Skate America star Rachael Flatt challenges herself to do more
She's taking a 'year to relax' before enrolling at Stanford and stepping up plans for 2014 Olympics
The last time Rachael Flatt competed in Portland, she was 12 years old and won the ladies novice figure skating championship.
“It was my first big, national event - I was a little star struck,” she says.
That was in January 2005, when Michelle Kwan placed first in the senior ladies division.
When Flatt returns to the ice at the Rose Garden on Tuesday, Nov. 12, she will be the star attraction, skating as the U.S. ladies senior champion and a 2010 Olympian.
Flatt and a slate of international champions will compete through Nov. 14 at Skate America, the fourth of six events on the skating Grand Prix circuit.
Speaking by phone from Colorado Springs, Colo., where she trains, the native of Del Mar, Calif., says she looks forward to skating again at the Rose Garden. Flatt, 18, remembers the Portland audience as “so supportive and enthusiastic. It is a wonderful atmosphere in the rink, and the world’s top skaters will be there - it will be fun and exciting.”
Competitions and improvements
Flatt is fresh off a second-place finish at the Oct. 22-24 NHK Trophy competition in Japan, where she pulled off a double-axel/double-toe combination.
“It was an exciting event, and I skated very well in both programs, but I was a little disappointed; it would have been nice to have tried my triple-loop combination,” she says.
Carolina Kostner, the Italian senior ladies champion, won the gold medal in Japan. Flatt says Kostner, 23, is a “wonderful skater and an intense competitor; she motivates me.”
Flatt is debuting two programs this season. Her short program is set to “Summertime,” by George Gershwin and “Oh, But On the Third Day/Happy Feet Blues,” by Wynton Marsalis and Marcus Roberts; while her free skate features “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” by Richard Rodgers and Earl Wild.
She describes the short program as “energetic and upbeat and more mature at the beginning,” while the free skate is “character-driven and very exciting.”
Both programs are choreographed by Lori Nichols.
The 5-2 Flatt says she has been training hard this season, working on refining details.
“I am alternating my technique on the triple flip, and it is much bigger, and my other jumps are stronger and more solid,” she says.
She also is working on different positions for her spins and developing more flexibility in her back for her lay-back spin.
“I’m working on components and speed,” she says, “and I’m hoping to show that at Skate America.”
Olympics
Flatt finished seventh in her Olympics debut in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Competing at that intense level has made her much more confident in her abilities, she says, adding that her performance at the Olympics was her best ever.
“I put what I’d been training out in my performance and it was a huge relief,” she says. “It helped me and motivated me to become a better skater, and now I am challenging myself to do more and different combinations and programs with more difficulty with better transitions.”
She has taken any disappointment she might feel about finishing only seventh and turned it into a learning experience, she says.
“I’ve changed my technique entirely on the flip - the entrance is totally different, and that has helped increase the height of my jump,” she says.
As for the next Olympics, in Feb. 2014 at Sochi, Russia, Flatt says she is at the beginning of a four-year cycle and taking it “one day and one season at a time.”
She adds that it is hard to focus on something so far off but that all the work she is doing leads up to the next Olympics.
Flatt just graduated from high school and was accepted at Stanford University, where hopes to pursue a degree in science.
She chose to take a deferred enrollment, however, saying she needed more time to research training facilities near the university.
“I needed a year to relax after pushing myself so hard while training at an elite level and taking AP (Advanced Placement) classes,” she says. “I’m going to focus on skating this year, and next year it will be a good challenge to balance school and skating.”
Skate America
Nov. 12-14
Rose Garden
Skate America is an Olympic-style, international figure-skating event, with three days of competition in ladies, men’s, pairs and ice dancing. The event is one of six annual events in the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix Series. It annually attracts about 60 world-class figure skaters.
Skaters
The athlete lineup is subject to change, but the following competitors are expected:
Ladies - Rachael Flatt, Alexe Gilles and Caroline Zhang
Men’s - Stephen Carriere, Armin Mahbanoozadeh and Adam Rippon, two-time world junior champion
Pairs - Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett, Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir
Ice dancing -2010 Olympic and world silver medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White, Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani, and Lynn Kriengkrairut and Loan Giulietti-Schmitt
Schedule of events
Friday, Nov. 12: Pairs short program and men’s short program (session 1), 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 13: Ice dance and ladies short program (session 2), 2 p.m.; men’s free skate and pairs free skate (session 3), 7 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 14: Ladies free skate and free dance (session 4), 11 a.m.; skating spectacular, 5 p.m.
