Episode 42 features an interview with 3-time European medalist Matteo Rizzo. We recorded in late July in Madesimo, Italy, where Matteo trains at altitude for part of each summer. Matteo is one of the most seasoned and consistent competitors in the men’s discipline, with two Olympics and six world championships under his belt. He has won four bronze medals on the Grand Prix circuit and has finished first or second at the Italian national championships every year from 2014 to 2023. After winning bronze at Europeans in 2024, Matteo had to miss the end of the season to get surgery on his hip. In this interview, Matteo shared his recovery process, approach to training, and the importance of emotional connection with an audience.

Thank you to Matteo and his team for making this interview possible, and to Ivan Danilyuk for editing and video production.

You can see clips from Matteo’s return to performance at Ghiaccio Spettaccolo on On-Ice Perspectives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vuxvI26hHk

You can reach me with comments or suggestions for topics and people I should talk to, by email at fsfuturepodcast@gmail.com or on Instagram and Twitter @futurefspodcast

If you appreciate the podcast, you can also support my work with the Tip Jar at https://futureoffigureskating.pinecast.co

Remember to subscribe and review The Future of Figure Skating podcast on whatever platform you use, and share it with your friends!

Niko Cohen has combined a background in theatrical costume design, and their passion for skating as an adult competer, to found Lavender Threads, a figure skating costume business. They have made costumes for team USA skaters like Max Naumov and Jimmy Ma. Niko is the 2024 national silver medalist in the US Adult Silver Women’s category - and they are determined to take the title next year! As a trans and agender person, Niko has advocated for inclusion and policy change within their figure skating club and national federation. We had a great conversation about navigating the skating world as someone who doesn’t fit into binary gender categories, what makes for a sucessful figure skating costume, the inspirational power of Yuri on Ice and Satomi Ito, and lots more…

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/u/2/d/1xjp3DDJ8U_-cVrnGMpN8eucFfvjz18bSow-vNEYQzEs/edit?usp=drive_web&ouid=104904088829705355096

Follow Lavender Thread on Instagram @lavenderthreadco and Niko's skating @ Nikonikoforov

You can reach me with comments or suggestions for topics and people I should talk to, by email at fsfuturepodcast@gmail.com or on Instagram and Twitter @futurefspodcast

Thanks to Ivan Danilyuk for editing and video production

If you appreciate the podcast, you can also support my work with the Tip Jar at https://futureoffigureskating.pinecast.co

Remember to subscribe and review The Future of Figure Skating podcast on whatever platform you use, and share it with your friends!

This is part two of my conversation with coach and choreographer Daniel Aggiano. Daniel is passionate about expanding awareness of eating disorders and how they impact male skaters. In this part of the conversation, he shared his struggles with bulimia as a competitive and professional skater, and his ongoing work to find a healthy approach to food and weight. If you think hearing details about disordered eating will be unhealthy or triggering for you, you can skip ahead to the 30 minute mark. Please take care of yourself! It’s also worth noting that we recorded this conversation before the 2024 ISU Congress. While many of the rule changes Daniel and I discussed have since been delayed until after the Olympics, the questions he raised will continue to matter.

Transcript available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N4v_woSdwYT4dIhjtnEoBo93iHaPnm8Ji7EKIMJXorU/edit#heading=h.triz0qvkh0w3

If you or someone you know is struggling with eating and healthy body image, one good source for help and more information is the national eating disorder association. https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/
You can follow Daniel on Instagram at @ danielaggiano777

You can reach me with comments or suggestions for topics and people I should talk to, by email at fsfuturepodcast@gmail.com or on Instagram and Twitter @futurefspodcast . We are also now on YouTube, so make sure to subscribe there too for video episodes. https://youtu.be/Gl8lo5pA-SQ

Special thanks to Ivan Danilyuk for editing and technical assistance.

If you appreciate the podcast, you can also support my work with the Tip Jar at https://futureoffigureskating.pinecast.co

Daniel Aggiano is a coach and choreographer who is passionate about mental health and eating disorder awareness. He competed nationally and internationally for Great Britain and Italy from 2004-2012 in singles, pairs, and synchro. He won national titles in pairs for both countries and competed in the Junior World Championships in 2009. After a career in show skating, Daniel began coaching and now works at the IceLab in Bergamo, Italy, where he works with many top skaters, including European medalists Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini. Daniel is also a choreographer and recently collaborated with Carolina Kostner on programs for Rebecca and Filippo.

We discussed Daniel’s experience dealing with mental health and eating disorders, and the need to raise awareness for these issues for men and boys - a topic that we also go into in more detail in part II of our interview. I really appreciated Daniel’s honesty and vulnerability on these difficult topics, and his willingness to share his own struggles to help others!

You can follow Daniel on Instagram @ danielaggiano777

You can reach me with comments or suggestions for topics and people I should talk to, by email at fsfuturepodcast@gmail.com or on Instagram and Twitter @futurefspodcast

Special thanks to Ivan Danilyuk for editing.

If you or someone you know is struggling with eating and healthy body image, one good source for help and more information is the National Eating Disorder Association. https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

If you appreciate the podcast, you can also support my work with the Tip Jar at https://futureoffigureskating.pinecast.co

Support The Future of Figure Skating by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/futureoffigureskating

Find out more at https://futureoffigureskating.pinecast.co

Elizabeth Ramsey is the Executive Director of the Team USA Athletes Commission. Team USA is working toward a fully independent athletes' commission, as recommended by the Congressional Commission on the State of US Olympics and Paralympics. She has an important viewpoint to add to the conversations on athlete representation and how increase the power of the athletes voice in figure skating. This is also a great episode to dig into as we watch the Paris Games!

