Chan delivers powerful performances
By Troy Schwindt
One of the most memorable moments of the 2016 U.S. Championships unfolded in the short program of the junior ladies event. Emily Chan, the U.S. novice titlist in 2015, took the ice for her performance to Whitney Houston’s 1992 megahit “I Will Always Love You” from the movie T e Bodyguard. Moving ele- gantly and eff ortlessly to the beautiful and power- ful anthem, Chan captivated the audience. “I just felt the emotion with Whitney Hous-
ton, and T e Bodyguard is an amazing movie so I wanted to perform it the way it should be per- formed — to touch people,” Chan (Dallas FSC), who received a standing ovation, said. Chan’s exquisite performance included an opening triple toe loop-triple toe loop combina- tion, as well as spellbinding spins and footwork. Her unforgettable program vaulted the 18-year- old to a nearly 10-point lead, which she built upon with a stellar free skate en route to the title and a total score of 180.83 points. “She put her heart into that performance,”
coach Olga Ganicheva said. “She focused on the story and not on the jumps. Her ideal short pro- gram coming in was to make some people cry, but she made a lot of people cry.” For her free skate, Chan performed with delicacy and speed to “Chopin” by Edvin Martin. She missed her opening triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination, but after the mistake, her pro- gram was clean and well presented. “I really didn’t have a good warm-up on that jump and I just wanted to trust myself and go for it,” Chan said. “I attempted it and it didn’t go as planned, but I stayed on my feet and just contin- ued with the program.” In comparing novice and junior titles, Chan
said it’s a diff erent feeling because she upped the ante on her technical elements this season. “Last year I only had a triple Salchow and triple toe, and this year I added three new jumps to the program to make it harder,” Chan said. “And having two diff erent styles in my free skate — soft and pretty, and aggressive — was my goal in addition to the new technical (diffi culty).” Chan’s training mate at the Dr Pepper
StarCenter in Plano, Texas, Vivian Le, earned the silver medal with a score of 166.36. Le (Dallas FSC), regarded as one of the
sport’s best jumpers, failed to land her opening triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination in both of her programs. Le won the inaugural Freezer Aerial Figure Skating Challenge jump event last summer in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “Today was really off ,” Le said after the free skate. “I guess it was rushed again, like yesterday. It’s a jump that I usually don’t miss. It’s unfortu- nate. I guess I was a little uptight.”
SKATING 39 Emily Chan
thought, ‘I don’t want to miss again,’ so she over- did her Lutz and fell in the free skate. She was upset about it because she knows she can do it
and she wants to show the world Megan Wessenberg (T e SC of Bos-
how good she is.”
ton) captured the bronze medal with 154.21 points. She skated an entertaining, near-clean
free program to music from Andrew Lloyd Web- ber’s Evita, hitting a solid triple loop and triple fl ip, as well as a double Axel-triple toe combina- tion.
Wessenberg’s coaches, Mark Mitchell and
Peter Johansson, are thrilled with their pupil’s progress since she placed third at Eastern Section- als in November. “We’ve always thought Megan was fabu-
T e rest of her short program was solid, though she fell late in her free skate on a triple Salchow attempt. “Vivian is an amazing, hardworking child who commits to this sport,” Ganicheva said. “It’s not possible to skate and work harder than Vivian. She does everything 100 percent. T e triple Lu- tz-triple toe is always consistent. When she missed it in the short program, of course she was a little bit shocked, but she managed to do everything else and stay strong. I guess it was pressure. She
Vivian Le
lous,” Mitchell said. “T e problem was getting Megan to believe she was fabulous. She had a lot of fi rsts this week: fi rst triple-triple in the short, and the triple loop and double Axel-triple toe were new in the long.” Rebecca Peng (T e SC of Boston) won
the pewter medal with an expressive program to music from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, hitting two triple fl ips and a triple Lutz. Peng moved to Colorado Springs in September to train in Tom Zakrajsek’s group. She generated 146.14 points.
Megan Wessenberg
PHOTOS BY JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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