Worlds Ice Dance Rankings & Predictions - 2025 Boston

And when you say my name, you're safe with yours. You only get to call me. Also the PCS pioneers who's leading with PCS, who are the packaging wizards, you know, who knows how to dress on the ice and political backing. We'll talk a little bit about the imbalance in ice stance right now. Also, who has the momentum, who's coming off strong winds and who's kind of, you know, having an upward trajectory towards the end of the season. And finally, my prediction, my predictions. So stick around. It's going to be fun. Okay, let's go ahead and start looking at the ISU world rankings. We have Gunnard and Fabri from Italia with a total of 4916 points. Second place, Fear and Gibson. Third place is our three-time world champions Choc and Bates from the US. Loporeva and Brissol from France are in fourth with 4058 points. Gilles Sempoye in fifth place with 4053. Lajoie and Lagha from Canada in sixth. Carrera and Ponomarenko in seventh. Reid and Amber Lavisius in eighth. Terquila and Versluis from Finland in ninth. And Zingis and Kolejnik rounding out the top ten. You can take a look at the rest of the partnerships here. And the way that the ISU rankings work is that certain competitions garner and certain placements garner certain numbers of points. Even though I wouldn't say that the rankings don't matter, they definitely do. It's interesting that Choc and Bates have won the world championships the past two years, and I think I said three times, but I think they've only won two times, and yet they are ranked third. So I think just what this shows us is that the ISU rankings are really about your placements, how many competitions you've entered, and racking up those points. So it could just mean that certain teams have also competed more than others and that type of thing. But still, this is one good data point to look at, and interesting that Fabri and Nayer from Italia are the number one team in terms of rankings going into the worlds. Okay, let's go ahead and talk about our PCS winners this season. And we're looking at the past two seasons, the 23-24, and then current season, 24-25. So we charted or graphed all these different PCS scores so that you could kind of see who is trending in the highest PCS. At the very top in League Gold, we have Choc and Bates, and at their most recent competition at 4CC, they got 9.5 in PCS, basically identical to Gilles Empoyee, who jumped up from a 9.0 mean all the way up to 9.5 from Grand Prix Final to 4CC. So I think that Gilles Empoyee are showing that they can get really high PCS, occasionally even higher than Choc and Bates, but definitely right up there with them. If you look at Gouinard and Fabri, they had a little bit low of PCS at Grand Prix France this past fall, but ever since then, they're way up at around 9.25 in their previous three competitions, so that is boding very well for them as well. In yellow, we have Feer and Gibson. They've had a little bit more of a downward trajectory, kind of hovering right above, slightly above 9.0. And look who's had a really big increase. We have Loporeva and Bristol. If you look at their change in PCS from Grand Prix Final to 4CC, I'm sorry, to Europeans, it went up almost half a point in PCS, which is a huge jump. Someone else who has risen quite a bit this season, but still underneath the 9.0 PCS is Terquila and Versluis. They have some really good momentum on their side. I've been noticing kind of more buzz for them, and if you compare it to their previous season, where they were getting sometimes 8.25, that type of thing, for them to hover under 9.0 is a really good sign for them. If you look at the black line, we have Lajoie and Lagha. They're scored a little bit inconsistently. They're anywhere from 8.5 to 9.0. So I would like to see that rise a little bit. I still think they're a better team than those numbers indicate. So they're, you know, just right under the surface. They got a third-place finish at Four Continents recently, and you can see that their PCS is doing quite well, but still I think there's even more room for improvement for them. In pink, we have Carrera and Ponomarenko. I feel a little bad for them. They've definitely increased a lot from the 23-24 season to this season, but still they're really hovering around the 8.5, 8.6 range in PCS. A further mean score, but that is a lot better than kind of the 8.0 to 8.25 they were getting the previous season. So they're kind of bubbling under, but still not bad for them. Now look at who has risen so much this season. One of the biggest jumps from Nibelhorn Trophy to the Grand Prix America is Smart and Deke from Spain. They were getting as low as like 7.75, and now at Europeans, they were right above 8.5. So I love to see that. I think that they have really nice programs, and I'm really hoping for a top-8 finish for them. Whose PCS do you think is off the charts? Let me know. So based on these numbers, the PCS edge obviously goes to these three teams, Chock and