U.S. Figure Skating: Alysa Liu is 4th but happy while Karen Chen takes bronze
Richmond’s Alysa Liu finally found a challenge too steep to overcome on Friday night in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Las Vegas.
Liu, 15, finished outside of the top three for the first time since winning the 2018 Junior title in San Jose.
With 2018 Olympian Bradie Tennell soaring, Liu fell to fourth place in her only competition of a difficult season. Liu, who suffered a hip injury in late October, did not attempt her powerful triple axels instead relying on a much-improved skating performance.
The two-time senior champion was known as American’s best technician as a 13-year-old and 14-year-old champion. But after growing at least three inches Liu, now 15, wants to showcase a more balanced performance mixing breathtaking spins with inspiring triple axels and quadruple jumps.
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A strong technical show even without the big jumps would have been enough to win the silver medal. But Liu was docked .47 for a downgraded triple flip to start a combination jump. The double flip turned was perhaps the only major mistake but Liu didn’t gain enough extra points on the other triple jumps to reach the podium.
“This nationals was the proof that she is not just a jumper,” new coach Massimo Scali said. “But she can be an incredible skater and an incredible artist. It is an aspect of skating she never explored before.”
Liu’s minor struggles helped Karen Chen of Fremont to return to the podium after recent issues of her own. Chen was third by outscoring Liu by 1.5 points. Amber Glenn had what she described as her best free skate in history to edge Chen by 0.35 of a point for the silver medal.
Last year’s silver medalist, Miriah Bell of Orange County, lost points on four of her jumps to finish fifth, 13 points behind Liu.
No one close to Tennell who scored 232.61 points for a whopping 17.28-point victory.
Tennell, the 2018 champion who lost to Liu the past two years, said regaining the title motivated her. She left her long-time coach in Illinois to move to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to train under Tom Zakrajsek.
“Winning my title back means everything to do,” said Tennell, 22. “It was the driving force to have me move to Colorado Springs. It was the driving force behind me going to the training every day. They say it is about the journey and not the destination but the destination felt pretty good too.”
Liu’s coaches said before the competition they did not expect the teen to easily win her third consecutive title. She experienced too many changes in the past year: Liu grew at least three inches; she could not train regularly because of COVID-19 closures of Bay Area ice rinks, and she changed coaches in June after working with Laura Lipetesky of Alameda for the past decade.
And yet, skating to the “The Storm” by Balazs Havasi and Lisa Gerrard Liu looked so much more poised as a performer. She hopes to continue to improve the artistic side with the Winter Olympics in Beijing a year away.
“I didn’t expect much,” she said. “I expected the bare minimum.”
Liu, who trained at the Oakland Ice Center and the Yerba Buena Ice and Bowling Center in San Francisco, added, “It didn’t feel like a nationals, but it still felt like a competition to me.”
The two-day event in Las Vegas is Liu’s only competition of the season, another factor that made it difficult for her to defend her title. But was not distraught by the result.
“Now I know what I need to work on, more my stamina and my jumps,” Liu said. “I took a lot away from this.”
Scali said afterward they were happy with the outcome because of all the turmoil in the past seven months. Liu began retraining triple axels only two weeks ago. She plans to return to the Bay Area to start working on quadruple jumps again as well.
Scali, a three-time Olympic ice dancer for Italy, said he and fellow coach Jeremy Abbott also plan to press hard to improve Liu’s presentation scores that include spinning, gliding and interpretation of the music.
But he loves what has transpired so far.
“It is a gigantic step forward,” Scali said. “I have no words. I’m just really so proud.”
Chen, the 2017 champion, won her third bronze medal at a national championship. But it was her first podium finish since qualifying for the 2018 Olympic team. She is taking a gap year from Cornell University to focus on becoming a consistent skater to match her beautiful lines.
Chen, 21, said the performance has given her a confidence boost for next season during the Olympic year.
She skated beautifully Friday to “Butterfly Lover Concerto” by Takako Nishizaki. Her jumps looked clean but for a couple of mistakes.
“Definitely a few minor mistakes here and there,” Chen said. “But I am happy with what I delivered.”
Chen is one of a handful of Americans who are trying to join Liu in completely high-scoring triple axels. With the Russians already doing quadruple jumps the U.S. women know they have to vastly improve their technical skating to have a chance at a medal at the Beijing Games.
“It is a hard jump,” Chen said. “My jumps are big but they are definitely delayed. With the triple axel, I would have to be quick into my rotation.”
Liu said she started training for the 3 1/2 rotation jump with a harness but it was too easy. Muscle memory, Liu said, was enough to regain confidence in the axel. She has been landing two a day, Liu said.
But she didn’t want to add it to the free skate Friday night after only two weeks.
If everything lines up next year, the other competitors will have to contend with those tough jumps again.
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Madison Chock and Evan Bates topped the U.S. Figure Skating Championships rhythm dance in their first competition in 11 months, and the first since Chock was off the ice for a month last summer due to a concussion.
The defending champions, Chock and Bates became the first couple to break 90 points in a nationals rhythm dance, tallying 90.10 to edge training partners and two-time U.S. champions Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue by .44 of a point.