Welcome to the third installment of The Finer Sports’ 2019 US National Championships preview! In this one, I’ll take a deep dive into the 12 ice dance teams competing at the senior level this year. For more information on how these previews are structured, see Part 1 of my Ladies’ Preview.
Ice dance is the United States’ strongest figure skating discipline right now, with numerous teams that would be shoo-ins for the podium in almost any other country in the world. Six of the teams scheduled to compete in Detroit – that’s half – are ranked among the top 20 ice dance teams in the world, and five have won medals at major international competitions this season. With those odds, it takes serious courage for unknown teams to even show up.
There will be a few notable absences from this year’s ice dance event. Maia and Alex Shibutani, the two-time National Champions who won bronze at the 2018 Olympic Games, are taking the year off from competition, and it’s widely speculated that they’re ready to retire. 2017 pewter medalists Elliana Pogrebinsky and Alex Benoit split at the end of the 2017-18 season; he’s chosen to focus on acting, and she hasn’t found a new competition-ready partner yet. Frequent contenders Julia Biechler and Damian Dodge also parted ways, but we’ll see her at Nationals in the senior ladies’ event. Alexandra Aldridge and Daniel Eaton, who have had an on-again, off-again partnership since winning back-to-back National junior titles in 2012 and 2013 (and a few other partners in between), appear to be off again, and will not compete at Nationals this season.
So who’s vying to become the next big thing in American ice dance? Read on to find out.
Alannah Binotto & Shiloh Judd
The Basics: Binotto is 21 years old and represents the Pittsburgh Figure Skating Club; Judd is 23 and represents the University of Delaware Skating Club. They began skating together in 2018, prior to which both were primarily singles skaters. This will be the first appearance at Nationals for both of them in any discipline.
Season So Far: Binotto and Judd began their season at Skate Wilmington, with an exhibition of their rhythm dance. They placed 5th in the rhythm dance and 4th in the free dance at Chicago Dance Pairs, and 2nd in the rhythm dance and 3rd in the free dance at the Philadelphia Skating Club & Humane Society Challenge Cup.
Outlook for Nationals: It’s hard to comment on the status of Binotto and Judd’s skating now, since the most recent performances I’ve seen of theirs were from August, and a lot can change for a new team in that time frame. Nonetheless, it’s unlikely that their technical ability will be on par with that of even the mid-ranked teams in an ice dance field as strong as the one they’ll face at Nationals. What they do have going for them is enthusiasm and maturity. These are both seasoned singles skaters who know how to pace a program and relate to their music, and their joy in competing and skating together is infectious. They are Just Happy to Be Here in the purest sense.
Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko
The Basics: Carreira and Ponomarenko are both 18 years old. She’s originally from Montreal, and he from San Jose, California, but they now live and train in the Detroit area. They’ve been a team since 2014; she previously competed for Canada with Simon-Pierre Malette-Paquette, and he used to skate with Sarah Feng. Carreira and Ponomarenko are the reigning junior National Champions and the 2018 World Junior silver medalists. This will be their first time competing at Nationals at the senior level.
Season So Far: Carreira and Ponomarenko began their season by exhibitioning both of their programs at Skate Detroit. They won both segments of Chicago Dance Pairs, beginning their senior competitive career with a gold medal. They placed second only to Hubbell and Donohue at the US International Classic, and took bronze at the Nebelhorn Trophy in a tough field. After a nervy 5th-place performance at Grand Prix of Helsinki with several uncharacteristic technical errors, they looked terrific at the Rostelecom Cup, earning a bronze medal. At the Tallinn Trophy, they won their first senior international gold medal.
Outlook for Nationals: After a long and impressive rise in juniors, Carreira and Ponomarenko look more than ready to compete at the top level. They’re not the most versatile performers, but they are one of the few current teams to put their individual mark on lyrical choreography. They also have a stunning repertoire of lifts, a fast and difficult twizzle sequence, and long and well-matched body lines that make everything they do look more beautiful. Their timing isn’t always perfect in their steps, which often leads to critical drops in their levels and occasionally brings disaster. They’ll have to vault ahead of a bunch of more established teams to take the podium in their freshman year, but they’re certainly talented enough to rank as Dark Horses.
