Press Conferences & Quotes

[skatingguy]

QUICK QUOTES
Ice Dance, Free Dance (warm up groups 1 & 2)

Juulia Turkkila/Matthias Versluis

2023 European bronze medalists
Turkkila: I feel amazing! It was a gift to skate today (after the fall in RD). It was a great opportunity for us, so I enjoyed every second. (on coming back from the fall in the RD) It took a while to regroup after the fall, but we have been training for the Worlds, and looking at our partnership, I thought “ok, we’ll go together tomorrow. We can do this.” It’s so much easier to go to ice with someone on your side after an upside down situation. It was like roller coaster emotions yesterday, I tried to understand in the locker room with tears indisappointment. It was very emotional. (on Reed/Ambrulevicius falling behind them and not qualifying for the Free Dance) When I saw them in Kiss and Cry, I was like “Aww, I know the feeling! We (4 of us) are not
going to skate in the Free Dance’. I was very sad, but I’m sure they will come back strong with new, exciting programs for the next season.

Versluis: I could say it was an emotional skate today. After the disappointing fall (in the Rhythm Dance), we wanted to enjoy every moment during our performance. (on their emotions) After realizing that we’re not going to do FD, but suddenly (we were told) we are going to FD. So it was a very new situation for us. But I think this is one of the learning point for us as an experience. (on Reed/Ambrulevicius falling behind them and not qualifying for the Free Dance) I saw Saulius in the dressing room, and we talked a bit. We are good friends and we trained at some point together. Juulia and I get along with them very well, so we shared
some disappointment together.

Hannah Lim/Ye Quan

2025 National Champions
Quan: I feel like we left nothing on the ice. We had no regrets performance-wise. I do feel a bit disappointed that I shifted, deviated in my second twizzle but overall I’m pretty happy with my performance. We had fun. I felt like I was connected the whole way through, and the crowd is so amazing. I made eye contact a couple of times with some of the fans and they cheered really loud, so it was really nice.

Lim: I’m really happy about the performance. I feel like I attacked it, and we both stayed in the program and in character. We’re just a little disappointed technical-wise, and with the score, but it happens. The energy from the crowd was amazing. They’re not afraid to yell, which I love. I really felt in character from the beginning to the end. I’m really proud about that. We’re skating to Cruella from the Disney soundtrack. I really enjoy playing such a villain character. It’s not like me at all! I guess it’s easy to channel it when I’m on the ice. When I step on the ice, I’m like a blank sheet, people throw ideas at me, and I just take everything in, and that becomes my character for the season.

Loicia Demougeot/Theo Le Mercier

2025 National Golden Spin Zagreb silver medalists
Demougeot (on their performance): We were talking mainly about how it was reflected in the points, because it's true that we had the impression of having performed better than at the European Championships, and that the scores were lower, so what was wrong with that? But our coach was happy with what we'd done. She also thought it was better than at the European Championships in January. So we're satisfied with that, though a little disappointed with the points and how it was received by the judges, but after that, it's something we can't control. Maybe we'll get some feedback from them at the end of the competition, so that we can work on it a little better next season. (on the music) The music, the volume was low, we felt sometimes that we could have put it more, so it lacked a little of that to be carried by the music which is something that helps us sometimes. And I think the audience and the judges can feel it too. It's true that when the music is quite low, it doesn't have the same impression. Maybe that played a small part too, but in any case we're happy to have gone all the way with this program and I'm happy to have finished on that note and in terms of performance, that's what we came for. The rest is not up to us. We'll try to stay positive about what we were able to achieve and then work on the rest for next year. (on what we've learned) It's been a very difficult year. We've had a very difficult season in general, and that's really taught us that we've got to go all the way. We'll be 10 times stronger next week. It's true that we have two very different and very strong characters, one not like the other, not at all the same way of approaching things, and sometimes with fatigue, difficulty, it can be a little complicated to manage. But I think that this season we've managed to stay together, and while we've been preparing for training in pitiful conditions, we've still managed to support each other and move forward together. I think we're stronger than we thought, both of us, and we need to be more aware of that. And in any case, we've got a good team to help us. I hope that continues. We've always said, though, that we want to keep our personalities, even if it doesn't get us a medal, we're determined to keep that personality, to make programs that are
different and I think that yeah, we want to show that in France we're capable of doing nice things with all that France has to offer and we're still very happy with where we are today.

