2020 U.S. Figure Skating Championship

Nathan Chen can join Brian Boitano in U.S. figure skating history this week, a decade after holding Boitano in the palm of his hands with a program set to music from “Kung Fu Panda.”



Chen seeks a fourth straight national title in Greensboro, N.C. He would be the seventh man to do so since World War II. Five of the previous six won Olympic titles — Dick Button, Hayes Jenkins, David Jenkins, Scott Hamilton and, most recently, Brian Boitano from 1985-88.

Boitano remembered the first time he met Chen. He and Kristi Yamaguchi were compelled to leave their seats to find the teeny, tiny wunderkind who performed that program to the 2008 DreamWorks film.





“He was taking off his skates, and he probably came up to our waist,” Boitano said. “We knew when we saw him back then that he was going to be something special. He was really quiet. He’s still very quiet.”

In an interview last week, Chen focused on the present — coming back from a two-week cold or flu bug — rather than the perspective.

“I don’t like to typically think about that,” Chen said when asked about his streak. “It’s just different [from year to year]. It’s not really necessarily easier or harder.”



It is also different from previous eras. The last five men to win four in a row did it all in one Olympic cycle, then stepped away from competition after the Winter Games. That was back when turning professional meant the end of an Olympic career.

“It was kind of the norm back then,” Hamilton said. “After that it was kind of back and forth a lot [until Chen]. The business of skating changed so skaters could stay in a lot more, a lot longer. With all the money they brought in, they were able to prevent skaters from turning professional. So that brought in a different approach to nationals.”

Ladies Short Wrap Up | Ice Desk at 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Bradie Tennell once again topped the U.S. Figure Skating Championships short program, one day after not being able to bend one of her arms. Can she hold on to dethrone 14-year-old Alysa Liu in Friday’s free skate?



Tennell, the 2018 U.S. champion, skated clean for the highest women’s short score in nationals history (78.96 points). Later, the defending champion Liu turned out of her triple Axel landing and tallied 75.40 for second place.

Tennell hit a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination en route to the lead. A bit surprising, given she told her coaches before her skate that her legs were shaking and that she couldn’t bend one of her arms Wednesday morning.



Tennell revealed that she hit her elbow on a wall on a bad fall, causing”swelling up and down” for the last few months. It was particularly painful and swollen this week. Turns out she had a hematoma that got infected.

“Let’s just say I’m very thankful that my mom is a nurse who has worked in the ER for 25 years,” she said.

Liu, the only active U.S. woman to land a triple Axel or a quadruple jump, overcame a 2.71-point deficit last year to win by 3.92, landing a pair of triple Axels in the free. She has since added a quad Lutz, which isn’t allowed in short programs.

“I feel like I was OK with nerves,” Liu said. “I did make a few mistakes, and it’s OK, because I can learn from them and obviously move on from this so that I don’t get too caught up.”

Women’s Short Program
1. Bradie Tennell — 78.96
2. Alysa Liu — 75.40
3. Mariah Bell — 73.22
4. Amber Glenn — 73.16
5. Karen Chen — 70.41
6. Gabriella Izzo — 65.94
7. Starr Andrews — 65.86
8. Paige Rydberg — 60.82
9. Courtney Hicks — 60.25
10. Maxine Marie Bautista — 59.47
11. Sierra Venetta — 57.98
12. Rena Ikenishi — 57.47
13. Gracie Gold — 54.51
14. Alex Evans — 53.53
15. Emily Zhang — 52.48
16. Caitlin Ha — 51.48
17. Sarah Jung — 51.09
18. Alyssa Rich — 45.25



Live now the Ice Desk analyzes the pairs event and previews the ladies short program at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Pairs’ Short Program
1. Alexa Scimeca Knierim/Christopher Knierim — 77.06
2. Tarah Kayne/Danny O’Shea — 70.35
3. Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy LeDuc — 68.86
4. Jessica Calanag/Brian Johnson — 67.56
5. Audrey Lu/Misha Mitrofanov — 65.06
6. Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier — 61.33
7. Olivia Serafini/Mervin Tran — 61.08
8. Jessica Pfund/Joshua Santillan — 58.48
9. Nica Digerness/Danny Neudecker — 57.95
10. Allison Timlen/Justin Highgate-Brutman — 55.60
11. Maria Mokhova/Ivan Mokhov — 51.50
12. Laiken Lockley/Keenan Prochnow — 50.86