Bates, Gilles and Poirier, and Grenard and Fabri. I think these three teams are kind of in that upper echelon of PCS scores. Fear and Gibson kind of are too, but they've been scoring a little bit lower than them. And except for the little fluke at the Grand Prix France for Fabri, and I'm sorry, for Grenard and Fabri, they've generally been, you know, really high up there and have been around for so long. So these are definitely the three teams that I think will, you know, likely be getting very high PCS, barring any major mistakes. Is it that I can't be here? Or that I'm not allowed to be here? See, I can physically be here. But what you meant to say is you're not allowing me to be here. Hands behind your back. Come on. Okay, you guys, we have to talk about the political situation with Ice Dance. Now, this is nothing new, but I was looking at a lot of the top teams and trying to see which Ice Academies and schools of dance that they were a part of. And listen to this. These are all the teams that are currently part of Ice Academy of Montreal, which has the acronym IAM. We have Choc and Bates, Fabri and Ayer, Fear and Gibson, Harris and Chan, La Joie and Lagha, Lim and Kwan, Loporeva-Bressault, which I know that they also spend some time in France, Reid and Ambru Lavisius, Tanaka and Nishiyama, Wang and Lu, and Smart and Deke. Now, that's just so many teams, and they have such an imbalance in terms of what other schools the skaters are a part of. IAM has a little bit of a monopoly, or at least definitely a heavy preference of skaters in their roster. They also opened another location in London, Ontario, which former Olympic champion Scott Moyer, two-time Olympic champion, I should say, is the director of that academy. And I know that Carrera and Panamarenko skate there, and Madison Hubble, the former ice dancer, and Adrian Diaz as well are coaches there, too. So if you bring that one into the mix, there's even more teams that are a part of IAM network. It was really interesting, too, because I went through the ISU website and looked at all the top PCS teams who are a part of IAM, and just to kind of see what the setup is with them. So there's the same heads of the school at IAM. We have Patrice Lazon, who's married to Marie-France Dubrow, who is a packaging genius, I would say, as well as Romain Hagenauer. Now, they all kind of do choreography, but for example, Chock and Bates' choreographer is Marie-France Dubrow, Sam Choinard, and Massimo Scali. Then for Fear and Gibson, Romain Hagenauer did the rhythm dance and the free dance this year, whereas for Smart and Deke, Marie-France did the rhythm dance and Romain did the free dance, and for Reed and Ambre Lobicius, Marie-France did both the rhythm dance and the free dance, and for Lajoie and Lagha, Romain Hagenauer did the rhythm dance and the free dance. I just found that interesting because I really, really love Lajoie and Lagha's two programs, which Hagenauer did, but then I really am not a huge fan of Fear and Gibson, and Romain Hagenauer did that program as well. At least I don't like the music in the free dance. So, I don't know, I just find this kind of political issue a little bit interesting. Now, one nice thing is other top teams like Gilles Sempoye are not part of IM, they're part of the Scarborough Figure Skating Club, and their coaches are Carol Lane, Juris, Raz Gulajevs, and John Lane. So they are totally in a different skating academy, which I found very, very interesting. I also liked that Turquilla and Versalus, they're part of a school in Helsinki, although their choreographer is Massimo Scali, who is Alyssa Liu's coach and one of her choreographers. And then Loporeva and Brossard, who I mentioned earlier, they are part of IM, but they have other coaches in France, so they also do practice in Bordeaux, and their other coaches are Roxanne Petetin and Pascal Denes. So I found that very interesting as well. Then you have the Maida team, which none of our current teams with the top PCS scores are part of that group. We have Green and Parsons, Braddy and Somerville, and Wolf Kostin and Serebski. And Maida is the Michigan Ice Dance Academy, and that's spearheaded by Charlie White and his wife Tanith. Gunnard and Fabri, one of the top two or three teams of this past quad, also do not participate in any of these academies. Their coaches are Corrado Giardiani and Barbara Fusar Poli, who's super, super famous. So what is all this to say? All this is to say that when you have one academy just kind of dominating so many of the teams, my thinking is like, well, A, why are they so powerful? What kind of influence do they wield with the judges? And when we don't have a diversification of academies, what does that say for the sport as a whole? To me, it's just kind of pigeonholing it. It's almost like you're in this vacuum. And while there's a few top teams who are not part of this at all, still the vast majority of even, especially up-and-coming skaters, like, for example, Loporeva and Bristle, who I think really