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Welcome to the Rocker Skating Podcast.
It's the second day of our two day preview show for the 2026
World Figure Skating Championships.
Michelle and I have a lot to say about the men and the ice dance
events. So here it is.
How much menning are we going to get?
I think a supreme amount of men. This will be amending for the
ages. I'm still recovering from, I
mean, frankly, the men and the ice dance from the Olympics I'm
still recovering from. We had another.
Drama of those couple of days. We did another Friday, the 13th
a couple weeks ago. I was triggered.
I'm like again. I hope Italy is not on the ice,
wherever he is. Everybody was everybody was
commemorating the one month anniversary of.
The the day that we live in infamy.
My goodness. Yeah.
Or in fame in Kazakhstan. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I know that's going to be in their text, their history
textbooks celebrated. Yeah.
The coronation of King Shidorov. Speaking of which, King Shidorov
is not here. He wasn't even on the original
entries list because he was too busy accepting new cars and
kissing babies and opening restaurants.
And I don't know what he's been doing, but he's certainly been
the toast of Astana and all of Kazakhstan.
There is at at the Summer Olympics in 2024, there was a
Filipino gymnast, Carlos Carlos Yulo that won.
He first won gold medal I believe on vault, I think was
first and it went crazy in the Philippines.
Every business there was giving him free stuff, money.
We had a whole running list of it and then he won another gold
medal and they got even more stuff.
And I feel like Shidorov is living that experience.
Like when you went from a small country, you you become the
beneficiary of all they have to offer.
Right. I mean, Carlos Ulow is a is a
legend. He's a little brother who just
debuted. He's another one, yeah.
Yeah, I was joking. And also also good on vault and
floor. Yeah, funny how that is, that
the businesses in the Philippines are going to run out
of free stuff to give the Ulow brothers.
Yeah. That's our that's our crossover
pop for you, Scott, Scott Bregman on here at some point.
So we have Shyderuff not here, Matteo Rizzo not here.
Chen Wan Cha just very recently said no.
And then even more recently, Jason Brown was out and and we
knew behind the scenes that there was he was, he was
certainly deciding like this was not one of those where it was
like, oh, he had decided a long time ago and and waited till the
last moment to say, no, he has been.
Yeah, we heard as of last week he hadn't even made-up a
decision. Made a decision so.
Right. He's been training, he's been,
he's still been skating in shows, he's still been keeping,
you know, conditioning up And so ultimately decided to not go.
And Jacob Sanchez takes his spot because first alternate Max
Naumov said no. Second alternate Tomokohi
Watashi retired. Third alternate Jacob Sanchez,
who just came off a fourth place finish at the Junior World
Championships, is now going to make his Senior World
Championships debut. Imagine getting that phone call.
Jacob, don't. Don't, Jacob, don't kill me if I
am spilling secrets. But he's told.
He told me he was snowboarding when he got the call.
He's young, he can, he'll be fine.
That's just he's big, he's training, I mean.
He's been training. Yeah, yeah, they, they have been
they have continued to be training like, you know, it, it,
it just another couple of weeks, right.
Junior World was 2 1/2 weeks ago.
The real. The real question is did he,
once he got the call, snowboard down the mountain then?
Or did he get on the lift and responsibly right into the
bottom and then get off and go home?
Jacob's like my ACL is going to stay so, so that that is that is
the the men's withdrawals. And also Matteo Rizzo withdrew
and noticed that it was not Nikolai Memola who got the call.
He probably is still recovering from the the injuries and also
very busy, I think with Fashion Week and TikTok and TikTok and
and so Gabriella Fonzipani is going to be did you see there
for the Italians. Someone made a take talk about
Nikolai Memola's Inside Edge. Let's take off.
And they were like, he needs to fix this.
Here it is. And he commented on it.
And he said, girl, I know. Of course he did.
Nikolai Memola knows everything
in the social media space. Fun.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. All right.
So what's going to happen? Will it be the redemption of
Ilya Malinen? That is, that is a big one,
right? Last time we saw him, it was a
well, last time we saw him, it was at the exhibition gala.
