2017 U.S. JUNIOR MEN’S CHAMPION
‘Always a positive vibe’ Krasnozhon thriving at Dallas training home
BY COLETTE HOUSE Life looks very different than it did three
years ago for St. Petersburg, Russia, native Aleksei “Alex” Krasnozhon. In only three years, he’s gone from being a boy just learning to speak English and adjusting to life in Dal- las, to a young man who captured the junior title at the 2017 Prudential U.S. Figure Skat- ing Championships in Kansas City, Missouri. “It all went exactly as we planned it out,”
said Peter Cain, who coaches Krasnozhon with his wife, Darlene. “He had some ups and downs in some of the performances, but as far as achieving everything we wanted to get done, we actually got it done.” Krasnozhon did more than just win the junior title; he met every goal that he and the Cains set for him last season, including repre- senting the United States at the Junior Grand Prix Final and World Junior Championships. He also medaled at both his Junior Grand Prix events — a silver at JGP Czech Republic and a gold at JGP Slovenia.
While Krasnozhon and his coaching
team entered last season with clear objectives, the road to accomplishing those goals wasn’t always paved. For starters, Krasnozhon experi- enced a major growth spurt — he grew about a foot in the last three years. At the same time, he was recovering from a broken back, an injury he suffered while training in Russia. In fact, the first time the Cains saw him skate in Dallas, the injury prevented him from doing much at all.
“I noticed him on the ice, skating
around, but you could tell he wasn’t very com- fortable. You could see he was in pain,” Peter said.
Krasnozhon found himself at the Dr
Pepper StarCenter (Euless, Texas) Arena for the first time when visiting Dallas on vacation when he was 14 years old. He went skating with family friends who lived in Texas, and whose children trained with the Cains. “I asked if he’d any rehab on it (his back)
and through the conversation found out that no, he really hadn’t had any rehab, so I intro- duced him to the trainer at the time at our rink who was someone who had worked with football players that had a similar condition,” Peter said. Within a week of working with the train-
44 JUNE/JULY 2017
er, Krasnozhon said he felt better. He started coming to the rink more often, and within two weeks was back to doing triple jumps. Less than a month later, he relocated to Dallas and began the process of being released from the Russian Figure Skating Federation and competing on behalf of the United States. Te transition from Russia to Texas was full of adjustments, especially on the language front.
“For the first seven or eight months,
my coaches, Peter or Darlene, would have to finish sentences for me because they would understand what I was trying to say, but I couldn’t say it,” Krasnozhon said. In addition to helping Krasnozhon adjust
to life in the States, the Cains created a con- crete training plan for their new skater. Tey had Krasnozhon work not only with them, but with the many capable coaches at the rink. “Tere’s always a positive vibe going at our rink,” Krasnozhon said. “With Peter and Darlene, if there is some kind of problem they have a solution for it.” One of the aspects of working with the Cains that Krasnozhon loves most is their ability to plan a skater’s season. In Russia, Krasnozhon said, there was almost no plan for his skating. “If you have a plan it’s always better, so
that’s probably why I ended up in Dallas,” Krasnozhon said.
Te plans Krasnozhon loves so much
have evolved over the last three years. Year one was all about rehabbing Krasnozhon’s back, increasing his flexibility, and reestablishing a fitness routine post-injury. While rehabbing, Krasnozhon waited for his official release from Russia. Darlene feels that the wait time it took for him to properly rehab and be able to compete for Team USA was well worth it. “It gave us time to turn him into the skater that he wanted to be, because he didn’t have a lot of skating skills or spinning skills,” Darlene said. “He had a lot of jumping skills, so we got to work on all of those other skills that he needed to improve on in that time.” Te U.S. Championships in Kansas City
marked Krasnozhon’s third appearance at the junior division. He knew it would be his last. Next year, he will compete at the Champion- ship level and he wanted to leave the junior
ranks as a champion. “I just wanted to skate my best,” Kras-
nozhon said. “Obviously I wanted to win, but I knew that if I skated well it would not be my last competition of the year and my goal was to skate well.”
Krasnozhon was right. He wrapped up last season with an eighth-place finish at the World Junior Championships in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei. Although pleased with how his season turned out, Krasnozhon is already looking ahead. “Last year was amazing, I won, but last
year is last year. It’s a new year,” Krasnozhon said. “I did so many years in junior, it’s time to move on. I grew a lot in junior.” Next season, Krasnozhon will again compete internationally on the junior circuit, but will move up domestically to the Champi- onship level. Te endurance that comes from training a four-and-a-half-minute Champi- onship-level free skate and then competing a four-minute junior long program is likely to improve his performance, he said. Although Krasnozhon is debuting at the Championship level in an Olympic year, he won’t feel the pressure of trying to earn an Olympic berth, as he is still in the process of obtaining his United States citizenship. Tat means that Krasnozhon has his eyes firmly set on qualifying for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. “Te more I compete, the more I realize that to be a top skater it’s not just being strong in jumping or in components; it’s about put- ting everything together,” Krasnozhon said. Skating goals next year for Krasnozhon, a high school sophomore, are to finish in the top six at the 2018 U.S. Championships, win the Junior Grand Prix Final, and earn a medal at the World Junior Championships. Personal- ly, he hopes to one day become a surgeon. Setting and accomplishing goals is no doubt satisfying, but talking about what it’s like to represent Team USA and the camara- derie that comes with that experience is what really excites Krasnozhon. “Te sense of being part of Team USA is
very strong and that makes me happy,” Kras- nozhon said. “At every competition, we cheer for each other and help each other and I think that’s the thing I love most about the U.S.”
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