2020 Guaranteed Rate Skate America kicked off Friday night at The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. While things may look a bit different than in years past – with cardboard cutouts, face masks and social distancing the new norm – U.S. skaters performed as if nothing had changed, and lead in each discipline.
Reigning U.S. – and Skate America® – champions
Nathan Chen and
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue lead the field in men's and ice dance, respectively, while
Mariah Bell holds first place in ladies', and
Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier are first among the pairs.
LADIES
Bell's 2019-20 season ended on a breathless high note at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships, with a standing ovation, a career-best silver-medal finish, and tears of joy in the kiss and cry.
Her 2020-21 season started with a curveball.
Upon arriving in Las Vegas, she decided that the dress she'd planned to wear for her short program wasn't fitting her correctly. So when she took the ice Friday night, she unzipped her warm-up jacket to reveal her free skate dress.
"I didn't really have a backup," Bell said with a laugh. "I was like, 'We're in Vegas! We have cardboard cutouts! Anything goes!'"
It may have been an unconventional circumstance – just add it to the list of 2020 oddities – but Bell performed without a hitch.
Bell sits in first place after her short program to "Glitter in the Air" by P!nk earned 76.48 points.
Bradie Tennell is in second with 73.29 points, and
Audrey Shin is third with 69.77.
"Even if there wasn't a crowd, I really enjoyed performing, and it was so fun to be back in a little bit of a competition atmosphere," Bell said. "I had a really great time today."
Last year was a breakout season for Bell. After a silver-medal finish at Skate America® in 2016, she tripled her career Grand Prix medals last season with a pair of bronze-medal performances at Internationaux de France and Rostelecom Cup. She also earned a career-best at the U.S. Championships, taking silver.
Bell also won U.S. Figure Skating's virtual International Selection Pool (ISP) Points Challenge earlier in October.
Whether it be a virtual competition, a crowd full of cardboard cutouts or a dress mishap, Bell has confidently adapted to all of it, and will continue to roll with 2020's punches.
"With age comes more experience, and so I definitely feel like I've been through quite a few things in my career that I've had to adjust to," Bell said. "Little things like that, you realize that they're truly just little, and your job stays the same no matter what."
In second place, Tennell's attire was also rather unexpected, as she was outfitted in a black jumpsuit to skate to "Moderation" by Florence and the Machine.
The reigning Skate America® silver medalist says the fierce program is another side of her of which fans have only just begun to get a glimpse.
It was at Skate America® in 2017 that Tennell first burst onto the scene, earning bronze en route to a U.S. title and a spot on the 2018 Olympic Team with her Cinderella free skate.
"I'm kind of a contradiction," Tennell said. "I love the princesses and all the girly stuff, but I also love the fierce(ness) and strength. So there's two different sides of me. And it's really fun to kind of explore both sides, and I feel like now that I'm older, I have more confidence in myself, and I'm able to portray this fierceness better than I was when I was a little bit younger."
Shin sits in third place after her short program to "The Giving" by Michael W. Smith. The 16-year-old is making her Grand Prix debut in Las Vegas.
"Coming into Skate America, I think I prepared really well with my coach," Shin said. "We went through a lot of run-throughs before coming here, and making sure I didn't leave a day without a clean short program run-through. So I felt really prepared coming into the competition, and I'm really happy that I put out a good performance today."
2018 Olympian
Karen Chen sits in fourth place after the short program (68.13) with
Amber Glenn just behind her in fifth (67.85).
MEN
2020 may have changed many things, but thus far, at least one thing has remained the same: Chen's dominance at Skate America®.
The three-time reigning Skate America® champion is in first place after his short program to "Asturias" by Frida Lopez and "Cancion del Mariachi" by Los Lobos earned 111.17 points.
Vincent Zhou is in second place with 99.36 points, while Canada's Keegan Messing is in third with 92.40 points.
"I'm pretty happy with where I am," Chen said. "I think that given the unusual circumstances of what's going on, I'm happy with where I am in the season, I'm happy with the way that program went."
Chen hasn't finished off the top of the podium at a Grand Prix event, including the Grand Prix Final, since 2016. Since then, he's the three-time reigning Grand Prix Final champion. He won a fourth consecutive U.S. title this past January, and won the virtual ISP Points Challenge earlier this month.