But the last time we saw him compete, it was a one of those
programs you'll never want to watch again because it was just
so it was so heartbreaking and. Completely out of character.
I think he'll be fine.
He's done many worlds. I think he'll just skate fine.
I don't, I don't expect any drama.
I'm I'm really worried about the difference Olympics.
Though, Oh my goodness, it is a very different kind of pressure
here. And you know you're not going to
have all the cameras and all the stuff following you everywhere
you go and. Snoop Dogg will not be here as
far. As there's no student oh, thank
no Martha, no Snoop Dogg, yeah, yeah, none of that going on.
So it'll be. Jackie Wong.
And Ilia just walks past me. Anyways, that's fine.
So Ilia. And then will it be the
redemption of Yuma Kakiyama I? Just didn't see that free skate
clean once. Just give it to us clean.
As much as Yuma got his fourth silver medal, it was not a good
skate for him. No.
It just so happened that he rotated everything and didn't
have a complete disaster. But you know, I'm sure he he
wants to go back in time and fix that up, but he's got a chance
to become a world champion. So I.
Think his this is one of his best chances so.
Exactly. I do.
I do hope that we can see a Turando that is clean because
that program is so, so good. Shun Sato after his bronze medal
at the Olympics, how does he do? I mean, you got to then kind of
look at these other guys who were in the mix at the Olympics,
right? Steven Gogolev was literal like.
A spin level A. Spin away.
Yeah, a spin level away from from the from the podium.
He is so consistent. I mean, we watched him practice
so many times because he got there early for the team event.
He doesn't even make mistakes in practice.
He warms up the same way. He gets his jumps out, he does
his run throughs, he doesn't step out of anything.
He's just so, so solid and I reliable, which I feel like we
haven't been able to say about a Canadian men skater in a while.
So I, it's really impressive. And I, I'm, I'm putting him on
the podium. I think he's going to do it.
I'm, I'm putting him up there. Yeah.
Because they have to do 2 programs, you know, and he's the
only one that I really believe is not going to mend.
They do. And I'm not even jinxing them so
when I say that. I know like we're not jinxing
anything anymore at this point because they jinx themselves.
Like, you know. Speaking of redemptions, does
Adam Salhemfah have a redemption?
Does Danielle Grasso have a redemption?
Does Kevin Amos have a redemption like all these guys
who who had moments of brilliance at the Olympics and
then just couldn't get it all together?
I. Would say that Kevin Amos
doesn't need a redemption. He had some issues but he fought
pretty hard. I think the redemption would be
from for Europeans, but I think he got that at the Olympics.
He got that at the Olympics. Yeah, he got.
That at the Olympics. I'm really interested to see how
Andrew Torgeshev skates. He skated some of his best
performances his last two competitions so.
Like at the Olympics, I've never seen him train better.
And, and, and I think the question is, has he been able to
maintain that's that level of intensity and consistency that
he had at the Olympics? And, you know, has there been
sort of a, a let down from the Olympics and has he been able to
to to bring it back up? That's, you know, we'll see it
first day whether his quattos are popping or they're popping.
And he was also going to go on that pizza sampling tour of
Milan after his event ended. So I know I got to ask him about
that. He's recovered from that.
Yeah. Oh, the pizza in Milan.
What am I going to eat in Prague?
I eat, eat lots of something. I need to figure it out, you
know, like, there, there, there. There are other skaters there,
too. I mean, Nikkei Ikatsu, same
thing, right? Like Rushdenko.
Rushdenko, European bronze medalists.
What does he do here? Speaking of many, Yeah.
I mean, you know, like you do have to realize, yeah, you do
have to take take a look back at those scores at Europeans and
that it was like a 230 something that got him the bronze.
Yeah. That's not going to get him top
10 here, I don't think you know, Although, again, who knows.
I want redemption for Vladimir Ludvan stuff.
I want him to skate well here. I want to see him make the free
skate, smoke that cigarette at the start of his program, have a
great skate and enjoy himself. That was like one of the most
heartbreaking parts of Milan was him having that short program
implosion and missing the free skate.
