If the men’s field, which we discussed yesterday, presents possibilities for much topsy-turvy unpredictability, the women’s field is looking set to be a showdown between the Old Guard and the New.
I will still go over the Women’s Top 10 from the Olympics, as we did for the men, but we will also do a section on skaters who weren’t in that list but have a shot (or more than a shot) at glory this season.
1. Alysa Liu: The reigning Olympic Champion has announced she plans to sit out this season to pursue other opportunities.
2. Kaori Sakamoto: The Olympic Silver Medalist and reigning World Champion retired after winning her fourth World Title.
3. Ami Nakai:
Nickname: Pookie
Country: Japan
Personal Best: 227.08
Ami burst on the scene at the Grand Prix de France last year by defeating Kaori Sakamoto to take Gold on her Grand Prix debut. She proceeded to put out a series of high-scores, culminating in being first in the Short Program at the Olympics before having a poor Free Skate that pulled her down to a bronze medal. And in a sense this did happen a lot with Ami, whose Free Skate often doesn’t quite measure up to her Short. Nonetheless there is no doubt that Ami is an absolute breath of fresh air for the sport – her lighter-than-air demeanor, her thousand-watt smile and her ability to lay down triple-axels (less consistently in the Free than the Short, to be fair), makes her a serious contender anywhere she competes. She will try to defend her title at the Grand Prix de France, and also be at Skate America (the US Grand Prix) later in the year.
4. Mone Chiba
Nickname: None
Country: Japan
Personal Best: 228.47
It’s not that Mone Chiba is the best skater in the world – but she certainly looks like she shouldbe. Gorgeous edges, beautiful hand movements and technically perfect jumps are part of why she is your diarist’s favorite skater. With multiple world medals, Mone was at one point the obvious heir-apparent to Kaori Sakamoto, but with the emergence of Ami Nakai and Mao Shimada she will have to fight hard for that crown. A Mone Chiba feeling free is someone who can win against anyone, despite not having a Quad or a Triple-Axel. But a Mone Chiba feeling nervous can have a bit of a meltdown – and it is a testament to how good she is that the audience will have that meltdown with her. Mone will be competing at Cup of China and the NHK Trophy (The Japanese Grand Prix).
5. Amber Glenn
Nickname: Amb-uh
Country: USA
Personal Best: 215.54
Ah, Amber Glenn. Tall, beautiful, strong Amber. The finest triple-axel in the women’s field right now belongs to Amber. For three consecutive years, the US National Champion is Amber. When she’s on song, she doesn’t skate to the music, the music IS Amber.
If that makes you wonder why Amber Glenn is not the best skater in the world, the answer lies within Amber herself. At the Olympics, she had a meltdown in the short program that left her in 13th place. In the free skate she put out a magnificent performance that placed her only a shade behind Kaori Sakamoto to be third, and brought herself all the way up to 5th place overall. And this has been, in a sense the story of Amber’s career – the sheer weight of expectations she places on herself, the demons in her mind, the depression that lives next door to her genius – keeps her from becoming the Amber she should be.
This year, Amber is busy on another stage, though – competing on Dancing With The Stars. She still maintains that she is committed to competing, however and if she does, will be at Skate America and NHK Trophy.
6. Adeliia Petrosian
Nickname: None
Country: AIN2/Russia
Personal Best: 214.53
Like her compatriot on the men’s side, Petrosian had to qualify for the Olympics twice over; once by being adjudged ‘neutral’ and then by taking part in ‘Skate to Milano’ (the qualifying event for the Olympics) which she duly won. In the course of a career curtailed by Russia being banned, Petrosian still carved out a reputation for herself despite only competing domestically. At the Olympics, however, her Quad-Toe jump betrayed her – had she landed it, a bronze or silver was well within her grasp. This year she has changed her coach, leaving the formidable Eteri Tutberidze for more pleasant guidance, and for now seems to have ditched the Quad-Toe. She is at the top of the Alternate List for now, and should anyone withdraw from the Grand Prix, will be the first to get an opportunity to compete.
