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The ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021 in Stockholm continued on Friday with the ladies free skate and the rhythm dance. And just like in 2017, it was
Karen Chen leading the way for the U.S. ladies.
With Chen in fourth overall and
Bradie Tennell in ninth, their combined placements of 13 earned two Olympic entries and the opportunity to secure a third at the 2021 Nebelhorn Trophy, set for Sept. 22-25, in Oberstdorf, Germany.
In ice dance,
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue sit in second place,
Madison Chock and Evan Bates are third, and
Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker are 11th.
LADIES
Two World Championship appearances, two fourth-place finishes for Chen.
And always at the most opportune times.
In 2017,
Karen Chen helped earn three Olympic entries for U.S. ladies. In 2021, combined with Tennell's ninth-place finish, U.S. ladies have again earned the chance to gain a third entry.
"I was in shock, for sure, just because the situation wasn't looking that great," Chen said, a huge smile evident even behind her mask. "But I was shocked and really happy. Just felt a lot of emotions. Regardless of if we secured two spots or three spots, I was just proud of myself for delivering two really great programs, and I honestly couldn't wish for anything better."
Chen's free skate to "Butterfly Lover Concerto" by Takako Nishizaki earned 134.23 points, giving her 208.63 points overall. The Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FSR) swept the podium, with Anna Shcherbakova taking the title with 233.17 points ahead of Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (220.46) and Alexandra Trusova (217.20).
"I can't say that my free skate was perfect, but I really went for it and I did everything I could possibly do, and I fought through it," Chen said. "And because of that, I'm honestly just really proud of myself."
Chen is the 2017 U.S. champion and reigning U.S. bronze medalist. She finished fourth at 2020 Guaranteed Rate Skate America earlier this season.
Prior to getting on the ice in Stockholm for her warm-up, Chen says she saw what the standings looked like and, realizing what she had to do, felt herself tense up. But she gave herself a pep-talk to refocus on the job at hand.
"I was like, 'Karen, it doesn't matter. It's just a distraction at the end of the day. You're here to put out a clean free skate, or just do your absolute best, and everything else is completely out of my control,'" Chen said. "I knew that skating from my heart and skating as free as possible would give me the best chance to deliver a solid program, so I was like, that's what I'm going to focus on, and I'm just not going to think about anything else."
Now, with the prospect of three Olympic entries still alive heading into the 2021-22 season, Chen hopes to parlay a strong end to this season into more success in the future.
"Just coming here and competing against the best of the best and competing at Worlds again [for the first time] since 2017, and being able to deliver two solid performances is a big win in my book," Chen said. "And I'm just going to use this as momentum onto next season and hopefully continue to build that confidence."
Tennell, meanwhile, placed ninth, her free skate to "Sarajevo" by Max Richter and "Dawn of Faith" by Eternal Eclipse earning 127.94 points to give her a total of 197.81.
"This entire competition didn't go nearly according to plan," Tennell said. "I am very disappointed, to be honest, with my skates. It's not what I've been training at all. I've been training clean programs every day, both short and long, so to come here and put out these performances is very disappointing, especially at such an important competition."
The reigning U.S champion, who placed sixth and seventh at the World Championships in 2018 and 2019, respectively, had been dealing with some boot issues on her landing foot in Stockholm that affected her skating.
"Sometimes these things happen, and there's nothing you can do about it, and you step on the ice and you give it your all," Tennell said. "And I feel like that's what I did today. I'm really proud of the effort I put out."
ICE DANCE
"I think my dad was right when he kept saying, 'The medals don't matter,' that it's all just all the life lessons," Hubbell said following the rhythm dance in Stockholm. "I think he was right."
"It's true," Donohue added. "We learn a lot more from failures. I think that you learn how to be a champion by struggling to become a champion."
A wise philosophy, to be sure, but the fact remains that two U.S. ice dance teams sit in podium position following the rhythm dance -- though the struggle to become a champion is still very much in play.
Hubbell and Donohue are in second place after their rhythm dance to a
Burlesque medley by Christina Aguilera earned 86.05 points. Chock and Bates scored 85.15 points for their rhythm dance to "Too Darn Hot" by Cole Porter from
Kiss Me, Kate, good for third place. Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of the Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FSR) are in first place with 88.15 points.
"We're happy with the performance," Hubbell said. "We know it's an incredibly challenging field, so we're enjoying this little high that comes after a good performance, and then we'll focus later tonight on the free dance."
The three-time and reigning U.S. champions, Hubbell and Donohue won World bronze in 2019 and silver in 2018.
They're undefeated this season, having also won Skate America® and U.S. Figure Skating's virtually held ISP Points Challenge.
While the medals might not matter, the goal in Stockholm is a medal of one particular color.
"You don't show up to, 'Hey, I hope we're going to get second,'" Donohue said. "That's not the mentality."
But with this being the first truly international competition in more than a year, Hubbell and Donohue have found it hard to gauge what it's going to take to win. All they can focus on is what they can control.
"We're just going to do our best, show our program, show all the work we've put in throughout this season, and the rest is not our job," Hubbell said. "I want to win. I hope tomorrow we're standing on the top of the podium. That's what our goal is. But winning today doesn't mean that we would win tomorrow, so we've got to just take it as it goes."
Right behind them in third place, Chock and Bates are also feeling good about where they stand.
"It was a really fun one for us," Chock said. "We enjoyed ourselves from start to finish and attacked the program. Unfortunately, I think we lost a few levels, but we're happy with the way we performed."
The reigning U.S. silver medalists, Chock and Bates are two-time U.S. champions and won a silver and a bronze at the World Championships in 2015 and 2016, respectively. They finished sixth at the 2019 event.
"We definitely want to win the gold," Bates said. "We think the work that we've put in and the training that we've done has prepared us really well for this event. We're as strong as we've ever been, and we're feeling confident."
In 11th place are
Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, who earned 75.08 points for their rhythm dance to selections from
Saturday Night Fever.
The 2014 World Junior champions have finished ninth and 10th in two prior World Championship appearances.
"We did what we could in terms of controlling and performing, and that, at the end of the day, is what's most important," Baker said. "We're really proud of the performance we put out, and that's what is in our control. We're just here to prove to everyone that we're a part of that top tier of skaters, and we're going to continually push that, and the judges will see it."
The ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021 will conclude tomorrow with the men's free skate and the free dance. Fan can tune in to NBCSN to catch the men's free skate live from 8-10 a.m. ET and a delayed broadcast of the free dance from 4-6 p.m. ET. The events will also be streamed live on Peacock Premium.
