On first sight, you could almost mistake Drew Meekins for a current competitor in pairs skating (especially these days!). Fit and youthful at 36, Meekins retains an energetic passion for the sport of figure skating. It’s this drive that inspired him throughout his competitive career with pairs partner Julia Vlassov and culminated in the 2006 …
Continue reading Drew Meekins: “Pairs skating is ready for a rebrand”
Over the last decade, Olga Ganicheva and Aleksey Letov have quietly moved toward the top rank of American figure skating coaches. The husband-and-wife team, who are originally from Russia, started coaching in the Dallas, Texas, area in 2002. There, they built up a skating school based at one of the Dr.Pepper StarCenter rinks in the …
The Grand Prix season always seems to bring its share of new stars and surprises. Roman Sadovsky was a bit of both in November, when he unexpectedly won bronze at NHK Trophy. Not many picked the 20-year-old Canadian skater to medal at NHK, which featured an impressive field of men’s competitors, including two-time Olympic champion …
When Kate Finster and Balazs Nagy began their pairs partnership in late fall of 2017, they were a bit of an unlikely duo. The new partners had a five-year age gap--and also came from different disciplines. Nagy, 20, had been a singles skater for the majority of his career, with only one brief season of …
Mark Mitchell and Peter Johansson are the definition of skating veterans. Both have been involved with figure skating at the elite level for over 30 years, first as competitors and more recently as coaches. Mitchell competed internationally for the United States in the early 1990s, attaining two top 5 finishes at the World Championships, as …
Continue reading Mark Mitchell and Peter Johansson: Finding Success on Their Terms
Alexander Johnson is starting a new chapter in his life this spring. After a 9-year career at the senior international level, which featured two top 6 finishes at U.S. Nationals and a Challenger Series medal, Johnson is shifting focus from competitive skating to his first full-time professional job in finance and a budding side career …
It was a challenging season for U.S. pair Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier, but it ended well with a silver medal at 2018 U.S. Nationals and a 5th-place result at Four Continents. After Four Continents, Denney/Frazier took a few minutes to speak with me about how their season went and their plans for next year. …
Continue reading Denney/Frazier: “We’re motivated to get to work” in off-season
Following a successful junior career, Evelyn Walsh/Trennt Michaud of Canada made the jump to the senior ranks this year. After some ups and downs at their fall events, the young Canadian team earned the silver medal at Canadian Nationals and berths to Four Continents and Worlds. The duo is focused on learning and growing as …
Continue reading Walsh/Michaud: “Our partnership has grown a lot this year” (2019)
Recently I traveled to Anaheim, CA, to cover the ISU 2019 Four Continents Championship for Figure Skaters Online. While I was there, I had the great pleasure of chatting with pairs coach Richard Gauthier of Canada. As most pairs fans know, Gauthier has been among the world's top pairs coaches for 15 years or longer, …
When Deanna Stellato and Nate Bartholomay announced their new partnership in 2016, many in the skating world were taken by surprise. Bartholomay was a U.S. National medalist and Olympian; but at 27, his skating career was in doubt after partner Felicia Zhang retired in 2014 and a subsequent partnership did not work out. Stellato, for …
Continue reading Interview with Stellato/Bartholomay (June 2018)