have a chance to do something in the next quad. Also, Smart and Deke, you know, they're another team. It just makes me wonder if they get lost in the fray a tiny bit. But overall, I mean, hey, IAM is doing something right. I think Marie France is a packaging genius. So what do you guys think about this political issue? All right, you guys, let's talk about our packaging queens. You know, these are the costumes and programs and the combination of costumes and programs that, you know, truly lend itself to just getting these higher PCS marks. Let's take a look. Let's start with Mrazkova and Mrazek from Czech. This is really a standout team. I think that they use all the same colors, palettes, and colors on both costumes. I kind of prefer that. I don't always like when the man or the male skater looks totally different or just really muted or something. I really like when they appear as a team or a couple. And I think they accomplish that by having the same ombre effect on both costumes and the same color palette. And the only thing that's a little different, you know, are his black pants. But in this case, I really don't mind the black. I suppose the only other color that might look kind of good is like that dark navy or blue. But this is their free dance program costume where they skate to rain in your black eyes by Ezio Basso. This is a huge plus. I think red is a real power color on the ice. I think it often looks really good and can lend itself to a program. These costumes are a big hit. This is Ren and Jing from China. And what I like is the design on kind of the torso area of both skaters is, you know, very much the same. Hers just having a little bit more of like a cutout on the side. I just think it looks beautiful. I really love their costuming. This is a plus. Okay, hear me out on this one. There is a lot of things I really like. There are a lot of things I really like about both of these costumes. I don't mind the kind of grayish color, like a gray beige. I think it's kind of pretty. I like how both of their costumes have some sparkle with like the lighter champagne color area. And I like the flowiness of both costumes. Now, some of the like hanging fabric is atrocious. Like it's way too much. Like the front of hers and then the side of his, there's just a little bit way too much hanging fabric. But I really like like where they were going with this. I love that his is an actual costume. And I love hers as well. And I don't know, this is Pucerova and Lysak from Slovakia. I still really enjoyed this, even if it's not perfect. At the start of the season, I knew something was up when Gilles and Poirier were rehearsing in the costume on the far left here at their first competition of the season. But then they showed up to the Rhythm Dance in a different costume. Afterwards, they let it be known that they were going to be changing their costumes throughout the season. You see three of the different ones here. And at first, I didn't know what to think of it. They skate to Beach Boys music. There's like a part of me that felt like, you know, the familiarity of a costume is something that I like about it. Like you kind of know what to anticipate. Like when I know Brady Tenell is going to skate to Nessun Dorma, I know she's going to have that black, long, like kind of sparkly dress. Or when Alyssa Liu skates to La Fey, I know she's going to have that bandage dress. So I think there's a little bit of a risk to change it up so much. However, I actually felt like each costume kind of added a new layer to the program. And, you know, any each outfit individually did fit the theme. Like you have the kind of fun scuba diver one. I kind of don't like how the air tank is like spray painted on. That's the only little critique there. You have the stripes and the fun, like, bright pink and yellow. And then you kind of have the lifeguard red and white. And I like that they wore that to Canadian Nationals, since red is obviously Canada's flag color. So, yeah, this is Gillette's Employee from Canada. I think this costume idea was kind of unique, and I really enjoyed it throughout the season. Okay, I want to talk about our packaging wizards and a few partnerships where I think that between the rhythm dance and the free dance and the music choices and their styling, like, everything was pretty much, you know, in alignment or perfection. On the right side, you have the rhythm dance of Turquilla and Burslewis. They performed to I Got You, I Feel You by James Brown and a Wilson Pickett song. Now, I got to say, you guys, this season, the rhythm dance costumes were atrocious. I feel so bad. I'm not trying to be mean, but I think a lot of the costumes were really ugly. And I think it was just due to the theme. I don't think it was, like, the skaters trying to look ugly or trying to, you know, purposely do that. I do appreciate that there were so many fun costumes. But I think Turquilla and Burslewis' costume, especially Turquilla, looks really pretty in this costume. It kind