Futures unclear for top U.S. pairs and dance teams after clear-cut wins at figure skating nationals

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Futures unclear for top U.S. pairs and dance teams after clear-cut wins at figure skating nationals

SAN JOSE, California – They have both begun the new Olympic cycle as the undisputed national leaders in their figure skating disciplines, cementing that status with U.S. titles Saturday – the fourth for ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the second for the pairs’ team of Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier.

At this point, their respective paths to the 2026 Winter Games seem free and clear of challengers.

The question for the dancers and the pair is how far down that road they intend to go.

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Nathan Chen credits Massimo Scali for finishing touches on gold medal routine

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Nathan Chen credits Massimo Scali for finishing touches on gold medal routine

Funny how things work out sometimes.

Massimo Scali had hoped to go to the 2022 Winter Olympics as Alysa Liu’s coach.

That did not happen, so Scali is watching the Olympics from his home in Oakland, California.

But he still was present at the Games through Nathan Chen.

Chen had sought input from Scali soon after learning the three-time Italian Olympic ice dancer suddenly and surprisingly was free of coaching commitments to Liu.

"He has been incredibly helpful, so I just feel a need to mention that," Chen said at a press conference the day after winning the gold medal.

"I am so happy for being able to collaborate with Nathan recently," Scali said Friday by telephone. "To have seen him skate the way he did in this Olympics was quite a show. I’m so proud."

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Russians prove they are back as two pairs’ teams lead the way at Skate America

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Russians prove they are back as two pairs’ teams lead the way at Skate America

Brandon Frazier sounded like a lot of the leading U.S. pairs’ skaters who have come before him over the years.

“We’re trying to push ourselves to be more competitive with the top teams in the world,” said Frazier, reigning U.S. champion with partner Alexa Knierim.

For six decades, that goal for U.S. pairs has primarily meant trying to be competitive with teams from Russia and its predecessor, the Soviet Union.

And, despite some unexpected Russian dry spells in the past 15 years, that is what it means again.

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As the IOC assumed its (usual) amoral posture, Olympic sports athletes stood tall as a moral counterpoint in 2020

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As the IOC assumed its (usual) amoral posture, Olympic sports athletes stood tall as a moral counterpoint in 2020

For the past 33 years, Globetrotting has selected annual medal winners in international sports, given to those athletes for whom an Olympic gold is the ultimate goal.

The pandemic that has shattered lives around the world made it impractical and unsafe to have most international sports competitions for the last nine months – and even those that have taken place in the current winter season have been changed by having athletes opt out or, in the case of figure skating, becoming essentially domestic events.

Given that, trying to give awards in the format I used in the past seems like a fool’s errand.

Yet it would not be good to let the year pass without some shout-outs to athletes in Olympic sports, both active and retired, whose achievements or courage (or both) were noteworthy.

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Serendipitous addition of Jeremy Abbott to Alysa Liu’s coaching team helping her work through growth spurt

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Serendipitous addition of Jeremy Abbott to Alysa Liu’s coaching team helping her work through growth spurt

Serendipity is part of this story. And both happenstance and coincidence also played a part in how Jeremy Abbott became a full-time member of Alysa Liu’s coaching team this fall.

Abbott describes the way it all developed as “organic,” a word he also uses to explain the process Team Liu is using to further her growth as a skater. It is a word that seems especially appropriate for Liu this season, when organic physical changes have challenged the two-time reigning U.S. women’s figure skating champion.

Four months past her 15th birthday, Liu is some three inches taller, with longer limbs and a different center of mass, than she was at this point a year ago. All that has made it harder for her to spin in the air as quickly as she could.

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