MEDALISTS
GOLD Adam Rippon
silver Max Aaron
bronze Nathan Chen
pewter Grant Hochstein
(l-r) Max Aaron, Adam Rippon, Nathan Chen and Grant Hochstein
By Amy Rosewater When Adam Rippon last competed in
Saint Paul, Minnesota, he won the 2008 U.S. junior crown. He was just 18 and could not have imagined then that it would take him eight years to win another U.S. title. Nor could he have envisioned that he would do so in the same arena. Yet eight years after claiming the U.S.
junior title, Rippon (The SC of New York) again reached the top of the podium, claiming his first U.S. senior title at the 2016 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Saint Paul. “Eight years is the charm,” a smiling
Rippon told NBC’s Andrea Joyce. “Isn’t that the saying?” For Rippon, it was worth the wait. He has had a difficult journey back to the top, chang- ing everything from his coaches to the country he lives in. He missed out on a chance to compete in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, contemplated retirement and made the bold decision to publicly announce his sexual orien- tation as gay. So when Rippon, at age 26, finished his
free skate in the Xcel Energy Center to roaring applause, he had the emotions of his long travels back to Saint Paul running through his mind. He had come close to winning the title twice before, settling for silver in 2012 and in 2015.
“To be sitting here eight years after I won
my junior title, I can only say that it has been a really long road filled with ups and downs,” said Rippon, who burst into tears when his winning scores were announced. “Winning a national title was important
to me,” he said. “It’s been a dream of mine ever since I started skating. I wanted to show the best I could do today, and I’m 26. I think it
16 MARCH 2016
says you should never give up on yourself. Just because you can’t do one element that your competitors can do more proficiently than you, it doesn’t mean you should hang up your skates and give it up.” The men’s competition was dramatic,
and it was filled with discussion about artistry versus technical prowess, and about skating’s past, present and future. Quads versus no quads. Rippon became the champion without landing a clean quad, while the silver and bronze medalists each landed quads. Rippon, third after the short program,
vaulted to the title after a riveting perfor- mance to a medley of Beatles music. His pro- grams were beautiful and full of creative style and artistic positions, but neither of them featured a clean quad. In his short program, he opted to perform a triple instead of a quad; in his free skate, he underrotated and fell on his opening quad Lutz. Yet Rippon’s maturity and flair gave him
the edge over Max Aaron, 23, and Nathan Chen, 16, who made history by becoming the first skater to land four quads in one program at the U.S. Championships. Aaron (Broadmoor SC) finished second with 269.55 points, and Chen (Salt Lake City FSC), who also entered the record books by landing two quads in his short program at these U.S. Championships, placed third with 266.93 points. Rippon, who trains alongside Chen at
the East-West Ice Palace in Artesia, California, under coach Rafael Arutunian, knew well what Chen had the potential to achieve. So Rippon focused his training to highlight what he does best — showcasing his style and artistry. It paid off as Rippon garnered 270.75 total points, 90.58 coming from free skate compo-
nents scores — the highest in the men’s field. On the flip side, Chen garnered the
highest total element score at the U.S. Cham- pionships with 100.24 points for his free skate. His long program, skated to “Symphony No. 3” by Camille Saint-Saens, featured a quad Salchow-double toe-double loop, a quad Salchow, a quad toe-double toe and a quad
Adam Rippon delivers an entertaining short program.
PHOTOS BY JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
PHOTOS BY JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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