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Kitsch's Top 20 Skating Performances From the 2024-25 Season
Hi! I never use DW so I don't know if anyone even follows me on here, but this seemed like the best place to do this. I wanted to throw together a ranking of my top figure skating performances from this season... to link to others but also for myself so I can remember the highlights in years to come. So let's fucking go!
Kitsch's Top 20 Skating Performances From the 2024-25 Season
I actually struggled to get it down to 20. If you are in the US or Canada, you do need a VPN to watch these. Most European countries should work. Sometimes I use New Zealand if it's being weird. (If you don't have a VPN and you really feel like watching these, download the browser Opera—it has a free built-in VPN that you can turn on in settings. Then keep it downloaded and you can watch every international skating competition next season!)
Most of these are from Worlds, which is part recency bias I'm sure, but also because a lot of these programs were performed well all season but the Worlds videos have the highest quality footage and the most enthusiastic crowd.
20. Women's Skating, Ekaterina Kurakova FS at the World Championships (Cats)
If you had told me at the beginning of this season I would be putting this program on a best-of list I would not have believed you. I love Katya Kurakova—she skates with so much joy and heart—but I clowned on this program so hard all season. The cat ears and the costume change are gimmicky, the music isn't to my taste, I hated that she used the Taylor Swift version of Macavity... not to mention that Katya had a STRUGGLE of a season. She didn't put together anything even close to a clean program for most of the season, and lost the title of Four Nationals Champion which she'd previously held for six years. It was rough! But goddamn if she didn't absolutely shine in this free skate at Worlds. The weirdness of it made her stand out in the early groups in the best possible way. The crowd in Boston was insane, and they (we) uplifted and supported her through her best performance of the season. I love the joy that starts radiating from her near the end of the program, and her disbelief at the standing ovation. Just a delight!
19. Women's Skating, Niina Petrokina FS at the European Championships (Dune)
The context is what makes this one really special. Europeans this year was held in Tallinn, Estonia, Niina's hometown. Before this competition, Niina had NEVER won a major championships before—her highest result was bronze at one Grand Prix. Her Grand Prix placements this year were 7th and 10th. So it was an absolute shock for her to come out of nowhere with the skate of her LIFE, setting a new personal best and becoming the European Champion in front of a screaming hometown crowd. Niina's reaction to her scores and all the kids in the audience holding up homemade signs made me so emotional 😭 The president of Estonia personally called her on the phone to congratulate her!
18. Women's Skating, Niina Petrokina Gala Program at the World Championships (Cell Block Tango)
The absolute theatrics of this. Recruiting other skaters to surround her at the beginning with their phones like paparazzi. Starting off the ice. Murdering Adam Siao Him Fa. It's Niina Petrokina's world and she just lets us live in it (except for those she doesn't).
Commentary from Adam: "It was incredibly funny. Niina came up to me and said, 'Can you be part of my number? I need to kill you.' Then she asked, 'How do you want to go? Bullet to the head, strangulation, or poisoning?' I told her, 'Your choice.' "
17. Ice Dance, Yuka Orihara/Juho Pirinen FD at the World Championships (A Chorus Line)
What if you wanted to be a Broadway star, but you were a Japanese ice dancer? You would simply have to move to Finland and skate to A Chorus Line. I love the sincerity of this program. It could go cheesy, but they're skating it with their whole hearts. It's hard for me not to compare this to Daniel Grassl's far less successful Billy Elliot FS, which also has spoken choreographic instructions in the music that he attempts to follow. I think it's Yuka and Juho's commitment and precision that makes it work so well for them! The way the music is cut and choreographed is perfect—I love at 0:59 when they break into those big open twizzles as the horns come in.
16. Men's Skating, Deniss Vasiljevs FS at the World Championships (La Bayadère)
A beloved fan favorite, Deniss is a fabulous, engaging performer who doesn't quite always get there in his technical content. So what an absolute joy it was to see this beautiful program skated squeaky clean at Worlds! Some of the best spins in the game.
