Tennell Practices Patience in Advance of World Championships

It has been more than a year since Bradie Tennell ended her quest to compete in a second Olympic Games, surrendering to her body's call to step away from the ice and allow a debilitating foot injury the time to heal.
 
From her bed, the two-time U.S. champion was consumed with thoughts of getting back on the ice to train pain free and resume the life of a competitive figure skater who she had known for most of her life. For a while, Tennell would not allow herself to imagine what competing might look like after all that she had endured, but the dream was still a flicker in the back of her mind.
 
Over time, the pain in Tennell's foot began to subside and slowly and with an abundance of caution, she returned to the rink. With those first steps back on the ice, Tennell's dream of competing once again started to come into focus. By autumn, it was time to start thinking about what that return might look like.
 
With two Grand Prix events on her schedule, Tennell questioned if she was ready to start her comeback or if she needed more time. When it came time to decide, Tennell grabbed the bull by the horns and gave it a shot.
 
Her first competition, the MK John Wilson Trophy in Sheffield, Great Britain, was a mixed bag. Tennell finished in 12th place in a performance that she referred to as 'horrifying,' but in the grand scheme, the first goal was accomplished — to have the privilege to try.
 
A week later, Tennell gave it another go at Grand Prix Espoo in Finland where she improved her total score by 10 points from the previous week and finished in eighth. About 10 days later, she beat that score by nearly 30 points at the Golden Spin of Zagreb in Croatia, capturing the silver medal along the way.
 
"I remember in Britain I stepped out from behind the really heavy curtains backstage and I took a step back and I was like, 'Whoa, that is bright,'" she said with a laugh. "I literally forgot how bright the competition arenas are. I don't know why that came to mind but that's just something super small that I didn't realize would be something that I had to remember."
 
With her podium finish in Croatia, Tennell threw her name into the ring as a serious contender for a medal at the 2023 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, California. When she arrived, the memories of championships past raced through the 25-year-old's mind and butterflies took flight in her stomach.
 
"I remember I was a little nervous to show up not because I was unprepared or anything but just because it's Nationals and there's always that heightened sense: 'Oh my gosh. It's your home country you want to do well,'" she said. "When I stepped onto the ice, I couldn't help but smile. I remember the last time I was in that arena back in 2018 and it was a little trippy for me because I remember going down a hallway to hide from the NBC cameras. It was all these little random things that I'd forgotten but being in that building again and in that same place kind of brought some things back."
 
In San Jose, Tennell's comeback was fully realized — after finishing in a virtual tie for first place in the short program, the 2018 Olympian came through in the free skate and finished with the silver medal overall. She was back.
 
"I saw the crowd standing up before I finished my program, and I just remember thinking as I was taking a bow,this is the moment that I that I worked so hard for," Tennell said. "I was almost crying and was thinking, 'I'm here. I did it. This is amazing.' I could just feel the support. It was like the warm fuzzy feeling in your chest or like when the Grinch's heart grows three sizes."
 
Before she could blink, Tennell found herself in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as a member of Team USA to compete in the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2023. It was the first time that she returned to her former training location since the foot injury forced her to return home to Illinois.
 
"The last time I was there to pack up my apartment to move home with the mindset of not knowing if I was going to be able to skate again," she said. "I had the realization that not only am I skating again, but I am competing. The last time I was here everything was so up in the air, so yeah, it was it was really cool to be back."
 
Up to this point, each competition outing was better than the previous in Tennell's season, but in Colorado Springs, she took a small step back. Tennell could have easily blamed her sixth-place finish on the cold that she was dealing with during the competition or the less than two-week turnaround from the U.S. Championships. Instead, she saw her performances as an opportunity to learn, in part, what she needs to focus on in advance of this week's World Championships in Saitama, Japan.
 
"I have my own personal goals and obviously I go into every competition wanting to win because I'm incredibly competitive," she shared. "I have things that I need to work on just by looking at my protocol sheet and also for myself things that I want to improve on that maybe aren't so glaringly obvious to other people."
 
One thing that Tennell says that is at the top of her list is to work on is making sure that her jumps are fully rotated, something that she admits has been keeping her up at night.
 
"I think that's it's fair to say that's also something that I've been disappointed in this season because I love to see a clean (protocol) sheet," Tennell said. "That's one of those things that really gets under my skin when I look at my sheet because in practice my jumps are fine. My jumps are pretty good but this year with coming back, and I would say I'm a lot more nervous than I normally am when I compete, and I tend to hold back and tighten up. That's kind of where those come from and that's what I'll be working on heading into Worlds obviously. The jumps are the fun part for me and it's really annoying for me to doubt myself like that and then have those things appear."
 
In Saitama, Tennell is looking forward to performing her climate change themed free skate, inspired by global climate justice advocate Greta Thunberg. The program, Tennell says, is something that she would not have been able to take on earlier in her career.
 
"I feel like I connect to this program really well and the fact that this program stands for something so much bigger than myself and figure skating is something I'm really proud of and it inspires me to work really hard at it," she explained. "I feel proud of myself and my growth that I now feel comfortable and confident enough to take on something like this because I know the Bradie from five years ago would not feel that way."
 
Though she hopes to skate her best in Saitama, Tennell's fundamental goal this season has been to improve from one competition to the next. She admits that she has sometimes been impatient when it comes to seeing improvement and has realized that she often forgets how far she has come in such a short time.
 
"I'm my own harshest critic. I think I forget that I didn't start training as an elite athlete again until the beginning of August, so I guess I forget how fast everything has happened," she admitted. "I can't believe I've competed five times already. It's been really fun honestly. The entire experience has been a little surreal for me because I didn't know if I was going to be able to do this again. That's what I have to remember."