MY MOST SURPRISING MOMENTS OF BOSTON FIGURE SKATING WORLDS-2025

Figure Skating World Championships 2025 concluded in Boston on Sunday following four days of exciting competition. Sold out TD Garden arena was brought to their feet countless times.  Although I was not officially accredited to cover the event this time, I was happy to get away from it all and celebrate incredible athleticism and dazzling artistry of the world of figure skating with my family and friends- in my home town!

Here are my top surprises of the Boston Figure Skating Worlds:

Alysa Liu winning the gold medal in women’s event

(American) Alysa Liu (19) was the sensation of Boston! She came out of an almost 2 year retirement (competed for the first time just five months earlier) and “unassumingly” won both short and free skates.   Alysa was getting her momentum gradually in the season from placing sixth and fourth in her two Grand Prix assignments in the fall of 2024, then second at the US Championships in January and fourth in Four Continents Event just prior to the Boston Worlds in February 2025.  She was last to skate in Boston’s free skate (having placed first in short program) and it was an exuberant display of happy emotions from start to finish (the crowd practically drowned out her Donna Summer free skate music).

Following her winning skate in Boston Alysa exchanged an emotional hug with a 3-time World Champion Kaori Sakamoto (Japan) who finished behind Alysa with a silver medal. Mone Chiba of Japan was third. I was surprised with a tenth place finish of an 18 year old promising Korean skater Chaeyeon Kim who with recent Gold medal at the Four Continents event was favored to win (we are now learning that she sustained a recent injury).  American Amber Glenn who won all of her previous competitions this season including the Grand Prix final and US Championships finished fifth behind her teammate Isabeau Levito – both had solid free skates but made some disappointing mistakes (Isabeau’s short program styled to Breakfast at Tiffany’s is my favorite program of the season).

I first met (and talked to) Alysa, then 14,  in 2019 during Aurora Games event in Albany, NY.  This is what I wrote after that event:

American women have not won medals at the world championships since 2016 Boston Worlds where Ashley Wagner earned silver (which I was lucky to witness in person), and a medal prior to that was Kimmie Meissner’s gold in 2006. There are a lot of eyes – and expectations- on Alysa right now to lead U.S. women to the international success (when she is age-eligible to compete in senior competitions, which will not happen for a couple of seasons).  

Alysa was the first female skater to have performed a triple Axel and a quadruple jump (Lutz) in competition in one program (ISU Junior Grand Prix Lake Placid 2019); she did go on to represent the US in 2022 Beijing Olympics (she finished sixth) and earned bronze at the World Championships that same year but she retired soon after feeling drained from the pressures of elite competing and ..not having a “life” outside of the arena.  She now came back to the sport as an adult  “on her own terms”- and is crushing it!

Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan winning silver in Men’s event

In Men’s Event Mikhail Shaidorov (of Kazakhstan) was probably my most emotionally invested program of the entire Worlds.  Although Mikhail (21) has just won the Four Continents in February and made a splash earlier in the season with his unique triple axel/quadruple toe loop combination (he updated it to a triple axel/quadruple salchow) – he was only 14^th at last year’s Worlds in Montreal and still came into the event as an underdog.   No one in the world does a combination with a quadruple as a second jump, not even Ilia. I am excited to see Mikhail grow even further technically and artistically: his artistic components score was only seventh in the free skate (Jason Brown of the US had the highest artistic components score of the night).

I was actually not “surprised” with (American) Ilia Malinin landing 6 different quadruple jumps and earning his second world title in Boston.  He finished 31 points ahead of a second place finish and won both short and free skates this time.  He is the first skater to land all 6 of different quadruple jumps in one program (including a quadruple axel which no one else has ever landed in an official competition).

Ilia has been “spoiling” us with his inhumanly ambitious goals (he was going for 7!! Quadruple jumps in Boston but doubled one of his lutzes) and improving artistry – his short program  (set to contemporary “Running” by NF) won “the most entertaining program of the season” ISU Award.