Le Mercier: (on the performance) Honestly, we felt really good on the ice. We succeeded in showing everything we've been working on. (on placement, career, future) For now, we'll see how it goes, a lot of things happened this year, we're not in control of everything unfortunately. Then there's next year. We'll see after that.

Jennifer Janse van Rensburg/Benjamin Steffan

2025 National Champions
Janse van Rensburg: (on her shaky twizzles) Unfortunately, yes, this happened. It wasn’t planned that way. I went into it with a good feeling but it can happen so quickly. I think saved the situation quite well. (on the Olympic qualification) I thought I had messed it up with my mistake. I’m just so relieved now. Our coach had told us before the free, ‘fight, fight for each element, for each level’.

Steffan: It was a solid performance except for the mistake, this happens. I think we recovered well and did the rest clean. The atmosphere was gigantic. (on the Olympic qualification) A lot is coming down just to this point. We have been skating together for 10 years and everything goes toward this one goal, the Olympic Games. These 10 years come down to this one competition and it is a lot of pressure and tension. We dealt with it very well I feel. (on next plans) We are both happy to switch off our minds for a while to digest everything. Jenny goes home to her husband and I’m going back to my little family (he became a father on
March 17). In May we’ll get back to training with a lot of motivation. The search for the music is the next big thing with all the licenses. For us it is now about keeping a cool head, work hard and to get there (to Milan).

Yuka Orihara/Juho Pirinen

2025 National silver medalists
Orihara: It was so much fun today! I’m not going to put pressure on us for the future, but I’m very happy that this is the first season we didn’t have a single fall. So we’re very happy about that.

Pirinen: I think this was so far the highlight of my career. I've been skating for 20 years, and 6 years with Yuka, and it was absolutely the most heartwarming moment. Throughout this season, I think we were able to progress a lot. For example, we did very well at NHK, but compared to that time, we have made a big improvement since. So I’m very happy with the season overall. (on the next season and the theme 90s for the Rhythm Dance) Well, to be honest I was born in 1995, so I recognized some of the music from the 90's when I hear it. So I feel “Oh this is something I heard in my childhood maybe?” But we really haven’t paid
much attention to it yet. Because we wanted to focus for the Boston Worlds. Now we’re going back to Finland and will start planning for the next season.

 

[skatingguy]

QUICK QUOTES
Ice Dance, Free Dance (warm up group 3)

Katerina Mrazkova/Daniel Mrazek

2023 World Junior Champions
Mrazkova: It was overall good, I think we improved a little bit in FD compared to other competitions. We didn’t feel this was the best program, as there were some mistakes, and we don’t know how much we got negatives in scores.

Mrazek: When we finished the program, we weren’t super sure abput the outcome. First of all, we were nervous when skating. So it’s hard to give self judgement. But it wasn’t so bad. We know we had mistakesin the dance spin.

Evgenia Lopareva/Geoffrey Brissaud

2025 European silver medalists
Lopareva: (on their performance) I think it was not even what we could do, but what we wanted to do. (on what they have learned from this season) I think it was a good season to learn how to deal with stress. (on next year's theme for the rhythm dance) The theme will be my favorite. We already have some ideas, a direction.

Brissaud: (on their performance) We skated really well, did what we could. It was very stressful today, I don't know why. We did the best we could at these world championships, that was the objective. (on frustration after the rhythm dance) There was a bit of frustration, but it's all about coming back and not making mistakes, but it was good today, a bit low, but it's very good, it's going in the right direction. (on the time before the free dance) We said to ourselves that in any case, we had two options: either we could stay focused on what happened yesterday, or we could go ahead and, even if we made mistakes, go all out and
show what we'd worked on. And I think that's really what we've done. (on what they have learnt from this season) That's because we've had some highs, had some very nice surprises. We won a Grand Prix, we came 2nd at the Europeans, these are stresses that you don't necessarily get used to. I think it's something you learn to do, it's like anything else, you build things up, and making a loss once in a while is cool. But to make real losses, to keep progressing and to show that it's still progressing all the time, that's the goal. (on their goals for the next year) Of course, we'll continue to focus on our goals, skate and keep moving
forward. (on Guillaume's return) We're going to focus on ourselves and what's going on around us, it's not really up to us to judge. He was our free dance choreographer, but obviously he's going to have much less time, so we're going to think about who we want to move forward with now. We haven't decided yet.

