U.S. Men 2024-25 news & updates

[YukiNieve]

Ilia Malinin plans to skate his new SP for the 2024-2025 season at Dreams on Ice in Japan (June 28-30, 2024).

Dreams on Ice 2025 ～日本代表エキシビション～

「Dreams on Ice 2025 ～日本代表エキシビション～」は、2025年6月27日（金）、6月28日（土）、6月29日（日）全4公演　KOSÉ新横浜スケートセンターで開催します。

www.onice.jp

Skating order

https://www.onice.jp/order.pdf

 

[Debbie S]

I hope we get a fan cam vid!

 

[cailuj365]

Already?! Didn't he just get that choreographed 2 weeks ago? He puts things out fast! I'm sure we'll get more than just a fan vid. The Japanese shows tend to be televised.

 

[On My Own]

Didn't he just get that choreographed 2 weeks ago?

How long do you believe skaters spend on choreographing things? I won't be shocked if it takes around a day for most, given the quality.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Most skaters need more than two weeks to get new choreography into muscle memory, especially if they've been taking time off after Worlds and touring, which means they're not in peak training shape to do all of their technical content (nor should they be).

 

[On My Own]

How long do you believe skaters spend on choreographing things? I won't be shocked if it takes around a day for most, given the quality.

TBH it's probably more like 2 hours for most skaters who lift choreography directly from previous seasons, probably it takes some time to pick out new music?

 

[tony]

Some younger skaters who aren't as experienced may need a few weeks or months to get into their programs, but the top skaters more often than not just show up with very similar programs (jump layouts, spins, even the step sequences) year in and out. Savchenko and Szolkowy went to Skate Canada in 2009 with a week-old program after their first long program was panned, and they ended up setting a world record. Sergei Voronov in 2018 openly spoke about how he dumped one program, found a new style of music, but 'didn't have to change anything' because the choreography somehow fit exactly to the new music -- that can apply to MANY other skaters, too.

IJS has caused almost everything to look the same, give or take a few transitional moves that might be added to a specific program, but let's not pretend we didn't notice Liashenko skating the same free skate year after year after year, too so it's not exclusive to IJS, but it's definitely become easier to pick up on for the masses.

 

[cailuj365]

Of course, I expect the actual choreography sessions to happen over 1-2 days, a few hours perhaps each day. I'm more talking about the turnaround from that to performing it in front of a big Japanese audience with TV cameras. I don't expect him to come out with big quads though.

I remember the days when the new music choices were kept secret, and you couldn't see a program until Skate America or Skate Canada. Looking at the Dreams of Ice schedule, it looks like everyone is performing their short or long program for the new season. Different times.

 

[BrightSkates]

Instagram

www.instagram.com

Mark and Nica confirmed!

 

[Karen-W]

Mark and Nica confirmed!

Uhm, this is the US Men's thread...

 

[BrightSkates]

Uhm, this is the US Men's thread...

Lol how did I get here. Guess the quote didn't go to right thread

 

[YukiNieve]

From Lake Placid Figure Skating Championships:

Junior Men SP

Alexsandr Fegan 1st

05 ALEKSANDR FEGAN.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

Zachary LoPinto 3rd

01 ZACHARY LOPINTO.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

Kirk Haugeto 4th

04 KIRK HAUGETO.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

Senior Men SP

Will Annis 2nd

01 WILL ANNIS.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

---
Junior Men FS

Kirk Haugeto 2nd

02 KIRK HAUGETO.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

Alexsandr Fegan 3rd

07 ALEKSANDR FEGAN.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

Senior Men FS

Will Annis 2nd

01 WILL ANNIS.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

Results:
https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2024/34442/index.asp

 

[Frau Muller]

From Lake Placid Figure Skating Championships:

Junior Men SP

Alexsander Fegan 1st

05 ALEKSANDR FEGAN.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

Zachary LoPinto 3rd

01 ZACHARY LOPINTO.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

Kirk Haugeto 4th

04 KIRK HAUGETO.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

Senior Men SP

Will Annis 2nd

01 WILL ANNIS.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

---
Junior Men FS

Kirk Haugeto 2nd

02 KIRK HAUGETO.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

Alexsander Fegan 3rd

07 ALEKSANDR FEGAN.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

Senior Men FS

Will Annis 2nd

01 WILL ANNIS.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

Results:
https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2024/34442/index.asp

Loving Kirk’s programs - perfect music!

