Novi trainees win national junior title
Days prior to the 2021 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Jeffrey Chen didn’t think he would even be on the ice.
Yet, when things wrapped up on Jan. 21, Chen and partner Katarina Wolfkostin found themselves as the Junior Ice Dance gold medalists.
“I wasn’t really too concerned about our placement, I was just really happy to be there and skate and show off what we’ve worked so hard for this year,” Chen said of winning gold.
Chen, 18, and Wolfkostin, 16, had to originally withdraw from the competition when Chen was informed that he had an ACL tear.
Chen opted for a second opinion and was cleared to skate after having nursed the injury for a week. With just a few days to prepare, he and Wolfkostin managed
to make the most of an opportunity.
“With my injury, I wasn’t really expecting to compete at all. I was just very happy to be there and compete,” Chen said. “I didn’t have time to get nervous. Everything really moved so quickly.”
The duo trains out of Novi and were the silver medalists in the 2020 U.S. Junior Championships.
Their combined score of 159.85 in this year’s championships bested the field by over four points.
“It was an amazing experience and it’s something we have been working toward the entire season,” Wolfkostin said. “It was great to see all of our effort pay off in the end. It was very thrilling.”
When the pair concluded their free dance portion, Chen was elated to put on the performance he did on such short notice.
“Given everything that had
led to that point, we were both happy with our performances. I felt really relieved after our free dance,” he said.
Chen and
Wolfkostin
have been competing together since 2019 and train together on the ice around four hours each day during skating season.
The two were immediately able to find success together as a pair. They earned a bronze medal in the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games as well as
the silver medal in the 2020 U.S. Junior Championships.
“With any partnership, there’s time when you need to cater to your partner’s skating skills and style in order to really gel,” Wolfkostin said. “We both had competed against each other and had a lot of competitive experiences coming
into the partnership, so that really helped us bond. The first time we skated, it just felt like we had something good together. Everything really worked out well.”
While international competition has been put aside for nearly a year due to COVID-19, Chen and Wolfkostin are hoping they will
soon be able to take their success overseas.
“We are really hoping to prove our proficiency of ice dancing on an international level, not just nationally,” Chen said.
“We are also hoping to possibly move up to senior or national competitions. We would like to test the waters.”
Wolfkostin isn’t ruling out reaching the pinnacle of skating.
“In the future, it would be amazing to be able to go to the Olympics and world competitions,” she said. “That has always been the ultimate goal. This just makes us one step closer.”