Sequins and shock: A dramatic first week in figure skating

Figure skating always has a flair for the dramatic - and this Winter Olympics has been no different. Mikhail Shaidorov's shocking gold medal in the men's event came as favourite Ilia Malinin fell to eighth place. In ice dance, the competition was one of the closest in history - with Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron edging Madison Chock and Evan Bates by just 1.43 points. Olympics.com contributor Gracie Gold joins host Nick McCarvel to help reflect on both Shaidorov and Malinin, and she also sits down with fellow American Amber Glenn, with the women's event set to anchor week two of the Games at the Milano Ice Skating Arena. The episode also features exclusive sit-downs with Fournier Beaudry/Cizeron, Chock/Bates and bronze medallists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, as well as 42-year-old Canadian Deanna Stellato-Dudek, who is set to make her Olympic debut in the pairs event. "This is obviously my second chance at this sport," Deanna tells Nick, having been retired of 16 years. "So many stars had to align; so many serendipitous occasions had to occur in order for me to even be sitting in this seat. I just feel like I owe it to my younger self and to my current self to do absolutely everything I can, put all my chips on the table, like full throttle to [chase] this dream."

You can listen to Sequins and shock: A dramatic first week in figure skating online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Sequins and shock: A dramatic first week in figure skating is an episode from Olympic Channel Podcast by Olympics.com.

This episode is 00:29:40 long.

This episode was published on Feb 15, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Olympic Channel Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.