Andrew Torgashev Heads to World Junior Championships Ready to Close the Book on His Junior Career

Andrew Torgashev is one of the last skaters still going through the daily grind of the season at the Broadmoor Skating Club in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
 
With most other skaters having finished their seasons and taking time off, Torgashev is the only one left still training his programs.
 
Sometimes he'll find his motivation flagging a little bit.
 
But then he looks inward.
 
"It's definitely tough, I'll be honest," he said. "But then once I start to get into it, it's all personal to me. I personally want to work harder, and I want to get these jumps stronger, and I want to get my programs stronger. So it all comes down to personal goals, and once I really think about them, I get super motivated right away."
 
This is as late in a season as Torgashev has ever been training, as he prepares to compete at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2020, held March 2-8 in Tallinn, Estonia.
 
It will be Torgashev's third trip to the World Junior Championships, having finished 10th in 2015 and 25th in 2017.
 
"Right now, I'm a totally different person and athlete than I was in previous years," he said. "And it's actually funny, I think, because my first junior worlds was five years ago, also in Tallinn, Estonia. So it'll be a nice closing chapter to my junior career."
 
Also in 2015, Torgashev won the junior title at the U.S. Championships. He made his senior U.S. debut in 2017, finishing 11th.
 
After a 13th-place finish in 2018, he finished seventh in 2019 and fifth in 2020.
 
Torgashev even found himself in podium position following the short program in 2020, finishing third with a dazzling skate to "Bloodstream" by Tokio Myers that saw him finally put everything together.
 
"It felt great," Torgashev said. "There's no other words to describe it, other than surreal. But it wasn't a shock to me that I skated the way that I skated. But it was a really big step for me to perform that way on a big national stage in a big competition. It was a great step forward for me, moving towards my ultimate goal and ultimately who I want to be as an athlete."
 
His free skate to "E Lucevan le Stelle" by Giacomo Puccini did not go nearly as well, however, and he slipped to fifth overall following two falls.
 
"This was the first time I was coming into the long program in the top three, and it was definitely a big challenge to reset and refocus after having such a big high the day before," Torgashev said. "And going out onto the ice, there's a lot of strong guys who are skating, so it's a tough competition. But I think for me, what got me was I was trying a very challenging program, adding in another quad and doing one of those quads in the second half. So I was really upping my technical, for the reason that I had nothing to lose. I just wanted to push myself and really get a strong program out there."
 
Despite the falls, Torgashev has been able to take many positives away from his free skate.
 
"The biggest thing I'll take away from that program isn't the two falls," he said. "It's the way that I fell and got right back up and did my element, and then fell again, got right back up and did my element. So it was a really big fight, but I think that experience is more valuable to me in the long run than two clean programs would've been."
 
And, despite missing out on a medal that he knew was well within his grasp, he's pleased with his results and the progress that he's made.
 
"I would've loved to be on the podium," Torgashev said. "But let's be honest, the four guys that were on the podium, they skated great. And I didn't keep up with them. So I can't be upset about not being on the podium if I didn't skate my program to the best of its ability. So I'm fifth due to my mistakes, but there's more U.S. Championships to come, and there's more training to be done. So I'm happy with fifth, and it's a good benchmark. And also coming from last year where I was seventh, I upped my placement and got a personal best score. So I'm totally cool with fifth place."
 
Following the U.S. Championships, Torgashev earned his spot on the U.S. team for the World Junior Figure Skating Championships, and watched training-mates Tomoki Hiwatashi and Camden Pulkinen compete at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships.
 
The three push each other in practice every day, and watching what Hiwatashi and Pulkinen have been able to do has been motivating for Torgashev.
 
"Tomoki, he skated great at U.S. Championships," Torgashev said. "He really showed up and performed. And training with him leading up to it, I wasn't surprised by that at all. And it's great to see him going to Four Continents and everything. If I had done my elements in my long program as I should've, then I would be there as well. But that's not the story right now.
 
"So for me, it's definitely motivating to know that I'm that close to being at Four Continents, but at the same time, my career isn't at Four Continents right now. It's preparing for World Juniors."
 
As he readies to head to Estonia, Torgashev says his training is getting dialed in, and he hopes to skate with the same presence and quality he did at the U.S. Championships.
 
"I'm understanding my training very well right now, and I'm working well with my coach, Christy Krall," Torgashev said. "And we really found what works for me and what can best prepare me for a competition, so I'm just keeping my head down, going through the grind, and I'll show up at junior worlds and put out my skates."