Flutzes and Waxels Podcast

Junior Worlds 2022: Dance

21 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up Junior Worlds with our favourite discipline and a really fun event - the junior dance! We discuss the many pattern dance interruptions that...

Junior Worlds 2022: Men

19 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We continue our discussion of Junior Worlds with the men's event and discuss how important international competitions are to skater development (and h...

Junior Worlds 2022: Pairs

19 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Next up we discuss the small pairs event, including the state of the pairs field for the upcoming season in general, what reforms could be made to enc...

Junior Worlds 2022: Women

19 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This strange season wraps up with the Junior World Championships, and we begin our recaps with the women! We discuss how JGP spots for next season wil...

World Championships 2022: Men

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up our discussion of Worlds with our favourite men's event of the season, and discuss the fantastic skating we saw here, some young teens with...

World Championships 2022: Dance

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This year's Worlds also had an exciting dance event, helped out by a very enthusiastic crowd. We discuss score ceilings in dance, wonder what next yea...

World Championships 2022: Women

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After a tough women's event at the Olympics, we had a much more enjoyable time with the women's event at Worlds, and we discuss how thrilled we are to...

World Championships 2022: Pairs

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This year's world championships were a strange one in many ways, but particularly in the pairs event. We discuss the opportunities and pressures faced...

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: Pairs Free Skate

19 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Figure skating at this Olympics concluded with the pairs, and it was just about everything we had hoped it would be! We discuss the many amazing skate...

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: Pairs Short Program

18 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Olympic figure skating events wrap up with the pairs this time around, and we started off with a pretty fantastic short program. We discuss how much o...

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: Women's Free Skate

18 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The wrap up of the women's event at this Olympics was another tough one to experience, and we discuss some skaters who were able to overcome everythin...

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: Women's Short Program

16 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We had a real bummer time talking about the women's event at the Olympics and everything surrounding it.

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: Free Dance

15 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Somehow the Olympics are already more than halfway through, and while the skating continues, so does the doping scandal.Today, we break down the (some...

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: Rhythm Dance

13 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The next event up at these Olympics is the ice dance, and we discuss a rhythm dance that was overshadowed for us by technical issues and doping drama....

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: Men's Freeskate

11 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After an incredible men's short program this week, we had high hopes and moderate expectations for the free. It didn't quite live up to our hopes, but...

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: Men's Short Program

09 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The individual events at this Olympics began with the men's short program, and we discuss some really fantastic skates (with some pretty high scoring ...

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: Team Event Day 3

08 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The final day of the Olympic team event had its share of ups and downs, and we discuss some scary moments in pairs and why having a level 4 death spir...

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: Team Event Day 2

06 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Day two of the Olympic team event saw the field narrowed down to just five countries who will try to win the first figure skating medal of the 2022 Ga...

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: Team Event Day 1

05 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We can't believe it is already here, but we are already diving into the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, starting off with day one of the team event. We dis...

Four Continents 2022: Pairs

24 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Only one continent was represented in pairs at Four Continents this year, and we discuss the very interesting battle between six up and coming North A...

Four Continents 2022: Dance

24 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The dance field at Four Continents this year was small and rather messy, and we discuss an alarming number of falls for a smaller dance event, our hop...

Four Continents 2022: Women

24 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There were some really great skates from the women at Four Continents, and we discuss whether it was a good idea to have the Korean Olympic team compe...

Four Continents 2022: Men

24 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This weekend's Four Continents Championships was a bit of a smaller one due to the upcoming Olympics, but we begin our recaps with an interesting men'...

2022 Europeans: Women

18 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up this year's European Championships with the women, and discuss some very last minute Olympic spots that are still in question, some really...

2022 Europeans: Pairs

17 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The pairs event at Europeans this year saw some inconsistent skating, and we discuss Olympic season score inflation which we hope can be addressed at ...

2022 Europeans: Dance

17 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Despite a number of withdrawals from the dance event at Europeans it was an interesting event, and we discuss the conclusion of the battle for the lon...

