Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani celebrate their first U.S. senior title with coaches Marina Zoueva and Massimo Scali
U.S. WORLD TEAM SELECTIONS
At the conclusion of the 2016 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating Championships, U.S. Figure Skating announced the athletes who will represent Team USA at the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships March 28–April 3 in Boston and the World Junior Figure Skating Championships March 14–20 in Debrecen, Hungary.
2016 U.S. WORLD TEAM
Ladies Polina Edmunds Gracie Gold Ashley Wagner Alternate 1 – Mirai Nagasu Alternate 2 – Tyler Pierce Alternate 3 – Hannah Miller Men Max Aaron Nathan Chen Adam Rippon Alternate 1 – Grant Hochstein Alternate 2 – Ross Miner Alternate 3 – Alexander Johnson Pairs Tarah Kayne and Daniel O’Shea Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim Alternate 1 – Marissa Castelli and Mervin Tran
Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea proved that they
are a pairs team to be reckoned with, delivering two clean and impactful performances en route to their first title.
And Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani, who
have worked tirelessly for more than a decade honing their craft, captured their first U.S. championship ice dance crown thanks to two sterling performances. Te juvenile- through junior-level skaters also shone on the big stage. Te Bloomington Ice Garden, about a 30-minute drive from the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, served as the ideal venue for the juvenile and intermediate competition, with three sheets of ice and the far side of the competition venue routinely filled with fans. Te novices and juniors showed that the future
of U.S. figure skating is bright, with individual and team performances drawing rave reviews from fans and officials.
Chief referee Peggy Graham called the event a “huge success.”
“Te skating was fantastic, culminating with four electrifying championship events,” Graham said. “Te local organizing committee, led by Nancy Kaufmann and Michelle Schmidt, was incredible. Tey anticipat- ed every need and provided an army of well-trained, Minnesota-nice volunteers. A special thank-you goes to Saint Paul and the Xcel Center for being extraordi- nary hosts of a very memorable Championships.” Skating fans flocked to U.S. Figure Skating’s so- cial media channels leading up to, during and after the event. More than 50,000 tweets used the #USChamps16 hashtag, reaching more than 16 million people. During Saturday night’s exciting ladies free skate,
Gold and Wagner trended nationally on Twitter as fans watched with anticipation to see which rival would win the coveted ladies title. In addition to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, the U.S. Championships were featured on Snapchat Live for the first time, welcoming millions of followers across the United States. Fans at home were watching, too. Te ladies free
skate, broadcast live on NBC, had a whopping 23 percent ratings increase over the previous year. And icenetwork provided a top-notch second-screen expe- rience, delivering on-demand and live coverage of all the events. In the arena, fans enjoyed listening to the action
on Skate Radios, given away at the door for a second- straight year by event title sponsor Prudential. Fans could listen to one of three channels: the live feed from icenetwork, NBC’s broadcast, or a feed with several of the sport’s leading technical specialists, experts and special guests. Te Xcel Energy Center, home to the 2008 U.S. Championships, and the city of Saint Paul were once again outstanding hosts. “As an organization, Xcel Energy Center is com- mitted to hosting national sporting events that show- case our facility as one of the best in the country and which provide significant economic impact to the city of Saint Paul,” Xcel Energy Center Vice President and General Manager Jack Larson said. “We could not be more pleased with the week of competition. Te ice was in perfect condition for the competitions, atten- dance was strong by local and national skating fans, and Saint Paul was able to showcase its top-notch hos- pitality to a national audience.”
Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea share a special moment.
Alternate 2 – Madeline Aaron and Max Settlage
Alternate 3 – Jessica Calalang and Zack Sidhu
Ice dance Madison Chock and Evan Bates Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani Alternate 1 – Anastasia Cannuscio and Colin McManus
Alternate 2 – Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean‐Luc Baker
2016 U.S. WORLD JUNIOR TEAM
Ladies Tyler Pierce Bradie Tennell Alternate 1 – Emily Chan Alternate 2 – Vivian Le Alternate 3 – Megan Wessenberg Men Nathan Chen Vincent Zhou Alternate 1 – Tomoki Hiwatashi Alternate 2 – Kevin Shum Alternate 3 – Aleksei Krasnozhon Pairs
Chelsea Liu and Brian Johnson Joy Weinberg and Maximiliano Fernandez
Lindsay Weinstein and Jacob Simon Alternate 1 – Gabriella Marvaldi and Cody Dolkiewicz
Alternate 2 – Jacquelyn Green and Rique Newby‐Estrella
Alternate 3 – Ai Setoyama and David‐ Alexandre Paradis
Ice dance Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Car- penter
Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons Elliana Pogrebinsky and Alex Benoit Alternate 1 – Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko
Alternate 2 – Julia Biechler and Damian Dodge
Alternate 3 – Chloe Rose Lewis and Logan Bye
SKATING 11
PHOTO BY HANNAH FOSLIEN/GETTY IMAGES
PHOTO BY HANNAH FOSLIEN/GETTY IMAGES
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88