Madison Chock & Evan Bates
The Basics: Chock is 26 years old and represents the All Year Figure Skating Club, near her hometown in the Los Angeles area. Bates is 29 years old and represents the Ann Arbor Figure Skating Club. They currently live and train in Montreal. In her prior partnership with Greg Zuerlein, Chock became 2009 junior National Champion and 2009 Junior World Champion; skating with Emily Samuelson, Bates became 2007 junior National Champion, 2008 Junior World Champion, and a 2010 Olympian. Chock and Bates have been skating as a team since 2011, during which they have achieved six consecutive National podium finishes, including a gold medal in 2015; they placed 3rd in 2018. They’re also two-time World medalists, in 2015 and 2016, and have competed together at the Olympics twice, in 2014 and 2018.
Season So Far: Chock and Bates’ “Basics” section is long because this section is necessarily short. They’ve spent most of this season adjusting to new coaches and recovering from injuries, and withdrew from a number of competitions in which they had hoped to participate. They made their season debut at the Mentor Torun Cup in January, where they looked a little unsteady but won easily.
Outlook for Nationals: Chock and Bates are among the most talented and accomplished ice dancers in the United States, and it’s exciting to see them stick around for another season. Their results have been declining, and it’s possible that they hit their peak a few years ago; still, few teams can match their speed or their dramatic lifts. Even two weeks before Nationals, they didn’t appear to be at full strength, and their lack of comfort with this season’s punishing Tango Romantica pattern might put them at a fatal disadvantage against teams who have been refining it all season. They are more than good enough to win, but it’s not clear whether they’re ready, which is Why I Drink.
Lydia Erdman & Yuri Vlasenko
The Basics: Erdman is 19 years old and represents the Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society; Vlasenko is 25 years old and represents the Arctic Figure Skating Club in the Detroit area, although he’s originally from Kharkov, Ukraine, and lived in Moscow until 2018. They teamed up in 2018, prior to which Erdman skated with Alexey Shchepetov, and Vlasenko skated for Russia with several partners, most notably Betina Popova and Vlada Solovieva. With Popova, he was 6th at Junior Worlds and 2nd at Russian Junior Nationals in 2015-16.
Season So Far: Erdman and Vlasenko will make their competitive debut at 2019 Nationals.
Outlook for Nationals: Who knows? Normally, I’d write off a new and unproven team competing in a field this deep, but Vlasenko was such a promising junior that I have to imagine this team and their coaches have something up their sleeve. Vlasenko is an expressive performer with excellent partnering skills, although he and his former partners used to lose valuable levels for imprecise execution. Erdman is a talented athlete with lovely lines and great presence who never seemed to land on a partner who could keep pace with her. It’s unusual for a team to turn up sight-unseen to Nationals like this, without even dropping by Sectionals to establish scores, which makes me skeptical that Erdman and Vlasenko are really ready to go. But this kind of wildcard entry is Why I Drink and why I don’t take pee breaks when the lesser-known teams are on the ice.
Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker
The Basics: Hawayek is 22 years old and originally from Buffalo, New York, although she now represents the Detroit Skating Club. Baker is 25 years old and was born in Burnley, England; he represents the Seattle Skating Club, in the city where he was raised. Hawayek and Baker have been skating together since 2012 and recently relocated to Montreal for training. They both previously competed with other partners: she with Michael Bramante, and he with Joylyn Yang. Hawayek and Baker are the 2014 junior National Champions, 2014 Junior World Champions, and 2018 Four Continents Champions. They were 4th at 2018 Nationals, tying their highest placement to date.
Season So Far: Hawayek and Baker had planned to begin their season at the Finlandia Trophy, but withdrew for health reasons. They showed up at their first Grand Prix event, the NHK Trophy, with all guns blazing, and won a surprise gold medal, the first of their senior Grand Prix career. They couldn’t repeat the magic at the Internationaux de France, settling for 4th place. Their efforts were enough to qualify them for their first Grand Prix Final, where they placed a noble 6th against several of the best teams in the world.
Outlook for Nationals: On paper, Hawayek and Baker are clearly next in line to become the top team in America. The high points of their past couple of seasons, including their victories at 2018 Four Continents and 2018 NHK Trophy, push the odds further in their favor. Their greatest strength is their lack of a pronounced weakness: they have beautiful on-ice chemistry, terrific momentum in their twizzles and lifts, and admirable precision in their steps. But they’ve settled into a familiar, limited artistic approach that doesn’t take full advantage of their quirky personalities and athletic versatility, and they have an unfortunate tendency to choke on their major elements at high-stakes competitions. Unless they fall apart completely, they’ll go home with a medal of some color, which makes them Front Runners – but very unlikely winners, which is a shame and a concern at this point in their career.
Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue
The Basics: Hubbell is 27 years old, and Donohue is 28. They both currently represent her hometown club, the Lansing Figure Skating Club in Michigan, although he’s originally from Connecticut and they now live and train in Montreal. They teamed up in 2011, prior to which both had successful competitive careers with other partners: she with her brother, Keiffer Hubbell, and he with several skaters, most notably Piper Gilles. Together, Hubbell and Donohue have stood on the National podium seven times, and they reached the top for the first time last year, becoming the 2018 National Champions. They were also 4th at the Olympics and 2nd at the World Championships in 2018.
Season So Far: Hubbell and Donohue entered this season with incredible momentum and have exceeded expectations, positioning themselves as the dominant ice dance team in the world. They have won all four of their competitions this season, beginning with an easy victory at the US International Classic, then battling past increasingly stiff competition at Skate America, Skate Canada, and the Grand Prix Final for a gold medal sweep of their Grand Prix season.
Outlook for Nationals: I’m not in the prediction business, but if there’s a sure thing at 2019 Nationals, it’s that Hubbell and Donohue will win their second title in a row. With the Shibutanis on indefinite hiatus, Chock and Bates still recovering from injuries, and the crop of younger teams trailing far behind them in components scores, Hubbell and Donohue will have to melt down massively to depart with anything less than a gold medal. Granted, meltdowns are not out of the question – that’s how they missed the podium at the 2018 Olympics. They’ve also powered through this season with a strategy that could backfire at any moment, sacrificing precision (and element levels) and letting grades of execution and components marks hold them up. But it’s unlikely that bubble will burst at Nationals, which makes Hubbell and Donohue the indisputable Front Runners.
Karina Manta & Joseph Johnson
The Basics: Manta is 22 years old and represents the Coyotes Skating Club of Arizona, and Johnson is 24 years old and represents the Broadmoor Skating Club in Colorado Springs, their current training location. Manta and Johnson have been skating together since 2013; he had a notable previous partnership with Tory Patsis. They were 9th at Nationals in 2018.
Season So Far: Manta and Johnson finished 3rd in both segments at Chicago Dance Pairs during the summer. They placed fifth at the US International Classic before heading to the first Grand Prix of their career, Skate America, where they came in 10th.
Outlook for Nationals: Manta and Johnson’s off-ice lives have both overshadowed and boosted their on-ice accomplishments this season. They’re longtime fan favorites for their charismatic performances, but they made history in 2018 when Manta came out as bisexual, making them the first high-level team in which both partners are openly LGBTQ. From a technical standpoint, they’re not as fast or as tidy as the top American teams, although they make up for those flaws somewhat with innovative lifts, a uniquely engaging performance quality, and an extremely entertaining free dance. They’ll be hard pressed to keep up with this season’s formidable Dark Horse tier, but they’re also a cut above the lesser-known teams in the field. That puts them in a category all their own, even if On the Bubble doesn’t feel like the aptest description for them.
Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter
The Basics: McNamara is 19 years old and represents the Peninsula Skating Club in San Jose, California; Carpenter is 22 years old and represents the Washington Figure Skating Club in suburban Washington, DC, where they live and train. They have been a team since 2006 and have never skated competitively with anyone but each other. McNamara and Carpenter are the 2016 junior National Champions and 2016 Junior World Champions, and placed 6th in 2018 in their senior National debut.
Season So Far: McNamara and Carpenter began their season with a stage-setting gold medal at the Lake Placid Ice Dance International. They won silver medals at both of their Challenger Series events, the Ondrej Nepela Trophy and the Inge Solar Memorial. They came in 4th at Skate America against a tough field, then won their first career senior Grand Prix medal, a bronze, at the Grand Prix of Helsinki.
Outlook for Nationals: In a season when they needed to establish themselves as the top American team of their age group, McNamara and Carpenter have made a compelling argument, but not a definitive one. Their lifelong partnership gives them an easy on-ice chemistry, and they’re both natural, versatile performers with a shared signature style. At their best, they seem to share a brain, which helps them synchronize their steps; they’re one of very few teams to earn perfect level 4’s for both pattern sequences in a rhythm dance this season. However, they’re prone to lapses in concentration that can send their twizzles and lifts off-kilter, and their unconventional style attracts inconsistent components marks. They’re in the conversation for a medal, but with so many Dark Horses this season, they’ll have to fight to stand out.
Bailey Melton & Ryan O’donnell
The Basics: Melton and O’Donnell are both 20 years old. She represents the Broadmoor Skating Club in Colorado Springs, where they train, and he the Skating Club of Houston. They’re a new team, competing together since 2018, and neither has had any previous notable partners.
