When the 2021 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships begin next Thursday, Jan. 14, it may feel like déjà vu for skaters and fans alike.
That's because more than half of the senior-level skaters entered had competed at the same venue – The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas – a mere 82 days prior for 2020 Guaranteed Rate Skate America.
U.S. Championships is heading to Vegas for the first time in its history, following the success of the bubble-type environment implemented at Skate America® for skaters' safety. The event was previously set for San Jose, California, but was relocated due to the impact of COVID-19. San Jose will in turn host the 2023 U.S. Championships. Championship competition will be held Jan. 14-17, followed by junior-level action Jan. 20-21. Fans can watch extensive coverage on
NBC, NBCSN and Peacock Premium.
Some skaters now view Skate America® as sort of a test run both for athletes and event organizers.
"This will be the third time I've been in that arena to compete," said two-time World champion
Nathan Chen, referring also to the 2019 Skate America presented by American Cruise Lines that was held at The Orleans Arena. "I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to view the arena, though I think actually it's more helpful for U.S. Figure Skating than it is for me."
"I think they did a phenomenal job of keeping the skaters safe and catered to," said three-time U.S. champion and 2020 Skate America® champion Alexa Knierim. "We had everything we needed and they really thought ahead of what we could need in the moment, and I know that going to nationals I'll have that confidence that the safety of everybody is going to be a priority. I know that our federation is following the guidelines as strict as possible and allowing us to still do what we love and putting safety first."
Chen, Knierim and the 42 other skaters – out of 81 total seniors – returning to the entertainment capital of the world will have an advantage as they already experienced performing for cardboard cutouts instead of a live audience, which will once again be the case for U.S. Championships. They also learned just how much alone time there is during a competition in this new era.
"I think the only thing I'll change is I'll bring more stuff to do while I'm in my room because it does get a little bit lonely and boring when you're in your room all day, so maybe I'll bring a guitar or something fun," Chen said.
Here's a look at what to expect from the four championship disciplines:
The Pairs Field Changed Drastically in One Year
A lot can change in pairs skating in one year. The pairs field at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, featured four past champions. This time, there is one:
Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc.
The 2019 champions who are now in their fifth season together, Cain-Gribble and LeDuc will seek to improve on their pewter medal from last year, but they will be challenged by two newer teams that finished ahead of them at Skate America®, where they were fourth.
All eyes will be on
Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, both past champions and multi-time ISU Grand Prix medalists with their previous partners. Knierim and Frazier teamed up in March and won Skate America® gold a few months later.
"I think it's a great advantage to have been there once," Knierim said on returning to The Orleans Arena. "I know this time I'm going to be more hydrated, I know where patterns of the free program I felt weird in that rink that I can be prepared for when we go, and I'll know what to expect since it's the second time of skating in a very silent, awkwardly quiet arena."
Knierim and Frazier said fans can expect to see an improvement in their speed and confidence from Skate America®.
Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson, who train with Knierim and Frazier in Irvine, California, are also expected to make a run for their first U.S. title after taking silver last year in only their second season together. Calalang and Johnson won the virtual International Selection Pool (ISP) Points Challenge earlier this season and were second at Skate America.
Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov earned bronze at Skate America with a total just 0.42 points ahead of Cain-Gribble and LeDuc.
The championship pairs field includes Cain-Gribble and LeDuc, Calalang and Johnson,
Emily Chan and Spencer Howe, Evelyn Grace Hanns and Jim Garbutt, Knierim and Frazier,
Laiken Lockley and Keenan Prochnow, Lu and Mitrofanov,
Katie McBeath and Nathan Bartholomay and
Olivia Serafini and Mervin Tran.
Could This Be Mariah Bell's Year?
The ladies field is stacked with title contenders and could provide the biggest surprises of the four disciplines.
Alysa Liu enters as the two-time reigning champion and a perennial favorite at just 15 years old. Liu has struggled on paper so far this season, finishing fourth in the ISP Points Challenge and with the lowest score of the six women who competed at the free-skate-only Las Vegas Invitational.
Liu made a number of coaching changes this season and is now primarily training with Lee Barkell, Lori Nichol and Massimo Scali. She also began working with four-time U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott in the fall, who is helping Liu with her jumps following a three-inch growth spurt. He denied any notion of Liu struggling.
"She is becoming a young woman, and she is adjusting to her new height, her new body and her new environment," Abbott told NBC Sports. "That is a lot of growth and a lot of change at a time when training and skating are not normal to begin with."
Las Vegas marks
Mariah Bell's eighth senior-level U.S. Championships – the most among the 18 competitors – and she is trending toward her first win. Bell finished third in 2019 and second in 2020. She is two-for-two this season, winning both the ISP Points Challenge and Skate America®. Bell will be debuting an altered free skate, having recut her ABBA medley program since Skate America®.
Nipping at her heels is 2018 U.S. champion
Bradie Tennell, who placed second to Bell both times this season, including by a narrow margin of 1.66 points at Skate America. The 2018 Olympian capped last season with a bronze medal at Four Continents, her first ISU Championship medal. In the off-season, Tennell moved to train in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with new coach Tom Zakrajsek.
