The Iron Butterfly

I chat with 2x Olympic Pair Champion Katia Gordeeva about her life: -having her first child in between winning two Olympic gold medals -balancing motherhood while competitively skating and professionally touring -being a coach to her own daughter and juggling that role -the American vs. Russian training systems -her views on current skating -fitness levels for women in skating  

I recap all four disciplines in the 2024 World Championships in Montreal Canada.

I recap the top 3 in all disciplines + all Team USA athletes at the 2024 Junior World Championships!

I interview Olympian and French National champion Mae Berenice Meite on her inspiring career. We chat about her early beginnings in skating and getting to the Olympics, how she dealt with her injuries in her recovery process, growing into adulthood while navigating what skating meant to her, finding purpose and clarity while taking a break, and transforming her life with her new vision of skating and future.

I recap the top skaters at the 2024 Four Continents Championships in Shanghai, China.  

I recap the 2024 U.S. Championships in the Junior and Senior categories!

I recap the 2024 European Championships: Loena Hendrickx (BEL) Anastasiia Gibanova (GEO) Nina Pinzarrone (BEL) Livia Kaiser (SUI) Alexandra Feign (BUL) Kimmy Repond (SUI) Olga Mikutina (AUT) + Adam Saio Him Fa (FRA) Aleksandr Selevko (EST) Matteo Rizzo (ITA) Lukas Britschgi (SUI) + Lucrezia Beccari/Matteo Guarise (ITA) Anastasia Metelkina/Luka Berulava (GEO) Rebecca Ghilardi/Filippo Ambrosini (ITA) + Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA) Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (GBR) Allison Reed /Saulius Ambrulevicius (LTU) Natalie Taschlerova/Filip Taschler (CZE) Juulia Turkkila/Matthias Versluis (FIN) Follow me on IG: @polinaedmunds

I chat with Rory O'Brien, member of the champion Hayden Select Synchronized Skating Team for Team USA about all things synchro! Topics covered: -synchro skating general rules -the levels of synchro and moving up competitively -team tryout process -the key elements of a synchro program -the judging system for synchro -what the synchro competition season looks like -international competitions for synchro -training systems for synchro -what skating skills are most important for synchro -the elite 12 division and why it was created -the barriers for getting synchro into the Olympics -the best part of skating synchro Follow me on IG: @polinaedmunds

Mao SHIMADA (JPN) Jia Shin (KOR) Rena Uezono (JPN) Rio Nakata (JPN) Daniel Martynov (USA) Leah Neset/Artem Markelo (USA) Yahli Pederson/Jeffrey Chen (USA) Olivia Flores/Luke Wang (USA) Follow me on IG: @polinaedmunds

I recap the 2023 Grand Prix Final: Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) Loena Hendrickx (BEL) Hana Yoshida (JPN) Nina Pinzarrone (BEL) Isabeau Levito (USA) Rion Sumiyoshi (JPN) Ilia Malinin (USA) Shoma Uno (JPN) Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) Adam Saio Him Fa (FRA) Kao Miura (JPN) Kevin Aymoz (FRA) My thoughts on the Dance and Pairs events! Follow me on IG : @polinaedmunds    

-her skating origin story -the start of her integration career -skating with Adrian Diaz and switching from GBR to Spain -the close rivalry and journey to get to represent at the Olympics -how it felt the her partner announced retirement -taking the year off competition skating and her mentality -Dancing on Ice experience -how it felt to be away from competition and do some soul searching -the decision to compete again with a new partner -the ongoing journey -her advice to skaters Follow me on IG: @polinaedmunds    

Ava Zeigler (USA) Lindsay Thorngren (USA) Nina Pinzarrone (BEL) Yuna Aoki (JPN) Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) Shoma Uno (JPN) Camden Pulkinen (USA) Anastasia GOLUBEVA/Hektor GIOTOPOULOS MOORE (AUS) Chelsea Liu/Balazs Nagy (USA) Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (GBR) Lorraine McNamara/Anton Spiridonov (USA) Emily Bratti/Ian Somerville (USA) Follow me on IG: @polinaedmunds  

Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) Rion Sumiyoshi (JPN) Amber Glenn (USA) Chayeon Kim (KOR) Lorine Schild (FRA) Starr Andrews (USA) Kao Muira (JPN) Shun Sato (JPN) Kevin Aymoz (FRA) Liam Kapeikis (USA) Jimmy Ma (USA) Danny O'Shea/Ellie Kam (USA) Madi Chock + Evan Bates (USA) Laurence Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen (CAN) Juulia Turkikila/ Matthias Versluis (FIN) Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) Emilea Zingas/Vadym Kolesnik (USA) Follow me on IG: @polinaedmunds    

