Bradie Tennell performs in the women's free skate at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships on Feb. 8, 2020 in Seoul, South Korea.
In the last big event before the 2020 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, Bradie Tennell won her first major individual international championships medal.
The 2018 U.S. champion and Olympian took the bronze at the Four Continents Championships on Saturday in Seoul, South Korea. Her finish adds to an already impressive haul for the U.S., with Madison Chock and Evan Bates winning gold and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue earning the bronze in ice dance on Friday.
Tennell was fifth at her Four Continents debut last year. She was in second place after the short program on Thursday after scoring a personal best 75.93 and was the closest competitor to Japan’s Rika Kihira, but nonetheless trailed her by five points.
Skating to “Cinema Paradiso” by Ennio Morricone in the free skate, Tennell opened with her first triple Lutz-triple toe combination. She’d add another midway through the program, as well as a triple flip-double-toe-double loop combination, and had no deductions. Her free skate score was 147.04 for a total of 222.97, but just edging her out of the silver-medal position was Young You of Korea, who jumped up a spot with her free skate score of 149.68 for a total of 223.23. Kihira repeated as champion with a total score of 232.34.
2018 Olympian Karen Chen finished in seventh place and Amber Glenn in ninth.
The competition concludes Sunday with the men's free skate. Jason Brown is the leading American and is in third place after the short program.
Tennell, who won team bronze at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, will be representing the U.S. along with Mariah Bell at the world championships beginning March 16 in Montreal, Quebec. This will be Tennell’s third consecutive trip to the world championships after finishing sixth in 2018 and seventh in 2019.
In pairs, Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson were the highest-placing U.S. duo, finishing fourth in their Four Continents debut. They were followed immediately by Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea in fifth. Alexa Knierim and Chris Knierim were in fifth place after the short program but withdrew before the free skate due to a family illness.
Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