Tickets
Call 503-797-9619 or e-mail tickets@2010skateamerica.com.
Source
The last time Rachael Flatt competed in Portland, she was 12 years old and won the ladies novice figure skating championship.
“It was my first big, national event - I was a little star struck,” she says.
That was in January 2005, when Michelle Kwan placed first in the senior ladies division.
When Flatt returns to the ice at the Rose Garden on Tuesday, Nov. 12, she will be the star attraction, skating as the U.S. ladies senior champion and a 2010 Olympian.
Flatt and a slate of international champions will compete through Nov. 14 at Skate America, the fourth of six events on the skating Grand Prix circuit.
Speaking by phone from Colorado Springs, Colo., where she trains, the native of Del Mar, Calif., says she looks forward to skating again at the Rose Garden. Flatt, 18, remembers the Portland audience as “so supportive and enthusiastic. It is a wonderful atmosphere in the rink, and the world’s top skaters will be there - it will be fun and exciting.”
Competitions and improvements
Flatt is fresh off a second-place finish at the Oct. 22-24 NHK Trophy competition in Japan, where she pulled off a double-axel/double-toe combination.
“It was an exciting event, and I skated very well in both programs, but I was a little disappointed; it would have been nice to have tried my triple-loop combination,” she says.
Carolina Kostner, the Italian senior ladies champion, won the gold medal in Japan. Flatt says Kostner, 23, is a “wonderful skater and an intense competitor; she motivates me.”
Flatt is debuting two programs this season. Her short program is set to “Summertime,” by George Gershwin and “Oh, But On the Third Day/Happy Feet Blues,” by Wynton Marsalis and Marcus Roberts; while her free skate features “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” by Richard Rodgers and Earl Wild.
She describes the short program as “energetic and upbeat and more mature at the beginning,” while the free skate is “character-driven and very exciting.”
Both programs are choreographed by Lori Nichols.
The 5-2 Flatt says she has been training hard this season, working on refining details.
“I am alternating my technique on the triple flip, and it is much bigger, and my other jumps are stronger and more solid,” she says.
She also is working on different positions for her spins and developing more flexibility in her back for her lay-back spin.
“I’m working on components and speed,” she says, “and I’m hoping to show that at Skate America.”
Olympics
Flatt finished seventh in her Olympics debut in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Competing at that intense level has made her much more confident in her abilities, she says, adding that her performance at the Olympics was her best ever.
“I put what I’d been training out in my performance and it was a huge relief,” she says. “It helped me and motivated me to become a better skater, and now I am challenging myself to do more and different combinations and programs with more difficulty with better transitions.”
She has taken any disappointment she might feel about finishing only seventh and turned it into a learning experience, she says.
“I’ve changed my technique entirely on the flip - the entrance is totally different, and that has helped increase the height of my jump,” she says.
As for the next Olympics, in Feb. 2014 at Sochi, Russia, Flatt says she is at the beginning of a four-year cycle and taking it “one day and one season at a time.”
She adds that it is hard to focus on something so far off but that all the work she is doing leads up to the next Olympics.
Flatt just graduated from high school and was accepted at Stanford University, where hopes to pursue a degree in science.
She chose to take a deferred enrollment, however, saying she needed more time to research training facilities near the university.
“I needed a year to relax after pushing myself so hard while training at an elite level and taking AP (Advanced Placement) classes,” she says. “I’m going to focus on skating this year, and next year it will be a good challenge to balance school and skating.”
Skate America
Nov. 12-14
Rose Garden
Skate America is an Olympic-style, international figure-skating event, with three days of competition in ladies, men’s, pairs and ice dancing. The event is one of six annual events in the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix Series. It annually attracts about 60 world-class figure skaters.
Skaters
The athlete lineup is subject to change, but the following competitors are expected:
Ladies - Rachael Flatt, Alexe Gilles and Caroline Zhang
Men’s - Stephen Carriere, Armin Mahbanoozadeh and Adam Rippon, two-time world junior champion
Pairs - Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett, Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir
Ice dancing -2010 Olympic and world silver medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White, Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani, and Lynn Kriengkrairut and Loan Giulietti-Schmitt
Schedule of events
Friday, Nov. 12: Pairs short program and men’s short program (session 1), 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 13: Ice dance and ladies short program (session 2), 2 p.m.; men’s free skate and pairs free skate (session 3), 7 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 14: Ladies free skate and free dance (session 4), 11 a.m.; skating spectacular, 5 p.m.
Tickets
Call 503-797-9619 or e-mail tickets@2010skateamerica.com.
Source