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-IXRwYopUtIpXG4YucUjJRUIMLlo-0PWLaiK8wDRLTc/ ]kS Athletes Commission Independence Website w/ sign-on letter for US Athletes https://www.usopc.org/teamUSAAC-independence Team USA instagram @ TeamUSAAC and Twitter @ TeamUSA_AC Youtube https://youtu.be/49DTRnkLXSE?si=Z3Cl54naWLkj-PLw

Commission on the State of US Olympics and Paralympics https://www.csusop.org/ You can reach me with comments or suggestions for topics and people I should talk to, by email at fsfuturepodcast@gmail.com or on Instagram and Twitter @futurefspodcast If you appreciate the podcast, you can also support my work with the Tip Jar at https://futureoffigureskating.pinecast.co

Support The Future of Figure Skating by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/futureoffigureskating

Find out more at https://futureoffigureskating.pinecast.co

Ashley Cain is a two-time U.S. champion in pairs and 2022 Olympian. In the last two years, she has been coaching, and touring with Disney on Ice. We talked about life on tour, the advantages of being a tall pair girl, concussion protocol and recovery, and being part of a generation of young coaches who want to support healthier and happier skaters.

Transcript available: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G9kWS5c946dHfGNWVdl0INo5WStXQyJXYrMFRhvb_lo/Instagram

You can follow Ashley on instagram at @ icegirlash

You can reach me with comments or suggestions for topics and people I should talk to, by email at fsfuturepodcast@gmail.com or on Instagram and Twitter @futurefspodcast

If you appreciate the podcast, you can also support my work with the Tip Jar at https://futureoffigureskating.pinecast.co

Remember to subscribe and review The Future of Figure Skating podcast on whatever platform you use, and share it with your friends!

Support The Future of Figure Skating by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/futureoffigureskating

Find out more at https://futureoffigureskating.pinecast.co

In 2010, Dr. Mary Louise Adams wrote one of the best books about figure skating that I’ve encountered, called "Artistic Impressions: Figure Skating, Masculinity and the Limits of Sport". I highly recommend the whole thing, and was grateful for the opportunity to discuss one of my favorite topics - queerness in skating! - with her!

Mary Louise Adams is a Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies and the Department of Sociology at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, where she teaches courses on sport and culture, the sociology of fitness and the body, and contemporary issues in sexuality. Dr. Mary Louise Adams' research investigates everyday movement and recreation cultures as sites where relations of domination are both produced and resisted. Drawing on literatures and theories from feminist studies, cultural studies, and sport studies, and using a range of qualitative, interpretive, and historical methods, she explores embodiment, the meanings of movement, and the relationship between active bodies and their historical and cultural contexts. Her current projects are concerned with: the political, environmental and cultural history of a municipal park; expressions of feminist and utopian ideals in recreational sports; and sexual harassment in sport coaching.

Artistic Impressions on Google Books https://books.google.com/books/about/Artistic_Impressions.html?id=qvWcmTbdgCwC

More about Mary Louise’s research https://skhs.queensu.ca/people/faculty/mary-louise-adams-phd/

Research on Adult Hockey and Figure Skating: https://hockeyinsociety.com/2021/06/14/growing-the-game-report-on-adult-hockey-and-figure-skating-programs-in-canada/

You can reach me with comments or suggestions for topics and people I should talk to, by email at fsfuturepodcast@gmail.com or on Instagram and Twitter @futurefspodcast If you appreciate the podcast, you can also support my work with the Tip Jar at https://futureoffigureskating.pinecast.co

Support The Future of Figure Skating by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/futureoffigureskating

Find out more at https://futureoffigureskating.pinecast.co

Maja Luther is a creative working in performative arts creating interdisciplinary work with ice, and working in figure skating, focusing on movement skills and efficiency. Maja has an MA in Creative Practice and a diploma in dance studies from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of music and dance inLondon, UK. She performed over a decade in professional shows as soloist, and in that time managed and led ice shows and choreographed professional performances.

Maja was previously a guest on episode 26, as part of the Contemporary Skating Alliance, and I wanted to have her back on the podcast to discuss the article she recently published in the journal of Dance and Somatic Practice, called “Body Melts: A Somatic Approach to Figure Skating”.

Episode transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cP6djxpGE4XY-Xc_2OyA7WJHXUynvSrVvGeadKiC5g0/edit?usp=sharing

You can follow Maja's work on YouTube and Instagram at Studio Maja Luther. Her article, called “Body Melts: A Somatic Approach to Figure Skating” is in the most recent issue of the Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices. https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jdsp_00108_1

You can watch a video of the Body Melts installation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ5yTEO7XOw

We also referenced Sonja Hilmer's Matrix program (filmed here by On Ice Perspectives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLNJLyJqAPU) and Deniss Vasiljevs' In the Air Tonight program, which is partially improvised in each performance.

You can reach me with comments or suggestions for topics and people I should talk to, by email at fsfuturepodcast@gmail.com or on Instagram and Twitter @futurefspodcast If you appreciate the podcast, you can also support my work with the Tip Jar at https://futureoffigureskating.pinecast.co Remember to subscribe to The Future of Figure Skating on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts, and share it with your friends!

Support The Future of Figure Skating by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/futureoffigureskating

Find out more at https://futureoffigureskating.pinecast.co