Despite being at the very top of the sport, Chen continues to push himself, and says his Latin-style short program is completely out of his wheelhouse.
"In the past, a lot of the programs that I've done, balletic or contemporary or hip hop, I've done classes in these dances before," Chen said. "This I've never experienced before, in any form. I've never done this style of program, and I think that there's still a lot of work and improvement to be done to this sort of style, since again, it's very new to me."
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Chen decided to put his studies at Yale University on hold and move back to his training base in Irvine, California. Even among the uncertainty, he says he's found a lot of strength and positivity within the skating community, and that's been motivating him even as the situation is less than ideal.
"Although the situation is not great, and we're not happy with how everything is going, of course, we're still finding things that make us happy, that make us fulfilled, and I think that definitely carries over to skating," Chen said.
Zhou, meanwhile, skating to the aptly named "Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)" by Josh Groban, rebounded from a rough practice session earlier in the day to finish second in the short program.
"After getting here, I've been trying to find my groove, to find my center of balance," Zhou said. "And it has felt a little off sometimes, and that definitely does shake up your confidence a little. I told myself I have one job to do, and I know I'm capable of doing it. I've done it before. And I went out there and overcame my doubts, and I'm really proud of myself for that."
While Zhou has bronze-medal finishes at both the World Championships and Four Continents Championships in 2019 under his belt, he's never won a Grand Prix medal. He has a pair of fourth-place finishes, but withdrew from both of his assignments in 2019 and finished fourth at the 2020 U.S. Championships.
He's in the midst of bouncing back following taking nearly a full season off the ice as he attended Brown University, and says he considered quitting skating altogether.
"I wasn't willing to just let myself stay at a sub-Vincent level, so to speak," Zhou said with a laugh of his return to skating. "I definitely feel like I have started taking more ownership of my own skating and putting more effort where I think is necessary, and I'm really grateful to have coaches who are so understanding and willing to help me achieve what I know I'm capable of."
2020 U.S. bronze medalist
Tomoki Hiwatashi is in fourth place after the short program with 87.17 points, while
Alex Krasnozhon sits in fifth with 78.06.
PAIRS
When Knierim first took Frazier's hand during their tryout together, she was struck by the realization that it felt right.
Knierim, who skated and won three U.S. titles with husband Chris Knierim until his retirement earlier this year, had never experienced that with anyone else.
So she and Frazier, who formerly skated with Haven Denney, paired up in the spring.
"The first time we skated together, when we held hands, we felt like it was meant to be," Knierim said.
The two wasted no time in leapfrogging to the top of the U.S. pair's field, and currently sit in first place in Las Vegas, their short program to "In the End" by Tommee Profitt and "Too Far Gone" by Hidden Citizens earning 74.19 points. Training mates
Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson are in second with 71.08 points, while
Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov are third with 67.52 points.
"This is the first live event for us, so there are a lot of new butterflies and challenges we're taking on together," Frazier said. "But I'm very proud that we are able to go up and perform the way we're practicing at home. Still a lot more work to attend to, but overall, just really enjoying every second and every opportunity."
While the two acknowledge that they need much more time skating together to fully nail down their timings and techniques, they're undeniably pleased with how well things have been going thus far.
"I always like to dream big, but I did not expect us to be where we are today so soon," Knierim said. "I thought we could be in this place eventually, which is why I didn't put too much expectation on this season when we teamed up. I'm happy with where we are, but it's like a gift to us from all the hard work that we've put in.
"Tonight was more just us getting our journey started together, and we're happy with how we skated, but we know we have a lot of work ahead of us, and we're looking forward to the free program tomorrow."
Calalang and Johnson, who train alongside Knierim and Frazier in Irvine, California, had a mistake early in their short program to "Light of the Seven" composed by Ramin Djawadi, but finished strong enough to sit in second place.
"Our performance wasn't the best," Calalang said. "We did have a mistake at the beginning, but we really tried to focus and hone-in on our program, focus on our performance and our overall skating skills."
Calalang and Johnson made their Grand Prix debut last season at Skate America®, where they finished fourth, setting up what was ultimately a breakout season. They earned silver at the 2020 U.S. Championships, and were named to the World Team before the event was ultimately canceled.
