U.S. Men 2023-24 news & updates

[Sylvia]

Thanks @YukiNieve - direct link to Broussard's Senior SP (80.35) protocol from the May Blades club comp. in Tacoma, WA (his jumps were 3F+, 3A -0.80 GOE, 3Lz+3T+): https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2024/34331/SEGM002.html
I was told this is a new SP to lyrical violin music.

Jacob Sanchez shared photos of the “emerging athletes” group and the athlete coaches/demonstrators at USFS’ “Access To Excellence” camp in CO Springs for skaters, coaches, officials & parents (re-posting this link here from the U.S. Women's news thread): https://www.instagram.com/p/C7ImQsZL7E2/
Jacob, Taira Shinohara and Caleb Farrington are the male skaters in his photos. Jason Brown was a demonstrator and keynote speaker and I also saw Aleksandr Fegan there.

 

[Sylvia]

Congrats to Sean Rabbitt and the Ten80 team of coaches - Junichi and Kelly Takemura & Garnet Fiordalisi - for being awarded one of the PSA's 2024 "President's Awards of Excellence" on May 15 at USFS’ Access to Excellence reception in CO Springs - clip from when their names were announced:

Ten80 International Figure Skating Team on Instagram: "Special moment ❤️ Coaches: @coach_junichi @seanrabbitt @coachkelly_ten80fs @garnetfiordalisi Training Location: 📍 @greatparkice Follow our team @ten80fs 😃⛸ #usfigureskating #figureskating #f

75 likes, 2 comments - ten80fs on May 17, 2024: "Special moment ❤️ Coaches: @coach_junichi @seanrabbitt @coachkelly_ten80fs @garnetfiordalisi Training Location: 📍 @greatparkice...".

www.instagram.com

Vaclav Vasquez (placed 9th in Junior Men at 2024 Nationals and listed in the current ISP) was coached primarily by Kelly Takemura at San Jose Nationals last year (ETA a photo of Coach Kelly & Vaclav that I took in the concourse: https://x.com/SylviaUnseen/status/1792345416304046180) and in Columbus this year.

Matthew Lind (2001 Novice National men's champion and a senior/junior international competitor: https://www.matthewlindcoaching.com/about) was another winner of this coaching award (link to his post about the award): https://www.instagram.com/p/C6gWwPUL4Jh/

Very grateful to @skatepsa for the countless opportunities they have given me to learn and grow as a coach in a profession that I love. Thank you to everyone involved in this organization for their commitment to seeing that everyone in our coaching community has a chance to be their best and succeed. PSA truly taught me how to evolve as a coach. As our professional organizations continue to evolve and change this spirit of community, love of learning and commitment to the growth of all of us as skating professionals is what I KNOW will continue. Congratulations to everyone honored and many thanks for this recognition.
“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.” - from “A Splendid Torch” by: George Bernard Shaw

 

[Sylvia]

Jacob Sanchez shared photos of the “emerging athletes” group and the athlete coaches/demonstrators at USFS’ “Access To Excellence” camp in CO Springs for skaters, coaches, officials & parents (re-posting this link here from the U.S. Women's news thread): https://www.instagram.com/p/C7ImQsZL7E2/
Jacob, Taira Shinohara and Caleb Farrington are the male skaters in his photos. Jason Brown was a demonstrator and keynote speaker and I also saw Aleksandr Fegan there.

“Sasha” Fegan's post with photos:

Aleksandr Fegan on Instagram: "The altitude of everything including the mountains at the Emerging Athlete and Access to Excellence Program was Top Notch! I would like to thank @usfigureskating for inviting me here, the coaches and officials that gav

108 likes, 2 comments - sashaskate1 on May 20, 2024: "The altitude of everything including the mountains at the Emerging Athlete and Access to Excellence Program was Top Notch! I would like ...".

www.instagram.com

Jason is in the 2nd photo, next to Louis Mallane (top ranked Intermediate man in NQS last fall), and Nicholas Brooks (5th in Junior at Nationals who is now landing 4T in practice) is standing in the back next to Jacob.

Taira Shinohara chatted with Lindsay Wang on her and Luke Wang’s podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4MriLp3J33dKXM3oqJJRU9

He skates, he vlogs, AND he codes?? Lindsay and special guest Taira Shinohara have a conversation about achievements, goals, and balancing all kinds of exciting projects. This episode was graciously sponsored by ScoreSkates app. The first 10 viewers to dm the official podcast Instagram @itsofficehours can get a discount code towards Taira’s app. Thanks so much to ScoreSkates for supporting, and to all our viewers for listening.

 

[Jarrett]

That's nice. Ilia's historic free program is no longer on YouTube on the official NBC channel. Nice way for the sport to grow. I wonder how many million views it had..

 

[Karen-W]

That's nice. Ilia's historic free program is no longer on YouTube on the official NBC channel. Nice way for the sport to grow. I wonder how many million views it had..