Olivia Smart/Tim Dieck

2024 GP Skate America bronze medalists
Smart: I'm speechless still. I've never had a smile on my face like that when I finished the performance no matter what the score was. The feeling of it, the connection we had together. I was so emotional all day. It's such a focus driven program and the characters we're trying to portray - I have to say in my bubble. I don't hug anybody, I don't touch anybody. I have to really maintain a lot for this program and it paid off. As soon as we came out of the combo lift at the beginning of the program, the crowd was cheering. I looked at Tim and thought this is going to be fun! We love skating in the US. We did our first competition together at Skate America two years ago. Then we won a medal this season in the US. The American crowd get better and better for us. We have a lot of support here. If you would have asked me two years ago when we first held each other's hands that we would be here today, I would have laughed in everyone's face. I mean it's ice dance, it's a little unrealistic but we've made it real! We were 20th at World's last year with a program that the judges didn't love. (on their Free Dance) We were looking for strong music that had an emotional effect to it that made us feel something. I was specifically looking for something with strong female vocals, and little bit airy vibes. I went to the movies to see the new Dune movie and it hit the spot. It was everything I was looking for. I pitched it to the coaches and Tim, everyone was on board instantly. From the get go our choreographer Roman Hagenauer did a great job with his creativity and creating the shapes.

Dieck: The whole day was very emotional. The goal was to put out the season's best skate and we beat it. It was the first time today that I really felt all the performance. Usually I forget the performance afterward. Every little moment I really felt the connection with Olivia on the ice. I felt like I was the movie actually. It felt great and the skating was good. Sitting in the leader's chair was fun! It was different experience than at European's.

Caroline Green/Michael Parsons

2025 National bronze medalists
Parsons: The biggest takeaway is: we’re back. We put down two skates we’re really proud of. Neither were perfect, but when are we ever perfect? So we’re really happy with today, and looking forward to next season. (on plans for next season) Oh gosh, lots of idea because we’re not exactly sure what will work, but we already have a whole playlist to play with in the off-season, getting ready for the next.

Green: I feel so good. Any time we get to skate in front of a crowd like this, we’re so incredibly blessed and lucky, and just to have another experience with that type of pressure going into the Olympic season, we’re so honored. I think we delivered a skate here we’re proud of today.(on other takeaways) Just that we have so much mental toughness. We’re able to deal with challenges,
and not only get through them, but come out strong.

Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko

2024 Four Continents bronze medalists
Carreira: It was really good. I’m happy with what we put out there. We are very excited. (on their take-away heading into next season) Every year we find it all feels very different, every year's just growth. I think this Worlds is going to give us more confidence and just more experience going into next season.

Ponomarenko: We came here with a job to do and we feel like we did it. And now it’s time to learn more but it’s sad to say good bye to these programs.

 

[skatingguy]

QUICK QUOTES
Ice Dance, Free Dance (warm up group 4)

Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha

2025 Four Continents bronze medalists
Lajoie: (on whether scores reflect the performance put out) My personal feeling, I really feel like I connected with the music and with Zach, I felt very good, and I was super happy at the end. But at the same time, of course, we’re disappointed with the result and the score. So I would need to look at the video to answer your question properly. I felt really good and happy. We always say that our goal is to feel happy about our performance and the rest will come, so I think that we can be proud of what we did today.

Lagha: (on today’s performance) I think today was not our best skate. It was okay. Artistically, it was very good, but I think technically it could have been better.

Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri

2025 European Champions & 2024 World bronze medalists
Guignard: (on their performance and results) We're very disappointed with the final result because tonight we skated well and we saw the marks. Yesterday it was more the levels we had, we lost a lot on the levels. Really, it's very hard to accept because we skated well today and frankly I thought that would have been enough to be able to move up. It's very disappointing. (on the stress) Today, we were less stressed than yesterday. We were more confident, we felt better on the ice, we were more concentrated too and we felt much better today. (on their next plans) We need to rest, because this season has been really difficult, really tiring, and so to be able to think properly and make the right choices, we need to rest. We'll see.

Fabbri: (on their performance and results) I don't have much to add to what Charlene said. It was one of the best performances of the season. We felt we weren't tired until the end, we gave it our all on the level of energy, we felt we were pretty clean on the technical elements tonight, we're in a group of couples with a 2-3 points difference, more or less. It's hard to end the season like that. As Charlene said, we thought that with a performance like that, we could be on the podium. It hurts. (on their next plans) As Charlene said, we need a bit of time to get things back on track. It's not yet time to think about next season.

Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson

2024 GP Final bronze medalists
Fear: (on medaling) I cried non stop. I can’t even describe my feelings, I’m still shaking! It’s a dream come truth, and I’m kind of in disbelief. But I’m so grateful for the results. We're over the moon. I'm really proud of this week and the whole scene that's led up to this moment. And it's just something we'll all cherish forever. (on winning the first World medal for Great Britain since Torvill/Dean in 1984) What? Fun fact of the day! (on the performance) It was so it was so satisfying I think we our goal was to enjoy it and I know that sounds cheesy. But it's harder than you think when there's the pressure on so for us. That was our focus is dancing and enjoying and doing exactly what we've trained and I was really proud of us because we had a little moment as a lift, but we stayed very calm and patient through that and got straight back onto our mission and that in itself was a success. Then having the crowd involvement in the choreo step was justlike electric and so much fun.

Gibson: It’s a dream come true. The crowd here was amazing, and insane. I think we got to the moment we really worked for, they were so loud and supportive, we are thankful to the audience. I stood there on the podium and looked up and just thought, we actually did this. We're on this world podium and that's crazy. Like when we started together like nine years ago. We didn't even do anything. I really didn't feel possible at all. So that was huge.

Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier

2025 Four Continents Champions & 2024 World silver medalists
Gilles: We were so settled from the moment it started. It was the calmest we felt all year. We just wanted to enjoy this program one last time. To put it out on the ice when it really counts is so special. I'm so proud of us. I don't think I've ever gotten that emotional after a program. We felt so at ease, it was a great experience.

Madison Chock/Evan Bates

2024 & 2023 World Champions
Chock: I am just elated. It was unbelievable. It almost felt unreal and the performance went by so quickly. I felt like we really just like flowed through everything with ease and flow and just so present for each moment. It was really special to feel that and share that with Evan and the audience and then have that home crowd standing ovation at the end is unbelievable.

Bates: (on winning their third World title) It means beyond words I can't really describe it, but I'm just so grateful for the performance and the home crowd and the moment at the end. It feels a 100% better than last time.

 

[skatingguy]

 

[skatingguy]

QUICK QUOTES
Men, Free Skating (warm up groups 1 & 2)

Tatsuya Tsuboi

2024 GP NHK Trophy bronze medalist
I feel frustrated about not being able to skate my best. I was honored to be selected to skate here at the Worlds and wanted to show the best performance; however, it didn’t go as well as I had hoped for. I really wanted to make a comeback after the short with this program. My body was stiff and it was difficult but I was determined to do my best to the end. (on next season) I would analyze and work on the skills in order to have another opportunity to compete and show the best skate. My first World championship was disappointing, so I will work hard to bring up my skill and performance level.

Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate

2025 National Champion
I really enjoyed doing the free skate. I made two silly mistakes—something escaped me—but otherwise, I was really happy and went all out with the choreography. I loved the response I got from the audience. (On personal bests) Yes, of course, without the silly mistakes the scores would have been much better, but we’re going to keep working. (Takeaway from this season) The short really allowed me to get out of my shell. The Cowboy Free Skating is a bit different, and we tried to do something fun—like dancing in the short next season—but we’re not sure yet. A couple of weeks before coming here, I landed my first quad toe. We didn’t put it in the program since the goal is to qualify for the Olympics, but I’ll be working on adding more quads in the free in the future.

Daiwei Dai

2025 National Champion
(on his performance and overall result) I think I'm not completely satisfied. It is my first time at Worlds after all, so I think I am still learning to try my best. It's not my best though. (on his experience at the world championships) I think, competing against all these top skaters, especially in training, I learned that I should focus more on myself other than the others, because that's my control, that's what I'm in control with. It's a very new experience for me, so I think I've learned a lot. (on the spot for the Olympics) I'm very excited that I got the spot for China, but I'm still not sure if I'm going because we're probably going to have other national championships to qualify for the Olympics, but I'll try my best. (on his plans) I'm starting to prepare for the next season soon enough. It's probably just a few days after I go back. Because championships are always so late and the next season is starting early, so I don't have much time. I will probably go to visit my mom (in Russia) and I will still have to train even there because the next season is coming.