7. Niina Petrokina
Nickname: Nina
Country: Estonia
Personal Best: 216.14
“Pop! Six! Squish! Ah Ah! Cicero! Lipschitz!”
The lyrics of ‘Cell Block Tango’ from ‘CHICAGO’ are not just gospel to fans of musical theater; they epitomize everything that makes Niina Petrokina special. Her gala program for two seasons, set to that very music and featuring her murdering 6 carefully-selected male skaters, is sensational, flamboyant and unforgettable. But her competitive skating is no less – Niina is the two-time reigning European Champion. The Estonian has powerful jumps, serves up big performances, and is threatening to incorporate a Quad-Salchow this season. She has already won two Challenger Events and if she maintains her momentum – and rotates that Quad – Niina could be the skater everyone else is chasing this year. She will compete at Skate Canada and Finlandia Trophy.
8. Haein Lee
Nickname: Happy Haein
Country: South Korea
Personal Best: 225.47
Once upon a time, there was a country called South Korea which was only interested in Speed Skating. They had neither the time nor money for figure skating. And then, a Queen named Yuna Kim descended upon the shores of this country, won multiple World Championships, an Olympic Gold Medal (and in the eyes of many, should have won two) and changed Figure Skating forever.
Haein Lee is one of legions of young South Korean girls who saw Yuna Kim do what Yuna Kim did and were inspired to emulate her. And she has done a fine job of it, even if she has not yet quite reached those heights (but those were heights no one has scaled since). Haein is an elegant skater whose lines are among the best out there right now, and if she were not plagued by mistakes on jumps, might have an even more glittering career to boast of. Whether this is the season she fully lives up to her talent is what we will have to look forward to seeing. She will compete at the Cup of China and Finlandia Trophy.
9. Anastasiia Gubanova
Nickname: Gubs; Goob.
Country: Georgia
Personal Best: 211.19
She’s fiesty. She’s gorgeous. She’s hot. She’s Russian. She competes for Georgia, which she says is ‘lovely, I went there once’. She, a white blonde, performs to Bollywood tracks and barring a few inveterate complainers about ‘cultural appropriation’, is widely appreciated for it. Goob has a European Title and a few podiums at Europeans and Grand Prix events, and at the Olympics put out some really incredible skates, the most remarkable being the Free Skate in the Team Event. But at the end of the day, its far more likely she will botch either of her programs and end up well below her potential. It was not certain whether Goob would be skating this season, but it seems that she is, and so we will get to see her at Grand Prix de France and the Cup of China.
10. Sofia Samodelkina
Nickname: Sofa; Samo
Country: Kazakhstan
Personal Best: 207.46
An enduring image of the 2025-26 season was seeing Samo and her coach, the legendary Rafael Artiunian, sitting in the kiss-and-cry, where Samo would flash her stunning smile, Raf would look grumpy, and then a score would come up well below what she deserved, and Raf would look about ready to burn down the ISU.
Samo competed for Russia as a junior, and back then she had multiple Quad-jumps. Since turning senior and spending time in a bit of a quagmire between coaches and hometowns (unlike some former Russians, Samo seems to have genuinely embraced Kazakhstan as home), she isn’t quite the technical machine she used to be, but she is a brilliant performer and her skating skills are comparable to anyone in the field barring the top Japanese girls. Samo will be at Skate America as well as Skate Canada.
And now, for the ones who weren’t at the Olympics but, in this writer’s opinion, are more than capable of upsetting the applecart – a section I will title:
The Child, the Artist, and the Mothership
1. Mao Shimada:
Nickname: Baby Mao
Country: Japan
Personal Best: 231.32
Not since Kamila Valieva and Alysa Liu turned senior has a junior skater been so closely watched as Mao Shimada. And rightly so – the Sanrio Brand Ambassador has been undefeated throughout her Junior career, winning everything the sport has to offer in that category. A cruelly-placed birthday is, in effect, all that prevented her from competing in the Olympics, just as had happened to Mao Asada (for whom I think she is named) back in 2006. Baby Mao is truly a generational talent, with beautiful spins and a reliable Triple Axel in both Short and Free Skates. She has already won the Challenger Series event she competed at, and will compete at Skate Canada and Finlandia Trophy.
