Team USA - Blossom on Ice

April 7, 2020March 23, 2022

Oona Brown/Gage Brown: “Our mom is a big inspiration for us.”

Oona Brown and Gage Brown are an American sibling ice dancing team that began competing in 2016. Together, they are the 2020 US Junior National bronze medalists.

In an interview with the “Blossom on Ice,” Oona and Gage commented on their performance in Tallinn, their programs, the pros and cons of skating with your sibling, races across New York, switching from pair skating to the ice dance, and more.

How do you feel about your performance in Tallinn?

Gage:

We feel very good. It was our first World Junior Championships, so it was definitely exciting to get through it and to skate our best. We really put on a good show.

Oona:

I think all the elements were strong, and we did all we could. So, yes, it felt very good.

March 25, 2020June 15, 2020

Starr Andrews: “I want to be different than everyone else.”

At the 2020 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, which took place in Tallinn at the beginning of March, the 2019 International Challenge Cup silver medalist and 2017 U.S. national junior silver medalist, an American figure skater, Starr Andrews, placed eighth with 180.87 points.

In an interview with the “Blossom on Ice”, Starr commented on her performance in Tallinn and told why she wants to be different than everyone else, who brought her to the ice rink when she was a kid and how the video on YouTube that she posted for relatives has gotten 55 million views.

How do you feel about your performance at Junior Worlds in Tallinn?

I feel really good. I definitely tried to put all my energy out in both of my programs, and I’m really proud of myself.

The music for my short program is a song by Christina Aguilera, and it is definitely one of my favorite programs. It has a lot of emotion. Even listening to it, you could tell the emotion in her voice. So, it’s really good to skate to.

My long program is Salome, “Dance of the Seven Veils”. It’s definitely different from any programs I’ve done before, and I really like it, too. I’ve been working really hard on it, and I was excited to show it in Tallinn.

November 21, 2019June 15, 2020

Alexa Scimeca Knierim/Chris Knierim: “We just want to do better each time”

The 2019 NHK Trophy will be the sixth event of the 2019–20 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. It will be held at Makomanai Ice Arena in Sapporo, Japan between November 22nd and 24th.

The 2018 Olympic bronze medalists in the figure skating team event, the 2016 Four Continents silver medalists, the 2014 Four Continents bronze medalists, three-time Grand Prix medalists, and two-time U.S. national champions (2015, 2018) Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim are among the competing skaters.

They talk about the inspiration behind their free program, whether they plan on performing a quad twist at competition this season, how it feels to work with your spouse, and whether their pets get along at home.

Your free program is so beautiful. Would you please tell us about it? Who chose the music?

Alexa:

Well, actually we got inspired for the music when Mariah Bell used it. We were in a practice session in California with her, sharing the ice. At the same time I looked at Jenny, and I was like “something like this?”, and she was like “I was thinking the same thing”. Then Jenny and I brought it up to Chris and Todd, and we all felt like it was just what we needed for our next program.