Adam Hagara

2025 & 2024 World Junior bronze medalist
I feel happy the way I skated, but I’m a little bit disappinted with my mistakes. But I’m happy that I could do my best today. I think it’s time to think of next season. But competing here is great feeling, because last year I didn’t qualify with some stomach issues. But I really tried to built up from that (after not being able to qualify) This competition is so important because of Olympic qualifications. So I had to push myself to do my best. For next year, I’m not eligible to compete at Junior level, so I will just focus on my Senior career. I will focus on working on quad jumps for the important season. I will never give up and work harder.

Andreas Nordeback

2025 National Champion
I was a bit tired today. I tried to hide it, but not sure how successful I was. It was really tough, but I gone through till the end. (What is your philosophy on creating the programs that you perform) I would choose ones that I can be myself and show different emotions. I tried and hopefully conveyed different emotions - sadness, then anger etc. Don’t know how it showed since I haven’t watched my performance yet. (on this season overall) I made a big improvement in mental strength. Last year, I made mistakes because I was so nervous. (on the strict selection criteria of the Swedish Olympics committee and his chances to get to Milan) I don’t think too much about it. Not really up to me. They base the decision on the chance of placement and if the athletes have future opportunity to improve for the next Olympics. I just have to focus on what I do. (on which other skaters inspire him) I really enjoy watching Dennis (Vasiljevs) who skated after me so I stayed at rink side. Watching him doing a great program rink side may have been the most enjoyable thing during this competition.

Deniss Vasiljevs

2022 European bronze medalist
I feel fantastic, because this is one of those performances where you can come and let go. And I have very few in my career like that. I’m truly proud today to do that. So thank you so much. You have no idea how it feels at the center of such an energy-dense arena. People already waving and welcoming you before you even come. This feeling, it’s so energizing, motivating, and truly, that’s what can open up a person or close them down. And I’m so happy that today, it was the open up moment. I’m truly grateful. Truly grateful for this experience, and for my life, this will be one of those always remembered moments. So, truly, I’m so grateful. I know that competitions and trainings are not the same, and in competition, this is my best performance. But my trainings have been better, I had done better because it was more complex. But the feeling I feel right now is irreplaceable. This is the way to conclude the season! This is the best possible outcome, and I’m so thankful. This season, I learned to be much more consistent when it comes to doing quads. It reflected already from the last season to this season in competition, but it even grew in the trainings. So now my next goal is to figure out how to bring the consistency of trainings, how to reliably deliver it in competition. I was, sorry for the expression, sh*tting in my pants before even going to the arena, so I decided to give my stuff to my coaches to bring, and I went on a walk from the hotel here. I got completely frozen, enjoyed a bit of the rain, wanting to remove some stress. Then I went to warm up with the people while they were buzzing, and it was really awakening a bit. For some reason, I was less stressed to do what I do every day, almost like a clockwork. I had to get out of it. I think it helped me zap into reality. Then coming in, I really just felt like, letting go. And for me, it’s a very difficult thing to do because I really like to control and plan everything, so letting go felt amazing. Part of it was desperation, but in a positive way. Because I truly felt the work was done. I had ups and downs. Practice today was like a garbage state. But getting towards that performance was much more of a genuine kind of family moment with Stephane (Lambiel, coach) and Chris (Trevisan, manager).

Roman Sadovsky

2025 National Champion
I was super nervous for this event. Lots of expectations, mostly on my myself. I had expectations building up. After the short program, it felt like a huge weight lifted. I put my game face on. Deniss Vasiljevs skated before me and had a loud crowd and a standing ovation. Probably you can guess what he did - he had a good skate. I used that as fuel, as energy and the crowd really welcomed me. They were excited to watch and I was excited to perform. After having struggles the past couple of seasons, it was great to put together two good programs. I was definitely trying to aim a little bit higher in this event. Overall I think this proves that the training has been strong, and lots of improvements over the last couple of years handling pressure.

Daniel Grassl

2025 National Champion
After the first jump I popped, I’m happy I fought through the rest of the program. It was a long season for me—after taking a season off, it’s very difficult to come back to competition. The first half went very well, and maybe now I’m a bit tired from competing and need some rest, but it’s okay. I can learn from all of this, and next year I’ll be more ready. (On landing the quad loop) I feel very good. It’s a jump I had some problems with before, but now I really understand how to do it. (On Italy hosting the Olympics) This being an Olympic qualification competition, there was pressure, but I’m confident we’re going to maintain two
spots. The Olympics are going to be very special—my coach and I already talked about programs for next season, maybe something very Italian. Italian men’s skaters are very strong though, so it’s also going to be a tough season to qualify.

