In this 30 minute minisode, I give my final hot takes and predictions about the Men, Women, Pairs, and Ice Dance events taking place at the Chinese Nebelhorn 2026 Olympic Qualifying Event for Figure Skating event this weekend!

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The Women’s and Pairs events closed out Lombardia Trophy 2025 in style — with standout performances, surprises, and plenty to analyze. This is the final part of my four-part Lombardia Trophy series, wrapping up all the action from Bergamo.

On the women’s side, Ami Nakai (JPN) and Rion Sumiyoshi (JPN) battled for the top, with strong showings from Sarah Everhardt (USA), Lara Naki Gutmann (ITA), Alysa Liu (USA), Seoyoung Kim (KOR), Olivia Lisko (FIN), Rino Matsuike (JPN), Ekaterina Kurakova (POL), Josefin Taljegard (SWE) and more.

The pairs event brought home-ice power with Sara Conti & Niccolò Macii (ITA) and Rebecca Ghilardi & Filippo Ambrosini (ITA), alongside sharp performances from Anna Valesi & Martin Bidar (CZE), Irma Caldara & Riccardo Maglio (ITA), Sofiia Holichenko & Artem Darenskyi (UKR) and others.

In this episode, I dive into both the short program and free skate for the women, plus the overall PCS leaderboards, before turning to pairs for a full breakdown. Along the way, I also discuss the recent USFS article on Shin & Nagy, and what these results mean as we head into the season.

📺 My Full Results for Lombardia

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The Men’s event at Lombardia Trophy 2025 was electric — big jumps, big rivalries, and some unexpected storylines — and I’m breaking it all down. This is the second of my four-part series on the Lombardia Trophy, so stay tuned for more coverage all week!

Winner Ilia Malinin (USA) dominated the field with commanding skating, while Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) showed he’s fully back in the conversation. Nikolaj Memola (ITA) thrilled the home crowd with bronze, and just off the podium were Shun Sato (JPN), Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA), and Kao Miura (JPN) in a stacked top six.

In this episode, I dig into the short program and free skate, how the judging played out, and what these results mean heading into the Grand Prix season. From Malinin’s quad arsenal to Kagiyama’s refinement, Memola’s home-ice spark, and the depth of challengers — we cover it all.

We also discuss strong showings and challenges for Luc Economides, Maxim Naumov, Kyrylo Marsak, Andreas Nordeback, Matteo Rizzo, Corentin Spinar, Ivan Shmuratko, Makar Suntsev, Tobia Oellerer, and Filip Kaymakchiev.

📺 My Full Results for the Men’s Event: Click Here

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The Ice Dance event at Lombardia Trophy 2025 delivered drama, artistry, and some surprising results — and I’m breaking it all down. This is the first of my four part series on the Lombardia Trophy - so stay tuned for more coverage all week!

Winners Eva Pate & Logan Bye (USA) edged out Katerina Mrazkova & Daniel Mrazek (CZE), with bronze going to Katarina Wolfkostin & Dimitry Tsarevski (USA). In this in-depth episode, I dive into how the rhythm dance and free dance played out, how the judges judged, how the dancers danced, and how I saw it all.

Beyond the scores, I share thoughts on the state of skating social media — why the bullying and negativity need to stop — and explore the diminishing returns of skating skills in dance, why moving the body matters, and what these results mean heading into the season and the Nebelhorn Olympic Qualifier in China.

We discuss performances from Natacha Lagouge & Arnaud Caffa, Victoria Manni & Carlo Roethlisberger, Mariia Ignateva & Danijil Leonyidovics Szemko, Marie Dupayage & Thomas Nabais, Charise Matthaei & Max Liebers, Maria Kazakova & Vladislav Kasinskij, Mariia Pinchuk & Mykyta Pogorielov, Louise Bordet & Martin Chardain, Zoe Larson & Andrii Kapran, Zofia Grzegorzewska & Oleg Muratov, and Giulia Isabella Paolino & Andrea Tuba.

