists has really helped Sydney. And we worked with Vanessa James over the summer as well.”

“I got some great exercises from Vanessa. That was wonderful,” Cooke enthused. 

“For me, it’s been the conditioning,” Kennedy said. “Because Simon’s done this before; he’s an Olympian. He’s pushing me hard in what I do with the lifts and everything, and that’s really made a difference.”

Another goal is the throw triple Lutz, which Cooke and Kennedy hope to add to their competitive programs. 

“We’ve been working on the throw Lutz for a while,” Cooke said. “It’s felt pretty good and pretty consistent, at least on the takeoff and in the air. Just getting the checkout is the name of the game.”

Cooke and Kennedy would certainly welcome more international assignments, but feel confident those will come once the time is right and they earn them.

“We really have no expectations for this year other than to have fun. If we could just be consistent at every competition and build on it, we’ll be happy,” Kennedy declared.

And that’s a wrap for the U.S. pairs at CS John Nicks! We look forward to seeing how all the teams, old and new, develop this season.