15. Women's Skating, Wakaba Higuchi FS at the World Championships (Nature Boy, Running Up That Hill)
Never has a skater so loved by fans been so inexplicably hated by the judges. I actually had trouble deciding which performance to include here because Wakaba slayed all season, yet inexplicably ended up in 6th at Worlds despite two clean programs. This was one of my favorite music choices this season in women's skating—it's contemporary and fresh, yet brings the drama and momentum of a traditional classical piece. Also Kaori Sakamoto in tears at the end of this performance is everything.
14. Women's Skating, Mone Chiba FS at NHK (Ariana Concerto No. 1)
Mone has a maturity to her skating that I would expect from someone about 5 years older. This program is so peaceful and effortless, as if there isn't even a world in which she wouldn't land all her jumps.
13. Women's Skating, Rino Matsuike FS at Skate Canada (Lux Aeterna)
Quite simply one of the most beautiful women's free skates of all time. The music, costume, choreography, and the sheer quality of her skating all come together to create absolute magic. If I were in that arena I don't think I would have breathed for four minutes straight. Flawless.
12. Women's Skating, Amber Glenn SP at Grand Prix de France (This Time by Janet Jackson)
We love our pansexual triple axel queen!! This was THE year of Amber Glenn, who finished tenth at Worlds last year after a disastrous free skate, only to come out and give us THIS performance in her first major competition of the season. She proceeded to win almost every other competition she participated in. She is such a powerful skater, and when she's on top of her mental game and can manage to skate clean she's absolutely captivating. This program is perfectly suited to her strengths. Plus I love seeing happy Amber in the Kiss & Cry!
11. Men's Skating, Kevin Aymoz SP at the World Championships
Kevin's SP for most of the season was a high-energy leather pants situation that was a lot of fun, but after the tragedy suffered by US figure skating this year, he didn't feel it was appropriate to perform it at Worlds in Boston. Instead, he went back to a program from the previous season, and it was absolutely breathtaking. This was his commentary on the change:
"This tragedy happened with the flight, and I thought it wasn't right to bring a fun program. I am talking with my emotions, and this what I want to say for these kids and for the love of figure skating. The second reason is the story of the music. This program is a tribute to two friends who recently transitioned, and I think with the actual politics it is good to say that. Sport is politics, we know that. When we are on the ice it isn't politics but if I can raise my voice I'm going to use it."
Also I love this costume.
10. Pairs Skating, Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin FS at the World Championships (The Four Seasons)
Someone on Bluesky was saying that Hase and Volodin have the energy of the Eastern European villains in an American sports movie from the 80s, which is true, but in the best way. They are powerful and precise. (Despite the small mistake on the last lift in this program, it's perfect to ME.) Pairs skating is tough because it's SO easy for it to look sloppy, and nearly impossible for it to look this clean. They are the perfect example of how the technician/artist dichotomy is fake because perfect technique IS beautiful art. I'd love to see them as Olympic champions next season.
9. Ice Dance, Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko FD at Cup of China (Carmen Suite)
This program really put this dance team on the map for me. Carmen is such a figure skating cliché, but I can't help but still love the drama of it, which Christina Carreira absolutely embodies. It's worth watching multiple performances of this one just for different camera angles on her slamming Anthony into the boards. After this performance at Cup of China she changed her dress to a more traditional red one and started wearing transfer-proof lipstick, but I really love the yellow dress, and I LOVE her smearing lipstick across Anthony's face when they lock lips at 3:29. That lipstick smear is part of the choreo to me!
8. Men's Skating, Ilia Malinin SP at the World Championships (Running by NF)
This is easily my favorite competition program from Ilia, ever. It's not really MY style... but it's the most I've ever seen Ilia connect to a program, and the most he's let his personality come through his skating. His free skate this year could get a little... busy? Exhausting? But this short program hit every single time. I really could have chosen any performance of it. It just explodes in your face and leaves you stunned. The elements are timed perfectly to the music, especially that raspberry twist (Ilia's signature move) at 3:00. (Insane costume though.)
