2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Boston

[Rukia]

lol the most excited my 8 year old got during the ice makes was when they played APT. like please I am old too just listen to more music pals

 

[Aceon6]

I appreciate the newer music. It encourages me to check in with our next gens and get ideas about artists I may not have heard as I’m no longer commuting with FM radio as my sidekick.

 

[PRlady]

Exactly. I have at least 30 songs I wouldn’t have heard but for skating.

At Harris Teeter this morning, a younger black guy and his daughter witnessed me bopping along to some new hip hop (supermarket music is changing) and chuckled. Then he pointed to a can of “fancy” pineapple and asked me what was fancy about it. We had a good laugh.

ETA: Lady Gaga’s new album Mayhem is great, someone should skate to Vanish Into You or Shadow of a Man. The woman can actually sing.

 

[snoopysnake]

Guess I am outnumbered. Sorry I vented about music. I do like some never music, but given who the audience is now (not when the dinosaurs like myself are eventually extinct) I still think the audience skews older and there are many people who would like more older music featured. BTW, I loved the use of Shippin' Uo To Boston!

 

[peibeck]

ETA: Lady Gaga’s new album Mayhem is great... The woman can actually sing.

Yes, and not all auto-tuned. She'll never out dance Madonna, but vocally Gaga is superior by miles.

I didn't have any issues with the warm-up music at Worlds. The "suspenseful/mystery" new-age music while waiting for the score got old FAST however. Between that and the grating skater introductions during warm ups, they were my least liked additions to Worlds.

However, I don't think people necessarily respond only to music of their generation. I saw a girl, maybe 8-10 years old bopping merrily down the aisle of the grocery store this morning to the original version of "What A Feeling" from 'Flashdance,' playing over the speakers like we were back in 1983.

 

[Spiralgraph]

Don't be sorry you vented. Remember, US nationals when the ads on the boards and on TV were almost all geared for those of us who aren't young anymore. Prevagen, Consumer Cellular ad nauseum. Heck what I found a little ironic was it was not Boston based famous Dana Farber Cancer that advertised during Boston worlds It was an out of state cancer center!

 

[tony]

Guess I am outnumbered. Sorry I vented about music. I do like some never music, but given who the audience is now (not when the dinosaurs like myself are eventually extinct) I still think the audience skews older and there are many people who would like more older music featured. BTW, I loved the use of Shippin' Uo To Boston!

Of course vent! But the ISU is finally 'getting with the times' and there's no sense in putting music on for warmups that cater to the 65+ crowd when the skaters are the ones that should come first and foremost. Music that their grandparents listen to and they may know an odd song here or there? I don't get it.

The 'oldie' fans are going to fill up the seats regardless of whether the best of 1963 is played or not. Even I, in my old age of 38, have yet to sign up for or show any interest in TikTok, but I understand that's where things are at. Facebook? Dead for the target age range-- there's a reason why Instagram handles are shown for every skater now in-arena.

In short, as we grow older we can't expect stuff to all be catered to our glory days

 

[Rukia]

if i stopped posting things because I was outnumbered and no one agreed with me i would have nothing to post don't take it personally we all just like to think out loud

 

[KCC]

I bought Elton John + Brandi Carlisle's new CD (because I like having hard copies) before even hearing any of the music. Guess I trust them. Maybe there will be something skatable on it? I've largely moved away from Amazon and bought the CD directly from Brandi's website.

 

[BaileyCatts]

Since I wasn't reading the threads until after the events were over, I didn't realize that whole 'stick a mic in their face the minute they come off the ice' thing was happening. Although I did see Ashley hoovering a few times and wondered what the hell she was doing in the K&C. Where the skaters or their coaches allowed to 'decline' that mic in the face bit, or were they all forced to respond? Please tell me Ashley didn't stick that mic in poor Anastasiia's face after her unfortunate SP and ask her something stupid like 'what happened out there' after that skate.

 

[Firedancer]

Since I wasn't reading the threads until after the events were over, I didn't realize that whole 'stick a mic in their face the minute they come off the ice' thing was happening. Although I did see Ashley hoovering a few times and wondered what the hell she was doing in the K&C. Where the skaters or their coaches allowed to 'decline' that mic in the face bit, or were they all forced to respond? Please tell me Ashley didn't stick that mic in poor Anastasiia's face after her unfortunate SP and ask her something stupid like 'what happened out there' after that skate.

It looked like they were asking the coaches before they talked to the skaters

 

[TanithandBenFan]

There was at least one time I saw Ashley or Ben rejected. I don’t recall which skater it was though.

 

[skatfan]

There was at least one time I saw Ashley or Ben rejected. I don’t recall which skater it was though.

Ashley and Ben approached the skaters when they wanted to do an interview, but they didn’t do them for skaters who tanked. I think they did do an interview for the Finns after the free skate, which was their redemption skate.

 

[honey]

Per Ashley and Adam’s podcast, Ashley requested permission from one coach who declined saying “no, he’ll just say something stupid” .

 

[TanithandBenFan]

Ashley and Ben approached the skaters when they wanted to do an interview, but they didn’t do them for skaters who tanked. I think they did do an interview for the Finns after the free skate, which was their redemption skate.

They did a couple of interviews with skaters who had bad skates. I remember one they said was a lesson in perseverance or something like that. I couldn’t believe they were bothering people in that situation.

 

[skatfan]

They did a couple of interviews with skaters who had bad skates. I remember one they said was a lesson in perseverance or something like that. I couldn’t believe they were bothering people in that situation.

I guessed I blocked that out.

 

[Debbie S]

They interviewed Amber after her SP. Her skate wasn't awful, but obviously disappointing, and I thought they should have left her alone.

