Figure skaters/teams that retired too soon?

[lariko]

Alexey Erokhov, Junior World Champion 2018, withdrew from RusNats 23/24 in the middle of the SP after a hard fall, never to be seen again. I wish he would have had the chance to skate one final successful competition and end his career on his own terms.

It was such a terrible, abrupt end of the career.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I thought Ilia Kulik retired rather early, but he won the 1998 Olympic gold medal and afterward I suppose he felt he had achieved the ultimate dream. Still, he was young at the time and he could have improved further and accomplished more in terms of personal and career growth in the sport had he stayed. But, perhaps he was burnt out and wary of sustaining injury down the road. So he grabbed his gold medal and went on tour with SOI, did some acting in a ballet-themed movie, and later fell in love with and married Katia Gordeeva (though years later they divorced). They have a daughter whom Ilia used to coach at his training center. He was also a coach to one of the young skaters who died in the D.C. plane crash. Ilia skated a moving heartfelt tribute to his student at the memorial skating event.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Also, sadly, Jessica Calalang/ Brian Johnson. They were such a great match with world class quality elements. Yes, they were inconsistent and lacked confidence on the sbs jumps. Still, they skated a clean fp at 2020 U.S. Nationals, and skated well at 2020 4CCs. Had Worlds not been cancelled that year, their career trajectory might have been different. They were dogged by bad luck with the weird false drug rap against Jessica, later dropped after her family paid money to figure out what had happened. By that point, Jess & Brian had lost so much momentum for the 2022 Olympic season. They unfairly never got to compete at Worlds. I wish they had come back for at least two more seasons. Brian decided he'd had enough. Jess still wanted to compete, but she knew it was next to impossible to find as perfect a match as she'd had with Brian. Jess went to college, and continued coaching. She's engaged to marry her former pairs partner, Zack Sidhu.

Speaking of engagements: Former pairs skater with Rockne Brubaker, now a coach, Keauna McLaughlin, is engaged to marry former U.S. singles skater, Richard Dornbush. Both of them left competitive skating when young, when they had more they could have achieved. I believe both were burnt out and disillusioned, so they went on to pursue other interests, academically. I believe Richard competed at college skating events. Keauna came back to coach and she founded a skating academy. So, they made conscious choices and they seem happy. It's cute seeing them together as a couple.

 

[Mathematician]

Perhaps Usacheva

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I always wondered what happened to Winter Noel Deardorff. I loved her and missed seeing her continue to rise competitively. She's now performing with Disney On Ice. She skated pairs for the U.S. with Max Settlage, and they were very promising. Sadly, Max retired with injuries. He was slightly older, and had previously skated with Max Aaron's sister, Madeline. Winter went on to pair successfully domestically with Mikhail Gumba (aka Johnson). They were a lovely mirror pair. I was bummed when COVID season interrupted their career momentum. They were also apparently recovering from injuries. Mikhail decided to retire and go to medical school. Winter later competed briefly for the U.S. with Jake Pagano, but that pairing did not pan out. Winter then decided to pair up with Australian singles skater, Ryan Dodds, but having felt burnt out even with Pagano, the switch to a new partner and a new country did not make her feel renewed. So, she stopped skating for a year. She later came back to enjoying the sport again once she began coaching. In a recent Substack interview (Adam Reisinger's Kingdom of Isolation, dated October 13, 2025), Winter opens up about her career. She reveals that she wanted to keep going and try to compete for Australia, but she felt exhausted competitively:

When asked what she liked most and least about being a competitive skater, Winter responded:

"Dislike the most politics and the money behind politics and how that really gets in the competitive world more than you think. And then I loved meeting new people, and [competing] internationally was probably one of the favorite things I got to do... and it was really cool [to] meet different people from different cultures and compete with them, ‘cause, like, everyone is such an amazing athlete."

 

[bramweld]

Yukina Ota and Oksana Bauil, these were special ladies. I often rewatch their programs. They brought their everything to the ice.

Ilinykh and Katsalapov were unique and electric. They brought a soul and authenticity to the ice that has not been replicated in Russian Ice Dance. Ilinykh is a brilliant actress on ice, given the right material and of course the support of her partner. It was so disappointing to see personal challenges destroy something really special. I often rewatch many of their programs.

 

[labgoat]

Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker

 

[lariko]

I dunno if anyone cares, but I am watching alternative GP, and yes, yes, Kolyada is commentating (one of three with Scherbakova and someone else I don't know) and he is doing a wonderful job.