Vivian Le and Max Aaron emerged as the champions of the first Freezer Aerial Figure Skating
Challenge on June 26 at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Le, a member of the Dallas Figure Skating Club, used a triple Lutz-triple toe combination to help her win the jump event by nearly 10 points over Mirai Nagasu and Mariah Bell. Te victory earned the 14-year-old $7,500, which she plans to use for training expenses. Le is the 2015 U.S. junior bronze medalist. Nagasu, a member of the Pasadena FSC, collected $5,000, while Bell, a member of Rocky Mountain FSC, pocketed $2,500. Competitors participated in multiple rounds and were required to perform a variety of jumps and jump combinations. Te unique scoring structure blended the international judging system with scores (based on a 1–10 scale) from a panel of celebrity judges, who included U.S. champions and Olympians Michael Weiss, Rachael Flatt and Kimmie Meissner. Scores carried over to each round. Te event was held in conjunction with the Broadmoor Open. YouTube celebrity and comedian Michael Buckley served as the emcee, while rock music played during each jumper’s attempt, creating an X Games-like atmosphere. Vivian Le
Richard Dornbush
Max Aaron “I practiced a lot for this event,” Le said.
“My body was feeling tired, but I told myself to keep going, keep going.”
Le, who had wrapped the competition heading into the bonus round, credits her training mates in Dallas for pushing her to “train harder and be one of the best.” In the bonus round, Le, Nagasu and
Bell had the opportunity to do a triple Axel for bonus points. Bell and Le fell, while Nag- asu two-footed her landing. Other competitors included standouts
Polina Edmunds, Amber Glenn, Courtney Hicks and Karen Chen. On the men’s side, a battle ensued be-
tween Aleksei Krasnozhon, hometown favor- ite Max Aaron and Nathan Chen, who all advanced to the bonus round. In the bonus round, competitors had the
opportunity to earn extra points upon the exe- cution of back-to-back quads at opposite ends of the ice. Aaron, a member of the Broadmoor SC, landed a quad Salchow-triple toe before falling on a second quad Salchow. Krasnozhon, 15, and a member of the Stars FSC of Texas, stepped out of a quad Salchow and landed a quad loop. Chen, 16, and a member of Salt Lake FSC, used one of his “redos” and landed a quad toe-triple toe and another quad toe.
18 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015 Aaron finished two points ahead of Krasnozhon
and five ahead of Chen. He received $7,500, while Krasnozhon and Chen departed with $5,000 and $2,500, respectively. “It’s nice to see a lot of guys out here pushing the limit, doing different quads and putting in quad-tri- ples,” Aaron said. Aaron said he is using the event as a learning experience for future competitions such as the U.S. Championships and Worlds, and would love to see the jumping event add international skaters at some point.
“It’s all about pushing each other. It’s all about
progression,” Aaron said. “I compare it to an X Games. We are doing crazy stuff, getting the crowd into it and pushing the sport forward. We are trying to bring a new audience in.” Other top men’s competitors included standouts
Jason Brown and Richard Dornbush. Philip Warren earned $500 for having the jump with the longest air time (0.77 seconds) and greatest height (28.676 inches) for his triple Axel-half loop-triple Salchow combination. All jumps were analyzed using a high-speed camera. Dornbush wrapped up the jumping event by winning the backflip contest with a combination of a backflip and his signature “butterfly twist.” He earned $1,000 for the victory. Warren placed second and Ca- leigh Newberry was third.
PHOTOS BY CHUCK BIGGER
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