US Ice Dance 2024-25 News & Updates

Seeing how USFS is heavily promoting the Shibutanis does not bode well for the rest of the US dance teams that are not Chock/Bates. It also gives a strong feeling of undeserved favoritism IMO.
Both Carreira/Ponomarenko and Green/Parsons have consistently finished top 10 at worlds, even when both male dancers were battling injuries and had to undergo surgeries this quad. To me it feels like their hard work and dedication are being thrown aside in favor of a team that has been out for 7 years and doesn't have any relevant body of work at this stage. I was open to evaluating the Shibs by what they will put on the ice, and if they would have been delivering quality skating consistently, their success would have been undeniable, but in this case, they are getting heavily promoted for no deserved reason.
And it's not helping their case that they are doing the promotion with their FD costumes from 7 years ago and showing off two of the lifts they were doing back then. If after 7 years they come back and do the exact same thing they did 7 years ago, then what even is the point?


https://www.instagram.com/teamusa/reel/DJ-kGONPcj3/
 
NBC chooses who they use for the promos based on a) who's most likely to make it and b) the best stories.

The Shib Sibs work with NBC on Olympic stuff, so they have that as an added bonus. NBC always chooses some athletes and comeback kids to make promos of that don't make it.
 
You do realize that this isn't the USFS' choice necessarily, right? This is NBC & the USOPC, deciding who to use in the promotional ads, etc, leading up to the Olympics? Of course the Shibs have a higher profile than any other dance team but ChoBat.

I'm not reading a lot into this because 1) the Shibs live in LA, 2) they were only present for the last day of the shoot whereas the rest of the figure skaters were there for two days - Mon & Tue.

I'm pretty cynical here and think it's possible the Shibs agent made some calls early in the week & the Shibs were invited to participate on Thursday as an afterthought. Something about their appearance felt very tacked on/last minute.
 
Karen-W said:
I'm pretty cynical here and think it's possible the Shibs agent made some calls early in the week & the Shibs were invited to participate on Thursday as an afterthought. Something about their appearance felt very tacked on/last minute.
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The Shibs have the same agent as C/B (and I think Alysa also) so the agent definitely knew the shoot was happening. My guess is the rest of the skaters were scheduled months ago, probably before Worlds, and the Shibs weren't scheduled until after their comeback announcement. It could have been a conscious decision by them/agent or USFS/NBC to schedule them separately from the rest or it could have been that the schedule was full on Mon and Tues by then.

Wouldn't the Shibs be living in FL now that they are working with Marina? Or is she coaching them via FaceTime? Asking legitimately.
 
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Willin said:
... The Shib Sibs work with NBC on Olympic stuff ...
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They do? Am I forgetting something?
I know they have worked a lot with USOPC/Team USA over many years, and are involved in LA 2028.
But have they ever had a role with NBC? Other than being the subjects of NBC coverage.
They recently appeared on CBS to plug their latest book; AFAIK, they did not appear on NBC in the same timeframe -- an absence that IMO would be weird if NBC considered them part of the NBC "family" in any way.

(I am not questioning that for the Olympic shoot, NBC was free to invite any athletes of their choice.)
 
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Karen-W said:
You do realize that this isn't the USFS' choice necessarily, right? This is NBC & the USOPC, deciding who to use in the promotional ads, etc, leading up to the Olympics? Of course the Shibs have a higher profile than any other dance team but ChoBat.

I'm not reading a lot into this because 1) the Shibs live in LA, 2) they were only present for the last day of the shoot whereas the rest of the figure skaters were there for two days - Mon & Tue.

I'm pretty cynical here and think it's possible the Shibs agent made some calls early in the week & the Shibs were invited to participate on Thursday as an afterthought. Something about their appearance felt very tacked on/last minute.
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Yes I do, I know it's not necessarily USFS who are orchestrating all of this and that NBC (or more likely, their agent) are a more likely candidate, but they are choosing to heavily promote it on their social media, and as of now, there doesn't seem to be similar opportunities for the other top US teams, so I think the optics here are not great (and as I mentioned, for the Shibs as well, if you come out of retirement after 7 years, you'd want to appear fresh and rejuvenated and not like you are recycling your very old material).
 