"I think we've really gelled more as a team," Johnson said of their progression in the last year. "We're getting a lot more used to each other and how we skate, and our timings. We're still working on our skating skills and certain elements, but we're feeling a lot better, and we know we can do better than we did today."
Lu and Mitrofanov's short program to "The Show Must Go On" from
Moulin Rouge! have them sitting in third place. This is the duo's fourth-career Grand Prix, and they're in line for what would be their first career medal.
"We're very happy with where we are right now," Lu said. "I think we put out a really good program. And it is surprising for us, being in third place, but we're super happy, and going into tomorrow we're going to stay focused and do what we did today."
2019 U.S. champions
Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc currently occupy the fourth spot with 64.21 points, and 2016 U.S. champions
Tarah Kayne and Danny O'Shea are in fifth with 59.86.
ICE DANCE
When Hubbell and Donohue took the ice for their rhythm dance Friday night, Hubbell did so in a long, shimmering golden dress.
Whether the symbolism was intentional or not, the color is fitting: it's what the pair is after, both this season and beyond.
But before they go for Olympic gold or a World title, their immediate focus is on gold at Skate America®.
Hubbell and Donohue sit in first place after the rhythm dance, earning 85.30 points for their performance to a
Burlesque medley by Christina Aguilera.
Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker are in second with 81.15 points, and
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko are in third with 78.63 points.
"We've missed competing, and certainly tonight was a nice way to get back into the swing of things," Hubbell said. "Though there was no live audience, we did feel some of that familiar adrenaline, and it's great to have that rush again."
Hubbell and Donohue are two-time reigning Skate America® champions, but last year earned silver at Skate Canada International to break their 2018 undefeated stretch on the Grand Prix circuit.
After the World Championships was canceled, Hubbell and Donohue regrouped and decided to look at everything as an opportunity to learn and grow, with an eye on preparing themselves for what is hopefully a second Olympic team.
"2020 has been rough, there's a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of hardship," Hubbell said. "And we've been pretty fortunate, but we're taking each competition and each training day as it comes, and as practice for what could be happening at the Olympics.
"We don't know exactly when our career will end, but no matter what it will come too soon, is my feeling, because we enjoy what we do a lot. So I'm just trying to appreciate everything that I can, and soak it all in."
Hawayek and Baker's rhythm dance to selections from
Saturday Night Fever is one they kept from last season, and is one they hope brings joy to whoever watches it.
"We always say that we want to spark joy with our program, and I think that is the essence of disco," Hawayek said. "It's abandon, it's a little bit carefree in the sense that, when you watch people disco, they don't look around and judge each other. It's just a matter of being 100% authentic and joyful."
During a season that seems to hold more questions than answers, the pair has taken solace in their partnership and in continuing to develop a program they love.
"The one thing that's constant is the two of us, and I think that going into the program we really just wanted to perform for each other," Hawayek said. "I know both of us feel like the growth of the program still hasn't reached its maximum. We changed a bunch of stuff in the summer with the middle piece, and I think the potential of it is huge. We just really need to maximize on the cleanliness and the flavor of that part even more. So I think we still feel like there's a lot of room to grow."
Carreira and Ponomarenko
skated their rhythm dance set to "Too Darn Hot" from Kiss Me Kate, which they also kept from last season. They finished sixth at Skate America® last year after struggling through the same rhythm dance.
"There were a few things we could've done better, but overall I thought it was pretty good," Carreira said.
"Last year at this event we didn't skate the best rhythm dance," Ponomarenko added, "so we felt happy with how we skated today based on that."
Caroline Green and Michael Parsons are in fourth place after Friday's event with 74.98 points, while
Molly Cesanek and Yehor Yehorov sit in fifth place in their Grand Prix and senior debut with 66.01.
Don't miss the free skates and free dance tomorrow at 2020 Guaranteed Rate Skate America! Fans can watch live on from 3-6 p.m. ET on NBC and from 9 p.m. - 12 a.m. ET on NBCSN. The competition is also available live and on-demand on Peacock Premium, your all-access pass to the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series, Learn more and start your 7-day free trial at
peacocktv.com/skating.
Full Results
