On Friday at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina,
Alysa Liu was the first champion to be crowned, earning back-to-back U.S. titles at just 14 years old.
The ice dance competition also got underway with the rhythm dance, with
Madison Chock and Evan Bates taking the lead into Saturday's free dance.
Ladies
Alysa Liu might need some help to climb onto the top step of the podium, but the pint-sized prodigy needs no help earning that spot.
At 14 years old, Liu won her second consecutive U.S. championship.
And for the second consecutive year,
Mariah Bell and
Bradie Tennell were there to give her a boost.
"I was kind of looking at the podium, and they were like, 'We can help you up again!'" Liu said. "And I was like, 'Okay!' And so we just kind of recreated that moment from last year."
Liu scored 160.12 points for her free skate to "Illumination" by Jennifer Thomas, giving her 235.52 points overall to win the title.
The 2018 junior U.S. champion made her senior debut in 2019, bursting onto the scene with a flourish – and a triple Axel.
A year later, Liu was back with an improved arsenal that includes quadruple jumps. She landed a quad Lutz, although under-rotated, in her free skate, for the first quad ever attempted by a woman at the U.S. Championships.
Even so, her first U.S. title still holds a special place in her heart.
"I think last year I was really happy because it was my first time at senior, and going to nationals, I was very happy that I even made it to nationals," Liu said. "And this year, I'm thinking the new decade. It's like, wow, what a good start."
This season, Liu won both of her Junior Grand Prix assignments and took silver at the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final, keeping pace with a wave of Russian skaters also doing quads and triple Axels.
It's a trend she's well aware of.
"I do pay attention to other skaters around the world," Liu said. "I am aware a lot of skaters are getting these difficult jumps, and I'm just trying to keep up, and keep up with the jumps. And I'm also trying to keep up with skating skills from other skaters around the world."
In the process, she could write her own chapter in the history books of U.S. Figure Skating. But for right now, she's taking things one step at a time.
"I just want to keep improving myself and my skating, and hopefully making history along the way," Liu said.
Meanwhile, Bell improved from third after the short program to win silver, her best career finish at a U.S. Championships. Her free skate to "Hallelujah" by K.D. Lang earned 151.99 points, giving her 225.21 points overall.
Bell was emotional in the last few moments of her program, and burst into tears upon seeing her score.
"It's a very special feeling," Bell said. "I haven't had that before in my career, so that was awesome. The coolest thing about it was how into it the crowd was. They were so loud. It was really, really cool. I just love to share what I get to do and what I love to do with an audience like that. I feel very fortunate to have had that experience."
Bell, who won bronze at the U.S. Championships in 2017 and 2019, finished third at both of her Grand Prix assignments this season: Internationaux de France and Rostelecom Cup. In one season, she tripled her career total of Grand Prix medals.
She credits much of her success to new coach Adam Rippon, who celebrated with her in the kiss and cry.
"Adam's been such a major part of my success this year," Bell said. "He really changed my outlook on training, and he's given me so much time and energy when he has such a busy schedule himself. And to have that moment with him here was just so special. I was hoping that something like that would happen, because he deserves to have that moment too, and I'm just so happy that we could share it together."
Tennell, the 2018 U.S. champion, earned 141.90 points for her free skate, set to music from the "Cinema Paradiso" soundtrack by Ennio Morricone, for an overall total of 220.86 and the bronze medal.
Dealing with an arm injury in the lead-up to the U.S. Championships, Tennell struggled to find her usual calm demeanor.
"It's been a really crazy week," Tennell said. "I only really felt like myself yesterday afternoon. So to even come out there and skate the short that I did, and even skate this free skate, even with a couple errors, I'm still pretty proud of that. Of course, nobody wants to fall on their best jump, but things happen, and we learn from our mistakes."
Karen Chen rounded out the podium in fourth place, with her free skate to "Illumination" by Secret Garden scoring 123.24 points, giving her 193.65 points overall.
"I honestly felt like it was pretty disappointing," Chen said. "I felt like I definitely trained harder, and I've done better. I think just that mistake with the flip, I kind of lost a little bit of my rhythm. I felt like I did a lot of solid things, and compared to the longs I've been putting out during the Grand Prix season, this is definitely an improvement."
Ice Dance
In 2015, the last time
Madison Chock and Evan Bates competed at a U.S. Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, they left with their first U.S. ice dance title.
They've been in pursuit of their second one ever since.
At the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships – and back in Greensboro – Chock and Bates are back in the leader's seat, just one performance away from reclaiming the title.
"Well, it doesn't feel bad," Chock said with a laugh. "It feels good. This is something that we've been working really hard to get back to, and just get to in general. We've had a very long career together, and many highs and lows, and we are happy that we're back on a high. And we're going to keep performing and pushing ourselves to continue."
Chock and Bates scored 87.63 for their rhythm dance to "Too Darn Hot" by Cole Porter.
"We're very proud of this skate," Bates said. "I think it was as free and as spontaneous as we've been in this program as we've been all season, and that's really been a goal for us. Just to improve our skating in general, and to improve our performance quality overall. We're just very pleased with how today went, and we're looking forward to skating the free dance tomorrow."
While back at the site of one of their greatest triumphs, Chock and Bates consider themselves entirely different people than they were in 2015.
"I think the only thing that's the same is the venue," Bates said. "We're such different people than we were five years ago, and I attribute that to the kind of experiences this sport has brought us. In a way, it really impacted our lives and our perspective."
Bates also credits a coaching change and move to Montreal for their resurgence, both on the ice and off.
"It's shown on the ice for us, but we feel it also away from the ice rink," Bates said. "In many ways, I think that that is something that's even more valuable to us, because the skating career is finite. It's going to be over at some point. But the life skills that we're learning, the camaraderie and the relationships that we're building are going to be forever. And that kind of joy that we have for life right now is what's coming through in our skating, and I think it's also leading to good results."
Two-time reigning U.S. champions
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue earned 86.31 points for their rhythm dance to "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" by Cole Porter and "Let's Be Bad" by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, good for second place.
"Zach and I went in with the intention of attacking the program," Hubbell said. "We've been working a lot on speed, and just the dynamic quality of our skating. There were some technical mistakes today, with three trips in the program, unfortunately, and an unexpected Level on the lift. But we're glad to kind of get those kinks out here. It's been a really smooth season for this program, so sometimes it's good to get a little bit of a wakeup call before the end of the year."
In third place are
Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, who earned 82.59 points – and a standing ovation – for their rhythm dance to "Stayin' Alive," "Night Fever" and "You Should Be Dancing" by The Bee Gees.
"We were thrilled with the performance," Hawayek said. "It definitely will go down in the books as a memorable performance in our careers with the reaction we got. It was so welcoming."
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko are in fourth place, scoring 78.02 points for their rhythm dance to "Too Darn Hot" by Cole Porter, performed by Corbin Bleu.
"It felt pretty good," Carreira said. "We had a few stumbles in the Finn step, but overall it felt like one of our better performances this season."
The championship ice dance competition concludes on Saturday, Jan. 24, with the free dance.
U.S. Championships continues through Jan. 26. The junior and championship events will be live and on demand on theÂ
Figure Skating Pass on NBC Sports Gold. Tickets are available atÂ
ncskate2020.com.
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