She had to wait three years for this, but Bradie Tennell won his second national title on Friday night at the 2021 US Figure Skating Championships in Las Vegas.
Tennell scored 153.21 points on the free skate and a total of 232.61. She is the first woman in 101 years to spend three or more years among the titles of female singles. (Tonya Harding won in 1991 and 1994, but was later stripped of her 1994 title).
She looked relieved and elated when she finished her strong free skate, landing all seven triple jumps and knowing that she had done what she set out to do.
“Winning the title back means everything to me,” said Tennell. “It was one of my driving forces behind my move to Colorado. It is a driving force behind me to wake up every day. They say it’s about the journey, not the destination, but the destination also looks great. “
Tennell moved from the suburbs of Chicago, leaving his former trainer, to Colorado Springs last summer.
After winning the nationals in 2018, when he joined the Olympic team, Tennell continued to finish first in the short program every year that followed, but ended up with silver in 2019 and bronze in 2020. She was accompanied on the podium at two years by Alysa Liu, the winner at 13 and 14, and Mariah Bell.
The same three women were on the podium after the short on Thursday, but this time Liu would finish fourth and Bell fifth.
Amber Glenn, surprising even herself, and Karen Chen joined Tennell in the top three with totals of 215.33 and 214.98, respectively. Tennell’s margin of victory over Glenn was 17.28 points, the highest female margin since 2014, under a different scoring system.
Glenn’s eyes were wide and filled with tears as he received his score, Glenn was amazed at his score of 144.50 on the free skate. It was a new personal record in more than 19 points.
Now 21, Glenn won the junior title in 2014 and continued to float just under the radar as a contender, with his senior national results ranging from 13 in 2015 to the fifth last year.
“Wow, I’m still in shock,” she said as she started speaking to the media.
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Glenn learned earlier in the day that she has a foot infection that has spread to her knee. Despite the injury, she performed well, saying she was skating alone. This week she hoped to become the fifth woman in the US to get a triple Axel, but failed to do so on her short-lived program.
“I kind of got rid of all those expectations and pressure, and allowed myself to skate,” said Glenn.
Chen, the 2017 winner and 2018 Olympian, achieved her best placement since the Olympic year with a score of 143.99 on the free skateboard.
Despite being twice champion, Liu said she came in expecting the “minimum” of herself. She grew seven centimeters in the off-season, which meant relearning many of her heels and keeping her triple Axel and quad lutz out of this week’s shows, and suffered a hip injury in October.
“It was a really cool experience, especially as it was my first live competition [of the season]; I was happy to be here, ”said Liu, who noted that he is looking forward to returning home and training his quads.
Bell entered the title as a favorite after winning two competitions this season, the virtual ISP Points Challenge and Skate America. Fifth after the short program, she dropped to a distant fifth after a fall in the triple opening flip, among other mistakes. Your free skateboard won 127.58 points.
Audrey Shin, the surprise bronze medalist at Skate America on his debut in the senior season, jumped from 10th after the short to the seventh with a redeeming free skate that scored 119.08 for a total of 176.82.
Olympic 2014 Gracie Gold finished 13th, sliding one point back from his placement in the short program after falling twice on the free skate.
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