We look back at our in-person experience at the Skate American 2024 competition in Allen, Texas, including an extraordinary Men’s competition, and surprising results in Womens and Ice Dance.
The Grand Prix began in Allen, Texas with Skate America, and we were fortunate enough to see be in the audience for what was a stunning, surprising, and fun competition. While in this episode you’ll hear that the main event turned about to be the incredible comeback of Kevin Aymoz, there was a lot of skating to love at Skate America. There were also quite a few surprises — including an upset for Isabeau Levito and an unexpected dance podium!
Men’s Competition
The men’s event was definitely the marquee moment of the competition, as reigning World Champion, Ilia Malinin, made his Grand Prix debut. His short program was stunning – brimming with technical fireworks and thrills like his raspberry twist (right in front of our seats!) that earned him the lead. His free program has some issues, but kept him well ahead for gold. However, he did come in second in the free skate to the crowd’s choice of the competition — Kevin Aymoz from France.
After an extremely tough Grand Prix final, French nationals, and European Championship last season for Aymoz, there were concerns about how much he could recover. However, you’d have never known that watching his near-flawless programs here at Skate America. The crowd was with him from go, and knew how much this success meant to him.
In third, a stellar if not perfect competition from Kao Miura of Japan put him in good position for the rest of the season. Not too far behind were Georgia’s Nike Edgaze and Latvia’s Deniss Vasiljevs, who rounded out the top five with strong skates.
Pairs Competition
Japan’s Riku Miura & Ryuchi Kihara were the favorites coming in, and lived up to the hype by taking the competition by nearly 13 points. Their speed, flow, and remarkable lifts were in a league of their own here — which was great to see after a season of injury for Ryuchi that help them back from being at their best.
In second, the strong season for Ellie Kam & Danny O’Shea continued with two great skates the reflected the overall improvement they’ve been steadily showing. Their connection with each other of the ice is great and with the audience to see, and they have some of the most exciting lifts being done by any team right now.
An unexpected team, Alisa Efimova & Midha Mitrofanov of the USA, had a great long program that helped them grab the bronze by less than a tenth of a point over podium favorites Anastasia Metelkina & Luka Berulava of Georgia. The Georgian team looked relatively strong leading up the the long program, but had several disastrous errors that ultimately led to them falling short.
Women’s Competition
After a remarkable short program and what seemed in person like a solid free skate, the sentiment in the building in Allen, Tx was that Isabeau Levito would take the title. However, what we could not see in person was the numerous smaller errors that added up to a third place finish for Levito — leaving the gold to the phenomenal Wakaba Higuchi of Japan.
Higuchi had been out for a year following the Olympics due to injury, then began her comeback slowly and steadily last year. Her two strong skates here secured her first Grand Prix victory after 8 seasons of competing in the Grand Prix series.
Taking the silver was another Japanese woman, Rinka Wantanabe, who also showed off steady, strong, and lovely skating that may not have had all of the firepower (she is capable of throwing triple axels), but kept her consistent throughout and on the podium.
Ice Dance Competition
While most dance competitions are remarkably predictable, this one kept us on our toes following a fluke fall from the favorites and reigning World Champions, Madison Chock & Evan Bates. Their fall and a phenomenal performance from Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson in the rhythm dance set the stage for the upset. In the free dance, Fear & Gibson were great again and held off Chock & Bates to take the gold — though did lose the free dance to the World Champs.
The real surprise was the fantastic team of Olivia Smart & Tim Dieck from Spain taking bronze. We’re big fans of this partnership, but they often struggle to get the support of judges. Their new “Dune” free dance may change that story for them, as it hit beautifully here and was rewarded.
Chapters
0:00 — Intro
6:38 — Men’s Competition
7:01 — Ilia Malinin
9:44 — Kevin Aymoz
14:14 — Kao Muira
16:02 — Nika Egadze
18:49 — Deniss Vasiljevs
20:18 — Maxim Naumov and Lucas Broussard
22:31 — Kashiro Shimada
22:55 — Donovan Carrillo
23:23 — Pairs Competition
23:35 — Miura and Kihara
25:54 — Kam and O’Shea
28:22 — Efimova and Mitrofanov
30:00 — Metelkina and Berulava
32:23 — Pavlova and Sviatchenko
33:15 — Vaipan-Law and Digby
34:04 — McBeath and Parkman
35:00 — Women’s Competition
35:09 — Wakaba Higuchi
38:59 — Rinka Watanabe
40:13 — Isabeau Levito
42:55 — Nina Pinzarrone
45:28 — Bradie Tennell
47:11 — Elyce-Lin Gracey
48:17 — Yuna Aoki
48:46 — Ice Dance Competition
49:34 — Fear and Gibson
51:13 — Chock and Bates
53:18 — Smart and Dieck
55:54 — Davis and Smolkin
56:18 — Neset and Markelov
58:40 — Lauriault and Le Gac
58:59 — Mrazkova and Mrazek
59:57 — Fabbri and Ayer
1:00:32 — Tkachenko and Kiliakov
1:01:02 — Morozov and Chen
1:02:01 — Gold In Our Hearts and Wrap Up
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