The Circular Worth of a Body of Work

by Jacquelyn Thayer We’ve written previously on the systemic circularity of funding in figure skating: money can help breed success; success yields the money that may be denied to those athletes who need it most. It is certainly a dollhouse miniature of the pitfalls that can make climbing the ladder of success in the real…

Virtue and Moir Highlight Change, Will to Win

by Jacquelyn Thayer After an undefeated comeback season in 2016-17, silver at December’s Grand Prix Final has only further stoked the Olympic goals for Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir ahead of next week’s Canadian Tire National Skating Championships, where they’ll aim to win their eighth title as senior competitors. “We don’t plan…

Snapshotting the Grand Prix

Our Snapshot Stats series at Tumblr has offered a few takes during this Grand Prix series. Blame Russia? A Curious Dip A State of Stasis? More analysis still to come — keep an eye out in the pre-Nationals interval!

Digerness and Neudecker Focused on the Steady Climb

by Jacquelyn Thayer For every championship title that seems a foregone conclusion, another may come down to a simple decision: stay novice or take a leap of competitive faith? Before creating something of an upset in the junior pairs field at the 2017 U.S. Championships, Nica Digerness and Danny Neudecker began their off-season planning to…