Figure Skating Embraces The Future With New Technology, Modern Concepts To Engage Athletes And Fans

Ashley Wagner and Ben Agosto know what it's like to step off the ice at the figure skating world championships and feel as though they've conquered the sport. And what it feels like when the notoriously fickle sport bites back.

So when the International Skating Union put in motion its ambitious "Vision 2030" plan, which is designed to grow and expand the sport through improved fan engagement, it made sense that they would call Wagner, a three-time U.S. champion and former world silver medalist, and Agosto, who won an Olympic silver medal with ice dance partner Tanith Belbin.

If anyone was going to interview athletes at this week's world championships at such an emotionally raw moment, the minute after their programs have concluded, it ought to be someone who has been through it themselves.

"I would have loved this when I was an athlete, to have the post-skate interviews right in the kiss-and-cry, when the emotions are so fresh," Wagner said. "That's something being brought into this production. We've never seen anything like it."

Look closely, and you might notice a lot of things never seen before at this week's worlds : cutting-edge LED dasher boards surrounding the rink, grand entrances for the athletes, and more energetic music - like the rocked-out version of "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" by the Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys that keeps blaring inside TD Garden.