I was I feel we were all robbed of the performance that we
deserve to see. Yeah, yeah, that would have
been, I mean, that would have been a lot.
That would have been very nice. Let's hope he doesn't do a
triple flip 5 seconds later, single toe again.
That is still one of the iconic combinations of the Olympic
Games. But it's crazy because it was so
iconic in that moment and then it became relevant in the
women's event because if Kyrie had done that, she would have
won. She could have held.
That edge for 10 seconds and done the single toe and she
would have won. Yeah, I don't.
I, I, I, I don't care about the song anymore.
It's like that. That single toe needed to be
there. Can we also just do a segue back
to the women? Oh yeah.
And that Calorie Sakamoto did a a domestic competition about a
week ago. She's not ready.
She's not ready to say goodbye. No, she's not ready to scape the
guy. But they did not change the
combination. The the the the double toe is
still on the triple Lutz and she fell on the triple flip, so she
had another Rep call. Oh.
My God. They like.
All right. Change the combination.
With that double toe on that first flip, this is crazy.
All right, you need to do some investigative journalism as soon
as you hit the ground in Prague and ask what is going on with
that? What's going on?
Oh, she does the solo let's in the short program.
What's wrong with the solo let's in the free skate?
It's the only one she's doing. Miss Nakano, please.
Oh my God, we can't take this. I know.
Yeah. So back to the men.
I'm too. Traumatized to continue
triggered. I know same litvince of
redemption we get another minions from Tommy Querino.
Let's. Go.
And you know, like things could lots of things can happen again,
like with the other competitions, it's it's a, it
can be a wide open field. And if if the menning does
occur, and it most certainly probably will occur, there could
be some wild, wild standings at the end of this whole thing.
We have France, Japan and the US coming in with three spots.
I don't know that that's going to, that's going to hold up for,
for for France, but I hope it does.
I don't know if it holds up for the US either.
I, I, I, I think it really, it depends on what 1 you know, Ilya
has to be up there Two, Torgashev has to be as good as
he was at the Olympics or Jacob Sanchez does 2 clean programs
and and they don't hose his components like there's there,
they, they can keep the, the three spots.
Yeah, but it's not, it's not easy.
Yeah, I weirdly have a lot of faith in Jacob.
I don't know why. I think he's going to skate
well. I would like to have a lot of
faith in Jacob. I feel like he's burned me
before so. Is this like who's World Team
without Jason Brown in a whole quad?
Jason Brown, been a while. Yeah.
He's been at the he's been at the last three worlds.
Yeah. Oh, 2022 he didn't go.
Yeah. Right.
But he's, he's, he was at 232425.
So he was, yeah. You know that Jason has never in
his career finished lower than 9th at Worlds.
That's that's what I keep saying, like as much as as much
as we've people talk about how he hasn't battled at worlds,
yeah, he's been very reliably in the top five to top 8.
He's like, he's like an index fund.
He is just. You can count on him.
Very, Yep, Yep. Yeah.
You're not going to go big, but you're you're going to, you're
going to be very steadily earning your money, that is for
sure. Yeah.
The men, wow, I don't know what's going to happen.
Gogolev. Gogolev's going to happen.
Gogo, Medal Gogo. Medal.
And that'll be the first Canadian men's medal since Do
you have to be Patrick? Am I making that up?
Yeah, who else would? Who else would have been besides
Patrick? Well, I know Keegan didn't.
He didn't win 1 Patrick, the last World medal for a Canadian
man. 15. No earlier. 14. 1313 Patrick won
his last fourteen of three titles.
Wow. All right, so we're down to ice
stand. OK, Speaking of the last time
worlds were in Prague, this was the first.
Was that was that? Go, go, go Julen.
They won their first and only world title, the forever just on
the bubble team that could never breakthrough.
They could never be claim of on Pan Mariko.
And then the Duchenne started, you know, passing them and it
was like they just could not get there.
And finally in 93, they have this incredible Blues for clue
program and they won their first and only world title and Russia
swept the world podium. They won all three medals in
dance. It was Usava Julin, Grisha
Platov, Krylova Fedorov. But I, you know what?
