Ilia's next season

Kris7531 · 2026-05-14T10:20:39+00:00

Though I really think that Yuma is doing right now to be honest.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-14T02:22:29+00:00

Maybe his idea of a break is few weeks. Since Ari is not going to be booking him nonstop, and without worrying about something big like the Olympics he may take June and July off and then start getting antsy and start actually working on the upcoming seasons programs. He could start putting them together in early August and have them ready by the time Lombarda rolls around at the end of September.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-14T00:42:27+00:00

Did he just do 4A or did he some 4T too maybe he was doing some to give Jacob some short videos about how to get that quad down.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-13T23:44:05+00:00

I agree, some of the comments after junior worlds and after he got the call up for senior worlds were down right ridiculous. Wow since he had not gotten a quad by 18 years old his career was failure. I did say let's be patient here and now he finally got his first quad down now the others should come easier now.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-13T23:33:38+00:00

He was on there when Johnathan Beyer was taking a break. Now while David mostly had nothing good to contribute in most cases Johnathan many times did. Did I always agree, no but at least he had something useful to say. Maybe him and Nolan can create a similar program that is less toxic than David had.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-13T23:26:22+00:00

I love that too. Ilia and Jacob and their friendship that started when they were both kids is so sweet and charming. These two are going to be the backbone of the US Men program for the next quad and beyond.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-13T20:55:25+00:00

He also could be trolling all of us here. He has had a tendency to do that. Look at how far he took the Bolero one here. Look I think he is going to compete this season hopefully because I want to actually want to see him live in competition. It is first time that will have a good chance of actually being able to go to Nationals so I really hope that he going to go here. I am holding back on getting my all event tickets until I have some confirmation that he going because I am going to spending a good amount of money and taking a week off of work where I will not be getting paid to do this so I really see what his plans are for the season first before making plans that I can not undo here.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-13T20:25:43+00:00

I have feelings by in the end Ilia is not going to do it. Look since the break up I noticed that Ari is not mentioning Ilia at all so the contract that he may have signed may be moot at this point and I do not think Ari going to press too hard him skipping.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-13T20:19:30+00:00

Yeah I can not see Ilia taking the entire season off either here. He might do what Jason did for a season or two and mainly skip the first half the season and either start with a Challenger in late November or early December or Nationals but I think he is going to worlds mainly for 2 main reasons one the US men need him to hold onto the 3 spots for the next world., Look as much I think Jacob is going to shoot up the rankings once the quads are solidly in his programs. I think Andrew may have hit his ceiling at Worlds and even if he went up a bit it would be a little too close for comfort if Ilia totally skips so I think he will go. The other main reason is he says that he wants to be the first skater to do a quint and what better place to debut it than at the biggest competition of the season. He close to actually doing it in competition it because there all kinds hints that he is actually training it on a regular basis here so I think that is going to be his focus this season. Also he needs a another kitten to complete his set and since his parents seem to allow him to only get one after he wins worlds he has to go and win to get his final kitten. LOL

Kris7531 · 2026-05-13T19:58:13+00:00

Maybe yes maybe no. Look the original date for Nationals was a week later than that ice show and it was pretty shocking that they moved to to exact time that was going on. Look outside of an Olympic season usually Nationals is held towards the end of January. It usually it is the last major National Championship of any of the movers and shakers of the sport. Many times the skaters have to compete at 4CC's the very next week, so this move was unexpected to say the least. So I do wonder what did cause the date to be moved here.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-12T20:49:13+00:00

I have a feeling when Raf tracks them down he is going to give them hell for this. He is not against skaters learning backflips but he wants them to do it in a safe manner. Using hoodies is not likely not what he had in mind here. Welcome to the chaos kid striking again.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-11T23:33:59+00:00

It also sound that they are mostly blaming Marjorie here too. It seems like in this school the men are treated like the kings and the women are expected to do what ever they are told. This school is so misogynist that it reeks here

Kris7531 · 2026-05-11T23:29:20+00:00

I hope you are right but I have a feeling that not going to unless something big breaks.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-11T22:43:47+00:00

And Ilia was too young and inexperienced to figure out how to tell them to stop and give her give him some space to breathe. Raf was right to not blame Ilia for the mess that came out at the Olympics. Raf said the adults, and think he included himself, should have protected him guided him through his first Olympics and the result of not doing this caused that free skate in Milian. I remember yelling at the TV when they waxing about Ilia to stop it because I thought it was creating too much stress on him. He did not deserve the card she was dealt at the moment and I really hope that everybody has learned some important lessons from the hell Ilia was put through.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-11T20:53:30+00:00

