Kite: …When I heard he was skating to Andrew Lloyd Webber, I was like oh, here we go again, and then it wasn't Phantom of the Opera. [Evie laughs.] I was so pleasantly surprised. I was like wow I almost forgot he had other music, that wasn't Phantom of the Opera [Hosts laugh.] because that's all that skaters ever skate to.
Evie: Skaters are finally delving into the extended catalog of Andrew Lloyd Webber [Sam laughs.]
Sam: We get Phantom. We get “Memories” from Cats.
Evie: Honestly, where is the Andrew Lloyd Webber School of Rock program already.
Sam: Give us some Jesus Christ Superstar, bring that back.
Kite: Only if there's the bright yellow pants. It has to be skated to in like banana pants.
Sam: Yes. Yellow pants are required.
Karly: We've been knew we have no faith in men.
Evie: And it was just so crazy! The top ten were only separated by what? Like five points from each other?
Sam: Yeah like barely even that.
Evie: It was insane! And then in the Free Skate everyone kind of died so you know [laughter] parallels!.
Sam: The Free Skate sure did happen!
Karly: In the Free Skate, wasn't it only Roman who was clean?
Evie: He wasn't even clean though!
(Hosts laugh)
Yogeeta: I’m very thankful we have Kaori Sakamoto, Japanese National champion. Her reaction when she saw her score was everything.
Nina: Don’t forget this was right after the world’s cutest dab.
Kite: Dabbing in the Kiss & Cry? She’s been taking lessons from Nam [Nyugen], clearly.
Yogeeta: No one should be taking those lessons (laughter).
Sam: I will say she hits a beautiful line in a lift; their lifts are great when she like elongates out, because she has super long legs too.
Nina: When she bends them right, she makes her positions look very nice.
Sam: She’s not as leggy as Alexandra but she’s cleaner with those long legs than Alexandra is.
Nina: What do they put in the water over there? I want some of that leg juice. (Hosts laugh)
Sam: Yeah, exactly. (laughs)
Another highly anticipated Challenger Series event, Nebelhorn Trophy took place this weekend in Oberstdorf, Germany. It is the sixth Challenger event in the series so far, and the competition celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. Many fan favourites had their first international assignment of the season at this event, and took the competition as a chance to test out their new programs for the season ahead. The event was live-streamed on Dailymotion, however it is no longer available. We have compiled a YouTube playlist of select available performances. Protocols and score breakdowns can be found here.
The Challenger Series made it’s first stop in North America this week in Salt Lake City for the US International Figure Skating Classic. This event hosted a contingent of 5 pairs, 11 men, 7 ice dance teams, and 15 ladies. All vying for a spot on the podium and points toward their world rank. Unfortunately this event was geo-blocked and only available for US viewers who purchased an NBC Gold subscription pass for figure skating.
This event saw the season debut for many top skaters, marking first looks at new programs costumes and improvements from last season. All event results information, including protocols, can be found here.