of gives me, like, a 50s kind of poodle skirt, polka dot vibe. I like his pink suspenders. I don't like how high his pants are pulled up. It looks really weird. But I do think that was kind of the style then. So, you know, is it, like, amazing? No. But it was one of the prettier or more presentable options this season when we kind of didn't have a lot of rhythm dance programs with, like, beautiful outfits. I would say we had interesting ones, but not necessarily beautiful. And then they skate to Bewitched and Obsi Astronom. It's a tango program in the Free Dance. I really loved Turquilla's costume since I first saw it. And I like Burslewis' as well. I think that, you know, the panels and the cutouts, not the cutouts, the sheer parts, you know, make it more interesting than just a normal black costume. And I think it fits the tango theme very, very well. Okay, we're going to play a little game. Who do you think designed Olivia Smart's dress on the left? Who do you think with this beautiful veil and just the flowiness? Do you have your guess? Okay, if you guessed Madison Chalk, you would be right. I read that she actually designed this Dune program dress for her. And they had a different costume earlier in the season. And once they changed, I was just like, oh, yeah, this is totally it. It is the vibe. It is the kind of feeling of Dune. And I actually really liked Tim's costume as well. In the earlier part of the season, they had some kind of, like, very bright, like, orange color costumes or, like, parts of the costumes. And I did not like that. So this was a definite improvement. And then their costumes to the Rhythm Dance, I like that he has kind of a funky belt. I really like how Olivia is showing her midriff. And I think that the pants and the color palette is really nice. They skate to Janis Joplin and Ram Jam in the Rhythm Dance. So do I think it's, like, an outstanding costume? Not necessarily, but, again, one of the more presentable, better options of all the ones this season. So I really love their packaging from program to program. Okay, the packaging queen is pretty much always Madison Chalk. She designs her own costumes. She always comes with, like, a really clear vision between the music to the program, to the movements, to the costuming, and even down to the styling. She'll often change her hairstyles and, you know, have really nice jewelry and different things. I just think that she is a true visionary when it comes to that. And I really, really hope that even when she's done with her professional career, that she continues doing that for other skaters. In their Rhythm Dance, they skate to Jive Bunny and, like, a medley of a bunch of different songs. And you can see here, I love this kind of plunging neckline with this red sort of wrap dress. It's so beautiful. It has, like, star pattern on it. And then Evan looks so classy with his, like, navy-colored suit. It just looks a million bucks. On the left, we have their Free Dance. Love this program to take five. She looks like the Statue of Liberty, almost like the Great Gatsby type of thing. And I really enjoy Evan's costume, too. They just look so good dancing together. And I love it. Madison, to me, is a packaging queen. Okay, let's go ahead and talk about the top scores of this entire season. What I did is I pulled the top 20 scores across all senior teams for the season. And I kind of just drew a really bad line next to, you know, new teams scoring here. So you can see here that there are only seven teams holding the top 20 scores over the season. So in first, we have Chalk and Bates. They've had the highest score of the season so far at Grand Prix Final with 219.85. Right underneath them, you know, just over a point apart, we have Gilles Empoyee of Canada with 218.46 at Four Continents. That's definitely the momentum that I would want, you know, if I were a team, is to have one of my highest scores, you know, the second highest score of the season at Four Continents, which is so close to Worlds. Then if we go all the way back in the fall to Lombardia Trophy, Guinard and Fabri of Italy have the third highest score for a different team with 215.63. Feer and Gibson have the fourth highest score. Well, it's the eighth highest score, but they're the fourth team with 210.65. Then we have Loporeva and Bristol. I was kind of surprised about this one. They got 206.76 at Europeans. That's the 11th highest score of the season and the fifth highest team. Then we have Terquila and Versluis of Finland with 205.69 at Europeans. Look how close those two teams are. And finally, we have Lajoie and Laga with a total of 205.16. That's the 18th highest score that they achieved at Grand Prix China. So I think this is really, really interesting. Obviously, the top two teams there, they're just a split by a hair. And Gillis Empoyee actually came out on top over Chocombates at Four Continents. So I do wonder, you know, how that's going to bode for them. Okay, you guys, it's time for my predictions. This is kind of