toe. He fell on the triple Axel, the one nemesis in his otherwise explosive jumping arsenal. “I see Nathan nail quads all the time,” Rip-
pon said. “If Nathan does four quads or if Max does fi ve, I am not going to do six. I know that’s not what’s going to happen. T e only thing I can do is make sure that I am aggressive on everything. I know that I am one of the best performers in the world, and I remember that, and I remember to spin for my life or my coach is going to kill me that I didn’t get my levels or I didn’t do something to the best of my ability.” Aaron, the leader after the short program and the skater many had predicted would win the title based in part on his victory at 2015 Skate America, had a strong technical showing and impressed with his artistic improvement, but it was not enough to win a second U.S. title. Even though Aaron nailed a quad Salchow-triple toe and a quad Salchow in his free skate, he turned a planned triple Salchow into a double and lost points on a footwork sequence. “Today was a step in the right direction,”
said Aaron, who trains with coach Tom Zakrajsek in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “I fought through the performance. It wasn’t what I trained. I’m glad I’ve stuck with my process and again came close to a clean performance. T at triple Salchow — that was a tough one. T at was a mistake on my part, and I think I could have performed the footwork a little better.” Zakrajsek credited choreographer Phillip
Mills for the improvement in Aaron’s overall per- formances. “Phillip really has given him two great pro- grams and he has a great belief in Max,” Zakra- jsek said. “What Max showed is that he has to go for every point. In his short program, he received positive [grades of execution] on everything.” Chen, however, was the talk of the event. Not since Tim Goebel, who landed three quads in
Max Aaron
his free skate at the 2000 U.S. Championships in Cleveland, had a U.S. skater landed three quads in a program, let alone four. Chen’s goal is to be mentioned in the same category as 2014 Olym- pic champion Yuzuru Hanyu, the Japanese skater who produced fi ve quads at the 2015 ISU Grand Prix Final. “T is is an awesome step for me as a senior
skater,” said Chen, who made his senior debut at the 2015 U.S. Championships in Greens- boro, North Carolina, where he placed eighth. “T roughout the season, I’ve only been putting myself up as a junior skater and I’m glad that I was able to show off what I’m capable of as a se- nior skater. “It’s a huge honor to score that high,” Chen added. “I was honestly not planning that going into the competition [to do four quads in his free skate]. After the short program, I fi gured I was totally capable of doing it, and I was ready to do it, so I decided that I should just go for it. I had nothing to lose at that point.” “I was so excited to see a young man do four quads, and I was so excited for the big step,” Aru- tunian said. “And hopefully, the message would be sent to everybody that this is the future of U.S. fi gure skating. “Maybe we should start to think [about]
changing the rules, and if somebody puts out four quads, he must get [a bonus] on the second, and then another reward for the third, and then the fourth. T at would be smart.” Well after the event ended, the drama
continued. In addition to the discussion about quads and lack thereof, there was heated discus- sion about which skaters would be named to the World Team that will compete in Boston March 28–April 3. T e international committee select- ed Rippon, Aaron and Chen to the U.S. World Team. Jason Brown, the 2015 U.S. champion and the highest U.S. fi nisher at 2015 Worlds, with a fourth-place showing, did not compete in Saint Paul because of a strained back. Brown had fi led for a petition to be considered for the World Team but the petition was denied. As if that wasn’t enough for one day, just a couple of hours after the men’s free skate, Chen went onto the ice to perform his exhibition pro- gram. Less than 20 seconds into his routine to Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” Chen was visibly both- ered on a triple toe loop and put his hand on his right hip. He stopped skating, came off the ice and soon found himself sitting in a wheelchair. T ree days later, on Jan. 27, Chen under-
went hip surgery at UC San Diego Health. Al- though U.S. Figure Skating offi cials said he is expected to recover fully, his hopes of winning the World Junior title and competing at his fi rst senior World Championships were dashed. He is expected to be sidelined for eight to 10 weeks. Grant Hochstein, the pewter medalist, was
named to the World Team in Chen’s place. For Hochstein (T e SC of New York), who had never fi nished higher than seventh in six previous trips to the U.S. Championships at the senior level, the chance to compete at Worlds is a huge step. His free skate, performed to a medley of
18 MARCH 2016
music from Les Misérables, edited by his girlfriend and former U.S. competitor Caroline Zhang, brought the crowd in Saint Paul to its feet. It was a program that coach Peter Oppegard said “ma- tured” Hochstein as a skater. “I skated the program a little better at NHK, but nationals is such a diffi cult beast,” said Hoch- stein, 25, who was high-fi ved by fans as he skated off the ice following his free skate. “I’ve always loved this program, and I really wanted it to reach a larger audience.” Now the U.S. men’s contingent hopes to
show the world that it can hold its own in Bos- ton. T e World Championships are being held on U.S. soil for the fi rst time since 2009, when Evan Lysacek claimed the crown in Los Angeles. T e following year, Lysacek went on to win the Olympic gold medal. Lysacek was in Saint Paul to be inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame. His shadow, as the last U.S. men’s World champion, loomed large. But Rippon, with renewed enthusiasm for
the sport and new confi dence in his skating as the U.S. champion, is eager to lead the men’s team into Boston.
“I feel that to make a well-rounded compe- tition it takes all sorts of competitors,” he said. “I feel that there is room for everybody. If everybody could skate like Yuzuru, then the competition would be boring. You have people who are great spinners, you have people who are great perform- ers, you have people who are great jumpers. It’s not just a one-trick competition. It’s not a jump competition. It’s not a choreography competition. And it’s not a spin competition. It takes a little bit of everything.” As of now, Rippon is America’s man of the
hour. And if the future is anything like what the audience witnessed in Saint Paul, it’s pretty bright, too.
Nathan Chen
PHOTOS BY JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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