NEW CHAMPIONS CROWNED AT 2018 WORLDS NATHAN CHEN BACKSTAGE IN THE MINES OLYMPIC GOLD MIXED IN MILAN ZONE CANADA & U.S. REBUILD FOR NEW OLYMPIC CYCLE RUSSIA DOMINATES JUNIOR JUNE 2018 WORLDS Elegance in Performance www.taniabass.com MADE IN NEW YORK CITY 212-246-2277 No regrets. Patrick Chan oficially announced his retirement from competitive skating on April 16. “Skating has been a big part of my life, and now I’m ready to take what it’s given me and transfer it over into something else, whatever that may be.” Photo: Susan D. Russell Contents 22 Features VOLUME 23 | ISSUE 3 | JUNE 2018 KEEGAN MESSING 6 Canada’s Leading Man BRADIE TENNELL 10 A Season of Firsts RUSSIAN REVOLUTION 12 At World Junior Championships JUMPING JUNIORS 16 New Generation: Quads and Triple Axels SYNCHRO WORLDS 18 Finland Dominates in Sweden BACKSTAGE IN PYEONGCHANG 20 Behind the Scenes in the Olympic Mixed Zone ON THE ON TOP OF THE WORLD COVER Ê 22 Top Names, Rising Stars Take Centre Stage at 2018 World Championships SKATE CANADA REBUILDS 36 End of an Era: What’s Next? U.S. FIGURE SKATING 39 TRANSITIONS Nathan Chen Developing a Youthful Strategy Departments VALLE PHOTO: FLAVIO 4 FROM THE EDITOR 44 FASHION SCORE 32 INNER LOOP 46 TRANSITIONS Reflections From Milan Moving On From the Competitive Ranks 42 THEY SAID IT Quotable Moments 48 QUICKSTEPS from 2018 Worlds COVER PHOTO: ROBIN RITOSS 2 IFSMAGAZINE.COM JUNE 2018 Vanessa James and Morgan Ciprès broke an 18-year drought for France when they captured the bronze medal in pairs at the 2018 World Championships. Photo: Flavio Valle Season Ends on High Note hough a handful of the top competitors from the 2018 Olympic developing its men’s and ladies programs if it hopes to once again Winter Games chose not to contest the subsequent World be a major player as it was throughout the past two Olympic cycles. Championships, their absence did not diminish the event in any way. he U.S. is also in a state of transition, and given the collective he skaters that did compete in Milan put on quite the show, results of its 2018 Olympic and World Championships teams, a many earning personal bests and, in some cases, providing a glimpse new strategy is being proposed, aimed speciically at developing into what the future of skating holds. younger skaters earlier than it has in the past. I really enjoyed watching the younger skaters and teams that Rules changes are afoot for next season in both igure and were given the opportunity to show their talent and skills on such synchronized skating. We will not know exactly what those changes a major international stage and look forward to seeing more from will be until after the International Skating Union (ISU) Congress themjust a few months from now. takes place in June. A couple of weeks before senior Worlds the junior edition took Synchronized skating is moving closer to becoming part of the place in Soia, Bulgaria. here were a number of surprises at that Olympic program — perhaps as early as 2022 — and the ISU competition, with the standout being the two-quad free skate by technical committee that governs the sport plans to tighten the Russia’s 13-year-old Alexandra Trusova. Many of the skaters from reins in many areas. Junior Worlds will be hitting the senior circuit next season, so it We hope you enjoyed the past season as much as we did. It was was another great opportunity to gain some insight into the level exhausting for many but after a few months of downtime skaters of technique and performance we will see next season. will be eager to get back into the competition arenas and we will be As with all Olympic years, retirements are aplenty so now is a just as eager to see them. Next season promises to be very interesting good time to review where Canada and the U.S. stand with respect with many new faces in national line-ups. to ielding strong national teams going forward. So far, Canada has been hit the hardest with a number of its elite Susan D. Russell, team members announcing their retirements. hough its pairs and Publisher ice dance programs are solid, Skate Canada will need to focus on PUBLISHER Susan D. Russell [email protected] NORTH AMERICAN EDITOR Robert Brodie EUROPEAN EDITOR Tatjana Flade DESIGNED BY Laurea Media EDITORIAL Elina Paasonen, Akiko Tamura, Elvin Walker PHOTOGRAPHY Vicki S. Luy, Elina Paasonen, Flavio Valle INTERN Brooklee Han ADVERTISING/SALES [email protected] CORPORATE OFFICE International Figure Skating/Laurea Media 270 Queens Quay West, Suite 1301, Toronto, ON M5J 2N4 Please include your name, mailing and e-mail addresses and a telephone number in all correspondence to International Figure Skating. SUBSCRIPTIONS (U.S./Canada) 844-357-2044 International: 973-627-5162 WEBSITE www.ifsmagazine.com International Figure Skating is published bimonthly by Laurea Media, 270 Queens Quay West, Suite 1301, Toronto, ON M5J 2N4. One-year subscriptions: US$29.99, Canada US$34.99, International US$49.99. Subscribers should allow 1 to 2 weeks for change of address to become effective. POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to: International Figure Skating, PO Box 3000, Denville, NJ, 07834 USA. Subscriptions ordered are nonrefundable unless otherwise promoted. Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings and photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no responsibility can be assumed for unsolicited materials. All rights to letters sent to International Figure Skating will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes and as subject to unrestricted right to edit and to comment editorially. Requests for permission to reprint should be sent to the publisher. The title International Figure Skating is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Contents copyright © 2017 by Laurea Media. All rights reserved. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. Printed in U.S.A. CPC PUB #0913103. 4 IFSMAGAZINE.COM JUNE 2018 French ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron claimed their third World ice dance title in Milan. Photo: Flavio Valle KEEGAN MESSING Canada’s Leading Man BY ROBERT BRODIE eegan Messing became the leading man in Canadian igure skating in April, but he had already received an early education about the responsibility that comes with being No. 1. Khe 26-year-old, a dual citizen who skates for Canada but calls Alaska home, found himself in a high-pressure spot back in March at the World Championships in Milan, Italy. His teammate at that event, Nam Nguyen, did not qualify for the free skate, meaning that Messing needed a top 10 placement to earn two spots for next year’s Worlds in Saitama, Japan. “I actually thought it was top 12 that got the (two) spots,” Messing told IFS. “But whenever I started thinking about it, it made me feel a little more nervous, so I tried not to do that. I really wanted to go out and skate my best and focus on my own worries.” Fortunately, Messing put himself in good position in the short, posting a personal best score of 93.00 that had him in eighth place. hough he placed 11th in the free, he remained eighth overall with a 252.30 total. His mission was complete. “After I was told later it was top 10 and I’d made eighth place, I was like ‘Yes! Awesome, we got it back.’ I was pretty happy we were able to keep the two spots.” With the retirement of 10-time Canadian champion Patrick Chan, Messing — the silver medalist at the 2018 Canadian Championships — is now thrust into a more prominent role heading into the 2018-2019 season. It is one he is eager to embrace. “he feeling is great, I have to say,” he said about being the new No. 1 man in Canada. “I’ve never been in this spot before, and I just want to attack the upcoming season like I did last season … I want to go into it with three quads in the long program and one or two quads in the short. I feel like I’m at the top of my game, but I feel like I still have room to grow.” Messing said he wants the quad Lutz to be the third four-revolution jump in his long program. He has been working diligently at it over the last year and if all goes as planned, it will be reined enough to bring to competition in the season ahead. hat he inds himself in this position is a testament to hard work. He said he barely took a break after the 2016- 2017 season ended. Messing also credits choreographer Lance Vipond with improving his on-ice presentation. “Lance got me to cut my hair and style it for the short program and got me to really engulf a character this year in how I took to the ice, how I presented myself, or even just approached a competition,” Messing explained. “He really changed the way I thought about doing some of the things that I had always done. He literally has been the biggest help to me.” Messing also beneits from a 20-year partnership with his coach, Ralph Burghart, a seven-time Austrian champion who competed at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France. Burghart is based in Anchorage, Alaska, where Messing spends the majority of his training time. “Ralph has been a second father igure to me,” said PHOTOS: SUSAN D. RUSSELL Messing.