2022 Europeans: Men

17 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week's European Championships had a very exciting and pretty well skated men's event, and we discuss the tough choice to make for the third man o...

US Nationals 2022: Men

12 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up this weekend of skating with the US men and discuss some surprise podium placements and how it should have impacted the Olympic team select...

US Nationals 2022: Women

11 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Next, we discuss the US women, including the front runners unable to compete due to COVID (and whether this competition was really necessary to determ...

US Nationals 2022: Dance

11 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There was a deep field in dance at US nationals, and some very interesting head-to-head match-ups, and we discuss why this year's patterns might make ...

US Nationals 2022: Pairs

11 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Next up, we move on to the US national championships and a pairs event which was very directly impacted by COVID. We discuss the difficulty of skating...

Canadian Nationals 2022: Pairs

11 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up Canadian nationals with the pairs, and the contentious decision made regarding the Olympic assignments. We discuss some season best perform...

Canadian Nationals 2022: Women

10 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Next up we discuss the women's event, which has always been a bit of a weaker discipline for Canada, and we discuss the importance of sending out many...

Canadian Nationals 2022: Dance

10 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There were a lot of strong teams competing in the Canadian nationals dance event, and we discuss the impact of empty stands on the performance level t...

Canadian Nationals 2022: Men

10 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We begin our recap of the substantial amount of skating from this weekend with the Canadian men, and a discussion of the overall COVID testing situati...

Russian Nationals 2021: Pairs

30 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up this week's competitions with the Russian national pairs event, which was a bit rougher than usual, but still one of our favourite events o...

Russian Nationals 2021: Men

30 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The men at Russian nationals were as unpredictable as ever, and we discuss why a short program strategy we've complained about for two seasons might h...

Russian Nationals 2021: Women

30 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Next up, we discuss the women's event at Russian nationals, which saw the gamut of withdrawals, great skates and nervous skates. We discuss some excit...

Russian Nationals 2021: Dance

30 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Next up, we move on to Russian nationals which were filled with drama, particularly in the dance event. We discuss why skipping an event is very likel...

Japanese Nationals 2021: Dance And Men

30 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this half of our Japanese nationals recap we cover both the dance and the men, and discuss a really difficult Olympic team decision in ice dance, o...

Japanese Nationals 2021: Women

30 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We're back after a bit of a break to discuss this holiday season's national championships, and what better way to start than with the women at Japanes...

Rostelecom 2021: Women

29 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Records were broken in the final Grand Prix event of the season for the women, and we discuss the scoring ceiling we are quickly approaching (and some...

Rostelecom 2021: Dance

29 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Some unfortunate withdrawals made this final Grand Prix dance event a bit of a smaller one, and we discuss why we shouldn't be so afraid of negative G...

Rostelecom 2021: Men

29 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The men wrap up the regular Grand Prix season with another event of great highs and lows and wild inconsistencies. We discuss skaters making improveme...

Rostelecom 2021: Pairs

29 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week saw the final Grand Prix event of the season, and we begin by discussing some amazing pairs skating (and some unfortunate issues in pairs el...

Grand Prix France 2021: Women

22 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up this week with the women's event, which was a bit of a messier one this week. We discuss the continued unfortunate correlation between free...

Grand Prix France 2021: Dance

22 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week saw a bit of a messy dance event with some inconsistent scoring, and we discuss some really unfortunate falls, twizzle issues being scored g...

Grand Prix France 2021: Men

22 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There were some solid skates in the men's event this week, and we discuss some examples here of skaters without a quad in the short program being at t...

Grand Prix France 2021: Pairs

22 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week's pairs event saw an interesting battle for the podium, and we discuss how some choices in the filming of this event makes it difficult to a...

NHK 2021: Men

16 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up our NHK recap with the men's event, which was a bit better skated overall than some of the earlier Grand Prix events. We discuss the pros a...

NHK 2021: Pairs

15 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There were some real highs and lows in the NHK pairs event, and we discuss some scary twist mistakes, the real potential to see a Japanese team at the...

NHK 2021: Women

15 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The women's event at NHK was a greatly reduced one due to withdrawals (including one in the warm-up)but we saw some exciting skating here. We discuss ...