Season So Far: Melton and O’Donnell competed as juniors throughout the summer at club competitions. They performed only their short program at the Chesapeake Open and placed 14th in juniors there. They were 9th in both segments at the Cannon Texas Open, and 10th in the rhythm dance and 9th in the free dance at the Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships. Melton and O’Donnell moved up to seniors at Midwestern Sectionals, presumably because they are too old to compete in juniors, and performed their programs as exhibitions because no other senior dance teams had entered.
Outlook for Nationals: It’s fun to see a team like Melton and O’Donnell make a run for Nationals. From their low placements at small regional events during the summer, it’s clear that medals aren’t their goal; rather, they’ve worked throughout the season for a day in the limelight. Their joy for the sport, as well as for skating as a team, outshines their often simple and sometimes awkward technical elements. Theirs is the kind of lovely Just Happy to Be Here story that makes Nationals special.
Rachel Parsons & Michael Parsons
The Basics: Rachel and Michael are siblings; she is 21, and he is 23. Both represent the Washington Figure Skating Club in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, where they live and train. Each skated with other partners – she with Kyle MacMillan and he with Kristina Rexford – before they teamed up in 2010. Together, they are the 2017 National junior champions and the 2017 World Junior Champions. In 2018, their first outing as seniors, they placed 5th at Nationals.
Season So Far: Parsons and Parsons began their season at the Lake Placid Ice Dance International, where they took silver despite an uncharacteristic fall. Their silver medals at three Challenger Series events, the Asian Open, Nebelhorn Trophy, and Lombardia Trophy, rewarded excellent performances. Parsons and Parsons also acquitted themselves well at both of their Grand Prix events: they finished 5th at the Internationaux de France and won bronze at the NHK Trophy.
Outlook for Nationals: Of the young teams striving to reach the podium this year, Parsons and Parsons are the most technically adept. They skate with explosive speed and can draw huge grade of execution bonuses for their athletic lifts. Their twizzles are among the best in the sport, not only because of their difficult positions and strong synchronization, but because their ice coverage is extraordinary. However, Parsons and Parsons have had trouble connecting artistically this season: the tango is a tough row to hoe for a sibling team, and their free dance feels derivative and static, rather than capitalizing on their natural rapport on the ice. They have some pronounced advantages over the other Dark Horses, but some potentially fatal flaws as well.
Elicia Reynolds & Stephen Reynolds
The Basics: Elicia and Stephen are siblings, and both represent the Ice Line Figure Skating Club in West Chester, Pennsylvania. She’s 28 years old, and he’s 25. They’ve been skating together since 2006 and have never had any other significant partners. Their highest career placement at Nationals was 10th in 2017.
Season So Far: Reynolds and Reynolds placed 6th at the Lake Placid Ice Dance International, their only competition of the season. Like several other perennial Nationals competitors, they were allowed to skip Sectionals and proceed directly to the big stage.
Outlook for Nationals: You’ve got to admire a team like the Reynolds siblings, who achieve enough to qualify for Nationals year after year, knowing their technical abilities place them at an impossible disadvantage compared to even the mid-range American teams. Their infectious joy for competing and their engaged, musical performances make them stand out, especially when watching them live, although their lifts sometimes make me bite my nails while she’s aloft. They’re as Just Happy to Be Here as ever, and I hope they continue for many years to come.
Nicole Takahashi & Oleg Altukhov
The Basics: Takahashi is 21 years old and represents the Skokie Valley Skating Club in the Chicago area; Altukhov is 35 years old and represents The North County Figure Skating Club near San Diego. They began skating together in 2018. This will be Takahashi’s first US Nationals, although she competed at Japanese Nationals a few years ago. Altukhov has competed at US Nationals six times before, five of them with Kseniya Ponomariyova, with whom he placed 11th in both 2016 and 2017.
Season So Far: Takahashi and Altukhov placed 7th at the Lake Placid Ice Dance International. They were 3rd in the short dance and 2nd in the free dance at the 2018 Challenge Cup. These results gave them enough experience to bypass Sectionals.
Outlook for Nationals: Altukhov is another familiar face to devoted followers of American figure skating, and it’s fun to see him return with a new partner. Takahashi and Altukhov don’t have the technical skills to contend here, but they’re a lot of fun, with programs that hearken back fondly to the days when ice dance was a lot more closely tied to competitive ballroom dancing. That doesn’t always translate to the current scoring system or expectations for athleticism – and that’s what makes them such a joy to watch. They’re Just Happy to Be Here, and delightfully different from anyone they’re up against.
Next on The Finer Sports: Will I have time to finish my men’s preview before their short program on Saturday? Stay tuned for this and other adventures!