Hana Yoshida (JPN) Rinka Watanabe (JPN) Loena Hendrickx (BEL) Nina Petrokina (EST) Audrey Shin (USA) Yelim Kim (KOR) Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA) Shoma Uno (JPN) Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ) Jimmy Ma (9) Lucas Broussard  (12) Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps Maria Mokhova / Ivan Mokhov (USA) Yuchen Wang / Lei Zhu (CHN) Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier (CAN) Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha (CAN) Caroline Green / Michael Parsons (USA) Eva Pate/Logan Bye (USA) Emily Bratti + Ian Somerville(USA) Follow me on IG: @polinaedmunds

Isabeau Levito (USA) Nina Pinzarrone (BEL) Rion Sumiyoshi (JPN) Anastasia Gubanova (GEO) Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA) Ilia Malinin (USA) Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) Camden Pulkinen (USA) Trennt Michaud/Lia Pereira (CAN) Valentina Plazas/Max Fernandez (USA) Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA) Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Nikolaj Soerensen (CAN) Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) Hannah Lim/Ye Quan (KOR) Lorraine McNamara/Anton Spiridonov (USA) Follow me on IG: @polinaedmunds    

Kaori Sakamoto (JPN Chaeyeon Kim (KOR) Rino Matsuike (JPN) Madeline Schizas (CAN) Lindsay Thorngren (USA) Rinka Watanabe (JPN) Starr Andrews (USA) Audrey Shin (USA) Sota Yamamoto (JPN) Kao Miura (JPN) Matteo Rizzo (ITA) Kazuki Tomono (JPN) Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ) Liam Kapeikis (USA + Deanna Stellato Dudek/Maxime Deschamps (CAN) Oona Brown and Gage Brown (USA) Piper Gilles + Paul Pourier (CAN) Follow me on instagram: @polinaedmunds    

Loena Hendrickx (BEL) Isabeau Levito (USA) Niina Petrokina (EST) Hana Yoshida (JPN) Amber Glenn (USA) Mone Chiba (JPN) Clare Seo (USA) Ilia Malinin (USA) Kevin Aymoz (FRA) Shun Sato (JPN) Andrew Torgashev (USA) Maxim Naumov (USA) Deniss Vasijevs (LAT) Madi Chock/Evan Bates (USA) Caroline Green/Michael Parsons (USA) Oona Brown/Gage Brown (USA) Hannah Lim/Ye Quan (KOR) Natalie Taschlerova/Filip Taschler (CZE) Olivia Smart/Tim Dieck (ESP) Annika Hocke/Robert Kunkel (GER) Lia Pereira/Trennt Michaud (CAN) Chelsea Liu/Balazs Nagy (USA) Isabelle Martins/Ryan Bedard (USA) Valentina Plazas/Maximiliano Fernandez (USA) Follow me on instagram : @Polinaedmunds @theironbutterflypod

Deanna shares her spectacular 16-year comeback skating story with us: -Skating in singles and competing under the 6.0 system -Competing at Junior Worlds in 2000 -retiring, living life, and coming back to compete in 2016 in pairs -the realities and feelings of making a comeback in her thirties -switching partners and representing a new country -How age has affected her comeback, and the differences in mindset and training -becoming a Pairs National Champion in both the U.S. and Canada: her mentality with skating and her drive despite obstacles -her advice to skaters Follow me on instagram: @polinaedmunds Follow Deanna on instagram:@deannamsd622

Mao Shimada (JPN) Elyce-Lin Gracey (USA) Sherry Zhang (USA) Ikura Shimada (JPN) Eunbi Park (KOR) Inga Gurgenidze (GEO) Daniel Martynov (USA) Shunsuke Nakamura (JPN) Fedir Kulish (LAT) Aleksandr Fegan (USA) Elliana Peal + Ethan Peal (USA) Follow me on instagram: @polinaedmunds @theironbutterflypod  

Rena Uezono (JPN) Minsol Kwon (KOR) Seojin Youn (KOR) Yihan Wang (CHN) Anthea Gradinaru (SUI) Sarah Everhardt (USA) Juheon Lim (KOR) Beck Strommer (USA) Daiya Ebihara (JPN) Amy Cui / Kenny Eckert (USA) Kristina Bland/ Mathew Sherry (USA) Follow me on instagram: @polinaedmunds @theironbutterflypod