angi said:
Both Carreira/Ponomarenko and Green/Parsons have consistently finished top 10 at worlds, even when both male dancers were battling injuries and had to undergo surgeries this quad. To me it feels like their hard work and dedication are being thrown aside in favor of a team that has been out for 7 years and doesn't have any relevant body of work at this stage. I was open to evaluating the Shibs by what they will put on the ice, and if they would have been delivering quality skating consistently, their success would have been undeniable, but in this case, they are getting heavily promoted for no deserved reason.
Click to expand...
The Shibs are extremely knowledgeable about media; they have contacts in many outlets, plus relationships with PR people. They are able to promote themselves quite well and, currently, their publisher is assisting. Certainly, if they appear in high-profile outlets, USFS will in turn publicize those appearances. I would wait and see before I leapt to the conclusion USFS is giving them favorable treatment. Plus, there is a difference between what USFS communications' people -- who are rightfully always looking for clips, interviews, etc. to post on social media -- do, and what a panel of ice dance judges do. In any event, the key for C/P is getting Carreira's U.S. citizenship wrapped up.
 
nylynnr said:
The Shibs are extremely knowledgeable about media; they have contacts in many outlets, plus relationships with PR people. They are able to promote themselves quite well and, currently, their publisher is assisting. Certainly, if they appear in high-profile outlets, USFS will in turn publicize those appearances. I would wait and see before I leapt to the conclusion USFS is giving them favorable treatment. Plus, there is a difference between what USFS communications' people -- who are rightfully always looking for clips, interviews, etc. to post on social media -- do, and what a panel of ice dance judges do. In any event, the key for C/P is getting Carreira's U.S. citizenship wrapped up.
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Agree. It’s “I’ve got this content. Care to use it?” It’s going to make some folks at USFS feel good. The Shibs are still going to have to score comparably to the other top teams, though, no matter how much the USFS Comms team likes them.
 
Aceon6 said:
Agree. It’s “I’ve got this content. Care to use it?” It’s going to make some folks at USFS feel good. The Shibs are still going to have to score comparably to the other top teams, though, no matter how much the USFS Comms team likes them.
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Exactly. And, I'm sure the USFS was thrilled to have 8 of their athletes (4 singles, 2 dance teams) included in this promo photo shoot. That's at least twice as many as any other winter sport, as far as I could tell from what Team USA was featuring on their IG this week. It bodes well for figure skating's exposure in the next 9 months.
 
Willin said:
NBC chooses who they use for the promos based on a) who's most likely to make it and b) the best stories.
Click to expand...

My impression, especially based on what I observed 20-30 years ago, was that US TV networks, especially when covering the Olympics and the lead-up to them, would put more emphasis on skaters who were already known to the every-4-years viewing public, as well as US skaters with real medal chances, and foreign skaters considered real medal favorites.

Skaters who were potentially in the mix but who had so far flown under the general public's radar since the last Olympics would not get the same attention in trying to create interest in getting those viewers to watch.

Of course, once any of said skaters make the Olympics team, then they take more precedence in the coverage.

All of which has nothing to do with any politicking USFS might or might not do with officials from other feds. Except to the extent that those officials might pay attention to US media promotions aimed at the general public.
 
That makes sense for the TV model: the more their audience tunes in, the more eyeballs are on TV. The networks gets their ads out, and USFS gets more people who will encourage their grandchildren and great-grandchildren to take lessons.
 
angi said:
Seeing how USFS is heavily promoting the Shibutanis does not bode well for the rest of the US dance teams that are not Chock/Bates. It also gives a strong feeling of undeserved favoritism IMO.
Both Carreira/Ponomarenko and Green/Parsons have consistently finished top 10 at worlds
Click to expand...

USFS posted photos/vids of all the skaters who were doing the NBC promos this week, not just the Shibutanis. So, it would have been weird if they didn't post the Shibs. Plus, if being top ten at Worlds or being liked by USFS were criteria for being filmed for promos, Jason would have been there, and he wasn't. I think NBC is just filming people with good stories who already have won Olympic medals or are seen as having at a decent outside chance of medaling individually at this point in time or at least a likely top American finish in their field at the Olympics. More like top five at Worlds than top ten. (And it probably helps to have U.S. citizenship.)