7. Pairs Skating, Alisa Efimova/Misha Mitrofanov FS at the World Championships (Je Suis Malade)
In the 80s movie where Hase and Volodin are the villains, Alisa and Misha would be the American heroes who win through the power of heart. That's not what happened, but this performance is so moving. They are from the Skating Club of Boston, so this was a hometown skate for them, and moreover, the SCOB was the hardest hit by losses in the crash of Flight 5432. Alisa and Misha have been open about dedicating their performances to the skaters, parents and coaches lost in the crash (you can see them holding up photos in memorium in the Kiss & Cry). They weren't technically perfect here, but this heartbreaking program was the highlight of the entire pairs event at Worlds for me.
6. Ice Dance, Olivia Smart/Tim Dieck FD at the World Championships (Dune)
It's crazy that I don't have a single program on here from any of the actual top ice dance teams (Chock/Bates, Gilles/Poirier, Guignard/Fabbri, Fear/Gibson), but what it comes down to is that, even though I love all those teams, I just didn't respond to their material as strongly as I did to this Dune free dance. It is the perfect marriage of costume, music and choreography, and they created a mesmerizing atmosphere inside the arena.
5. Men's Skating, Mikhail Shaidorov FS at the World Championships (Moonlight Sonata/Take On Me)
No one else could make this music choice work... and I'm not convinced Misha did either, but this skate is so good you just kind of accept it. Misha had a stunning breakout season, getting better and better each time he stepped on the ice until this career-defining flawless performance that netted him a World silver. This is a guy who placed 14th at Worlds 2024 AND Worlds 2023! He is the only one ever to land the combination he nails at 0:56 (triple axel + Euler + quad salchow). He needs to work on his artistry and presentation... but this level of technical perfection is already unbelievably difficult to achieve. (Also, huge props to him for being actually from Kazakhstan and not a relocated Russian like most skaters who represent Central Asia.) If I were Ilia Malinin I'd be seeing Misha in my nightmares.
4. Pairs Skating, Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara SP at the World Championships (Paint It Black)
All I can say is that the feeling it created in me to watch this flawless, powerful performance live was indescribable.
3. Men's Skating, Yuma Kagiyama SP at NHK (Sound of Silence)
Yuma is easily the most beautiful men's figure skater in the world. (Fight me!) He started the season with this stunning performance at NHK, only to seemingly lose confidence as the season went on. But his movement quality is unmatched. As Dick Button once said, he moves like "liquid gold." He can land a quad as softly and delicately as a hummingbird. This "Sound of Silence" program was inspired by how smooth and quiet he is when he skates. It's just gorgeous!
2. Women's Skating, Alysa Liu FS at the World Championships (MacArthur Park
I mean, this is going to go down in history as one of the most incredible moments in the history of the sport. I don't know how you could know me and not have heard this story, but just in case: Alysa Liu retired at age 16 in 2022, and decided to come back to figure skating around March 2024. Cut to her winning Worlds barely a year later. I obsessively read everyone's Worlds predictions before the competition, and absolutely NO ONE predicted this. And she made it look trivially easy! She just radiates joy and ease, it's impossible not to feel happy watching this.
Honorable Mention
Lukas Britschgi's SP at Worlds (strong anti-fascist message), Chaeyeon Kim's FS at Four Continents (she killed it!), Jason Brown's FS at Worlds (ALWAYS one of the most beautiful skaters), Tomás-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté's FS at Worlds (incredibly fun music choices and choreo), Alina Urushadze's FS at the World Team Trophy (she basically only did double jumps but the PERFORMANCE!!!), Ilia Malinin's gala program at Worlds (so heartrendingly beautiful I can't even rank it in a list, but it changed how I see him forever).
And finally...
1. Kaori Sakamoto FS at the World Championships (All That Jazz)
VERY difficult to beat that performance from Alysa. The only one who could possibly do it is our three-time World Champ and icon. (She only didn't ACTUALLY beat Alysa due to a mistake in the short program.) Kaori at the top of her game is untouchable. Her speed, strength, power, musicality, charisma... just give her Olympic gold already!!!
