Three Junior Champions Crowned on Second Day of U.S. Championships

The first medals of the 2023 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships were awarded Wednesday in San Jose, California.
 
In the junior men's event, Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist Lucas Broussard separated himself from the rest of the competition, capturing the gold medal in record fashion when he recorded the highest-ever total score by a junior man at the U.S. Championships. Fourth two years ago, Jacob Sanchez recovered from a disappointing finish last season to earn the silver medal ahead of 2022 Junior Grand Prix Finalist Robert Yampolsky, who secured bronze. Newcomer Daniil Murzin finished with the pewter medal in his first trip to the U.S. Championships.

In the junior dance event, Leah Neset and Artem Markelov completed an incredible comeback, jumping from seventh place after the rhythm dance to first to successfully defend the title that they won a year ago in Nashville, Tennessee. Leaders after the rhythm dance, Helena Carhart and Volodymyr Horovyi landed on the second step of the podium, winning their first medal at these Championships. Jenna Hauer and Benjamin Starr claimed bronze while Elliana Peal and Ethan Peal clinched their second career U.S. junior medal with the pewter.
 
The first-year team of Ellie Korytek and Timmy Chapman ran away with junior pairs title, finishing ahead of silver medalists Naomi Williams and Lachlan Lewer, another new team who have been a team for less than six months. Rounding out the podium was Liliana Murray and Jordan Gillette, who finished in bronze medal position, and Olivia Flores and Luke Wang, the pewter medalists.
 
Earlier in the day, the junior women kicked off their campaign with the short program. Soho Lee, who won a silver medal at a Junior Grand Prix event last fall, sits in first place while Elyce Lin-Gracey is in second. Sherry Zhang and Hannah Herrera round out the top four in third and fourth place, respectively.

Junior Men's Free Skate

A year ago, Broussard was forced to withdraw from these championships due to an ill-timed COVID-19 diagnosis. Two years ago, the now 16-year-old finished last in the short program in the junior men's event and fought back to place sixth after a solid free skate. Today, the Seattle, Washington, native captured the gold medal in record fashion, earning 239.55 points, the highest score ever recorded at the U.S. Championships by a junior man.
 
"It's really special that I finally have kind of my moment here," said Broussard of winning his first junior U.S. title. "I skated two almost clean programs and it's been really special to kind of come back from those two upsetting Nationals."
 
Skating to a medley of "The Leftovers" by Max Richter and "Compassion" by Ilya Beshevli, Broussard opened his winning free skate with a quadruple toe loop, setting the stage for a captivating performance. In addition to the quad, the gold medalist landed seven clean triple jumps and earned Level Four designations on each of his spins. His lone mistake was a hand down on the landing of his mid-program triple Axel.
 
"I'm really proud of myself," the 2022 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalsit declared. "I skated just about how I wanted to. There were some bobbles but what I think is I could still improve on the things that I did but I'm just so proud that I was able to skate again."
 
Broussard collected 157.52 points, more than 17 points higher than his previous best to complete the trifecta — a new career best score in the short program, free skate and total score. Despite his triumph in San Jose, the newly minted champion still sees the potential for continued improvement in his skating.
 
"As great as my accomplishments are, I just know that there's still more I can do," he said. "There's always more."
 
In fourth place after the short program, Sanchez gave the performance of his life in the free skate, eclipsing the 200-point total for the first time in his career and snatching the silver medal in San Jose. He earned a personal best 143.72 points in the free skate and finished with a total of 213.57 points.
 
"That had to be a best performance of my life," he said enthusiastically. "I never had so much more fun on the ice ever in my life. I've been envisioning this moment so much in the last three to four months — just having that feeling where I can just go 'Yes, I did it!' All that visioning really manifested it to come into reality."
 
After a disappointing showing in last year's Championships, Sanchez made a commitment to himself in the Kiss and Cry that he would do everything in his power to find a way to erase that memory this season.
 
"I promised myself and my coach and I even said on the camera last year that I would come back stronger, and I did," he remembered. "I have improved so much in practice, and I want to prove so much to myself, to my coaches and everybody else that I'm still here and I can still compete as well as others."
 
The 15-year-old skated attacked his technical elements with gusto and captivated the audience with his fiery presentation in his "Who Wants to Live Forever" by The Tenors free skate. Despite a small mistake, Sanchez was credited with landing his first triple Axel in competition and earned positive GOEs on seven more triple jumps. Like Broussard, he also earned Level Four for each of his spins. With such a strong performance under his belt, the silver medalist is eager to get back to work to continue his upward trajectory.
 
"I'm going to keep this momentum going," he said. "I want to keep improving, keep doing better than I can and really trying to push myself to compete with the best that the U.S. has."
 
Yampolsky held on to finish with the bronze medal with a strong skate to "Prelude (The Age of Heroes)" by Havasi, his first national medal since winning the U.S. men's intermediate title back in 2019.
 
"Last year I got fifth and I was pretty disappointed," he admitted. "So, this year I would say that this is a super massive accomplishment seeing as how it's my first time on the podium."
 