This dance event, I think something similar is going to
happen in terms of a long, long Time Team that has always been
on the bubble finally getting their flowers.
And I'm, I think Piper are going to win this world.
I totally agree. It's going to happen.
Look, I could be just making up in my head, but there's
something about the momentum that they got at the Olympics
and the fact that as and shock Evan baits are not here where
the judges brains have now been freed up in some ways to think
about a different team out there.
And yeah, I, I, I totally would agree with you about the
potential for Piper and Ball to win this thing.
And you know, the, the continued potential, frankly, of 48,
Beaudry and Cicero making a major error because that we've
seen that this season. We saw that at, we saw that in
practices at the Olympics. They push so hard and I, I
wonder about like, because I, I talked about in our Olympic
recap about how they push so hard in practice and then hold
back a lot in competition. And I wonder when they are
pushing harder in competition, if that's when the mistakes
happen. I don't know.
I, I don't know. I just, I just, I have a feeling
that it's going to be Piper and Paul.
I just the momentum is there. And A and a post Olympic world
for for ice dance has not been without its surprises either.
Remember the day when Anna Kaplina and Luca Lenote won
World? In. 2014.
By a whisker. All the medals were within like
a few like 33 hundreds or 3/10 of a point or something.
They were so close. Yeah.
Yeah, the there have been a couple Olympic champions who
have defended their world title or who won worlds right after.
Virgin Warrior did it in 2010, Papadakis and Cesarone did it in
2022. But it's not a guarantee by any
means. No, I, the thing that I think of
with with Piper and Paul for me is that they, their Olympics
free dance was so utterly transformative for them that
they might come in with a very different kind of just like
mindset of what this competition is for them.
And they were even saying this on the interview when I was
talking to them was that they felt a difference in the way
that they did that program at the Olympics.
Then they had done it before. And you wonder if if that kind
of magic is going to happen again.
I go back to this is obviously pairs, but I go back to
Sapchenko and Maso in 2018 after the Olympics where we were like
they can possibly do that program any better than they did
at the Olympics and if they did it better at worlds.
Yeah, OK, I have chills. So Chenko Maso.
Yeah, my free skate was so good. It was so good.
Psychological breakthrough and they can skate with that kind of
freedom. Right.
And you know, like their programs really came together at
the Olympics. RuPaul came together at the
Olympics. Finally, Vincent came together
at the Olympics. So again, you wonder.
So you'd think those two for gold.
You'd think Theor and Gibson versus Zynga's kalesnik for
bronze, which are words that I did not think I would say at the
beginning of the season. It's interesting because Fear
Gibson for so long had so much momentum, momentum, momentum,
momentum, and in their last two competitions I feel like it
really screeched to a halt. And Zynga's, on the other hand,
is just like shooting for the stars.
Speaking of momentum. Yeah, so I'm, I'm interested to
see how Fear Gibson compete here.
I know that they were a team that it was, they really had
this very strong mental game and their attack was really what
powered them forward. And I think once the doubt
started creeping in there, especially with Lila's twizzle
issues, if I think that really kind of unseeded them the last
two competitions, especially at the Olympics.
So I I'm interested to see how they skate here.
And I feel like we know how Zynga, Zynga Leznik are going to
skate. They're going to be skating out
of their skin. They're going to be raising the
roof. It's going to be, you know, all
energy all the time. Yeah, I think, I think the two
of them and I think Zingis, Kolesnik, Reed and Brulevichus
and Smart and Deke, all three of those teams I think have the
potential to be the spoiler for the bronze would think of
Kolesnik being the higher potential of those 3.
But still like I, I, you know, like you look at you look at
them versus Allison Saul at the Grand Prix Final, right.
At Grand Prix Finals, Allison, Saul were were were scored
higher. I just wanna put Scott Deek a
little parade of a Bristow in that conversation, too.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I would agree with that.
You know, it's like then you is, is there even a dark, dark, dark
horse of a green Parsons coming in after not being at the
Olympics and maybe bringing something a little bit different
than what everybody's been seeing, right?
Because they, we haven't seen them since 4 continents.