NHK 2021: Dance

15 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week was the 2021 NHK Trophy, which had a number of withdrawals, but some interesting head-to-heads in the dance event. We discuss why in the cur...

Grand Prix Italy 2021: Women

09 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up the third Grand Prix of the season with the women's event, and discuss whether there's any possibility of scoring changes being implemented...

Grand Prix Italy 2021: Dance

08 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week saw a pretty solid dance event, and we discuss some lenient tech calling and judging across the event, some musical arrangements that don't ...

Grand Prix Italy 2021: Men

08 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Though the men on the Grand Prix continue to be inconsistent, we saw some strong individual skates this week. We discuss Lutz setup time as a potentia...

Grand Prix Italy 2021: Pairs

08 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week saw the first edition of the Gran Premio d'Italia, and we begin our recap with the pairs! We discuss a strong team who has been unfairly imp...

Skate Canada 2021: Men

01 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Men's figure skating is always inconsistent, and that continued in this week's Grand Prix event. We discuss our continued frustrations with numerous t...

Skate Canada 2021: Dance

01 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Grand Prix dance event had some similar technical issues to last week, but a lot of fun programs, and in our recap we discuss just how vit...

Skate Canada 2021: Women

31 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week's women's event at Skate Canada International was a high flying one. With a huge number of women attempting triple axels in competition, the...

Skate Canada 2021: Pairs

31 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In our first breakdown of this weekend's Skate Canada International, we have strong opinions about this messy pairs event. We discuss chaotic, acrobat...

Skate America 2021: Dance

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up recapping Skate America with the dance event, which was a bit of a disappointing one for us. We discuss rules for lifts, and a lift that wa...

Skate America 2021: Women

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The women were much more consistent than the men at Skate America, and we discuss why fewer quads and triple Axels being attempted can allow for some ...

Skate America 2021: Pairs

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We continue our discussion of the first Grand Prix of the season with the pairs event, and discuss our excitement over the potential rise of pairs ska...

Skate America 2021: Men

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The senior Grand Prix is here, and we're back with full recaps of all the skaters in each discipline! We start with the men, who had a really rough sh...

JGP Linz 2021: Men And Dance

14 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up our final JGP recap of the season with the men's and dance events in Linz, and discuss the trend of messy dance events we've been seeing th...

JGP Linz 2021: Women And Pairs

14 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We've finally caught up with the final JGP event of the season, and we start off this recap by discussing the very late announcement of how spots for ...

Finlandia 2021: Women And Dance

12 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We conclude our recap of Finlandia with the women and ice dance, and discuss some high scoring that will probably only get higher as the season goes o...

Finlandia 2021: Men And Pairs

12 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We had a stacked field of entrants at Finlandia in the men's and pairs' events, and in this first part of our recap we discuss why it would never be o...

JGP Gdansk 2021: Men And Dance

04 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week's JGP featured a pretty enjoyable men's event and a pretty rough dance event, and we discuss the men who were able to make skating with mult...

JGP Gdansk 2021: Women And Pairs

04 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week was the penultimate JGP event in Poland, and we're still waiting to hear exactly how skaters will qualify for the JGP Final, but we have lot...

JGP Ljubljana 2021

30 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We've finally caught up with this week's JGP, and we have plenty of thoughts about rules about touching the ice not being enforced and the reemergence...

Nebelhorn 2021: Women And Dance

27 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We conclude our recap of Nebelhorn and the allocation of the final Olympic spots with the women and dance, and discuss the tough spot the Italian wome...

Nebelhorn 2021: Men And Pairs

27 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

With the conclusion of Nebelhorn, all spots for the 2022 Olympics have now been assigned, and we begin the episode with a discussion of what this mean...

JGP Krasnoyarsk 2021: Women And Dance

21 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up discussing this weekend's events with the junior women and dance, and have a lot of thoughts about the high scoring we saw at this JGP. We ...

JGP Krasnoyarsk 2021: Men And Pairs

20 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This fourth JGP was a very high scoring event, but there was also a whole lot of great skating to discuss in the men's and pairs events! We discuss a ...