The bronze medalist opened with a triple Axel-triple toe loop combination but then popped a second attempt into a single. Yampolsky was credited with five additional triple jumps and earned Level Fours on each of his spins in the program.
 
"I tried to not let (the popped Axel) affect me throughout the rest of the performance," said the 18-year-old. "Overall, I'm satisfied with what I put out today and this week."
 
Yampolsky earned 133.81 points in the free skate and finished with a competition total of 212.41, which is a new U.S. personal best.
 
In his first trip to the U.S. Championships, Murzin claimed the final spot on the podium, earning 196.20 points en route to the pewter medal.
 
"I am so happy. This is motivation to keep working hard," the 19-year-old said. "I'm happy right now for one day and then I will keep working so that I can get to first place."
 
Junior Free Dance

Seventh after a disappointing rhythm dance yesterday, defending champions Neset and Markelov rebounded in the free dance to stand atop the podium once again at the U.S. Championships. The duo overcame a 12-point deficit by skating lights out in their Pirates of the Caribbean themed free dance.
 
"It definitely took a lot of focus to come back," Neset admitted. "We are really happy with how it turned out in the end."
 
From the start, there was a different feel to the way in which Neset and Markelov attacked their program. As much as they were tentative in the rhythm dance, they were aggressive for their long program. The speed at which they were attacking each of the elements was first rate, and a highlight demonstrating that attack was the blazing-fast choreographed sliding movement that covered close to the length of the rink in the blink of an eye.
 
"It is like flying," Markelov said. "Sometimes you can feel (the bumps) in the ice if it's wrong but today it was like super glide."
 
The champions opened with a Level Four dance spin to kick things off and infused music-appropriate transitions between four other Level Four elements. The program eclipsed their previous personal best by 10 points, earning 105.56 points in the free dance and 161.75 points in winning the title.
 
Fifth a year ago and leading after the rhythm dance, Carhart and Horovyi earned the silver medal in the competition. The duo collected 92.28 points for their free dance and finished with 160.81 point in total, less than one point behind the champions.
 
"You know this was not my best personally," Carhart said. "But we I think it hit a lot of our other goals like our facial expressions and performance quality."
 
Skating to music by English singer-songwriter Tom Odell, Carhart and Horovyi were rock solid on six of the seven elements in the program. The duo earned Level Fours on three elements and added to their point total with high GOE marks. However, Carhart fell at the beginning of the twizzles and did not register a level for her part of that element.
 
"We want to be better every day," Markelov said. "All of the stuff that we already have, we will work to make better for our next competition."
 
Hauer and Starr finished with the bronze medal, their first at the U.S. Championships since winning the pewter medal in the intermediate level in 2019. They earned 92.26 points for their "Pina" soundtrack free dance and finished with a competition total of 157.73 points, both career bests for the duo.
 
"It felt good. Again, it felt like a dance," Starr said. "Of course, for me personally it was a bit more nerve-wracking coming into this one because after the (rhythm dance) you start thinking about 'I have to get this much' or 'We have to do this clean to maintain our position,' but in all honesty, we I think skated to the best of our ability in least in the moment and I'm happy with that."
 
The third-place finishers collected positive GOEs on each of their technical elements and were rewarded with Level Four designations for their dance spin, rotational lift and for Starr's twizzles. As a result, Hauer and Starr had the second-best technical score of the competition.
 
"Last year it was our first year at junior, and we were sixth," Hauer stated. "But to climb from where we were to this year, even from the start of the season, it feels like we have totally leveled up and it feels like we belong here. So, to earn a medal here it feels really great."
 
Peal and Peal overcame a music error at the start of their "Halo" themed free dance to step onto the podium for the second consecutive season.
 
"It kind of took me out of the moment a little bit, but I got right back into the mindset to compete pretty quickly," Elliana Peal said.
 
Her brother added, "Going into the start of the program we do our choreographed entrance that we planned and practiced, and then something like that happens. You think, 'Well I guess we're just going to loop around and start over,' so it definitely mixes things up, but we recovered quickly."
 
The siblings earned a personal best 90.25 points in the free dance and finished the competition with 152.31 points, another personal best.
 
"We have just been going into competitions with the mindset of we know what we can do," Elliana Peal said. "It's just that we need to do it and focus on ourselves. I feel like that is something that we did well this week."
 
Junior Pairs Free Skate

In the junior pairs competition, all four medalists stood on the podium at the U.S. Championships for the first time.
 
Korytek and Chapman maintained their position after the short program to claim the top spot on the junior pairs podium in just their first season together as a team. Skating to Adele's "Skyfall," the duo took command of the competition, winning the gold medal by nearly 12 points.
 
"This represents lots of hard work. We put in so many hours — as much as we could especially with all the obstacles that we faced together," Chapman said. "My partner had (injury) challenges that she had to face on her own, and even when we met those fortunate events, we still worked as hard as we possibly could and still did as much as we could."
 
The champions opened with a triple twist and then completed a double Axel-single Axel sequence, which earned the only negative GOE in the routine.
 
"It was so amazing out there. It felt good after the second element — we just let go," Chapman stated.
 
Despite earning Level Fours and positive GOEs on both of their lifts, Korytek sees this as an area of improvement for this partnership as they look forward to next season.
 
