Sarah Explains the Finer Sports

I woke up this morning to a text from a friend that was just “Oh my God. Denis, no…”

I assumed it was the usual summer drama of coaching changes and program choices. Instead, it was news of one of the truest and deepest tragedies in figure skating history. Returning to his car in Almaty, Denis Ten discovered two men attempting to steal the mirrors from his car. Ten tried to fight them off, and they stabbed him in the thigh. By the time help arrived, Ten had lost too much blood, and could not be saved. He was 25 years old.

I didn’t know Ten personally, although I’ve watched him skate in person a number of times. The athletes, coaches, and friends who did know him describe him as an exceptionally warm and gracious person, extraordinarily dedicated to everything he did both on and off the ice. He saw it as his mission to inspire younger athletes, in Kazakhstan and throughout the world, and continued competing after winning bronze at the 2014 Olympics because he felt that if he retired, no other role model would exist to take his place.  He organized shows in Almaty and devoted both money and energy to developing Kazakhstan’s figure skating program. He was the face of Kazakh figure skating, and he played that role as perfectly as one could imagine.

On the ice, Ten was among the most graceful and musical skaters of his generation. He was an understated performer who favored classical warhorses, but he gave familiar music new life with his passionate performances. He also had pristine basic technique – edge control, posture, turns – that made him a pleasure to watch even when the jumps weren’t there for him.

And when the jumps were on his side, there was no one else like him. At his best, Ten glided through the air as gracefully as across the ice. He first drew notice during the 2008-2009 season, when he won a Junior Grand Prix event in Belarus, then finished an impressive 4th at the World Junior Championships. Even then, at the age of fifteen, he earned praise from the Eurosport commentators for his edges and transitions.

Ten’s skills developed steadily in the years that followed, but he still seemed to come out of nowhere at the 2013 World Championships. His lights-out free skate there was by far the finest of the night, both technically and artistically, from the effortless quad toe loop and triple Axel-triple toe loop that opened the program to the subtle, joyful storytelling in his footwork. His overall score brought him a silver medal, but he was the sentimental winner of the event.

Ten would never perform better than he did that night in London, Ontario, but he’d come close with a pair of high-profile bronze medals: he placed third at both the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2015 World Championships. More impressive than either of those performances was his winning free skate at the 2015 Four Continents Championships, where he earned the highest scores of his career. That free skate, to a pair of modern classical pieces from New Impossibilities that feature traditional Chinese and Indian instruments, pushed the boundaries of Ten’s signature style and paid tribute to the blend of cultures that defined him: ethnically Korean, born and raised in Kazakhstan, living and training in Southern California.

There’s been a refreshing and comforting solidarity throughout the skating community today. We’ve set aside our catty comments and conspiracy theories, and I think that’s the way Ten would want it. Both on and off the ice, he sought to bring the world together through his skating, and to make Kazakhstan a brighter and more important part of that world.