Autumn Classic 2021: Men And Dance

20 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up our thoughts on this year's Autumn Classic with a disappointingly small men's event which had far too many withdrawals, and an exciting dan...

Autumn Classic 2021: Women And Pairs

20 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We were sad to miss being at Autumn Classic in person this season, but glad that it was able to go forward, and wind up with some very interesting res...

Lombardia Trophy 2021

14 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week marks the true start of the international senior season, with our first challenger, the Lombardia Trophy. With so many skaters and teams pre...

JGP Kosice 2021: Women And Pairs

07 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week on the JGP we had a full roster, including a full brigade of Russian skaters. We discuss the women and pairs, including what makes a good mu...

JGP Kosice 2021: Men And Dance

07 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we saw our first JGP not only with all 4 disciplines, but also with the return of team Russia. In this first episode we break down the men a...

JGP Courchevel 2 2021

29 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We're back in Courchevel for week two of the JGP and have even more to say about how travel restrictions are impacting skaters and competitions, which...

JGP Courchevel 1 2021

22 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Olympic season has officially begun! We start off the season with a slightly smaller than normal JGP, and discuss why certain countries were missi...

2021 Skate Canada NextGen Competition

26 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We're back this week to talk about some Canadian junior dance (and some other disciplines too)! Skate Canada held a simulation this last week for juni...

2021 Grand Prix Assignments

01 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The ISU just dropped a whole bunch of important documents, so we are here to discuss new rules, Grand Prix assignments, and some of the other stuff th...

Summer Patreon Series Teaser

18 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This off season, we've got something special planned for our Patreon subscribers, and you won't want to miss it! We teased our new upcoming series of...

World Team Trophy 2021: Dance And Men

18 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The men and dance teams at world Team Trophy didn't perform quite as well for the most part as they did at Worlds, but we find tons to discuss, includ...

World Team Trophy 2021: Pairs And Ladies

18 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The last event of the season in complete, and in this first part of our World Team Trophy recap we discuss some pretty consistent pairs programs, some...

COVID And The 2021 World Championships

30 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We've discussed all the skating that happened at the World Championships, but we had a lot of concerns about how this event was run in the middle of a...

World Championships 2021: Men

30 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up the skating from Worlds with the men, who skated surprisingly better than we had expected! We discuss the dramatic showdown for gold that w...

World Championships 2021: Ladies

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The ladies event was a frustrating one for many, including us, and we try to make sense of the judging and final placements. We talk a whole lot about...

World Championships 2021: Pairs

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The excitement of a pairs event can be a great or a terrifying thing, and this event had a bit of both. We discuss why making this the Olympic qualify...

World Championships 2021: Ice Dance

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We are back to discuss all the many happenings at the World Championships, which we still can't believe actually took place! We start with the dance, ...

Skate Canada Challenge 2021: Dance

21 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This weekend we settled in to watch the virtual Skate Canada Challenge, and we were (unsurprisingly) excited about the dance. We discuss both the juni...

Skate Canada Challenge 2021: Singles And Pairs

20 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This weekend we also watched the virtual Skate Canada Challenge, and we had a lot to say not only about the singles and pairs disciplines and the gene...

US Nationals 2021: Men

20 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up US nationals with a really strongly skated men's event, and discuss why our opinions about skaters need to grow and mature along with them,...

US Nationals 2021: Dance

19 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We have a lot of (potentially controversial) thoughts about the dance event at US nationals, which featured some fantastic teams, but also some frustr...

US Nationals 2021: Pairs

19 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Next up is the pairs event, which featured some strong teams, but some inconsistent scoring which left us frustrated. We discuss the close race for po...

US Nationals 2021: Ladies

19 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we cover the senior events at US Nationals, but before we begin our discussion of the ladies, we felt we needed to discuss the pseudo "bubbl...

Japanese Nationals 2020: Men And Dance

29 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

And finally, we get to the dramatic men's event from Japan, but not before we take a look at what's going on in Japanese ice dance! We discuss some pr...