 

[skatingguy]

QUICK QUOTES
Men, Free Skating (warm up group 3)

Jason Brown

2024 World Championships 5th
I’m still processing my performance tonight. I was just focused on staying calm, staying in the moment, trusting myself and my training. I was SO nervous before the skate. The biggest thing was trying to stay calm and focused, and take it one step at a time. At the same time, I could feel the support like non other. I’m always trying to push the quality. With the judging system I'm doing my best to work the system to play to my strengths, maximize the point system. It's about the GOE, the quality, the components and maximizing every single element I bring to the ice. I really work towards that effortless start to finish. The crowd is so special and so loud. The Leader's Chair was very cool and nerve racking…but also a strange sense of calm. Honestly for me it was cool because I never get to watch the events. I get way too nervous to watch anyone before the competition - my teammates, other disciplines. It was cool to sit in the arena and watch.

Lukas Britschgi

2025 European Champion
I couldn’t show my potential, I just didn’t feel 100% ready. I was struggling with something…I was just physically not ready to be honest. But I really enjoyed the crowd, they are insane. The arena is big, and I had huge pressure skating here. I tried to use power into my performance, but power I left in performance, I missed unfortunately. Skating right after Jason Brown gave me goosebumps. I saw 1 min of his skating, and crowd gone crazy. It was goosebumps feelings. I tried to not take the energy with me, but it wasn’t easy to skate (after him). I just tried to not think too much, and the first element was good, but then I couldn't manage a few things. But it was amazing to skate here.

Junhwan Cha

2025 Asian Winter Games Champion
I tried my best. It wasn’t my best skate tonight, but overall, I’m very satisfied, and I think I really did my job. (On preparing for tonight) I felt the pressure, but I really wanted to focus on myself and kept thinking I’d look forward. During the 6-minute warm-up and the competition, the Boston audience cheered a lot and gave so much great energy to the skaters—it was really helpful and made it very enjoyable to perform and compete here. Thanks to the audience and fans. Personally, I was hoping to skate better—something that I could really be satisfied with—but I made a mistake. Still, my first goal was to secure two Olympic spots for South Korea, and I’m happy that I achieved that. About my personal skating—this season, I was injured in the middle, and there are still things I need to work on. I’ll keep looking forward to next season. From beginning to end, it was a successful season for me. Even though I had to withdraw during the Grand Prix due to injury, I focused on recovery, and starting the second half of the season, I was able to come back strong. I finished almost top 5 in the world until the World Championships, so I’m happy about that. (On the Olympics) It will be different from today, and I’ll do everything I can to be at my best until the Olympics. My main goal is to enjoy the Olympics. Of course, results are important, but the more special moment is just being able to compete. The Boston crowd was amazing and gave me such positive energy—I was so surprised and appreciative.

Adam Siao Him Fa

2024 & 2024 European Champion
I'm actually happy. It was really hard to come back after all the short because I'm really disappointed. And I really enjoyed it to skate here tonight in Boston. I had so much fun in the audience, it was amazing. They gave me so much energy and at the end I felt great about the performance and doing it in Boston. (on coming from behind like last year) Well, I don't know yet. The performance was not as good as last year, but I'm pretty happy about it. (on whether he considers the backflip his signature move) I will not say it's my signature move because I'm not the first one who did it. I'm the one who got it legalized. But I don't want to be associated to one single element. I want to be recognized as a skater for all the programs I'm doing. a skater and for all the performance I'm doing, the whole package, but it's one part of ice skating of course.