The Shibutanis are medalists who are likely to have a fluff piece about Maia coming back after a cancer battle, with the support and partnership of her loving brother. I can't imagine NBC passing on that. I doubt NBC is even considering at this point whether they are likely to medal at the Olympics or what lifts they are currently doing.
angi said:
And it's not helping their case that they are doing the promotion with their FD costumes from 7 years ago and showing off two of the lifts they were doing back then. If after 7 years they come back and do the exact same thing they did 7 years ago, then what even is the point?
Click to expand...
I don't think you can assume that they are going to wear the same costumes and do the same lifts as 7 years ago just because of a photo shoot. They probably don't even have their costumes yet for this coming season.
 
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Last week the Peals revealed they were moving - invited their IG followers to guess where but then a friend of Elliana's made an IG story which Elliana shared lamenting the fact that her BFF was moving to Canada, so the question then became where, lol. Today, Elliana has an IG story up with a location tag of "London, Ontario", which answers that question, lol.

I think going to IAM-O is a good move for them, especially seeing as they need to do something to differentiate themselves from the rest of the mid-tier senior US teams.

ETA - their team IG account posted a training week video clip earlier today - https://www.instagram.com/p/DKS3lTtxtQ2/

Looks like they're at the Western Ontario University rink.
 
angi said:
Seeing how USFS is heavily promoting the Shibutanis does not bode well for the rest of the US dance teams that are not Chock/Bates. It also gives a strong feeling of undeserved favoritism IMO.
Both Carreira/Ponomarenko and Green/Parsons have consistently finished top 10 at worlds, even when both male dancers were battling injuries and had to undergo surgeries this quad. To me it feels like their hard work and dedication are being thrown aside in favor of a team that has been out for 7 years and doesn't have any relevant body of work at this stage. I was open to evaluating the Shibs by what they will put on the ice, and if they would have been delivering quality skating consistently, their success would have been undeniable, but in this case, they are getting heavily promoted for no deserved reason.
And it's not helping their case that they are doing the promotion with their FD costumes from 7 years ago and showing off two of the lifts they were doing back then. If after 7 years they come back and do the exact same thing they did 7 years ago, then what even is the point?


https://www.instagram.com/teamusa/reel/DJ-kGONPcj3/
Click to expand...

:wuzrobbed
 
Maia and Alex put so much time getting outside help with music and choreography for their former programs, that I am 100 percent convinced they will not be repeating any of the "Fix You" vibe. Massimo's reputation as a choreographer will also be tested with these two. I hopefully look forward to being surprised.
 
USFS's On Your Mark website lists US Figure Skating National Team.

Leave Your Mark 2026

www.leaveyourmark2026.com www.leaveyourmark2026.com

Why aren't Emilea and Vadym listed!? 😲 😭

(If this is related to citizenship issues, will other skaters waiting for citizenship receive theirs in time? If so, I am happy for them, but...)
 
If they aren’t on the GP list tomorrow we will know something is up. Citizenship wouldn’t keep them off the list. If not on the GP some possibilities are sitting out to skate for another country, split, season ending injury or worst of all, deportation.
 
Spikefan said:
If they aren’t on the GP list tomorrow we will know something is up. Citizenship wouldn’t keep them off the list. If not on the GP some possibilities are sitting out to skate for another country, split, season ending injury or worst of all, deportation.
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They can’t skate for Ukraine. I hope not deportation! :(
 
Spikefan said:
If they aren’t on the GP list tomorrow we will know something is up. Citizenship wouldn’t keep them off the list. If not on the GP some possibilities are sitting out to skate for another country, split, season ending injury or worst of all, deportation.
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I wonder if they would skate for Cyprus? With citizenship the way it is and the depth, they would have a good case for release despite him being JWC. In saying that though, I think this is maybe just an error/oversight
 
Spikefan said:
If they aren’t on the GP list tomorrow we will know something is up. Citizenship wouldn’t keep them off the list. If not on the GP some possibilities are sitting out to skate for another country, split, season ending injury or worst of all, deportation.
Click to expand...
jlai said:
They can’t skate for Ukraine. I hope not deportation! :(
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Don't you think that would have been all over social media?

And I think the men's selection answers the question of whether Max Naumov is going to skate this season.
 
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