SP - Khachaturian’s GAYANE. Even though it’s now rough, he can build it up. He even tried his version of Ilia’s Raspberry twist…the Kirk-berry?

FP- wonderful skate to the Duchesnays’ INTI ILLIMANI Andean music. Lots of good jumps despite the one fall. Hilarious spin on his butt in the middle of his choreo sequence. ROTFL!

Yup, Kirk will be cookin’ this season. Go, Kirk, go!

 

[BrightSkates]

Kirk is such a joy to watch !

 

[mtnskater]

Also loving Fegan. Beautiful ballet trained lines and positions at such a young age.

 

[Vagabond]

Senior Men FS

Will Annis 2nd

01 WILL ANNIS.mp4

Cinematic Images - Photography and Videography - Berlin, CT. Husband-wife team for over 20 years.

cinematic-images.smugmug.com

Good-bye, cartwheels; hello, backflips. It's going to be a long season, folks.

 

[Marco]

Some younger skaters who aren't as experienced may need a few weeks or months to get into their programs, but the top skaters more often than not just show up with very similar programs (jump layouts, spins, even the step sequences) year in and out. Savchenko and Szolkowy went to Skate Canada in 2009 with a week-old program after their first long program was panned, and they ended up setting a world record. Sergei Voronov in 2018 openly spoke about how he dumped one program, found a new style of music, but 'didn't have to change anything' because the choreography somehow fit exactly to the new music -- that can apply to MANY other skaters, too.

IJS has caused almost everything to look the same, give or take a few transitional moves that might be added to a specific program, but let's not pretend we didn't notice Liashenko skating the same free skate year after year after year, too so it's not exclusive to IJS, but it's definitely become easier to pick up on for the masses.

Angela Nikodinov's "post transformation" short programs...

 

[peibeck]

Good-bye, cartwheels; hello, backflips. It's going to be a long season, folks.

Don't see how adding in a back flip helps him much when the jumps that count were pretty AWOL at this comp.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Don't see how adding in a back flip helps him much when the jumps that count were pretty AWOL at this comp.

Perhaps the hope is that we’ll be so dazzled by the backflip that we won’t notice the rest of the jumps?

 

[ice coverage]

... I will try not to comment further, given that we have no official word on whether/how any form of pay-to-play will become a reality.

Came back to say that for 2025 Nationals, the USFS document for Athlete Bye and Advancement Criteria has a new paragraph (emphases in original):

"For all competitions only entries assigned by the International Committee and fully funded by U.S. Figure Skating count towards a bye. Participation in the Team USA non-funded international competition opportunities do not count as an assignment for a bye."​

https://www.usfigureskating.org/sites/default/files/media-files/2025 Qualifying Bye Advancement Criteria FINAL.pdf​

So maybe new non-funded international opportunities really are going to be a thing in the imminent season???
If so, it is fair at least that they will not count toward a bye.

The paragraph is not seen in the old document for 2024 Nats.

https://www.usfigureskating.org/sites/default/files/media-files/2024%20Qualifying%20Bye%20Advancement%20Criteria%20Final.pdf

 

[Frau Muller]

Kirk moved up to 2nd overall with his new FS. He bowed after throwing ice shavings, so you know that he felt good.

 

[Taso]

Kirk is such a joy to watch !

Totally! The long program made me forget IJS, which coming from me is always the highest compliment. What a musical guy, rooting for him!

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

Wow looked at ISU standings list. After Malinin US is basically - Malaysia. Is there some structural reason US men ranked so low? Am I missing something or are US men in that bad a shape.