Andrew Torgashev

2025 National silver medalist
I’m a little upset and frustrated right now. I don’t know. There’s nothing I could have done differently to prepare for this. The six-minute felt so good, off ice in between felt good, felt confident. I just got on the ice, couldn’t press my skates, couldn’t feel my skates. Lots of pressure, great arena, great audience, amazing energy. I’ve been training so hard and I’ve been trying so hard all season to compete with the best. Just didn’t have enough focus, enough mental strength today, I think. I wanted to skate so well, but I just couldn’t handle the moment today, but I’ll go home, nothing else to do but to keep training and get the Olympic spot next year. It was a great season. Grand prix was great, Nationals was great. I feel more confident in myself as an athlete, confident in the way I prepare and train. I trust my coach Raf so much, and try to listen to him as much as possible. This is just a big competition, big venue. So much respect to the skaters that are able to just block it out, appreciate it, and do their best at this moment. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that today

Nikolaj Memola

2025 European silver medalist
I am happy to achieve what I came here for. Our goal is to secure two Olympics spots and we did that. I was having a jitter at the beginning, but after first jump I felt like I got it. Yesteday I was sick, actually had a fever, many athletes are having minor health issues, but this morning when I woke up I was all good. (on his emotions) I was so relieved to know that I finished and I knew it was good enough to keep top 10 for the two spots. I was so relieved to know we were there. (Overall review of 2024-25 season) I am extremely satisfied. I achieved the goal (Olympic quotas) for this event as well as the season. It is actually not quite yet over, there is another competition coming up in a couple of weeks. After achieving our main goal, I feel really really light. All the weights are off for now.

 

[skatingguy]

QUICK QUOTES
Men, Free Skating (warm up group 4)

Nika Egadze

2025 European Championships 4th
(On personal best) Yes, I had an almost clean program, but it wasn’t my 100% because I came with a quad Lutz planned, and I had to take it out since I didn’t feel it 100%. There was a lot of pressure, but it was amazing to skate here with such a great audience. (On his dynamic step sequence) We changed the music to a more powerful one. (On the season being over) Almost—maybe I’ll do Team Trophy. I’m going to keep working on my jumps. I can do all the quads except for the quad Axel. (Goal for next year) My goal is to skate clean in every competition because that’s really important.

Shun Sato

2024 ISU GP Final bronze medalist
Overall, I enjoyed my skate and landed most of my jumps, so I’m just really relieved right now. (on fist pump after performance) I was so nervous. I had worked so hard this past month for this competition, and that fist pump was an expression of how glad I was it all paid off. (on wanting to enjoy the experience despite the pressure) I think the nervousness still overwhelms the fun
aspect, but I think I used it to my advantage in a way, and managed to still do my best. (on audience) The audience gave me so much strength, and I’m very grateful. Even when your jumps don’t go well, they cheer so loud for you. It really gives you strength. (on keeping the momentum to Olympic season) I’m very glad and honored to have been able to compete here. I think it will pave the way for good things next season.

Kevin Aymoz

2024 GP Skate America silver medalist
I feel amazing! I'm so excited.I fought so much in this program. I'm on a cloud right now. I was so much in the moment during the program. To see the spectators, the judges, the ice, I was feeling everything.

Mikhail Shaidorov

2025 Four Continents Champion
(on medaling) I can’t believe it. (on his emotions at the end of his performance) I didn’t think about a medal when I went out to skate. I just wanted to skate the best I can, enjoy all the emotions in this beautiful arena. I wanted to give my maximum. I did not think that I would end the season in this way.

Yuma Kagiyama

2024, 2023 & 2022 World silver medalist
(Today’s performance) My at most concern was the Olympic spots. We really wanted to get three spots and so relieved to achieve it. Because the first jump set the tone, I was rushing and made a mistake. After that, it was uphill battle. Because of team mates stellar effort and my short program, we were able to secure three spots and that was a big relief. I didn’t think that today’s performance was great, wondering if I deserve the podium, but I will accept. I’m so glad that I didn’t let the team down at the end. Today’s performance was humbling experience. I feel like I need to work on self confidence. Watching my Shun’s experience as the first timer, it reminded me of my first time. I would like to go back to the start and train for the next season and beyond.(How was the audiences reaction to your flamenco program?) I was struggling inside and worried so much, but the audience lifted me up. I appreciate so much

Ilia Malinin

2024 World Champion
I feel very relieved that I was able to put out that performance the way I tried. It wasn't what I planned to and of course there's a few minor things that I can keep improving but overall I feel pretty confident and I'm really happy for landing the quad loop finally this season. I was like I finally got this so now I can focus on the rest of the program. The energy in the arena was impressive. It was so wild and chaotic and it really just helped me get to the rest of the program. (on winning the second title) I definitely was a lot more nervous last year but overall I think I was a little bit more tired now but overall I'm really happy with my performance
and I just fought for every element and I'm happy that I got this