Two-time U.S. bronze medalist Agnes Zawadzki is thinking big, for Sochi and beyond by LYNN RUTHERFORD
Some days, after two or three practice sessions at Colorado Springs
World Arena plus a tough workout at the Olympic Training Center, Ag- nes Zawadzki is too exhausted to do more than snuggle into her pajamas and watch Netflix in bed. Tat’s when she dreams this dream: Agnes and her best pal, U.S. junior pairs champion Matt Blackmer, have left the sunny calm of Colorado Springs for New York City. She’s studying business at New York University. Tey’re living the big-city life and loving every minute. “I imagine that within 10 years, on a weekend he and I would be going to some fabulous dinner or play and then dancing the night away,”
Agnes Zawadzki, two-time and reigning U.S. bronze medalist, is putting everything she can into her training in order to qualify for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.
Zawadzki said. “Hopefully we’ve made some nonskating friends, to have a group of four.” Te next morning, she’s back on the ice. Her New York dream has
receded into the distant future — after she has competed in an Olympics or two, after she’s had that perfect free skate to win the U.S. title that’s just eluded her the last few years. “I never thought about New York until I went to Figure Skating in
Harlem in April,” she said. “Before the plane even landed, I knew I needed to live there at one point in my life. “In skating, you get used to having everything be go-go-go. I think I
thrive off of that. As much as I love sitting home and relaxing after a long, hard day, I love to go out to little hole-in-the-wall restaurants you wouldn’t think were good, and they turn out to be amazing. I hate having nothing to do.”
Tat’s good, because with a month left until the U.S. Championships that will determine which three ladies win spots on the Sochi Olympic team, Zawadzki has her hands full. After a disappointing performance at the U.S. International Classic
in Salt Lake City in September, she changed coaches, leaving Christy Krall to return to Tom Zakrajsek, who trained her from 2008 to 2011. She and Zakrajsek are drilling her programs, working to find the patterns that will give her jumps and triple-triple combinations the consistency to match their power and height. “[Krall] gave me so much,” Zawadzki said. “She kind of helped me find myself and my love of the sport again. I owe a lot to her for the artistic side of my skating.” In the run-up to Sochi, though, the 19-year-old skater sought out
Zakrajsek, well-known for tough but carefully measured training tech- niques that have produced U.S. champions including Jeremy Abbott, Ra- chael Flatt and Max Aaron. “I was really young when I was taking from him before, so I just
didn’t want to be pushed,” Zawadzki said. “Now I know I need that on a day-to-day basis, so when I get to competitions I know I’m ready for anything.”
As far as Zakrajsek is concerned, they picked up right where they
left off. “Working with Agnes again has been so easy,” he said.
“She’s flipped a switch, almost. She’s Polish, and I’m half Polish, and there’s a work ethic that goes along with that, which I’m helping her tap into even more.” Hard work has been a major theme in Za-
wadzki’s skating career. She was born in the Chi- cago area soon after her family moved to the U.S. from Gdansk. Her parents divorced when she was an infant; her father died when she was 10. Mom Jolanta worked double shifts as a housekeeper and nanny to support the family, including Agnes’ older brother Bart, with her maternal grandparents pitching in.
46 DECEMBER 2013
PHOTOS BY CHUCK BIGGER
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