Known for his artistry, Jason Brown did not “only” win artistic component score at the free skate; he placed 8^th overall and helped US maintain three Olympic spots for Milan 2026 despite Andrei Torgashev (I was rooting for him!) finishing 22^nd. (The sum of two placements has to be 13 or less for the country to qualify three entries).

In Pairs Event, Nikita Volodin/Minerva Fabienne Hase’s silver medal

I was surprised that Nikita Volodin/Minerva Fabienne Hase of Germany placed second overall after their seemingly perfect free skate with amazingly symmetrical jump landings; they did win the free skate but the score was not enough to make up for the short program disadvantage (Japan’s Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara, 2023 World Champions, won the short program).  I was so sure of Nikita and Minerva’s win (they themselves were sure of it – if only for a short moment) that I screamed Congratulations! to their coach Dmitri Savin from the stands.

However, the imperfect final lift cut slightly short by Nikita and Japanese pair’s advantage after the short program have put Nikita and Minerva into second overall (with 79 hundredths of a point difference).  It is still an incredible success for a pair that has only been training together for two and a half years.  Last year’s winners Canadians Deanna Stellato Dudek/Maxim Deschamps finished fifth.

I was pleasantly surprised  with 2025 US champions Alisa Efimova/Misha Mitrofanov’s performance in the free skate (4^th in free skate and 6^th overall). Each an experienced pairs skater- they were partnered to train together in Boston less than 2 years ago and put forward their best skate ever under home crowd pressure (and still under the spell of a recent plane tragedy that took the lives of several members of the Skating Club of Boston).

In Dance event,

I was surprised how much I liked in person the “Dune” Free Skate by ice dancers Olivia Smart/Tim Dieck (representing Spain) which earned them third place and small medal in free dance (they are sixth overall in the highly competitive field).  The program was nominated for the Most Entertaining Program award by ISU (Ilya’s short program has won the award).

Ice Dance is my least favorite discipline (mostly because the judging is least understood) but I was surprised how entertaining it was to watch live on the arena.  Madison Chock/Evan Bates of the US earned their third Worlds Gold, Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier of Canada were second and Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson brought home the bronze (first UK’s World Championship medal in forty years!)

Surprisingly, Juulia Turkkila/Matthias Versluis of Finland who were sensational in recent Europeans winning fourth overall  took last, 20th spot (after a freaky fall) to perform in the free skate in Boston (they went on to finish 11th overall here).  Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevičius (2024 European bronze medalists competing for Lithuania) did not make a free skate at all – having finished just outside the top 20 in the rhythm dance.   I am hoping they will still get to compete at the Olympics (with Allison recently getting Lithuania’s citizenship after years of trying).  Alisa and Misha’s Olympic status (despite helping to qualify 3 US spots for Milan) is also up in the air (she was born in Finland).

Boston Worlds brought many surprises to the ice arena itself

under the motto of engaging the fans MORE.  First of all, there was a new Leader’s Chair just near the Kiss & Cry where during the last two warm up groups a leading skater would sit for the duration of his/her winning “streak”.  I understand that the skaters themselves are not loving the idea of not being able to get off the ice after the performance, but the spectators got to witness several interesting moments: Alysa Liu and Kaori Sakamoto (whom she just “de-throned”) in a long hug following Alysa’s skate (Kaori was in a Leader’s Chair until then) and Ilia Malinin congratulating Mikhail Shaidorov (who was sitting in the Leader’s Chair during Ilia’s performance).

LED-powered interactive dasher boards, center screen and Kiss&Cry tableau displaying skater’s information and messages to the public and even Instagram handles – all signaling to fans that figure skating is moving fast with technology and “is cool”.

I also loved live arena commentary (and Kiss&Cry interviews with the skaters immediately after their performances) from indefatigable former skaters  Ashley Wagner (3-time US Champion and former World Silver Medalist) and Ben Agosto (Olympic ice dance silver medalist with his partner Tanith Belbin).

And although die hard fans do not need all this jazz to continue our love affair with the sport, these were all welcome innovations and I can’t wait for my next live figure skating competition.  Looks like it might be Milan Olympics 2026!