They're the ones who are replacing chalk and Bates here
And, and they, you know, they're, they're fresh.
They, they haven't had to come down from the Olympics.
They've they've, you know, in the interview that I had with
them were saying how grateful of what they were to their season,
getting another shot, getting a, you know, having another chance
at at extending their season. So.
I'm interested to see how tour Columbus Louis look because they
really weren't, you know, they said that they were feeling 100%
better, but I didn't feel like they looked at the Olympics like
they were as comfortable as they were in the past, you know, with
his injury and everything. And I'm wondering if a few more
weeks of training if they look more like their old selves,
because I feel like in this field they should be contenders.
They I mean, they have fantastic material, especially that
freelance. It's just like, it's so good.
It's just that tango, like that's just, you know, so
addictive and easy to reward and easy to like and very
accessible. And, you know, their season
scores are not great just because of his injury, but I
think they could move up, Yeah. Yeah, they they did.
They lost some of their power and and they're just sort of
assertiveness, especially in that free dance.
Yeah, I remember last season when we were seeing when we were
watching that free dance, it was like it just, it just sent
chills down your spine because they were just like so well done
most of the time. Especially that straight line
left at the end. So good.
Yeah, yeah. It'll be interesting.
I mean, Carrera Panamarenko also here, you know, Hannah Lim and
Yaquan, do they get a little bit of a redemption they have?
To I hope they make the free dance and get to do their free
dance here. I have like one thing to say
about Christina Carrera and Anthony Panmarenko, just not
related to this competition. But you know, talking back to
the pointing back to the March gladness that we talked about at
the beginning of the episode to everyone who didn't vote for
them. I you're on my list.
I'm really judging you. I think Christina's dress that
she debuted at the Olympics is like the probably the best
costume of the season that anyone's had.
That dress is stunning. And so, you know, so effective
with the theme of their program. And, you know, I took it kind of
personally that that she didn't get votes and that they lost
their category that that, you know, that was upsetting to me.
I'm very excited to see it again.
Michelle is very upset. She was telling me how upset she
was about it. Yeah, yeah, she was up again.
They were up against the Amber Glenn like a prayer costume
though. I, you know what?
I voted for Amber in the ISU costume award.
I didn't feel bad not voting for her here.
This was this was Christina's. This was Christina's award.
She should have won. So just saying.
I, I, I have very much enjoyed the, the great deal of thoughts
and opinions that everybody's been having on March gladness,
which they were unable to maybe have with the ISU costume awards
because they, you know, it was it, it, it, it felt, it felt, it
feels so terminal, right? Like it's like you have one
chance to just vote for your one costume and now you have like
whatever it is, 15 chances to vote for your costume.
So anyway, back to dance. The, the, the podium will be
very interesting. I do think like at with every
other one of these competitions, the potential for there being
some kind of surprise on the podium is high.
The question is what is the surprise and will there be more
than one? So it could be what the ice
dancer is, right? You don't have chalk and Bates
and that's basically or you don't have chalk and Bates and
you don't have king yard fabric, but that's basically it.
Everybody else is here for the most part.
And so it'll be interesting to see because the, the Olympics
was very close across a lot of these teams.
And, you know, it was an exclamation point for Spartan
Deke's choreograph character step.
Or it was, it was a level here and there for these people.
Or it was a, you know, a, a miss on a, a, a, a bracket turn that
left somebody with two levels fewer.
Or, you know, it was like. Something the choreo step calls
at this event. Just please, we've given out
enough. We met, we met the quota.
Just don't do what this this event.
Leave them alone. It's like parking tickets.
Yes, when you're legally parked. Yeah, somebody decided that you
were, you know, 4 feet, 8 inches from the fire hydrant or
whatever it is. I don't even know what the rules
are for parking near fire hydrants because I don't have a
car. But you know, it was like one of
those things where it's you're like, it's just so close and you
that the nickel and diming is quite upsetting.
Should we do our top three for each of these?
Disciplines. Oh boy.
Yeah. OK, let's start with the dance.
OK, Gilles Poirier first. Forney Baudreu Cesarone second.