Kitsch's Top 20 Skating Performances From the 2024-25 Season
I actually struggled to get it down to 20. If you are in the US or Canada, you do need a VPN to watch these. Most European countries should work. Sometimes I use New Zealand if it's being weird. (If you don't have a VPN and you really feel like watching these, download the browser Opera—it has a free built-in VPN that you can turn on in settings. Then keep it downloaded and you can watch every international skating competition next season!)
Most of these are from Worlds, which is part recency bias I'm sure, but also because a lot of these programs were performed well all season but the Worlds videos have the highest quality footage and the most enthusiastic crowd.
20. Women's Skating, Ekaterina Kurakova FS at the World Championships (Cats)
If you had told me at the beginning of this season I would be putting this program on a best-of list I would not have believed you. I love Katya Kurakova—she skates with so much joy and heart—but I clowned on this program so hard all season. The cat ears and the costume change are gimmicky, the music isn't to my taste, I hated that she used the Taylor Swift version of Macavity... not to mention that Katya had a STRUGGLE of a season. She didn't put together anything even close to a clean program for most of the season, and lost the title of Four Nationals Champion which she'd previously held for six years. It was rough! But goddamn if she didn't absolutely shine in this free skate at Worlds. The weirdness of it made her stand out in the early groups in the best possible way. The crowd in Boston was insane, and they (we) uplifted and supported her through her best performance of the season. I love the joy that starts radiating from her near the end of the program, and her disbelief at the standing ovation. Just a delight!
19. Women's Skating, Niina Petrokina FS at the European Championships (Dune)
The context is what makes this one really special. Europeans this year was held in Tallinn, Estonia, Niina's hometown. Before this competition, Niina had NEVER won a major championships before—her highest result was bronze at one Grand Prix. Her Grand Prix placements this year were 7th and 10th. So it was an absolute shock for her to come out of nowhere with the skate of her LIFE, setting a new personal best and becoming the European Champion in front of a screaming hometown crowd. Niina's reaction to her scores and all the kids in the audience holding up homemade signs made me so emotional 😭 The president of Estonia personally called her on the phone to congratulate her!
18. Women's Skating, Niina Petrokina Gala Program at the World Championships (Cell Block Tango)
The absolute theatrics of this. Recruiting other skaters to surround her at the beginning with their phones like paparazzi. Starting off the ice. Murdering Adam Siao Him Fa. It's Niina Petrokina's world and she just lets us live in it (except for those she doesn't).
Commentary from Adam: "It was incredibly funny. Niina came up to me and said, 'Can you be part of my number? I need to kill you.' Then she asked, 'How do you want to go? Bullet to the head, strangulation, or poisoning?' I told her, 'Your choice.' "
17. Ice Dance, Yuka Orihara/Juho Pirinen FD at the World Championships (A Chorus Line)
What if you wanted to be a Broadway star, but you were a Japanese ice dancer? You would simply have to move to Finland and skate to A Chorus Line. I love the sincerity of this program. It could go cheesy, but they're skating it with their whole hearts. It's hard for me not to compare this to Daniel Grassl's far less successful Billy Elliot FS, which also has spoken choreographic instructions in the music that he attempts to follow. I think it's Yuka and Juho's commitment and precision that makes it work so well for them! The way the music is cut and choreographed is perfect—I love at 0:59 when they break into those big open twizzles as the horns come in.
16. Men's Skating, Deniss Vasiljevs FS at the World Championships (La Bayadère)
A beloved fan favorite, Deniss is a fabulous, engaging performer who doesn't quite always get there in his technical content. So what an absolute joy it was to see this beautiful program skated squeaky clean at Worlds! Some of the best spins in the game.
