Third time’s the charm for Sjoberg
By Lynn Rutherford Not many skaters win the silver medal in
a novice event, place 11th the next sea- son, and then win the title on their third try. With talent and determination, plus a revamped off - and on-ice training regimen, Eric Sjoberg did just that in Saint Paul. When he won his silver medal in 2014,
Sjoberg (Los Angeles FSC) was just 12, the youngest skater in the event, and barely 5 feet tall. An eight-inch growth spurt over the next 18 months or so threw off his jumps so much he considered sitting out the 2015–16 season. But his coach, Rafael Arutunian, had other ideas. “(Eric) grew up a lot; two years ago he was
a very tiny little guy,” Arutunian said. “T is year we hired a very nice guy from Russia, Denys Petrov, and he helped us with off -ice training and strength, for (better) rotation on the ice.” Petrov, a former principal skater with Holi-
day on Ice, soon had Sjoberg running sprints and doing hurdles.
“I think I almost spend more time off -ice training than on,” Sjoberg said. “(Denys) uses that spinner thing (portable vestibular simulator); it’s like a disc on a rotating machine. He has me rotate on it and go into the air on a harness to work on my jumps.” It worked. Sjoberg hit solid triple Lutz-triple toe loop combinations in both of his programs, plus every other jump he tried, to win the nov- ice title by nearly 20 points. In his free skate to a dramatic piano concerto by the late Leonard Pennario, Sjoberg reeled off seven triples, includ- ing a second triple Lutz, to earn 117.15 points.
Combined with his fi rst-place short program, it gave him 171.68 points total. “T at was my best program of the season in
competition,” Sjoberg said after the free. “It was like what I do every day in practice. I think the only pressure is what I put on myself, so I think I did well considering everything that happened.” “I didn’t start training my programs until
maybe July or August,” he continued. “I think I kind of even surprised myself.” Sjoberg plans to compete at the junior level next season. To prepare, he is again focusing on jump technique with Arutunian and Petrov. “Right now, we’re working on triple
Axels off ice, and then exercises on ice for triple Axel and quad,” he said.
“We’re working on my toe loop entrances, just doing a lot of them off ice, and working on my rotating positions.” Silver medalist Peter Liu (SC of Wilming- ton) also made a comeback of sorts. After several fi ne summer competitions, the skater took a bad fall in practice, injuring his hip. He was still in pain when he placed third at Eastern Sectionals in late November. “It took him three months to recover,” Vik-
tor Pfeifer, the skater’s coach, said. “He couldn’t walk for a little bit. He couldn’t do many jumps in practice at Sectionals, he just did a bunch of jumps in the program. But now we’re here and he did it.”
After a solid short program, Liu
showed fi ne musicality in his free skate to music from the Frida soundtrack, hitting fi ve clean triple jumps, three in combination. He earned 99.67 points and ended with 151.90 points. “I thought the program was really good for what I could do,” Liu said “I could have been better, yes, but with this whole season and all the ups and downs, it was the best I could do right now.” T e bronze medal went to Maxim Naumov
(Charter Oak FSC), son of 1994 World pairs champions Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shish- kova. T e extroverted skater performed a clean, stylish short to Michael Bublé’s “Feeling Good,” including a solid triple Lutz, but fell on the jump in his free skate to “300 Violin Orchestra.” He ended with 148.73 points. “Besides the Lutz I did pretty much every-
thing else,” Maxim, who landed four clean triples, said. “In my mind, I was like, ‘Just go for it, go for it.’ I was focusing on that as hard as I could to get those extra points for the loss of the Lutz.” “I’m very excited and mostly, very proud,”
Vadim, who coaches his son, said. “Maxim recently hit a growing period, so we had a rough week before we came here. His body is changing and that makes it a little bit diffi cult. It was a little nerve-wrack- ing.”
William Hubbart (Fort
Wayne ISC) landed a triple fl ip-triple toe combination in his free skate to fi nish fourth with 142.83.
Eric Sjoberg
Peter Liu 46 MARCH 2016
Maxim Naumov
PHOTOS BY JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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