2. Yuna Aoki
Nickname: The Most Beautiful Skater In The World
Country: Japan
Personal Best: 217.39
Yuna Aoki has skating skills and performance quality that leaves even the best of her peers in the dust. She does not so much move across the ice as she floats on it, and when she breaks out the choreographic elements and step sequences, your eyes can’t pull away from her.
Unfortunately, through most of her career, her relationship with the ice was mostly confined to being in close contact with it. Her jumps were...let’s just say it felt like an injustice that Yuna Aoki was required to jump.
But something happened last season that seemed to flip that script, and at the Four Continents Championship, Yuna landed all her jumps. Clean. And when Yuna Aoki landed all her jumps clean, something entirely predictable happened – she won. It still wasn’t enough to put her on the Olympic team (because being Japanese is arguably worse than being Russian for a female singles skater), but it showed what she could do.
This year, we will see her at Grand Prix de France and NHK Trophy. It will be beautiful and it will be entertaining, and if she jumps – well, anything is possible when Yuna Aoki jumps.
3. Alexandra Ignatova
Nickname: Russian Rocket; Neutral Rocket; Mothership
Country: AIN2/Russia
Personal Best: 251.73
Once upon a time (yes, I am doing that again), there was a little girl called Sasha Trusova who loved to jump. She dyed her head a violent shade of red, dressed in all black, was christened the ‘Russian Rocket’, and jumped Quads like no one before – or since. She could do a Quad-Toe. She could do a Quad-Sal. She could do a Quad-Lutz. And she did them, sometimes in the same program, and sometimes, even cleanly. By and large, she didn’t bother about much else. Skating skills, artistry and choreography were largely optional to her, because what she could do when she launched herself off the ice, no one else could. A slew of medals came her way, but somewhere the lack of artistic elements meant that the color of those medals was not Gold when it came to the major championships.
Then came a dramatic Olympics in Beijing in 2022, and Sasha was captured by invasive cameramen and broadcast to a global audience having a teenage meltdown in all its glory, swearing she would never skate again and even briefly refusing to come out to collect her Silver Medal (she had won the Free Skate, but a deficit from the Short Program meant she finished behind compatriot Anna Scherbakova). And then, Russia was banned from participating in ISU events.
So Sasha did what anyone would do (if they were Sasha, that is), and released a music video during the lockdowns, got engaged to one male Singles skater, married another, and immediately had a baby. With infant Misha in tow, she returned to the rink, dubbed herself by her full name, Alexandra, and changed her last name to her married name of Ignatova, and began jumping. The world called her insane. Delusional. Attention-hungry.
When ISU lifted the ban and allowed Russians to compete as Neutral athletes, Alexandra applied for and got the AIN status and went to a challenger in Japan where she promptly landed a clean Quad Lutz and finished second only behind Baby Mao. A few weeks later she went to Kazakhstan and won the Challenger there to put herself at the top of the Alternates list, and with withdrawals coming in, it looks like we will be seeing her compete at Cup of China and Skate America.
Sasha Trusova was an amazing, boundary-pushing athlete. But Alexandra Ignatova might become something even more – an amazing, boundary-pushing athlete who redefines what it means to be a woman in this sport.
And that, my friends, brings us up to speed on what we might see in the women’s field this year, and this leaves out the Kim twins from South Korea, as well as the likes of Isabeau Levito, the New Jersey girl who will share the burden of being the USA’s great hope, and Belgium’s Nina Pinzaronne, the reigning Bronze medalist from the World Championships.
