What are you most looking forward to this new season? (2021-22)

[Minz]

The 2021-2022 Figure Skating Season officially starts today. (July 1st 2021)

It’s an Olympic season, and by the end, 4 Olympic Gold Medalists will have been crowned at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

So in honor of that,

What are you most looking forward to this season?

I’ll go first:

The thing I’m looking forward to the most is the Russian Ladies showdown this season!

(I’m also dreading it with every fiber of my being because I know it will be heartbreaking)

 

[silveruskate]

Russian Nationals and Hanyu vs. Nathan at the Olympics with a possible 4A attempt by Yuzuru.

 

[el henry]

I hate to say this, but possibly Jason's last year. I intend to soak in every second.

Jason said in the "Pride" podcast with Nick McCarvel that Rohene had added *even more* features to Sinnerman. Nick said the person who skates after you will be skating on concrete because the ice will have melted.

So that's what I'm looking forward to.

 

[iluvtodd]

attending Skate America & US Nationals!

 

[macy]

more specifically speaking...

will Kamila dominate this season and win Olympic gold?
how has returning to Eteri affected Sasha's quad technique and will she finally be able to put it together when it matters?
will Aliona regain her 3A and once again be a top contender for the team?
will Alysa live up to the expectations in her first senior season? Will she win another nationals and make the Olympics?
Can Mariah make a comeback and a case for the team?
Can Amber stay on the upward trajectory and put out consistent programs with a 3A?
Will Maiia be a dark horse for the Russian team and keep her quads and consistency?
Can Daria make a case for herself and add in a quad or 3A?
Will Nathan finish this olympic quad with the cherry on top- finally an Olympic gold?
or can Hanyu pull himself to a 3rd Olympic gold? will we see him attempt the 4A in competition?

 

[noskates]

I always love the competition year leading up to the Olympics. It's so intense and every move has ramifications. Have seen US Nationals 3 times in those years and it's always exciting to see the programs. Have to agree with some of the above posts: Alyssa dealing with her growth issues and getting her jumps back, Amber keeping the momentum going or falling back to her previous inconsistent performances, I do think Nathan will again best Hanyu, anxious to see Jason's "new" Sinnerman, O'Shea and Liu, Frazier and Knierem, Ice Dance internationally (Cizeron and Papadakis specifically) and so much more. Can't wait for the season to start.

 

[ladyjane]

Personally, I'm more into Pairs and Men than into Women (there's only a few of them that I am really interested in), but I'm actually just looking forward to the season as a whole, preferably with a World Championships at the end of it (I always love the WC after an OG with the mix of Olympians and relatively new talent).

In Pairs I am looking forward to all competitions, be they Challenger, Senior B, Grand Prix, various Nationals and I'll be particularly watching out for James/Radford, Mishina/Galliamov, Sui/Han, Moore-Towers/Marinaro, Boikova/Kozlovskii, Peng/Jin, Knierim/Frazier, Cain-Gribble/Leduc, Della Monica/Guarise, Miura/Kihara, Tarasova/Morosov, Ziegler/Kiefer. Oh well, the whole field really, including Liu/O'Shea, the Germans, the other Italians and the French. Not forgetting Jones/Boyadji either. .

In men I'll have my eye on Donovan Carillo, Jason Brown, Kevin Amoz, Matteo Rizzo, Keegan Messing, the Japanese men, the American and Canadian men, the Italian men, the Russian men and so on. I have many favourites, although the ones I mentioned by name are top of the bill for me.

In Ice Dance I have a lot of favourites too, but I'm mostly looking forward to seeing Papadakis/Cizeron again. I really missed them last season. I'm hoping for a lot of originality in the Dances, although I realise not many couples will try out anything out of the box in an olympic season.

And in Women? There's Loena Hendrickx, Olga Mikutina, Lindsay van Zundert and Josefin Taljegard to follow up on.

 

[rugbyfan]

I shall chip in here with ice dance and in particular with Gilles and Poirier and seeing P and C again

 

[Apple1078]

I shall chip in here with ice dance and in particular with Gilles and Poirier and seeing P and C again

I really missed P/C this past season.

 

[Seven Sisters]

I’m most looking forward to being able to attend competitions again, live and in person! Please don’t let COVID continue to spoil the fun

Skating wise, I think this will be the last competitive season for many of our favorites. May they all go out on a high note.

(Especially Tuktamysheva. I’d love to see her have a wonderful season and make her first Olympics.)

 

[alexocfp]

Liza winning Olympic gold obviously.

 

[pearly]

I'm looking forward to a proper competition season (fingers crossed). I like that the GP assignments look are looking very normal and this gives me hope that the competitions will be held and athletes will travel without restrictions.

 

[GoneWithTheWind]

In Ice Dance, I'm looking forward to seeing P/C back and seeing who will come out on top between them at S/K at GPF, Europeans and, of course, the Olympics!
Also, the rivalries of the other teams in the top 7:
Will H/D continue to be US no.1 over C/B?
Will G/P's Worlds medal spur them to higher placements or will the pressure of being reigning Worlds medalists get to them?
Can G/F grab the bronze at Europeans over S/B?
Slightly below the top 7 in the field, which of FB/S, Z/G, F/G and H/B will come out on top?

In Pairs, I'm looking forward to the Russian rivalries:
Will M/G continue to improve and impress after their Worlds victory?
Will B/K be able to catch and challenge them?
Will T/M return to form and prove their doubters wrong or will they be surpassed by P/K?
Will K/B's move to Moskvina propel them further up the field?
Outside of Russia, the main question will be: can S/H win the Olympic gold?

In Ladies, I'm just looking forward to seeing who will make the GPF and watching Valieva, Khromyhk, Usacheva and Lui make their senior debuts.

Skaters I'm most looking forward to seeing: Guignard/Fabbri (in what will probably be their final season ), Galyavieva/Thauron, Della Monica/Guarise, Ziegler/Kiefer, Maia Khromyhk and Olga Mikutina.

 

[TontoK]

Fresh and innovative programs. From somebody. Anybody.

The cavalcade of war horses in the New Programs thread do not inspire confidence. And I don't know why this is... Jason's Sinnerman was a hit because... well, Jason skated it... but also because it was different. And, yes, I understand that not everyone could skate to music like that... but most skaters should be able to present something out of the box.

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

I'm looking forward to possibly having a normal season! I've missed all the cheering at competitions. I'm really excited to see what goes down in men. It's definitely going to be interesting to see who makes it onto the Olympic podium. In ladies, I'm excited to see Kaori attempt big jumps (and land them hopefully) and Alysa on the senior level. In ID, I really want to see Dai do well, and I can't wait to see his and Kana's new short! It looks so good!

 

[Ziotic]

Wakaba making the Oly team after the disappointment in 2018.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

I want to see H/D and G/P on the Olympic podium. And Nathan with that Olympic Gold around his neck.

Otherwise,

 

[ana]

I can't wait to see all japanese man and ladies, especially Satoko Miyahara, Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno.
Bradie Tennel vs Alysa Liu at US National. Evgenia Medvedeva if she returns to competetitions.
In dance I'd have probably say Victora and Nikita, Christina and Anthony.
In pairs Aleksandra and Dmitrii, Alexa and Brandon.
They skate from the heart. I wish them all the best.

 

[mrrice]

I'm looking forward to Nathan Chen going undefeated and bringing the OGM back to the US. It's been more than a decade since Evan won and it would be great to see it come back to the US.

 

[frkgas]

I'm looking forward to the Junior Grand Prix to catch up with the upcoming generation =)