Broken Ice

For nearly three years, the case involving Canadian Olympic ice dancer Nikolaj Sørensen has made headlines around the world. Sørensen was accused of sexually assaulting an American figure skating coach and former skater in Connecticut in 2012.

Judges at 2024 World Figure Skating Championships. / Photo: FloweringDagwood, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons From gymnastics to artistic swimming, to diving and even Major League Baseball, sports across the Olympic and professional landscape have taken advantage of new technology over the years to incorporate real-time reviews and/or score inquiries into their systems.

Kamila Valieva and Eteri Tutberidze / Photo by Tatarstan.ru, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons This weekend marks the four-year anniversary of one of the most shocking figure-skating scandals the Olympics has ever seen. When 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned substance, the story quickly became global. There were immediate cries for an investigation and accountability for the adults surrounding Valieva, including her coaches and team doctors.

Broken Ice has learned that Canadian figure skating coach Tyler Myles has filed another appeal with the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC), this time arguing that bias in the original investigation process warrants a fresh hearing of his case.

Photo by: David W. Carmichael, via Wikimedia Commons Broken Ice has learned that a Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC) Appeal Panel has ruled Abuse-Free Sport did not have jurisdiction to investigate the complaint against former Canadian champion and 2022 Olympian Nikolaj Sørensen at the time of its investigation into Ashley Foy’s allegation of a 2012 sexual assault.

Bill Fauver has seen it all in more than five decades in figure skating. As a former U.S. pair skater, two-time Olympian with Alice Cook and Lea Ann Miller, and coach, Fauver says he’s seen figure skating at both its best and its worst. At a time when headlines continue to expose coaches accused of abuse and assault, he’s trying to shift the conversation from reacting to preventing harm.

Melissa Piperno and Liam Dougherty at the 2003 Canadian Championships. TRIGGER WARNING: This story deals with aggressive language, verbal & emotional abuse and suicidal ideation. “You’re fat.” “You’re ugly.” “I’m going to kill you.” “If you quit now, you’re going to let down your mother, your skating club, your whole F—ing territory.” These are some of the words former Canadian national team ice dancer Liam Dougherty says he heard from a coach while training as a teenager.

Judges at the 2025 Skate America Figure Skating competition / FloweringDagwood, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina saw the highest highs and lowest lows of winter sports. What it also saw, as it always does, were questionable and controversial judging decisions in aesthetic sports.

The 2026 Winter Olympics closed with no publicly announced positive doping cases and now sport’s anti-doping system is eager to signal progress. Four years ago in Beijing, the 2022 Games were overshadowed by one of the most disturbing doping scandals in Olympic history: 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva’s positive test for a banned heart medication came to light during the games, igniting a global debate not just about cheating — but about how the system treats minors.

Elite athletes are often celebrated for their resilience. But what happens when resilience becomes survival?