based off of all the data we've been looking at, as well as just my own personal opinions and what I kind of think will happen. In first place, kind of no surprise here, I have Chocombates of the United States. Were they beaten at Four Continents by Gillis Empoyee? Yes, they were. And, you know, obviously if I were them, I would prefer not to have been beaten at the most recent competition to Worlds. However, they still have the highest score of the season. I think their material is just like a hair or two better than Gillis Empoyee, especially their free dance. I think it's better than the material that Gillis Empoyee have. And even though the judges were kind of signaling like, hey, Gillis Empoyee are also a top team, I still think it's just kind of an illusion. I think with it being a Homeworlds, I think Chocombates are going to go out and do their very best. Now, both of them have made kind of major mistakes before at big important competitions. Madison actually fell on kind of a non-element in their very first Worlds competition. So anything could happen. I do think in Ice Dance, especially when things are so tight, the teams really have to go clean. So that's kind of the only caveat to this. But I think if all goes according to plan, Chocombates will now be three-time World Champions. My silver medalist is Gwinard and Fabri of Italy. Now you might think, well, what the heck? Gillis Empoyee just got a huge score at Four Continents. You know, why would Gwinard and Fabri be the winners, you know, the silver medalists here? And to be honest, they probably may get third instead. But hear me out. The reason I have them in silver in second place is because of the Olympics happening next year in Italy. I think Italy is really going to push for them to be higher than bronze because they want to set them up for like a silver at next year's Olympics. So will they have the, you know, the political sway they need here? I don't know, maybe not. But I just somehow think they're going to pull out a silver. Unless Gillis Empoyee skate perfectly. Let's put it this way. If both teams skate perfectly, Gwinard and Fabri and Gillis Empoyee, I think Gillis Empoyee would have the edge. But I don't know. I just think Gwinard and Fabri are going to get silver. That is my prediction. And in third place, probably no surprise, we have Gillis Empoyee of Canada with the bronze medal. So Gillis Empoyee really do have a lot of momentum coming here, especially with their super high score at Four Continents. But in my opinion, it was just an overcorrection from their not so good showing at the Grand Prix Final where they made a big mistake in the rhythm dance. I sort of think the judges were just overcorrecting. Unfortunately, ice dance scoring is kind of strange. It's just a little different than the other three disciplines. So in my opinion, I think Gillis Empoyee are, you know, they could also win. They could be world champions as well or even silver. So I could see them anywhere in the top three. But I do think that they'll be able to walk away with a bronze medal. Let's go ahead and look at who I think will be in fourth through eighth. Okay, these are my fourth through eighth place finishers. And this time I actually did kind of list them in the order I sort of expect to see them. In fourth place, I do think that we're going to have Fear and Gibson from Great Britain. They could possibly sneak in a bronze medal here. I know that, you know, their free dance is sort of in preparation for an American Worlds. They're doing Beyonce. But I don't know. I don't really see them on the podium here. I sort of think momentum-wise, they don't have it right now. I think La Joie and La Ca will also be top five. I think that they've had a really nice trajectory this season. Listen, if it were up to me, I'd love to have them in the bronze medal position. I like them a little more than Gillis Empoyee, at least this season. You know, just kind of material-wise. But I do think a top five finish could be quite realistic for them, as it could also be for the next two teams, Loporeva and Brissade and Turquila and Burslewis. They got nearly identical scores at Europeans. I think they were just a point apart. And I don't know. I really love those two teams. I really want to see them get even higher placements in the next quad. And I think it's really exciting to have a Finnish team in the top eight. And finally, the little engine that could, if Smart and Diek from España can go ahead and get in the top eight here, I think that would be a really nice way to cap off their season and to gain some momentum going into Worlds. I absolutely love this team. Okay, everybody, those are my predictions for Ice Dance for the upcoming Worlds competition, a cap of the season, the cornerstone, the crown jewel. What are your predictions? Do you disagree? Who would you place differently? What are your thoughts? Let's sound off in the comments below. Thank you so much for listening. Over and out. This is Kelly Commentates.