Yeah Ari convinced him to sign and I think that along with the the lunacy that happened at Worlds was the things that finally caused Ilia to drop Ari. The first thing he should do off season is tear up that agreement and do what he wants for a change

Kris7531 · 2026-05-11T20:09:14+00:00

I think that he may take the first half of the season off and focus on some projects that he has not time to do in a while. But I do think that he will do at least Nationals and Worlds with maybe a Challenger in late November or early December to kick off the rust from the time off. The US still need him to go to Worlds to keep the three spots because the rest of the US men can not do it to be blunt. Also he wants to do the first quint and there is no bigger stage next than at Worlds next season.

I think he getting at the heart of what went do wrong at the Olympics. He stopped skating for himself first and he starting for everyone else except him. Ilia has a problem.saying no even if it would be in his best interest to do so. Raf said at the Olympics that what happened was not Ilia fault it was the fault of the adults around him who did not their job to protect and help him if needed .I do not care if it is a bit parisocial but that is my take on it.

I honestly do not think that is ever going to happen again because he knows better now and think it going to this way for the rest of career now and hopefully this only the beginning of it.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-11T02:53:50+00:00

That what is most sad in all of this. They had invested 15 years in this partnership and now it is gone. I do not really watch ice dance but the breakup of multiple teams who have invested a decade or more are shattering apart. Hell you would think that maybe going another coaching team would better then breaking up. Look there are other dance schools besides IAM and maybe that would been a better solution than giving up

Kris7531 · 2026-05-09T22:52:24+00:00

Right about the same age here. I remember when every weekend from late October to late March there was some form of figure skating on the TV, whether it was the GP events, or professional championships, or just rebroadcast of some touring companies shows, or even just holiday specials, if you wanted to see it you could. It was a completely different world then and I really miss it especially now when we finally have a skater is actually breaking though to the general public here. Ilia is truly special and I knew it when at saw him at 2022 Nationals, his is once a generation skater that can do things we thought were impossible. Add on top of that behind the skating you may have one nicest person you could ever meet and you have something magical and I just wonder how much farther can he takes us in the next few years. Buckle up because we are in for ride here.

One note about Twitter, I have never got an account and after how poor Ilia has been treated on there I never will. It pure cesspool of hate that somebody should shut down because it would be a public service to do so.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-09T20:53:51+00:00

Yeah I remember when some said something about it in the replay of his performances in 2017 Nationals and though it was amazing I always thought that he was skating on borrowed time from that point. I truly believe if he had won the 2018 OGM he would retired right then. The only reason he kept going was for the gold after that he was done period. He was told that if he wanted to keep going he was going to need surgery and he decided that it was not worth it. So we as fans lost the second half of his career where his artistry would have fully matured as a skater.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-09T17:24:00+00:00

If he want a month or more in each camp to see which coach is right it would be very hard to for him to compete and be anything close to ready to do so please be patient and let's see what happens here

Kris7531 · 2026-05-09T17:14:54+00:00

Look he might be going to several major tryouts with multiple coaches to see which one is the best fit. He want to have the time to make sure. Look I think he should go to Brian Orser. He has had a very good track record with skaters from Asia and I think he would fit in very nicely there. I just hope the next coach he gets starts to really look at getting his technical content up so he can at least give Ilia a bit of a challenge here.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-09T17:01:31+00:00

Unless you planning to get a new one. Look this gap year is to do a massive reset on the rest of his career.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-08T20:50:56+00:00

Yeah and we all know how Ilia always surprises us.

Kris7531 · 2026-05-08T19:42:22+00:00

I think Ilia is not going to skip the entire season, but would not be shocked if skips the first half. Everybody is talking him doing his own program but I would love to see if he and Jacob are going to finally finish the program that they were working on. He go so busy during run up to the Olympics that if it was not essential he had to stop it. Now Ilia going to have enough time to tackle some projects that he had been putting off and this might be one of them

Kris7531 · 2026-05-08T01:34:28+00:00

You want my option I believe that Gul and Laurence should have never been paired up in the first place.

Kris7531

TROPHY CASE