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2015 U . S . J UNIOR M E N’S C H AMPION


Andrew Torgashev shows off his flexibility in his short program in Greensboro. He went on to break the U.S. Championships junior men’s overall record with 225.24 points.


by TERRY TERZIAN Skating to Pitbull’s “Fireball” in the Smuck-


er’s Skating Spectacular, newly crowned U.S. ju- nior men’s champion Andrew Torgashev was in- deed on fire as the lyrics professed. In capturing the crown, Torgashev blew


away the rest of the Greensboro, North Caroli- na, field, finishing ahead of the silver medalist by 32 points. Short program and free skate scores of 75.61 and 149.63 respectively were both personal bests, and his total score of 225.24 set a new re- cord for a junior man at a U.S. Championships. “Coming into nationals my goal was to skate


two clean programs,” Torgashev said. “I wasn’t thinking about placement.” Torgashev showed a lot of personality and


pizzazz in his “Fireball” routine, belying his age. At 13 years old, Andrew was the youngest com- petitor in the junior men’s field. “Te judges don’t care about age. Tey


care about how you skate,” Torgashev said mat- ter-of-factly. Despite his youth, Torgashev, who was


fourth in the novice ranks in 2014, shows a lot of technical prowess. Both his short and free pro-


grams in Greensboro were skated virtually flawlessly. Te short pro- gram included a triple flip-triple toe combination and a triple Lutz, while the free skate incorporated six triples, including a rarely seen double Axel-half loop-triple Salchow combination. Te judges award- ed grades of execution of primarily 2s and 3s in both programs. At the end of his free skate, Torgashev displayed a big smile and pumped his fist as he skated off the ice. “I relied on my training to get me through and it did,” he said.


“Adrenaline takes over and you feel like you can do anything.” After the U.S. Championships, Torgashev was excited to com-


pete in his first World Junior Championships, which took place the first week of March. He had perhaps a pseudo-home-field advantage, as he had competed on the same ice in Estonia in September of last year at a Junior Grand Prix event, finishing fifth. “Training has been going well,” he said before boarding the


plane. “I hope to skate as well as at nationals, or better. I want to in- crease the speed on my spins and receive all Level 4s, as well as receive all positive GOEs.”


Te lack of a triple Axel hurt him in the short program in Tal-


linn, where he placed 10th in a field of 40. “Everyone in front of me had a triple Axel,” he said. (Eight of the nine competitors finishing ahead of him attempted the jump, with all but one landing it successfully.) “It’s hard to make up the ground when I don’t have one.”


40 JUNE-JULY 2015


JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING


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