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Two hundred eighty of the best ice dancers from 16 different countries took to Lake Placid, New York, to take part in one of the sport’s longstanding summer traditions. The Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships and International Championships made their return to the Olympic village, which is regarded as one of the oldest ice dance competitions of the world. “I think the people, the community, everybody’s just happy to be here,” said U.S. solo ice dancer Brooke Tufts. “Some other competitions are a little bit smaller … they don’t give you that big feeling like here. It’s so awesome.” Competitors recognize its history, tying into an unforgettable winter sports culture in the Olympic Village. That includes Tufts. The U.S. National 2023 gold and 2024 silver medalist who admires that history from the 1932 and 1980 winter Olympic games every time she competes in Lake Placid. “It just gives you this type of feeling,” Tufts said. “I have a tradition of watching 'Miracle on Ice' every time I come here since I was like 10 years old, and it’s never ended … it’s just that adrenaline rush that it gives you that I love the feeling of.” The 2025 competition includes other notable medalists and champions in ice dance across the globe. That list features Oona Brown and Gage Brown, the 2022 World Junior Ice Dance Champions. The brother and sister duo were looking to use Lake Placid as a steppingstone to qualify for the U.S. Figure Skating national championships. A strong performance in nationals could earn them a spot in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. “It would be the culmination of all the work that we put in,” Gage said. “We’re trying our absolute hardest. Obviously, the competition is pretty close between us and a lot of other teams because we have a lot of great athletes on the U.S. team. We’ll have to really push hard.” The two used their Olympic dreams to get creative with their routine in Lake Placid. They chose to dance to multiple variations of music from popular film “The Godfather.” It not only symbolizes the location of the upcoming games in Milan-Cortina, Italy, but also correlates to their family heritage. “We picked this program with hopes for the Olympics,” Oona said. “We have family that’s in Italy, and we thought it would be really special if we could go.” The Browns, who have competed in Lake Placid for nearly a decade, hope to inspire others to give ice dancing a try. They encourage that making mistakes in the beginning are part of the process, after finishing near the bottom in an intermediate ice dancing competition when they first started in Lake Placid around 2016. “I hope we can be role models to some people just with our perseverance,” Gage said. “Our first competition we didn’t do very well here … but we came back year after year, pushed, we got higher placements every year.”' Tufts also had her doubts when it came to starting in Lake Placid. Now, she is looking to act as a role model, inspiring others to create their own memories in the North Country’s edition of the Ice Dance Championships. “That’s really my goal here,” she said. “I remember being little and being terrified of this rink, thinking like, ‘Oh my god, it’s so big, it’s so scary, but it’s so cool.’ I hope that they have those same feelings, and they definitely should.” She hopes these feelings will be shared with the next generation of ice dancers when they make their mark on the ice, as this summer tradition plans to keep going for years to come in Lake Placid.