Boston’s Big Month of Figure Skating
We are living through an exciting month of figure skating in Boston. Our very own Norwood-based Skating Club of Boston (SCB) is at the forefront of the 2026-27 season launch again this year.
On August 6-9 SCB hosted the Cranberry Cup – an ISU Challenger Series event. As is typical for a post-Olympic year, we had a somewhat smaller field of competitors and a smaller audience this year, but we still saw a number of ultra-C elements (including the triple axels from the first- and second- place women’s podium finishers, Korean twins Yuseong and Yujae Kim), witnessed a comeback (Mark Goronitsky of Israel finished in third), celebrated event winner (and SCB’s own) Aleksandr Selevko’s solid start to a competitive season with a combined two-program score of 246.15, got entangled in the new scoring rules (Mark, in particular, lost close to 20 points “out of old habits” due to downgraded/invalidated elements but, “The errors are already fixed”, he promised) and genuinely enjoyed a home-like atmosphere of the beautiful Tenley Albright Performance Center.
(Read my post-event interviews with Aleksandr Selevko for Figure Skaters online and with Mark Gorodnitsky – for A Divine Sport). A second place finisher US’s Daniel Martynov (221.38) is also ready to take on the new season with his new programs.
Next week, SCB is hosting U.S. Figure Skating Champs Camp, an annual training camp for National Team athletes culminating in the Summer Sizzler on August 27– a showcase of the new competitive programs. The Sizzler will be headlined by 2026 Olympic Champion Alysa Liu but it is really an all-star cast of Olympians and national champions. Among the participants are Isabeau Levito (2024 World silver medalist and 2023 U.S. gold medalist), Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik (2026 Worlds bronze medalists), and Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov (2-Time U.S. pairs champions) who train at the Skating Club of Boston. The event is hosted by US Olympians Adam Rippon and Ashley Wagner, who manage to make figure skating events even more fun.
On August 26, the eve of the Summer Sizzler, the red-carpet season launch at View Boston (hosted by U.S. Figure Skating Association) will draw fans quite literally to the top of Boston. Called Figure Skating × Fashion: Styling 2027, it will be an evening celebrating the intersection of sport with artistry and fashion, bringing together skaters past and present to share their stories of program and costume creation. Alysa Liu and other U.S. National team members will be in attendance and two-time Olympian Johny Weir (known for his contributions to figure skating artistry and style) will host the event.
I am most inspired by Isabeau Levito’s balletic style of skating and I am excited to learn the stories behind her new programs and new styling this season. Local young designer alumni of the Boston Arts Academy will be showing their costume sketches for Isabeau Levito’s new exhibition program at the event.
Summer Sizzler ticket holders get a 25% discount to the Figure Skating: Fashion event with promo code SIZZLER25. Tune in to my Instagram and YouTube for upcoming event videos.
Coming up next at the Skating Club of Boston is ISU Challenger Series John Nicks Pairs International competition on September 11-12. Stay tuned via the Skating Club of Boston website.