Sixteen-year-old
Audrey Shin is expected to make a splash at her first senior-level U.S. Championships after claiming bronze at Skate America®.
2017 U.S. champion
Karen Chen and 2014 U.S. junior champion
Amber Glenn are also podium contenders. Chen had the second-highest free skate score at Skate America®, and Glenn is hoping to debut a triple Axel in competition that she first showed on social media over the summer.
The championship ladies field includes
Starr Andrews, Bell, Chen, Glenn,
Gracie Gold,
Hanna Harrell,
Finley Hawk,
Rena Ikenishi,
Gabriella Izzo,
Pooja Kalyan, Liu, Heidi Munger,
Emilia Murdock,
Paige Rydberg, Shin, Tennell,
Lindsay Thorngren and
Violeta Ushakova.
Chock and Bates to (Finally) Make Season Debut
Madison Chock and Evan Bates were having what could be considered the best season of their career when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and canceled the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2020. They went seven-for-seven in medals and were hoping for a spot on the World podium after winning both the U.S. and Four Continents titles.
Between canceled competitions and Chock suffering a concussion in July that set back their training, the reigning U.S. champions will finally make their season debut more than 11 months after their last competition.
"We want to perform even better than we have in the past," Chock said. "We want to win a World title. We want to win at the Olympics. We want to win another U.S. title. So we have big goals, and we're ready to accomplish them."
Chock and Bates are returning to competition ice with the same programs that worked so well for them last season, including their crowd favorite Egyptian snake dance-themed free dance.
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue will challenge Chock and Bates in hopes of reclaiming the title. Hubbell and Donohue won both the 2018 and 2019 U.S. Championships, and have claimed the top spot in the ISP Points Challenge and Skate America® this season.
Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, who train in Montreal with Chock, Bates, Hubbell and Donohue, will seek to improve upon their bronze medals from 2019 and 2020.
The championship ice dance field includes Hilary Asher and Ryan O'Donnell,
Molly Cesanek and Yehor Yehorov, Chock and Bates,
Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, Hawayek and Baker, Hubbell and Donohue,
Lorraine McNamara and Anton Spiridonov, Cara Murphy and Joshua Levitt,
Eva Pate and Logan Bye,
Livvy Shilling and Alexander Petrov, and Breelie Taylor and Tyler Vollmer.
Will Nathan Chen Win a Fifth Consecutive Title?
When 2018 Olympian
Nathan Chen won his fourth U.S. title last year, he matched a slew of figure skating greats including Brian Boitano, Scott Hamilton, Charles Tickner, David Jenkins and Hayes Alan Jenkins. This time, Chen could become the first man to win five in a row since Dick Button won seven titles from 1946-1952.
Chen remains the odds-on favorite, having won the last 12 competitions he entered, including this season's Skate America® title by a 24-point margin even after downgrading two of his planned jumps in the free skate.
The big question for Chen will be whether he attempts the quadruple loop, which he landed earlier this season at the Las Vegas Invitational for the first time in three years.
"I would like to include it," Chen said. "It would be cool to challenge myself, especially since we don't have a true season so it's not like I'm preparing for Four Continents right after. After nationals I have another 10 weeks before Worlds, if that happens, so it's not like I feel like I have to set myself up for another competition. We'll see how it goes in training, though."
Chen will be challenged by 2019 World bronze medalist
Vincent Zhou, who finished runner-up at Skate America® and 2020 U.S. silver medalist
Jason Brown. Despite missing the majority of the 2019-20 season, Zhou rallied to earn the pewter medal at the 2020 U.S. Championships after just a month back on the ice. This summer, the 2018 Olympian moved back to Colorado Springs, to train with former coach Christy Krall while continuing to consult with Mie Hamada virtually.
Brown placed second to Chen in the ISP Points Challenge in early October (Zhou did not enter), but U.S. Championships will mark his in-person season debut. The 2014 Olympian trains in Toronto and was entered in Skate Canada International before the event was canceled. He is already familiar with the venue, though, having won silver there at the 2019 Skate America®. Brown also earned his first ISU Championship medal in 2020, capturing silver at Four Continents.
After medaling at the past two U.S. Championships, 2019 World Junior champion
Tomoki Hiwatashi will look to continue his streak on the podium in Las Vegas. He finished third in the ISP Points Challenge and fourth at Skate America behind Canada's Keegan Messing.
The championship men's field includes Brown, Chen,
Ryan Dunk, Mitchell Friess, Hiwatashi,
Joseph Kang,
Joonsoo Kim,
Alex Krasnozhon, Peter Liu,
Jimmy Ma,
Jordan Moeller,
Maxim Naumov, Yaroslav Pariot,
Camden Pulkinen,
Eric Sjoberg,
Dinh Tran and Zhou.
Fans can follow along this week on the
2021 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships Virtual Fan Experience. The site provides quick access to everything fans need to know about #ToyotaUSChamps21, including TV and streaming schedules, feature stories, Fantasy Skating presented by Xfinity, HomeLight Home Ice Bingo and more!
