2019 U.S. Figure Skating Championships just crowned a new champion – and it’s Alysa Liu!
The 13-year-old figure skater just won the gold medal, reigning over 2018 champ Bradie Tennell and Mariah Bell, who placed second and third.
Alysa‘s win makes her the youngest ladie’s winner ever. That title was previously held by Tara Lipinski when she won at 14 back in 1997.
Huge congrats to Alysa on her big win!
If you missed it, Alysa made history in her short skate the night before after performing a triple axel – only the third American woman to do so.
30+ pictures inside of Alysa Liu, Bradie Tennell, and Mariah Bell at the event… More Here! »
Remember how Mirai Nagasu landed that triple axel at the 2018 Olympic Games and the entire world cheered?
Well, another history making moment just happened at the 2019 U.S. Figure Skating Championships with 13-year-old figure skater Alysa Liu.
Alysa, who is currently in second place after the short program yesterday (January 24), landed a triple axel, too!
You might be saying, why is this important? Because she’s only the THIRD PERSON EVER to land it at Nationals in the ladies’ competition – and the YOUNGEST, too!
“I was actually really happy I did a triple axel in the short because it’s nationals, so I was really happy,” Alysa shared.
Her next goal? A quad!
Bradie Tennell and Mariah Bell, who are in first and third place at the moment, are also pictured below.
The winner of the ladies’ figure skating competition at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics is Russia’s Alina Zagitova!
The 15-year-old figure skater was crowned after the free skate, where she earned a grand total of 239.57 points (a combination of her free and short programs).
Russia’s Evgenia Medvedeva picked up the silver medal, and Canada’s Katelyn Osmond
with the bronze medal.
The stand out of the free skate though, has to be South Korea’s DaBin Choi! If you missed her performance, go and watch it. It was phenomenal.
PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of 2018 Winter Olympics
Team USA’s Mirai Nagasu, Karen Chen and Bradie Tennell finished in 9th, 10th and 11th places.
There’s a reason that Bradie Tennell has super long hair and it’s truly inspiring.
The 20-year-old Olympic figure skater revealed that she has long hair so she can cut and donate it!
“It’s down to my butt,” Bradie shares about her blonde locks, and didn’t get her first haircut until she was 13. “It was down to about my calves.”
Once Bradie cuts it, she donates it to an organization that makes wigs for people who lost their hair to illness: “Then I grow it back out and I donate it again.”
“The first time I cut it, I cut off 21 inches,” she remembers. “Then I waited about a year to cut it again and I cut off about 16 inches.”
Be sure to watch Bradie perform tonight in the ladie’s free skate at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics @ 8PM ET/PT on NBC.
READ MORE:
Mirai Nagasu Inspires Teammates Karen Chen & Bradie Tennell On The Ice at Olympics
Olympic Figure Skater Bradie Tennell Opens Up About Her ‘Supernatural’
Mirai Nagasu isn’t only inspiring the entire USA right now at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics — she’s also inspiring her teammates Karen Chen and Bradie Tennell.
Just before the short program competition, Mirai, Karen and Bradie all sat down for a press conference where the younger two opened up about how Mirai has inspired them on, and off the ice — especially with that triple axel.
“When she nailed the triple axel, I jumped up screaming,” Bradie remembered, speaking of the team event where Team USA earned the bronze medal. “It was just incredible.”
Karen added, “She will inspire so many younger skaters that the impossible is possible. I think that I see a future [where] all of us could potentially have a triple axel as long as we have the grit like Mirai.”
Mirai joked moments later, “I’m available for lessons.”
But the triple axel isn’t just what Karen and Bradie like about Mirai.
“Just kind of watching how [Mirai] interacts with people and the way she handles herself,” Bradie adds. “I must confess to trying to be a little bit like her.”
The ladies’ free skate will take place Thursday, February 22nd on NBC.
Bradie Tennell made her Olympic debut over the past weekend at the figure skating team event with a flawless program.
Now, before she makes her second debut this week, JJJ has a bunch of fun facts about the US National Champion.
“I can remember, you know, dreaming about it and being like, ‘Mom, I wonder what it would be like to march in the Opening Ceremonies with all those athletes and the cameras, and ‘oh, my goodness, how cool that would be,’” Bradie shared just after the US Championships about going to the Olympics.
She adds, “And now I get to go live it. It’s crazy.”
Here are 5 Fast Facts about Bradie:
- Bradie, 20, is a super fan of Supernatural and even got a shout out from the cast upon making the Olympic team.
- She’s not a morning person: “I love nothing more than to sleep in.”
- She’s a real life Cinderella: “For as long as I can remember, I have loved Cinderella. My music and outfits have been inspired by the story.”
- She has rituals: “When I step on any ice, I take my left guard off and step on the ice then take my right guard off.”
- She’s a big foodie like snowboarder Chloe Kim. Her faves are “pizza, ice cream and strawberry milkshakes”
Bradie Tennell is a huge fan of Supernatural and actually screamed after seeing the stars of the CW series give her a shoutout after making the Olympic team.
The 20-year-old figure skater (already a bronze medalist with the team event) is gearing up to compete in the Ladies’ Figure Skating events next week, but took some time out to talk about her obsession with the show.
She admits that she only started really watching in season 9: “I’ve been a fan of the show for much longer than that, but was too scared to watch it when I was younger.”
“I fell in love with Supernatural because of the characters,” she tells Changing Channels. “I just love how the brothers would do literally anything to keep the other safe, and how that is both a positive and a negative in the storyline.”
Bradie adds, “I also have two brothers myself, so I think Sam and Dean remind me of them a bit. Plus, they’re just so funny.”
She also opened up about getting that supporting tweet from the cast.
“I had just finished working out and went to check my phone and it was blowing up because so many of my friends were sending the picture to me,” Bradie recalls. “I thought it was so cool that they took time out of their day to post that for me. It literally made my week.”
