Michael Xie is heading into the junior event at the 2023 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships this month with two primary goals in mind — to compete with the same level of strength and cleanliness as he does in practice and to improve upon his component score.
He enters the competition as the 2023 Pacific Coast Sectional Singles Final junior champion. He also finished in the top seven at both his Junior Grand Prix assignments in 2022. Going into San Jose, Xie seeks to keep up that momentum to move up from his 13th
--place finish at last year's U.S. Junior Championships.
"I want to show what I can produce in practice because every single competition I come back with new goals in mind. Sometimes they're technical elements and sometimes they're more on the component side, but every single competition I look to improve and show what I can do," he said. "Knock on wood, the last three free skates I've done have been clean and they've scored pretty well. My technical score is pretty high. My component score has always been average to bottom end, so I really need to improve that."
Xie is not letting the gold medal at Sectionals inflate his ego. He'll humbly step on to the ice at the U.S. Championships.
"Every day is different. Maybe I won yesterday, but today I still have to prove myself again, so I have to recreate the same thing every single day, not matter what. That's my mindset," he said. "Yes, I won Sectionals and yes it was a good skate, but who knows, maybe someone else is going to show up with two triple Axels now and it's going to be a surprise, so I have to continue fighting for everything."
Xie's short program is set to "Never Enough" by Loren Allred and he selected "Tristan et Iseult" by Maxime Rodriguez for his free skate. Both routines were choreographed by Mari Malama. He prefers to have two very distinct programs, one with lyrics and one without.
"This season, we added one triple Axel to my short, two to the free skate, and then the rest is pretty standard," he said. "I have a toe combo, a Salchow combo, two Lutzes, a flip and a loop in my free skate and a Lutz, toe and loop in my short."
Although his routines are fresh and new this season, Xie has been recycling his costumes for three years.
"The free skate one is definitely feeling a little bit tight if I raise my hands," he revealed, laughing and surprised that no one seems to have noticed. "The short costume I ordered too large, so that one is fitting good right now."
The San Diego native relocated to Oakland, California, to train with coach Laura Lipetsky, who was Alysa Liu's longtime coach up until June of 2020. Lipetsky and her skaters, including Xie, have since transitioned to San Jose, the city where the 2023 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships will be held, to train at Sharks Ice San Jose after the facility expanded from four ice surfaces to six this summer.
"I actually don't really prefer competing at home because I feel like there's a little bit more pressure. You should be able to do good," he said. "I prefer traveling and being more isolated … in a hotel by myself. It's more peaceful. I don't really have a hometown advantage, but Sectionals was also in the area. That was pretty good."
The 17-year-old shares an apartment in San Jose with two other skaters, which helps him to maintain his focus on training and school. They hold one another accountable to go to the rink, watch YouTube videos to learn new exercises from Korean trainers, analyze skating videos to better their own levels, and have fun doing TikTok dances together.
Xie actually has YouTube to thank for introducing him to the sport. When he was only 4 or 5 years old, he became captivated by a side-by-side comparison video of Yuna Kim and Mao Asada at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and was intrigued by the scoring system.
Xie didn't begin skating until 2015, so he started at a lot older an age than many of his peers. At first, he always felt like he was chasing after others to play catch up.
"I understood movements very quickly and I had a natural feeling of rotation. I taught myself the double Axel off-ice when I was like 8. That was kind of crazy," he recalled. "I had a really natural feel on the ice. I landed my Axel on the third try, and it was a pretty good one too. I progressed really fast and, also, it's about skating becoming part of your life. It was something that I did every single day. It was the combination of me having talent and then also working smart toward my goals."
Because Xie began skating as quadruple jumps were becoming standard in senior-level men's skating, he always knew that in order to progress to the top, he'd have to master several quads. He has dabbled with the quad Salchow, but then injuries unrelated to attempting the quad put it on the backburner. Once he gets the quad Salchow, he'll move on to the quad toe or Lutz.
Xie is at a crossroads. Off the ice, he is a high school senior who is earning his diploma through Connections Academy, a virtual school. He is eagerly awaiting college acceptances and will decide whether to attend college in person or online. The future of his skating is dependent on how the first half of next season goes. He'll be stepping up to the senior ranks domestically and it's to be determined if he'll remain a junior internationally. He'll still be age-eligible to compete as a junior next season.
"If I can get a quad or hopefully two, skating will definitely still be a priority for me," he said.
When he does head off to college, Xie wants to participate in collegiate skating and got to watch the Berkeley skaters train when he was still at the rink in Oakland.
The 2023 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships will take place from January 23-29 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. Ticketing and event information are available on the event's competition central on the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone.
