The brand-new pairs team of Chelsea Liu and Balazs Nagy, who take center ice next week at 2023 Humana Skate America in Allen, Texas, is a partnership that wasn't on anyone's radar — least of all, their own.
A year ago, each athlete seriously pondered their future without skating.
Liu, 23, has competed for more than a decade. Her partners have included some of pairs' top men, including three-time U.S. silver medalist Brian Johnson and 2016 U.S. champion Danny O'Shea. For a time in 2019, she even traveled to China to try a partnership with a Chinese skater.
"I thought I was done skating at one point," Liu admitted after the short program at the 2023 Autumn Classic International in mid-September in Quebec, Canada, where she and Nagy barely missed the podium in their international competitive debut. "I had experienced another concussion. I was just about to graduate from college, I had one more quarter left. I thought, 'You know, recover and live kind of a normal, safe life for the time being.' I took a whole eight months off the ice to recover and at that point I just didn't know if skating was in the picture for me."
Liu's parents, though, encouraged her to think long and hard before quitting the sport. If she still wanted to follow her skating dreams, they would back her up.
"So I guess with their help and our team of coaches who give us the best resources, it was an easy decision to come back and want to finish what I started," said Liu, who trains with Nagy at Great Park Ice in Irvine, California, under the coaching team of Jenni Meno Sand, Christine Fowler-Binder, Brandon Frazier and Andrew Evans.
Nagy, meanwhile, enjoyed success in the junior ranks, winning the U.S. pairs title with Kate Finster in 2020. Born and raised in Budapest, Hungary, Nagy, 22, left their training base in Colorado after the following season to compete for the Hungarian Federation.
"I did that for one season and decided it wasn't for me," Nagy said. "I also fell out of love with the sport and stepped away for a while. I was traveling around a little bit, had shoulder surgery. When I was coming back from surgery, I was watching skating and I was like, 'I want to do this still,' and I reached out to our [U.S.] Federation. That's how I started my partner search."
After a couple of promising tryouts in April, the team officially announced their partnership. Their big elements — lifts and twists — developed quickly.
"Our technique was naturally matched, so that made everything gel quicker," Liu said. "When the big elements are good, you get this adrenaline rush. … We have a ton of respect for each other and that's what makes it easy to work together."
Nagy appreciates the training team and the structure that it provides.
"It's pretty different from how I've trained in the past," he said. "It's structured, very focused, kind of come in and do your job, check the items off the list. I think we work well together on just staying focused on whatever our task is at the time, doing our job, fixing that element and moving on."
Liu and Nagy chose their music for the season — "Dive" by Ed Sheeran for their short program and "A Thousand Times Goodnight" by Abel Korzeniowski from the
Romeo & Juliet 2013 soundtrack for their free skate — from a huge Spotify playlist that Nagy had compiled.
"I said to Chelsea, 'Add what you like and kick off what you don't,'" Nagy said. "We finally settled on three or four that we felt were acceptable for our short list."
Olympian Adam Rippon and Fowler-Binder choreographed their short program, while Pasquale Camerlengo designed the free skate.
"It was a lot of fun working with all of them and just the different styles of choreography, the different ways of putting a program together," Nagy said.
At the event in Canada, Liu and Nagy posted big scores for their twists and lifts in both programs, but fell on their triple Salchows and had trouble landing their throw jumps.
"We had some technical mistakes," Nagy said after the free skate. "The biggest thing for both of us, though, was staying in the program, maintaining the presentation and the choreography throughout. I think we are happy about that."
"We've both been through several different training camps, and our (throw) techniques have evolved and changed, and sometimes it's a little bit more difficult to get on the same page," Liu said. "But we are taking the time to work in detail and make sure we are safe, trying to hit the harder throws but keeping ourselves healthy."
Their coaches have been impressed with their skating skills and how naturally things have come together in such a short time.
"They have beautiful extensions, an amazing twist and effortless lifts," Fowler-Binder said. "They are hard workers who love to be pushed. Ultimately this will help set them apart. They move across the ice with minimal effort and have the ability to relate to each other and their music."
Chelsea Liu and Balazs Nagy will look to set themselves apart as a top pairs team at Skate America Oct. 20-22 in Allen, Texas. To purchase tickets, visit http://www.2023skateamerica.org.