Zingis Kolesnik, 3rd. I have the exact same top three.
Go OK. OK, I'll, I'll, I'll do the I'll
do women on my part. OK, we'll switch off.
Kari Sakamoto, Amber Glenn, Monet, Chiba.
Monet Ami Nakai first. Kari Sakamoto, second.
Amber Glenn, third. Wow.
I adore Monet, but. This was, this was the, this was
the, this was the switcheroo from the Olympics where I was
like, Monet's not going to be in the top five.
All right, Paris. Pavlovos, Viachenko, Hassa,
Volodin, Michochina, Berlava. I've never heard the Hungarian
anthem. I'm ready.
Oh gosh, this one is I, I have the same top three.
I I would put Hassevalden first. OK, so and then Pavlovos,
Fiachenko and then Batalkina Perulva.
OK. Yeah, makes sense.
OK, men. Oh, this is so hard.
I. Don't even know.
I don't even know here. It's like it's, it's too.
I'm just going to go for it. Yuma, Ilia.
Adam. Wow, OK.
That that's not even like I don't, I don't even know what
that came from, but you know. I'm going to do Eli no Ilya
Gogalev Yuma. Wow, there's already men in
going on in our predictions. And I I shouldn't pick Ilia to
win because he burned me before, but I feel like it's inevitable
that he will win. So I just don't.
I just don't know. I really just don't know.
Well, there we go, I think. I think of all of the podium
pics I've done all all season, this one is by far my most
unhinged. It's going to be something
insane in the men. It's probably going to be like
Kalmira in second. Something like things are like,
I think both of us are reacting to the fact that a post Olympic
world is not typical. It's just not typical.
Something's going to happen and we don't know what is going to
happen and our minds are just like going off.
It was the year. Was it 2010 when Daisuke and Mao
won worlds after they both failed to win the Olympics?
I feel like that was the year. Maybe it's 24.
Yep, Mao won and 20. She won in 2010 and 2014.
Yeah, it was Dice K in 2010. And Yuzu, well, Yuzu was the
Olympic champion in 2014, but yeah, I was thinking in 2010.
So they both missed gold in the Olympics and landed on the
podium, and then they both won worlds.
So maybe it will be Yuma and Calorie.
Wow, wow. That's it for our last preview
episode of this very long season.
Crazy. And hey folks, thank you for
joining us during this whole thing.
We will be back with both recap shows.
Michelle may be joining me for some recap shows during the
week, and we will be back for the full recap of the World
Championships next week. Michelle, anything before we.
Go. I guess I'm going to be watching
some skating. Here's two hours and hours.
Here's two hours and hours I this week is going to be 6:00 AM
to midnight almost every single. Day.
Wow. Yeah, maybe something.
There's going to be something. I hope you have some good
snacks. I'll be in Lai, will definitely
have good snacks. Luckily, I am right next to the
arena, so it's not going to be a a long a long commute.
All right, well, that's it for this episode of the Rocker
skating podcast. We had a lot of fun.
Hope you did too. And you know, lots of things.
If you're in the mood to support rocker skating and this podcast
and all the stuff that we do, go ahead and subscribe to this
channel on YouTube, subscribe to this podcast on your podcast
platforms. That is very important for us.
And rocker pins are still on sale and we're going to have a
an actual sale for the World Championships.
So watch out for that and go and play all the games that you
want. March Gladness Fantasy Skating
andpredictioncentraltheyreallforyou@live.rockersgating.com I'm going to stop promoting my
website now, but that's going to be the place for all of the
coverage coming up in Prague from me this week.
Practices start on Tuesday, competitions start on Wednesday,
and it's going to be we're going to go at 250 mph for five days
straight. It's going to be a very
different pace than what we were used to at the Olympic Games.
So all right, For Michelle Ellis, this is Jackie Wong,
Chiefskate nerd of rockerskating.com.
Thanks, as always to our brilliant, fantastic sponsors.
John Wilson plays for keeping us going all season long.
And to Tara Nichols, who is listening to this and probably
trying to figure out what parts to cut.
So that's it for this time. We will talk to you again soon.
Bye. Bye.