Yes, it's been unavailable on YT from about 2 weeks after Worlds. I've linked a couple of different good videos of his FS in his fan thread.

Here's a copy of Ilia's Worlds FS ripped from the NBC broadcast - https://rumble.com/v4levk3-march-25-2024.html - Rumble isn't nearly as aggressive with copyright crap as YT.

Because Meta's algorithm knows me, this commentary-free version of Ilia's Worlds FS popped up on my FB feed today, courtesy Eurosport.

😱 Malinin clinches GOLD thanks to historic quad Axel | 𝑺𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒚. 𝑺𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈. 🤩 🇺🇸 19-year-old Ilia Malinin landed a historic quad Axel en route to gold at the World Figure Skating Championships 🥇⛸ | By EurosportFacebook

𝑺𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒚. 𝑺𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈. 🤩 🇺🇸 19-year-old Ilia Malinin landed a historic quad Axel en route to gold at the World Figure Skating Championships 🥇⛸

www.facebook.com

 

[Jarrett]

Yes, it's been unavailable on YT from about 2 weeks after Worlds. I've linked a couple of different good videos of his FS in his fan thread.

Hmm.. I have watched the official video many... many times. It was saved on my playlist on youtube. I'm am pretty sure I watched it after two weeks post worlds but maybe I'm mistaken. Regardless thanks for the other links even though the quality is rather bad and I swear someone is breathing during the rip lol. I guess this is what is get for going all streaming on everything. Time to go back to VHS lol

The ISU version is still up for people with VPNs or outside the U.S.!

 

[Karen-W]

Hmm.. I have watched the official video many... many times. It was saved on my playlist on youtube. I'm am pretty sure I watched it after two weeks post worlds but maybe I'm mistaken. Regardless thanks for the other links even though the quality is rather bad and I swear someone is breathing during the rip lol. I guess this is what is get for going all streaming on everything. Time to go back to VHS lol

Just like on YT, you can change the quality setting and it is crisp and clear when you put it on the highest setting.

I was obsessed with re-watching it too in the few weeks after Worlds - NBC took it down the week before it aired the Worlds recap (Apr 14th?) so it was up for just over two weeks on YT.

 

[YukiNieve]

Samuel Mindra, Lucas Broussard, Michael Xie, Liam Kapeikis are listed to compete for Ice Fest on 5/31-6/1.
https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2024/33897/index.asp

 

[ice coverage]

... Taira Shinohara chatted with Lindsay Wang on her and Luke Wang’s podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4MriLp3J33dKXM3oqJJRU9

Today's new article about Goku Endo also is from Lindsay Wang -- as contributing writer for Figure Skaters Online.
(She is Goku's training mate.)

The whole article is worth reading. Quoting just some excerpts here:

... Collegiate skating ... revitalized [Goku's] love for the sport. “Without collegiate and intercollegiate skating, I don’t think I would’ve had the motivation to keep skating in college as I’d initially made a decision to focus on my education when I got accepted into UCLA.”
... Endo balances an intense academic workload and schedule, commuting through LA traffic to [UCLA's] campus as well as to his training base in Lakewood, California, where he skates and recently began coaching the next generation of young talent. ...
... he was able to reassess his “attitude, approach, and consistency,” figuring out what worked and what didn’t. Columbus, to Goku, was “a big step forward” in terms of overall performance and program content ... he put out a personal-best short program, a solid freeskate, and reached a top-ten finish amongst the top Senior men in the country. ... his performances in Ohio stood out to him as ones where he truly felt like he could “have fun and skate freely on the ice.” ...
... Endo is heading into the next [season] with an immense amount of “growth and experience in all fields” ...

Goku Endo: Recentered, refocused, realized - Figure Skaters Online

Goku Endo, 21, a student at UCLA, has medaled from 2021-23 at the U.S. Collegiate Championships, including gold in 2021.

figureskatersonline.com

"Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles on skaters who are competing with their colleges or universities in U.S. Figure Skating’s Collegiate/Intercollegiate Skating."

 

[Karen-W]

Liam Kapeikis posted a video compilation of portions of his new SP which he debuted last weekend.

Liam Kapeikis on Instagram: "I really enjoyed performing my new short program last weekend. Thanks everyone for the support!! • • • #figureskating #iceskating #axel #tripleaxel #shortprogram #edea #johnwilsonblades #edeapiano #performance #lutz #trip

117 likes, 6 comments - leapin_liam on June 6, 2024: "I really enjoyed performing my new short program last weekend. Thanks everyone for the support!! • • • #figureskating #iceskating #axel...".

www.instagram.com

 

[YukiNieve]

From Insta stories:
Taira Shinohara has been in Japan, visiting MF Academy in Funabashi where Rio Nakata is training.
Camden Pulkinen is also visiting Japan.

