Meteoric rise has Tennell dreaming about Olympics

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Meteoric rise has Tennell dreaming about Olympics

A box of facial tissues sat on the dasher boards. That's not unusual at a figure skating practice, where the cold air in the rink and the effects of exertion combine to make noses run.

The difference was how often Bradie Tennell had to run to the Kleenex during this pre-Christmas practice at her home rink in Chicago's north suburbs. Tennell had a cold but no fever, which meant she and her coach of 10 years, Denise Myers, saw no reason to do anything more than cut back on the length of the training session and practice some of the elements in the programs instead of doing more run-throughs.

"We try to practice as if it's a competition, under all kinds of circumstances: delays in the schedule, first or last in the skating order, not feeling perfectly," Myers said. "You never know if you will have a cold at a big competition."

It was late morning. The rink lights glinted off sparkles underneath the eyelets of Tennell's skates as she started to warm up jumps. It wasn't long before she started reeling them off. Triple loop. Double axel. Triple lutz-double toe-double loop combination. Another double axel. Triple salchow. Double axel-triple toe. Triple lutz-triple toe.

"It was a little off," Tennell told Myers after the triple-triple. "I don't like messing up."

The error was almost imperceptible. The landings on every jump were rock solid.

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In Grand Prix Final, watch the competitions within the singles competition

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In Grand Prix Final, watch the competitions within the singles competition

Who knows what to make of the singles competition in the Grand Prix Final?

The women’s event beginning Friday in Nagoya, Japan, is missing the two-time reigning world champion and overwhelming favorite, Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia, sidelined by a broken foot, as well as the 3-4 finishers at last year’s worlds, Gabrielle Daleman of Canada and Karen Chen of the United States.  Both Daleman and Chen wound up miles from Japan after finishing, 16th and 23rd, respectively, in the season standings, with only the top six earning places in the final.

The men’s event beginning Thursday does not have reigning world champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan (injury prevented him from a near certain qualification), Javier Fernandez of Spain (did not qualify) and Patrick Chan of Canada (skipped second Grand Prix event after a poor showing in his first.)

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Tennell lone bright spot for U.S. women singles skaters so far in Olympic season

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Tennell lone bright spot for U.S. women singles skaters so far in Olympic season

There was a lot of relief and excitement early last April in Helsinki when World Championships rookie Karen Chen stood up to extra pressure in the free skate created after veteran Ashley Wagner choked (Wagner’s word, not mine).  Chen’s performance gave her fourth place and assured Team USA would have three women’s singles spots at the 2018 Olympics.

The way things look now, U.S. Figure Skating should politely offer that third spot to Japan, which lacked the talent to get three in Helsinki but is flush with top women now.

With the Grand Prix regular season having ended Sunday at Skate America in Lake Placid, N.Y., not one of the U.S. women who had been considered top contenders for the three spots – Chen, Wagner, Mariah Bell and Mirai Nagasu – has done much this fall to suggest she deserves it.

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For Gracie Gold, hope that a step sideways will help her move forward

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For Gracie Gold, hope that a step sideways will help her move forward

The first time I met Gracie Gold, in late fall of 2011 at a suburban Chicago rink, she allowed me a glimpse into her psyche after a previous season filled with disappointment.

“I had zero confidence in myself,” she said, refusing to use physical growth as an excuse for the inconsistent jumps that had kept her from qualifying for the 2011 U.S. Junior Championships.

By the time of our first conversation, after her eye-catching performances that season at both a Junior Grand Prix event in Estonia and Midwestern Sectionals, the skating world already was anointing Gold, then 16, as the sport’s next star.

The expectations would be enormous, especially for someone whose psyche always remained fragile.

She bore up to them remarkably well, winning two U.S. senior titles (with two second places), finishing a solid fourth at the 2014 Olympics (with a bronze medal in the team event) and fourth twice at senior worlds.  She built a résumé that would be the envy of nearly every little girl who puts on figure skates and dreams of such achievements.

Of her winning free skate at the 2016 U.S. Championships, I wrote:   "Her jumps were huge and secure, her poise complete, her skating to music from Stravinsky’s `Firebird' a performance that showed the polish of a mature, experienced athlete."  

Little did we know that such performances sometimes masked the truth, that she was a Pagliacci laughing for the crowd while crying inside.

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For Abbott, a figure skating career of brilliance and tarnish

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For Abbott, a figure skating career of brilliance and tarnish

What to make of Jeremy Abbott’s competitive figure skating career, now that he used a Thursday interview on the icenetwork podcast, “Ice Talk,” to bring it to an official end?

He was a blend of unquestionable brilliance and baffling mediocrity, the latter covering many of his scintillating moments in a dull finish.

With four senior titles, Abbott is among most decorated men’s skaters at the U.S. Championships.  In the past 65 years, only Todd Eldredge has won more national titles (six).  Abbott won all his in the International Judging System era; no other U.S. man has won more than two in that 12-season period, none more than one in the nine seasons since Abbott won his first.

Abbott skated like a world-beater at several of those U.S. Championships, none more so than 2010, when his performances were better than those of the medalists at the Vancouver Olympics a month later.

And he skated at various levels of back-in-the-pack inconsequence in all his global championships, none more so than those 2010 Olympics, when he was 15th (!) in the short program and ninth overall.

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