 

[Capt. DeSoto]

Came back to say that for 2025 Nationals, the USFS document for Athlete Bye and Advancement Criteria has a new paragraph (emphases in original):

"For all competitions only entries assigned by the International Committee and fully funded by U.S. Figure Skating count towards a bye. Participation in the Team USA non-funded international competition opportunities do not count as an assignment for a bye."​

https://www.usfigureskating.org/sites/default/files/media-files/2025 Qualifying Bye Advancement Criteria FINAL.pdf​

So maybe new non-funded international opportunities really are going to be a thing in the imminent season???
If so, it is fair at least that they will not count toward a bye.

The paragraph is not seen in the old document for 2024 Nats.

https://www.usfigureskating.org/sites/default/files/media-files/2024%20Qualifying%20Bye%20Advancement%20Criteria%20Final.pdf

The bye criteria already excludes so many of the lesser competitions that it's very hard to earn one, but at least this solidifies that there's no way to buy your way to a bye. I'm still not fond of the pay-your-own-way concept as the sport is already so punishingly expensive. By the sounds of what they're titling the program, you can buy your way onto Team USA if it's the "Team USA non-funded international competition opportunities". That takes some of the prestige off of getting your jacket and bio page entry on UsFigureSkatingFanZone.com

 

[Jammers]

Wow looked at ISU standings list. After Malinin US is basically - Malaysia. Is there some structural reason US men ranked so low? Am I missing something or are US men in that bad a shape.

Yeah they are in that bad of shape except for Ilia. Ironic that for most of the 2010's the US had much more depth overall and had more then one skater winning GP medals but didn't have anyone who could land quads so getting on a Worlds podium wasn't going to happen. Then Nathan came along and Vincent and now Ilia but in the meantime some of the other promising younger skaters never progressed or have regressed and now there's no one backing up Ilia except a almost 30 year old Jason.

 

[marshallpond]

So maybe new non-funded international opportunities really are going to be a thing in the imminent season???

It is. Just don't know how many agreed to do it (and whether the international committee selects them).

 

[Impromptu]

Wow looked at ISU standings list. After Malinin US is basically - Malaysia. Is there some structural reason US men ranked so low? Am I missing something or are US men in that bad a shape.

Inconsistent in some cases, and young in others. Although to be fair, Brown would probably be higher on the list if he had competed in the GP and more Senior Bs over the past couple of years.

 

[Trillian]

Inconsistent in some cases, and young in others. Although to be fair, Brown would probably be higher on the list if he had competed in the GP and more Senior Bs over the past couple of years.

Almost certainly, assuming that kind of schedule didn’t lead to injury, etc. He’s not a technical powerhouse, but he is a good competitor.

What makes the U.S. men look so odd otherwise is that we’ve got four other guys (at least) who we know are capable of competing with many of the best skaters in the world and it’s just not happening. I would say it’s been an unusually large gap between potential and actual performance over the last couple of seasons, unfortunately.

 

[Vagabond]

Perhaps the hope is that we’ll be so dazzled by the backflip that we won’t notice the rest of the jumps?

He doesn't need a backflip for that.

 

[Jarrett]

Almost certainly, assuming that kind of schedule didn’t lead to injury, etc. He’s not a technical powerhouse, but he is a good competitor.

What makes the U.S. men look so odd otherwise is that we’ve got four other guys (at least) who we know are capable of competing with many of the best skaters in the world and it’s just not happening. I would say it’s been an unusually large gap between potential and actual performance over the last couple of seasons, unfortunately.

I think saying that we have 4 men skaters that can compete with many of the best in the worlds is a bit of an overstatement. None of them (not including Brown) have ever medaled on the GP and have only medaled on the CS circuit a handful of times adding them all together in their entire careers. They are all extremely inconsistent, going into any jump you literally have no idea what is going to happen and even on a good day don't medal anywhere. I am not sure how we know they could be competing with the best in the world when they are 30-40 points behind approaching any podium. They are very much ranked accurately to me. That doesn't mean I dislike their skating at all and would be happy if they were better but they haven't shown much progress in the many years most of that have been around.