 

[Sylvia]

From this thread in mid-April:

So Jason got involved in choreographing Taira's program(s) for the next season?
Did that happen when they were watching the total eclipse together?

This new article from Golden Skate today (June 9) says Jason choreographed Taira Shinohara's SP and Scott Brown his FS (program music not yet revealed):

USA's Taira Shinohara: From soccer to skating

Taira Shinohara Less than five months ago, USA's Taira Shinohara won the silver at the 2024 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the junior

www.goldenskate.com

"He now plans to study mechanical engineering in college next fall, and has committed to the University of California, Irvine" - I wonder if he will keep working with his coaching team in Chicago?

May 1:

He has a lot of content on his YT channel, such as his new "You Will Be Found" EX performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjOD0ag2q0Y
He is landing 4T and, more recently, 4S, in practice on 4/26: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BkUEC7RepXo

Taira's latest video, uploaded on June 1, is a "Day in the life of a figure skater": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRTyjuHE6zg

 

[Capt. DeSoto]

Based on some social media posts, it looks like at least two US Juniors are going to take their talents abroad in a bid for the '26 Olympics. August Perthus and Allan Fisher appear to be preparing to skate for Germany and France respectively. Perthus made his US Junior debut this year skating up from Novice at Junior Nationals, finishing 12th. This would have been Fisher's 3rd year as a US junior. I suspect one other junior will also be doing the same.

Does this mean they have to sit out a year of competitions altogether, or only certain types of competitions?

 

[Sylvia]

Based on some social media posts, it looks like at least two US Juniors are going to take their talents abroad in a bid for the '26 Olympics. August Perthus and Allan Fisher appear to be preparing to skate for Germany and France respectively. Perthus made his US Junior debut this year skating up from Novice at Junior Nationals, finishing 12th. This would have been Fisher's 3rd year as a US junior. I suspect one other junior will also be doing the same.

Does this mean they have to sit out a year of competitions altogether, or only certain types of competitions?

Neither has competed internationally for Team USA - Allan Fisher's May 26th post sounds like he has already obtained his release from USFS:

Allan Fisher on Instagram: "I’d like to announce that I’ll be representing France beginning this upcoming season where I’ll continue skating in both singles and pairs 🇫🇷! I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity and I’m super thankful for the g

allan__fisher on May 26, 2024: "I’d like to announce that I’ll be representing France beginning this upcoming season where I’ll continue skating in both singles and pairs...".

www.instagram.com

August Perthus was invited to participate in the German federation’s National Junior Camp last month (his coach, Jonathan Cassar, accompanied him there):

August perthus on Instagram: "Was recently fortunate enough to receive an invite to the German National Junior Camp. It was an incredible training and learning experience from new off ice exercises to entirely new on ice challenges which pushed me ph

196 likes, 15 comments - august_sk8es on May 25, 2024: "Was recently fortunate enough to receive an invite to the German National Junior Camp. It was an incredible training and learning...".

www.instagram.com

Perthus is still listed in USFS' 2024-25 Team D envelope - though not in the ISP - so his transfer may not be finalized yet (he has a German flag on his Instagram profile now).

BTW, I plan to create the 2024-25 U.S. Men's news & updates thread by later tonight now that the initial Grand Prix assignments have been announced (ETA the link):

U.S. Men 2024-25 news & updates

2024-25 ISU Grand Prix assignments as of June 9, 2024 (10 spots/6 men): Ilia Malinin: #1 Skate America & #2 Skate Canada International Maxim Naumov: Skate America Jason Brown: #2 Skate Canada International & #4 NHK Trophy Camden Pulkinen: #3 France & #5 Helsinki Andrew Torgashev: France Tomoki...

www.fsuniverse.net

 

[Capt. DeSoto]

Neither has competed internationally for Team USA - Allan Fisher's May 26th post sounds like he has already obtained his release from USFS:

Allan Fisher on Instagram: "I’d like to announce that I’ll be representing France beginning this upcoming season where I’ll continue skating in both singles and pairs 🇫🇷! I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity and I’m super thankful for the g

allan__fisher on May 26, 2024: "I’d like to announce that I’ll be representing France beginning this upcoming season where I’ll continue skating in both singles and pairs...".

www.instagram.com

August Perthus was invited to participate in the German federation’s National Junior Camp last month:

August perthus on Instagram: "Was recently fortunate enough to receive an invite to the German National Junior Camp. It was an incredible training and learning experience from new off ice exercises to entirely new on ice challenges which pushed me ph

196 likes, 15 comments - august_sk8es on May 25, 2024: "Was recently fortunate enough to receive an invite to the German National Junior Camp. It was an incredible training and learning...".

www.instagram.com

Perthus is still listed in USFS' Team D envelope so his transfer may not be finalized yet.

Yeah, Perthus has all but announced. He removed the US accomplishments from his IG profile and just has the flag of Germany in his profile.