Jimmy Ma, 28, ended last season brilliantly with a career-high 5th place at the 2023 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and a small medal at 2023 ISU Four Continents Championships, where he placed third in the short program. This season, however, was another story entirely. Ma struggled this past fall, placing a disappointing 9th and 11th …
Continue reading Jimmy Ma: “This is a better representation of who I am as a skater”
Emily Bratti and Ian Somerville head into today’s senior free dance at the 2024 Prevagen U.S. Championships in Columbus, Ohio, in fourth place after a sparkling rhythm dance on Thursday. It’s been a season of continued growth for Bratti, 21, and Somerville, 23, who train at the Michigan Ice Dance Academy (MIDA) with coaches Greg …
Two-time Czech ice dance champions Natalie Taschlerova and Filip Taschler were excited to start their season this fall. The brother/sister team earned medals at two Challenger Series events and placed 5th at Skate America. There was one big problem, though: Filip Taschler was increasingly suffering from back pain. “I’d had a problem with my lower …
Continue reading The Taschlers Return from Career-Threatening Injury
At Skate America, we caught up with a few coaches to get their thoughts about their students’ performances at the first Grand Prix event of the season. Patrice Lauzon (I.AM) Ice dancers from the I.AM (Ice Academy of Montreal) school swept the podium at Skate America, with Chock/Bates taking gold, Lajoie/Lagha winning silver, and Lopareva/Brissaud …
Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha of Canada went home with a silver medal from last weekend's Humana Skate America in Allen, Texas. The duo were happy with their results in Allen, Texas, especially since they spent the summer coping with shoulder and back injuries for Lagha, and also had a subpar start to their season …
Chelsea Liu and Balazs Nagy will make their Grand Prix debut as a team this weekend at Skate America in Texas. Earlier this fall, they finished just off the podium at Autumn Classic International in Montreal, Quebec. Without question, it’s been a good start for their new partnership. Yet, arguably, Liu and Nagy shouldn’t be …
Continue reading “We’re Back”: The Surprising Return of Chelsea Liu & Balazs Nagy
Marie-France Dubreuil, co-head coach and co-founder of the Ice Academy of Montreal (I.AM), coaches many of the top ice dance teams in the world, including reigning World champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates. Dubreuil is also a highly esteemed choreographer–and not only for ice dancers, but other disciplines as well. Dubreuil had to tackle some …
Last season’s ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series was notable for the emergence of several standout new talents in ice dance. Among the new stars were Hannah Lim and Ye Quan of South Korea. They captured fans’ attention starting with their first JGP event last year, where they skated with unexpected fire and aplomb. Lim …
A year ago this month, Ilia Malinin jumped into figure skating history when he landed the first-ever quadruple Axel in Lake Placid, NY. The skating world was stunned by his feat, which made international news. Malinin wowed skating fans by continuing to land the unprecedented jump in multiple competitions last season, including the 2023 ISU …
Ben Agosto is a man who needs little introduction for figure skating fans. During his 12 years competing with partner Tanith Belbin [now Tanith White] (1998-2010), Agosto amassed a pile of medals and played a pivotal role in bringing the United States into the top echelon of the ice dance world. In 2002, Belbin and …