15. Women's Skating, Wakaba Higuchi FS at the World Championships (Nature Boy, Running Up That Hill)
Never has a skater so loved by fans been so inexplicably hated by the judges. I actually had trouble deciding which performance to include here because Wakaba slayed all season, yet inexplicably ended up in 6th at Worlds despite two clean programs. This was one of my favorite music choices this season in women's skating—it's contemporary and fresh, yet brings the drama and momentum of a traditional classical piece. Also Kaori Sakamoto in tears at the end of this performance is everything.
14. Women's Skating, Mone Chiba FS at NHK (Ariana Concerto No. 1)
Mone has a maturity to her skating that I would expect from someone about 5 years older. This program is so peaceful and effortless, as if there isn't even a world in which she wouldn't land all her jumps.
13. Women's Skating, Rino Matsuike FS at Skate Canada (Lux Aeterna)
Quite simply one of the most beautiful women's free skates of all time. The music, costume, choreography, and the sheer quality of her skating all come together to create absolute magic. If I were in that arena I don't think I would have breathed for four minutes straight. Flawless.
12. Women's Skating, Amber Glenn SP at Grand Prix de France (This Time by Janet Jackson)
We love our pansexual triple axel queen!! This was THE year of Amber Glenn, who finished tenth at Worlds last year after a disastrous free skate, only to come out and give us THIS performance in her first major competition of the season. She proceeded to win almost every other competition she participated in. She is such a powerful skater, and when she's on top of her mental game and can manage to skate clean she's absolutely captivating. This program is perfectly suited to her strengths. Plus I love seeing happy Amber in the Kiss & Cry!
11. Men's Skating, Kevin Aymoz SP at the World Championships
Kevin's SP for most of the season was a high-energy leather pants situation that was a lot of fun, but after the tragedy suffered by US figure skating this year, he didn't feel it was appropriate to perform it at Worlds in Boston. Instead, he went back to a program from the previous season, and it was absolutely breathtaking. This was his commentary on the change:
"This tragedy happened with the flight, and I thought it wasn't right to bring a fun program. I am talking with my emotions, and this what I want to say for these kids and for the love of figure skating. The second reason is the story of the music. This program is a tribute to two friends who recently transitioned, and I think with the actual politics it is good to say that. Sport is politics, we know that. When we are on the ice it isn't politics but if I can raise my voice I'm going to use it."
Also I love this costume.
10. Pairs Skating, Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin FS at the World Championships (The Four Seasons)
Someone on Bluesky was saying that Hase and Volodin have the energy of the Eastern European villains in an American sports movie from the 80s, which is true, but in the best way. They are powerful and precise. (Despite the small mistake on the last lift in this program, it's perfect to ME.) Pairs skating is tough because it's SO easy for it to look sloppy, and nearly impossible for it to look this clean. They are the perfect example of how the technician/artist dichotomy is fake because perfect technique IS beautiful art. I'd love to see them as Olympic champions next season.
9. Ice Dance, Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko FD at Cup of China (Carmen Suite)
This program really put this dance team on the map for me. Carmen is such a figure skating cliché, but I can't help but still love the drama of it, which Christina Carreira absolutely embodies. It's worth watching multiple performances of this one just for different camera angles on her slamming Anthony into the boards. After this performance at Cup of China she changed her dress to a more traditional red one and started wearing transfer-proof lipstick, but I really love the yellow dress, and I LOVE her smearing lipstick across Anthony's face when they lock lips at 3:29. That lipstick smear is part of the choreo to me!
8. Men's Skating, Ilia Malinin SP at the World Championships (Running by NF)
This is easily my favorite competition program from Ilia, ever. It's not really MY style... but it's the most I've ever seen Ilia connect to a program, and the most he's let his personality come through his skating. His free skate this year could get a little... busy? Exhausting? But this short program hit every single time. I really could have chosen any performance of it. It just explodes in your face and leaves you stunned. The elements are timed perfectly to the music, especially that raspberry twist (Ilia's signature move) at 3:00. (Insane costume though.)
