Nathan Chen headlines our coverage of the three major national championships in Japan, Russia and the U.S.,
which took place in December and January. Chen captured his fifth straight domestic title, the first man to do so since Dick Button in 1950.
The 2021 U.S. Championships saw former champions in the ladies and ice dance disciplines regain their crowns, with a new pairs team taking over the top spot.
Though this was the first competition in 10 months for Rika Kihira, she left no doubt she is the
leading lady in Japan. Yuzuru Hanyu claimed the men’s title, his first in five years.
Russia’s Anna Shcherbakova proved her mettle at the 2021 Russian Championships where she won her third consecutive title while dealing with an illness. Mikhail Kolyada was without challenge in the men’s event; Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov returned to the top step of the pairs podium, and Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin captured their first ice dance crown.
Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier have been on a golden roll in their debut season as a team. The engaging duo spoke openly about their collaboration, what worked and what did not in the early days, and what their goals are for the upcoming season.
He has won everything there is to win — including back-to-back Olympic crowns — so what, you might ask, drives Yuzuru Hanyu to continue competing? The Japanese star returned to the spotlight in late December after a 10-month hiatus and shared the challenges he initially faced training alone and having his programs choreographed remotely. He spoke about his desire to master the quad Axel and to win a third Olympic title should the 2022 Games take place.
Skate Canada cancelled all its scheduled competitions for the 2020-2021 season, which left the nation’s
elite skaters watching the rest of the world compete and wondering what the future holds for them
with an Olympic season just around the corner.
French choreographer Benoît Richaud, a former competitive ice dancer, has worked with some of the world’s best skaters the past few years. Breaking into the top echelons of his craft was a challenge, but he won over a legion of fans with his innovative and original programs.