 

[DaveRocks]

They did a couple of interviews with skaters who had bad skates. I remember one they said was a lesson in perseverance or something like that. I couldn’t believe they were bothering people in that situation.

Lia and Trennt. And Ben (or was it Ashley?) also said during their warm-up -- minutes before they were about to skate and for the whole arena to hear -- that they'd had a "rough season".

 

[Debbie S]

Lia and Trennt. And Ben (or was it Ashley?) also said during their warm-up -- minutes before they were about to skate and for the whole arena to hear -- that they'd had a "rough season".

Yikes, that's bad.

As C/B were on the ice about to skate their RD, Ashley began her K&C interview of Gilles/Poirier with, "You beat the reigning world champions at Four Continents....." (and the question about how they prepared for Worlds or something like that)

 

[tony]

Ben also forgot about Alysa and asked the audience if Kaori was going to win another title or if there was going to be a new World Champion in Mone. I forget the exact phrasing but it really made it sound like he had no idea Alysa was on the ice about to skate.

 

[LKR]

Jackie tweeted that attendance for the Championships topped 110,000. This is slightly higher than the 2016 Worlds at 108,000.

https://x.com/rockerskating/status/1907461034194989274

 

[peibeck]

Lia and Trennt. And Ben (or was it Ashley?) also said during their warm-up -- minutes before they were about to skate and for the whole arena to hear -- that they'd had a "rough season".

Actually he said they had a rough start to the beginning of their season (and you could see Trennt rolling his eyes on the big screens in the arena at that comment, which was pretty funny), but Ben also said how well they improved on the GP circuit and at 4CC. I agree it didn't need to be said about their one early weak performance though.

I've never enjoyed the announcing during warm ups but especially of results of prior events. Different comps, usually different judges, different circumstances... It has no bearing on the competition currently taking place and can certainly create an implicit bias on anyone paying attention, including the judges.

 

[ChillSkate]

While I loved many things about 2025 Worlds (including the music and particularly the excellent skating!), I did not like in-arena announcing in terms of interviewing skaters right after their performances, trying to generate unnecessary hype while waiting for the scores, and in particular the introductions of the skaters that included unnecessary commentary on their past performances.

I remember the introduction of Gubanova in the Ladies Short was particularly awful - something along the lines of "she has had disappointing skates and inconsistent results many times before - can she do better today?" I actually mentioned to my Mom how rude the comment was and that I hoped Gubanova did not speak English well enough to understand it.

 

[gkelly]

Ben also forgot about Alysa and asked the audience if Kaori was going to win another title or if there was going to be a new World Champion in Mone. I forget the exact phrasing but it really made it sound like he had no idea Alysa was on the ice about to skate.

I remember that. I think he just said "or will we have a new champion"?

It was time to wait for Mone's scores, so while it was possible that we would have a new champion who was neither Kaori or Mone, we would have to wait several minutes longer to find out whether that would be the case.

I don't know whether he was thinking "Will we find out right now which one of these two women will win?" or "Will we find out soon whether either the most recent performance or the one yet remaining women can unseat the reigning champion"? The wording didn't make the second possibility explicit, but it didn't explicitly rule it out either.

 

[olympic]

Random:

I did not attend but watching on USA / NBC, I was thrilled to see what appeared to be full, nosebleed seats.

Do you think the WWE style was simply to try something new and to attract lukewarm or non-fans who might be interested?

I think I recall in the days of yore (60s and 70s) Dick Button used to practically attack the skaters just after they got off the ice and while they were still trying to catch their breath. I seem to remember a Worlds where Dorothy comically laid her head on his shoulder trying to regain her composure, so maybe there was a precedent for that?

 

[kwanfan1818]

There was a precedent for TV: you can see it in older broadcasts just as the skaters came off the ice, huffing and puffing, and even while waiting for the scores. It wasn’t broadcast in the arena, though.

 

[skipaway]

NBC started doing it with Olympic swimmers….who cares you just swam 1500m, tell us how you feel.

 

[apgold]

Jackie tweeted that attendance for the Championships topped 110,000. This is slightly higher than the 2016 Worlds at 108,000.

https://x.com/rockerskating/status/1907461034194989274

That's pretty impressive, but if we count all event ticket holders, there has to be some duplication in that number. While the Women's and Men's events were pretty packed there were still plenty of unsold seats for the other events during the work week.

Apparently TD Garden has a capacity of just under 20K for hockey games, so I'm assuming it's the same seating for the WC. And I doubt they are counting the skaters, coaches and fed members that didn't purchase tickets who were watching in the stands. I didn't attend the gala exhibition, but I saw many seats left in the balcony when I checked the day before on Ticketmaster.

 

[Karen-W]

That's pretty impressive, but if we count all event ticket holders, there has to be some duplication in that number. While the Women's and Men's events were pretty packed there were still plenty of unsold seats for the other events during the work week.

Apparently TD Garden has a capacity of just under 20K for hockey games, so I'm assuming it's the same seating for the WC. And I doubt they are counting the skaters, coaches and fed members that didn't purchase tickets who were watching in the stands. I didn't attend the gala exhibition, but I saw many seats left in the balcony when I checked the day before on Ticketmaster.

Well, 19k x 8 events = 152,000 - so, 110,000 seems about right for all that you're mentioning to be subtracted from the tickets sold, etc.

 

[BittyBug]

Per Wikipedia, the capacity at TD Garden for ice hockey is 17,850. For figure skating it’s less than that due to K&C and all the seat kills for TV and the judges, so I think the max would be 17K if that much. But also there were 9 events if you count the gala.