"Hopefully we can get cooler lifts — new lifts, and get more rotations in our death spiral," she said of their Level Three element. "We also want to continue to work on our skating skills — to skate faster, staying together and working together, and working as a team instead of two individuals."
 
Korytek and Chapman earned personal best score of 102.71 points in the free skate and another personal best of 160.40 points overall in the competition.
 
With just about five months as a partnership under their belts, Williams and Lewer finished with the silver medal with a promising performance to the soundtrack of "Miss Saigon."
 
"I didn't think about that until right now," Williams said of earning a place on the podium. "With all of the things we went through this season, it just means a lot to like get it done."
 
Like the champions, Williams and Lewer opened with a triple twist. However, they made a small mistake on their triple toe loop attempt and could only manage a base level on their lasso lift. But they did execute a solid double Axel sequence and earned Level Fours on their final lift and their closing combination spin.

"I think we're really happy with it," Lewer said of the performance. "There were a couple of small mistakes, but a new personal best score for both programs. I mean honestly just getting going out there and seeing so many more people this time, it was so much fun."
 
Williams and Lewer finished with 92.04 points in the free skate and 148.83 points overall.
 
Eleventh in this competition a year ago, Murray and Gillette found themselves on the podium this year with the bronze medal.
 
"Today's performance went well," Gillette said. "There were obviously a few mistakes we made, but we did a good program, and we were able to earn a medal."
 
Murray added, "It's pretty cool because it's my first time getting a medal, which is really nice compared to last year which was a bit tougher."
 
Skating to "No Time to Die" by Billie Eilish, the duo started their program with a triple twist and attempted a throw triple Salchow late in the program. They closed out the program with a Level Four combination spin.
 
"I think our biggest strengths are lifts and twist," Murray shared. "Those elements are usually the ones we can count on. They are some of our highest point elements and we do them well."
 
Murray and Gillette earned 75.57 points in the free skate and a total of 123.22 points in the competition.
 
Rounding out the podium were Flores and Wang, who captured the pewter medal in their first season together and in the pairs discipline altogether.
 
"We've skated together since June," Wang shared. "We both started pairs together, so we had to learn everything."
 
Flores and Wang earned 76.78 points for their "The Chronicles of Narnia" program and finished the competition with 123.09 points.
 
Junior Women's Short Program

A trio of women who train in southern California stand atop the leaderboard after the junior women's short program competition with all three setting new personal bests. In first place is 13-year-old Lee, who was named for the trendy neighborhood in New York City.
 
"My dad is a pilot," she said. "He went to New York and saw the SoHo street sign and really liked it."
 
Lee opened her short program with a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, which earned the leader 12.62 points — the highest scoring element of the event. Her program, set to Chopin's "Nocturne," was technically brilliant as she received positive grades of execution (GOE) on each of her elements and was rewarded with a Level Four on each of her three spins.
 
"I'm really happy with today's performance. It felt really good," she said. "I am really happy with my jump combo and with the ending spin because it was all done."
 
Lee earned 66.34 points in today's competition, but her strategy will be to put that behind and head into tomorrow's free skate with a clean slate.
 
"I think I should just leave today behind and not get all excited," Lee shared. "I'll just go freshly minded into the free skate."
 
Skating early in the competition, 15-year-old Lin-Gracey stayed atop the leaderboard for most of the event, and ultimately finished less than a point out of first place with 65.57 points.
 
"I feel like I put out the performance that I've been training," she shared. "I have had a lot of ups and downs this season and I am glad to have Nationals start on an up, and I am hoping to continue that in the free skate."
 
Skating to "The Prayer" by Lexi Walker and Jenny Oaks Baker, Lin-Gracey started her program with a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, and like Lee, earned positive GOEs on each of her elements. Lin-Gracey also earned the designation of Level Four on each of her three spins as well as her step sequence and notched the highest technical score of the competition.
 
"I approached this like this like I was going to fight to the end, no holding back," Lin-Gracey shared. "I just wanted to get through it and get everything done."
 
Zhang finished in third place with a strong performance to "I Dreamed A Dream" by Idina Menzel. The 14-year-old opened with the prescribed triple loop and opted for a triple Lutz-double toe loop combination late in the program.
 
"I feel really good and relieved because before I got on, I was really nervous," Zhang admitted. "I was trying to tell myself to be confident. Everybody has put so much work into me and I did too, so I just needed to give it my all, so I feel relieved."
 
A training mate of Lee's with roots in the San Jose area, Zhang earned positive GOEs on each of her elements and Level Fours on each of her spins and step sequence. She finished the day with 61.38 points, breaking the 60-point barrier for the first time in her career.
 
"I definitely wasn't expecting a 60 because it just felt really unreal," Zhang admitted. "It's just really magical and I never thought I would be able to pass 60."
 
Harrell, a two-time pewter medalist in this event, finished in fourth place with 57.99 points, a new personal best.

The junior women's competition wraps up on Thursday. Championship-level competition will also begin with the pairs short program, rhythm dance and women's short program. For live results, a full shedule, TV information, news and more, visit the 2023 Toyota U.S. Championships Competition Central.