My Full Results for the Ice Dance: Click Here To View on Google Sheets

📺 Watch on YouTube: @StrictlyJudging

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👍 Share, rate, or send it to someone already updating their Olympic podium predictions

It’s Lombardia week, and I’m packing an entire stacked competition into just one hour. From Ilia Malinin vs. Yuma Kagiyama to Alysa Liu’s debut and Adam Siao Him Fa’s unpredictaiblity, we break down the entries, the short program starting orders, and the biggest storylines. Plus: my bold gold, silver, and bronze predictions across men, women, pairs, and dance.

Fast, fun, and chaotic, and my shortest episode yet. All on this episode of Strictly Judging: A Figure Skating Fan Podcast.

📺 Watch on YouTube: @StrictlyJudging

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Amazon — wherever you get your skating podcasts

📲 Follow @StrictlyJudging on Instagram for updates and extras

👍 Share, rate, or send it to someone already updating their Olympic podium predictions

This week on Strictly Judging — we’re breaking down all four Figure Skating events at the 2025 Kinoshita Cup in Osaka.

I judged every program — Men, Women, Pairs, and Dance — using full IJS scoring. GOE, PCS, everything. No vibes-only scoring here. Just real numbers, real impressions, and a real look at how these early-season performances stack up.

We’ll talk:– The best skates and the biggest question marks– GOEs that made sense — and some that didn’t– PCS decisions worth side-eyeing– And how this event fits into the larger story: the Olympic race to 2026

📊 See the full judging sheet — with all my scores, ranks, and results 👉 Click Here

📺 Watch on YouTube: @StrictlyJudging🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple, iHeart, Amazon — wherever you get your skating podcasts📲 Follow @StrictlyJudging on Instagram for updates and extras👍 Share, rate, or send it to someone already updating their Olympic podium predictions

This week on Strictly Judging — it’s all about the men.

We’re kicking off a new four-part series focused on the Program Component Score (PCS), and we’re starting with the Men’s event at the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships.

From Jason and Ilia to Yuma and Mikhail, we explore the full range of styles, strengths, and how the component scores reflected — or didn’t reflect — what we saw on the ice.

I also introduce a new idea:

🏅 Three medals — Technical, Artistic, and All-Around.

Just a way of looking at results through a more focused lens, and asking what might change if we judged each skill set on its own terms.

You’ll also hear:

– A full breakdown of PCS trends in the men’s event

– The debut of the PCS Report Card — a fresh tool for side-by-side score comparisons

– And yes… my early thoughts on who’s shaping up for the 2026 Olympic podium

📊 You can view the full Google Sheet with all results, rankings, and report card data here (to use Report Card Feature, Click "Make a Copy"):

👉Google Sheets Link

📲 Watch on YouTube ⁠⁠@StrictlyJudging⁠⁠

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👍 If you enjoyed this episode, feel free to share, rate, or send it to a fellow fan of the sport. Follow on Instagram ⁠@StrictlyJudging⁠.

This week on Strictly Judging: A Figure Skating Fan Podcast, we discuss the just released list of competitors for the all-important “last chance” Olympic Qualifying Event. Informally known as “Chinese Nebelhorn”, The 2025 Olympic Winter Games Figure Skating Qualifying Competition will be held on September 18–21 2025, in Beijing, China.

5 Olympic Spots are available for Men's and Women’s Singles, while 4 are available for Ice Dance, and 3 for Pairs Figure Skating.

In December 2024, the International Skating Union designated this event as the official qualification competition for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Countries that had already earned an entry to the Olympics will not be allowed to qualify additional entries at this final qualifying competition.

Many skaters and teams are discussed, including these featured athletes:

Pairs: Zhang / Huang (CHN), Akopova / Rakhmanin (ARM), Shin / Nagy (USA)

Dance: Reed / Ambrulevicius (LTU), Harris / Chan (AUS), Val / Kazimov (ESP), Wang / Liu (CHN)

Men: Petr Gumennik (AIN/RUS), Genrikh Gartung (GER), Donovan Carrillo (MEX), Francois Pitot (FRA), Hyungyeom Kim (KOR)

Women: Adeliia Petrosian (AIN/RUS), Loena Hendrickx (BEL), Anastasia Gubanova (GEO), Viktoriia Safonova (AIN/BLR), Ruiyang Zhang (CHN)

You can follow on Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, and Apple as well. You can follow on Instagram and watch on YouTube by visiting @StrictlyJudging.