Looong but super interesting interview with Stéphane Lambiel about choreographing, deciding on a music, how performing and personality go hand in hand, his off-season plans, the impact of leather vs. plastic boots on skating style, and many more insights into the sport and his views.
Listening to him is always such a joy.
"If figure skating doesn't inspire you anymore, just watch beautiful things."
Well, I have already ranted on what makes this one of the best programs I have ever seen here! so I will not rant here, except say that that 4F was a textbook example of a +5 quad jump.
This is Yuma Kagiyama of Japan with his Rain, In Your Black Eyes free skate last night at the 2024 World Championships, and I woke up my parents by how loud I was clapping for every clean element.
When I look back at the 2024 Worlds in a few weeks, the things that will stay in my mind are...
Adam backflipping himself from 19 place to 3rd
a majestic Lion King
the ever-growing Kimmy and Nikolaj nailing their jumps
Amber's glorious 3A
the only competitor being my age winning gold by turning her partner into a vampire (everyone bow to Queen Deanna)
Loena in first place after the short programme (and losing it in the free skating 😭)
Kaori defending her title for the second time
Stéphane dancing behind the boards during the men's practice
Shoma dropping off the podium (I'm going to cry about this for the entire off-season😭)
Donovan delivering two glorious skates
Josefin's amazing performances
a true artist finishing among the top six with two clean skates and no quads
Riku/Ryuichi's glorious comeback
Young You's beautiful SP and the even more beautiful FS (I never thought I'd ever see Arwen on Ice)
my favourite German pairs team bringing the first worlds medal home since Aljona & Bruno
a Tango de Roxanne that made my heart cry (I have a love-hate relationship with that programme and I'm going to miss it because of the entertainment it brought me)
not to forget all the skaters I would have love to see in the free but who didn't qualify because the field of competitors was so extremely dense.
I don't care who's the best jumper. Jumps are fake anyway.
Deanna Stellato-Dudek: 2000 Junior World Silver Medalist → 2024 World Champion
At the age of 40, Deanna Stellato-Dudek is the oldest woman to win a World Championships title in figure skating, with her pairs partner Maxime Deschamps for Canada. Deanna Stellato was the 1999 Junior Grand Prix Final Champion and 2000 Junior World Silver Medalist in the women's singles discipline. She retired from competitive skating in 2001, and returned as a pairs skater in 2016.
40 years is the new 20. That's what I'd like to say. [This record is] not something that I ever set out to do when I came back to skating, but I knew that if I were to accomplish my dreams, it would inevitably occur, because I'm the oldest everywhere. But it's something I carry with pride, and I'm very proud of it. I hope a lot of athletes stay around a lot longer. I hope it encourages people to not stop before they reach their potential. And I hope it transcends into other areas, not just in sports, but also in other areas of life [...]
[My 15-year-old self] would say, why did we stop? We're still skating, you know, 25 years later? I think my younger self would think I'm crazy, so she wouldn't think much of it at all. And she wanted to win the 2006 Olympics [...]
-- 2024 World Championships Free Skate Press Conference
I’m not even going to lie, that was the most insane men’s free skate I have ever witnessed. Adam jumps to the podium after being in the first warm-up group, Yuma wins his third Worlds silver, and Ilia with a flawless free skate after all the question marks this week. The emotions. The whiplash. The drama.