Highlights from An Evening With Champions
The annual fundraiser for The Jimmy Fund featured some incredible skating from past and future Olympians.
One of the incredible things about living in central Connecticut — maybe the only incredible thing besides the pizza — is how many amazing skating events happen just a short drive from my home. One of those took place Saturday night in Cambridge, Mass. at Harvard’s annual “An Evening With Champions” event, which in its 53 years has raised more than $3 million for The Jimmy Fund.
The show — hosted by former Olympians Paul Wylie and Emily Hughes — featured not only star figure skaters, but local skaters as well. It’s always so fun to see skaters with whom I’m less familiar, and in every show I’ve been to like this, there’s been at least one program I fell in love with (and Saturday night was no exception).
In fact, let’s start the highlights with one of those performances, from Riley Solano Mathieson, who skates for UMass-Lowell and has competed on the National Qualifying Series.
The dress was gorgeous, the song choice (“Replay” by Lady Gaga) was impeccable and she seemed to be having so much fun out there, which is a huge part of what makes these events so special. (Apologies for the video quality at the beginning; filming through the glass isn’t always the easiest.)
Next up was Sherry Zhang, fresh off her top-10 finish at the Riga Cup (a Junior Grand Prix event) last month.
Despite still being a junior, Zhang competed at the senior level at nationals last season and finished fifth. I’ll be interested to see how she does in St. Louis this season.
Canadian junior men’s skater Grayson Long followed, skating his short program ("Les Parapluies de Cherbourg” by Michel Legrand), which I previously saw him perform at the Cranberry Cup, where he took silver.
He’ll be skating at next month’s JGP in Abu Dhabi.
Following Long was Cathryn Limketkai, a Massachusetts native who skates internationally for the Philippines, where she finished second in nationals last season.
Limketkai also had a top 10 finish at the 2025 Asian Winter Games.
Jacob Sanchez was back in Boston, skating his 2024-25 short program, set to “Music” by John Miles.
This program, with which Sanchez won the 2024 JGP Final a season ago, was co-choreographed by Adam Blake — which gives me an opportunity to tell you that I did a Q&A with Adam that will be posting later this week (shameless promo!).
Like Sanchez, Sophie Jolene von Felten competed in Boston at last month’s Cranberry Cup, and like Sanchez, she skated a different program at Saturday’s exhibition. This was an emotional program dedicated to those we lost in the Flight 5342 tragedy in January.
von Felten is such an incredible and accomplished skater at just 16 years old, and not to get too far ahead of things, but you should definitely have her on your radar for the 2030 Olympics in Nice.
Just like they did at last month’s Summer Sizzler, the Haydenettes closed out the first act Saturday night.
I’ve seen them perform twice now, and they’re definitely making me get more interested in following synchronized skating. There’s just something so incredibly enjoyable about seeing that many skaters share the ice and perform at a high level simultaneously.
The second act began with more local skaters, and third up in that group was Sasha Streeter, who I was actually familiar with before this event, because she skated a “Hot To Go” program at this event a year ago. This time she evoked a different set of emotions with another incredible song choice and skate.
I’m honestly surprised there haven’t been more “Wicked” programs this season, though I’m guessing that’s mostly because of music clearance issues. But going with “I’m Not That Girl” (rather than, say, “Popular” or “Defying Gravity” is a bold and creative choice, and I’m not afraid to admit I was tearing up watching this.
Then we got to a pair of skaters I’d been dying to see for months, Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez of Great Britain. They’d actually competed at Worlds in Boston in March, but ice dance was the one discipline I didn’t get to attend, so this was my first time seeing them in person and they did not disappoint.
There are so many different directions for ice dance teams to go with this year’s ‘90s theme for rhythm dance, and I loved their choice of George Michael’s “Freedom! ‘90.” And they skate with so much joy! I cannot wait to see them again at Skate America in November.
Next up was 2024 Canadian national champion Kaiya Ruiter, skating to “Smile” sung by Kristin Chenoweth.
Those of you who’ve been following the journey of my figure skating novel will understand why I have a soft spot for any and every Canadian women’s singles skater. I’ll be excited to see how she does at nationals this year (not in person, obviously, I’ll be at U.S. nationals). The competition for that one Olympic spot is going to be tough.
This was the second time I’ve seen Aleksandr Selevko’s “Kiss” program, following his silver medal win at the Cranberry Cup, and it’s been a crowd pleaser both times.
The three-time Estonian national champion is headed to Skate Canada at the end of October.
Another skater I was incredibly excited to see perform in person for the first time was 2014 U.S. Olympian Polina Edmunds.
The 2015 Four Continents gold medal winner shined — literally — in a gorgeous dress. Even more gorgeous were her spins, which are absolutely next level. Her twizzles were on point as always too.
South Korean ice dance team Hannah Lim and Ye Quan took the ice next, skating to “Goddess” by Laufey (who I’m familiar with now thanks to Alysa Liu!).
Just a stunningly gorgeous program, filled with passion. The two-time defending South Korean champions are headed to the Cup of China on the Grand Prix circuit next month.
Last, but certainly not least, was Hae-in Lee, the 2023 world championship silver medalist who is coming off a tumultuous 2024-25 season that involved a temporary suspension (though she still managed to place in the top 10 at worlds).
I might be literally the last person on the planet who has yet to see KPop Demon Hunters, but somehow I still recognized this right away (sometimes memes come in handy). Obviously this isn’t a competitive program, but I hope she gets to skate it at multiple galas this season, because it’s going to be a crowd favorite.
Of course, no skating show would be complete without the fun group number at the end, and An Evening With Champions was no exception.
Overall, this was a great night for a great cause. I still can’t believe the tickets were only $20 (for a front row seat), an incredible value these days, where it seems like any live entertainment costs hundreds of dollars.
Now, sadly, I don’t have any more skating events on my calendar until near the end of October. Thankfully there are plenty of competitions streaming between now and then to keep my attention (I’m literally watching the men’s portion of the Lombardia Trophy as I’m typing this).