Intermediate Ladies Free Skate
The intermediate ladies gave it their all in the free skate for a chance at the podium on Saturday, Jan. 19, at the
2019 GEICO U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
Lindsay Thorngren, 13, finished first with 146.27 points, a season and career best. After falling on her opening triple Lutz-triple loop combination, Thorngren rebounded, adding a triple toe loop - though underrotated - onto her second triple Lutz, originally planned to be a triple Lutz-double loop combination.
"I just thought that I had to fight for my jumps," she said, "Because I really wanted to win."
The Ice House of New Jersey Figure Skating Club member last competed at the U.S. Championships was in 2017, where she placed sixth in the juvenile competition.
Following just over four points behind, earning the silver medal, is Isabeau Levito from the Skating Club of Southern New Jersey. Levito opened with a triple loop-triple toe loop combination. After almost falling on the landing but staying on one foot, Levito said she felt shaky.
"It wasn't my best performance, but I did what I had to do," the 2018 U.S. juvenile champion said.
Looking forward, Levito plans on moving up to the junior level and getting a consistent triple Lutz.
Hazel Collier (Skating Club of Boston) took the bronze medal with a score of 135.79. She performed the part to "New Girl In Town" from the movie
Hairspray to achieve the second-highest components score of the competition and executed two Level 4 spins.
Tamnhi Huynh from the Dallas Figure Skating Club bounced from ninth after the short to grab the fourth place spot with a total score of 122.82 points. Her program featured two Level 4 spins that both received positive Grades of Execution.
Intermediate Men Free Skate
Robert Yampolsky from the North Jersey Figure Skating Club won the intermediate men's event with a clean free skate and a season's best score of 147.51 points, more than 20 points higher than his score at the Eastern Sectional Championships.
"I'm really happy because it's the first time I competed a clean program this season," he said.
After opening with a solid triple loop-Euler-double flip sequence and triple Lutz-double toe loop combination, the 14-year-old said he hopes to eventually land a triple Axel in the coming years.
Daniel Martynov from Northern Ice Skating Club placed second with 133.25 points. Despite a fall, the 12-year-old still achieved two Level 4 spins and positive Grades of Execution on most of his elements.
"It's definitely not the best I could've done, but I'm happy with what I did," he said.
Representing the Hudson Valley Figure Skating Club, Jacob Sanchez landed into third with a clean program.
"All that hard work, all those repetitions really paid off," Sanchez, 11, said. "I was able to land my triple flip. I just focused my mind and I did it."
Sanchez placed second in the free skate with 84.92 points, but his total score of 131.36 was less than two points short of second place.
Following in fourth was Kai Kovar from Wahsatch Figure Skating Club. Scoring 118.10 points, Kovar, 12, achieved positive Grades of Execution on all of his elements.
"I wanted to put out a clean long today," he said, "and I was just boosting with excitement because that was my first clean long of the year."
Intermediate Pattern Dance
The intermediate pattern dance competition began today with the Rocker Foxtrot and European Waltz pattern dances.
Nastia Efimova, 12, and Jonathan Zhao, 16, from Triangle Figure Skating Club dominated the competition, ending the day in first place with 47.37 total points.
Together for six years, the duo is seasoned U.S. Championships competitors, having placed seventh, first and fourth, respectively, the last three years.
"We feel really happy about today," Efimova said, "And we're really excited to perform our free dance."
Leah Neset from Magic City Figure Skating Club and Dimitry Tsarevski from Broadmoor Skating Club sit in second place with 45.01 points and scored the highest components scores in both dance events.
Together for only six months, this is the team's first time at U.S. Championships.
"So far, it's been really good," Neset said.
Representing IceWorks Skating Club, Avery Landis and Kenny Eckert sit in third with 41.89 points.
Zoe Sensenbrenner from Peninsula Skating Club and Matthew Sperry from the Skating Club of Northern Virginia round out the top four with 38.97 points. They finished second overall last year.
