@kwanette @missingcarmel

“I actually had no idea how difficult switching to ice dance would be,” said Zingas, a singles skater until 2022. My story for @NBCOlympics https://t.co/1HkNMEnJcO

Audrey/Balasz have changed their short program from The Godfather to Tango Roxanne

Catch up on my @NBCOlympics coverage of Skate America (and other skating stories) via my Globetrotting blog:

Hana Yoshida (9th, 170.92) was pleased to land her triple axel ("q") from tech panel) in the FS but disappointed by mistakes on her triple loop, flying camel spin and triple flip. Via translator: "After (the mistake on) the loop, I was overthinking in the spin, and then I was

Demougeot & Mercier's FD is inspired by Netflix series "Arcane: League of Legends" & the video game League of Legends, which Mercier has played religiously for 10 years. "It's the thing I do most .... I practice in the morning, go back home & play the game. I've wanted to skate

Oona Brown & Gage Brown (6th, 182.11) earned a standing ovation for their "Godfather" FD, but what characters do they play? Gage says: "We're interpreting it as we are characters in that era & we might not be Michael, we might not be Sonny, we might be our own characters within

Carreira & Ponomarenko (5th, 186.03) on what they plan to work on heading into U.S. Champs: Carreira: "For sure, a lot of our footwork levels did not get called .... (Coach) Adrian (Diaz) is very good with the technical stuff. We're going to look at the angles of our turns from

Lara Naki Gutmann, 3rd in SP 69.69, on working with Lori Nichol: "I did my SP with her, and she chose the music (from Netflix "Law According to Lidia Poet"). It's the story of the 1st Italian lawyer back in the 19th century. So it was really hard for women, they couldn't

Some skaters are unflinchingly honest & critical of themselves in the mixed. This from Tatsuya Tsuboi, via the hardworking Japanese translator here in LP: "I was being really ambitious & trying my best. On the 1st jump (quad toe), the speed going in was good, but it still didn't

Alysa Liu sits 2nd with 73.73 points, doing a triple lutz, triple loop (<) combo for extra challenge. "I don't really think about being world champion .... I know I'm not going to win every competition. I know I'm going to skate bad at some competitions. What expectations people

Jason Brown took 3rd in free with 156.90 points, but hopes for more for his "Say Something" program: "It takes me a while to get the pacing of the programs I put out there. I really work the transitions, I use my entire body with the choreography that we do. It takes a couple of

Mikhail Shaidorov's opening triple axel, quad sal combo & quad lutz helped him win the free skate with 161.42 despite two hard falls: "The falls hurt but I tried to fight. I did everything I could. I really wanted a clean skate with five quads. Maybe next time .... I love doing

Rinka Watanabe hit a triple axel en route to 74.35 points & the lead: "I could feel the energy in the arena and it made me nervous .... My coach told me to calm down, and I did. The triple axel at the end of the warmup was my best, so I was happy I landed it in the program. I

It was a rough day for pairs, with missed lifts, a fall on a pair spin & other calamities, but still a worthy podium. "Sometimes when weird things start to happen for some reason it's like a bug going around," Bruno Marcotte, coach of winners Miura & Kihara, said. "The (smaller)

Armenians Akopova & Rakhmanin capped a disappointing free with Rakhamin's fall on a pair spin: "Our skates came together, we couldn't stop it & my partner fell," she said. "We're happy to be here but a little sad because we did not do our job. We were not really ready for this

A few of us just told Patrice Lauzon how surprised we were with all the Level 1's and 2's top teams got on their PST's (partial steps) here. His response: "Me, too." #SkateAmerica

Hocke & Kunkel sparkled in their "I'll Do Anything for Love" short and sit 3rd. The Germans skate with more flair this season, incorporating show moves: "Shows always teach you something," coach Ondrej Hotarej said. "People expect something spectacular in shows, and (Hocke &

Recap of men's short posted here; Brown: "I wish it was a cleaner skate." #SkateAmerica