7. Pairs Skating, Alisa Efimova/Misha Mitrofanov FS at the World Championships (Je Suis Malade)
In the 80s movie where Hase and Volodin are the villains, Alisa and Misha would be the American heroes who win through the power of heart. That's not what happened, but this performance is so moving. They are from the Skating Club of Boston, so this was a hometown skate for them, and moreover, the SCOB was the hardest hit by losses in the crash of Flight 5432. Alisa and Misha have been open about dedicating their performances to the skaters, parents and coaches lost in the crash (you can see them holding up photos in memorium in the Kiss & Cry). They weren't technically perfect here, but this heartbreaking program was the highlight of the entire pairs event at Worlds for me.
6. Ice Dance, Olivia Smart/Tim Dieck FD at the World Championships (Dune)
It's crazy that I don't have a single program on here from any of the actual top ice dance teams (Chock/Bates, Gilles/Poirier, Guignard/Fabbri, Fear/Gibson), but what it comes down to is that, even though I love all those teams, I just didn't respond to their material as strongly as I did to this Dune free dance. It is the perfect marriage of costume, music and choreography, and they created a mesmerizing atmosphere inside the arena.
5. Men's Skating, Mikhail Shaidorov FS at the World Championships (Moonlight Sonata/Take On Me)
No one else could make this music choice work... and I'm not convinced Misha did either, but this skate is so good you just kind of accept it. Misha had a stunning breakout season, getting better and better each time he stepped on the ice until this career-defining flawless performance that netted him a World silver. This is a guy who placed 14th at Worlds 2024 AND Worlds 2023! He is the only one ever to land the combination he nails at 0:56 (triple axel + Euler + quad salchow). He needs to work on his artistry and presentation... but this level of technical perfection is already unbelievably difficult to achieve. (Also, huge props to him for being actually from Kazakhstan and not a relocated Russian like most skaters who represent Central Asia.) If I were Ilia Malinin I'd be seeing Misha in my nightmares.
4. Pairs Skating, Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara SP at the World Championships (Paint It Black)
All I can say is that the feeling it created in me to watch this flawless, powerful performance live was indescribable.
3. Men's Skating, Yuma Kagiyama SP at NHK (Sound of Silence)
Yuma is easily the most beautiful men's figure skater in the world. (Fight me!) He started the season with this stunning performance at NHK, only to seemingly lose confidence as the season went on. But his movement quality is unmatched. As Dick Button once said, he moves like "liquid gold." He can land a quad as softly and delicately as a hummingbird. This "Sound of Silence" program was inspired by how smooth and quiet he is when he skates. It's just gorgeous!
2. Women's Skating, Alysa Liu FS at the World Championships (MacArthur Park
I mean, this is going to go down in history as one of the most incredible moments in the history of the sport. I don't know how you could know me and not have heard this story, but just in case: Alysa Liu retired at age 16 in 2022, and decided to come back to figure skating around March 2024. Cut to her winning Worlds barely a year later. I obsessively read everyone's Worlds predictions before the competition, and absolutely NO ONE predicted this. And she made it look trivially easy! She just radiates joy and ease, it's impossible not to feel happy watching this.
Honorable Mention
Lukas Britschgi's SP at Worlds (strong anti-fascist message), Chaeyeon Kim's FS at Four Continents (she killed it!), Jason Brown's FS at Worlds (ALWAYS one of the most beautiful skaters), Tomás-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté's FS at Worlds (incredibly fun music choices and choreo), Alina Urushadze's FS at the World Team Trophy (she basically only did double jumps but the PERFORMANCE!!!), Ilia Malinin's gala program at Worlds (so heartrendingly beautiful I can't even rank it in a list, but it changed how I see him forever).
And finally...
1. Kaori Sakamoto FS at the World Championships (All That Jazz)
VERY difficult to beat that performance from Alysa. The only one who could possibly do it is our three-time World Champ and icon. (She only didn't ACTUALLY beat Alysa due to a mistake in the short program.) Kaori at the top of her game is untouchable. Her speed, strength, power, musicality, charisma... just give her Olympic gold already!!!