A season of tragedy and triumph for U.S. figure skaters

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A season of tragedy and triumph for U.S. figure skaters

The figure skating season that ended nine days ago at the World Team Trophy in Japan was one of overwhelming tragedy and historic triumph for Team USA.

The tragedy happened Jan. 27, when 28 members of the U.S. figure skating family were among the 67 people who died in a crash between their plane and a military helicopter near Washington, D.C.

Among the 28 with ties to the skating community were 11 young skaters, plus some of their parents and coaches, all returning from a development camp following the U.S. Championships in Wichita, Kansas.

At that point, with a pall hanging over them and hearts heavy with pain, the top U.S. skaters still had nearly three months left in the season, with three championship events left:  Four Continents, World Championships and World Team Trophy.

For nearly all of them, going back to practice was both incredibly difficult and necessary, as the U.S. elite sought ways to honor the memories of those who had died by honoring the sport they all loved with their best efforts.

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Chock and Bates skate through sickness to title in what may be last nationals dance

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Chock and Bates skate through sickness to title in what may be last nationals dance

COLUMBUS, Ohio — There is no more haunting question in life than, “What if?”

The desire not to let it go unanswered played a significant part in why ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates competed in the free dance Saturday afternoon at the Prevagen U.S. Championships.

Both had been sick for at least a day. Chock said it had felt like a 24-hour flu. How Bates felt was evident by the pallor of his face.

They already have enough baubles to fill several trophy cases. Yet they were determined to try for another in a discipline with spinning that could make a healthy person dizzy and lifts that require strength and sure-footedness on a slippery surface.

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Isabeau Levito repeats new mantra to reduce stress of figure skating nationals

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Isabeau Levito repeats new mantra to reduce stress of figure skating nationals

It wasn’t very long after winning her first senior national figure skating championship last January that Isabeau Levito began to look at it less as a crowning achievement and more as an albatross around her neck.

Levito almost immediately began to feel pressure about successfully defending the title, her sleep disturbed by thoughts of what would happen if she did not repeat as champion.

She had gone from a 2023 head space of competing with nothing to lose to one in which she worried about having everything to lose at the Prevagen U.S. Championships that begin Thursday in Columbus, Ohio.

“Honestly, it was kind of in the back of my mind ever since I won nationals last year,” Levito said. “A month later, I was already thinking about how stressed I would be for the next nationals, knowing that I felt not winning would be losing something.”

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World figure skating championships the latest chapter of Deanna Stellato-Dudek’s comeback

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World figure skating championships the latest chapter of Deanna Stellato-Dudek’s comeback

There are so many improbabilities in the story of how Canadian pair team Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps got to this week’s world figure skating championships that the whole thing reads like a flight of fancy.

You start with a talented junior singles skater from suburban Chicago named Deanna Stellato, whose skates had sat in a closet at her mother’s home for 16 years after injuries pushed her from the sport.

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Under the circumstances, figure skating worlds – and future – hard to assess

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Under the circumstances, figure skating worlds – and future – hard to assess

Even in normal times, it always has been hard to draw a lot of conclusions from the World Figure Skating Championships that immediately follow the Olympics.

The rigors of an Olympic season lead many medalists to take a pass on worlds. Those who do compete often are obviously fatigued.

It is exponentially harder to assess the competition that ended Saturday in Montpellier, France.

No world meet has taken place in more abnormal circumstances.

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