Bradie Tennell


Bradie Tennell is an American competitive figure skater. She is a 2018 Olympic team event bronze medalist, the 2020 Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2018 CS Autumn Classic champion, the 2018 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb champion, and the 2018 U.S national champion.
As at 20 April 2020, Tennell is currently the second highest ranked ladies' singles skater in world by the International Skating Union.

Personal life

Tennell was born on January 31, 1998 in Winfield, Illinois. Her mother, Jean, is a registered nurse and a single mother. She has two younger brothers, Austin and Shane, both of whom are ice hockey players. Tennell takes classes at a local community college.

Career

Early career

Tennell began learning to skate as a two-year-old after begging her mother to let her try the sport. Denise Myers became her coach 2007. Around the same time, Tennell began training at Twin Rinks Ice Pavilion in Buffalo Grove, Illinois.
Tennell won the novice bronze medal at the 2013 U.S Championships. The next year, she moved up to the junior ranks and placed fourth on that level at the 2014 U.S Championships.

2014–2015 season

In September 2014, Tennell debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series, placing 8th in Nagoya, Japan. At the 2015 U.S Championships, she won the junior gold medal by over 16 points. In May 2015, she was diagnosed with a stress fracture in both wings of a lumbar vertebrae. She wore a back brace the entire summer.

2015–2016 season

Tennell began her season by placing 11th at her JGP event in Linz, Austria. She finished 6th on the senior level at the 2016 U.S. Championships in St. Paul, Minnesota, on January 23, 2016, and was assigned to the 2016 World Junior Championships in Debrecen. Ranked fourth in the short program and 14th in the free skate, she finished 11th overall in Hungary. In June 2016, a stress fracture was found in a different lumbar vertebra. She was again in a back brace and off the ice for three months while undergoing intense physical therapy before returning to the ice in early September 2016.

2016–2017 season

Making her senior international debut, Tennell won the bronze medal at the 2016 CS Tallinn Trophy in late November. In January, she finished 9th on the senior level at the 2017 U.S. Championships. In March, she placed 7th at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Taiwan.

2017–2018 season

In November 2017, Tennell won the bronze medal at her sole Grand Prix assignment, Skate America, after placing fourth in the short program and third in the free skate. Tennell finished the competition with a score of 204.10. At the 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Tennell placed first in the short program, and she won the competition with a combined score of 219.51. She was then one of three named to the U.S. women's Olympic figure skating team to represent the United States in Pyeongchang, along with 2017 national champion Karen Chen and Vancouver Olympian Mirai Nagasu.
Tennell made her Olympic debut in the women's short program of the team event where she earned her best score of the season with 68.94. She placed fifth in the event, 0.01 points behind fourth place. The United States team, including Tennell, won bronze in the team event. In the individual event, she fell in both of her programs and finished in 9th place. She then placed 6th overall at the 2018 World Championships.

2018–2019 season

Tennell added a triple Lutz-triple loop combination to her short program and free skate. She started off the 2018-2019 season by competing in the 2018 CS Autumn Classic International, where she placed first, notably defeating Evgenia Medvedeva. At 2018 Skate America, she singled the triple loop in her planned short program combination and received an unclear edge call to place fifth in the short program. She placed fourth in the free program, and placed fourth overall. She placed fourth in the short program, second in the free skating, and overall placed third at the 2018 Internationaux de France, winning her second Grand Prix medal. She won the gold medal at 2018 CS Golden Spin in early December after setting a new season's best in the short program.
At the 2019 U.S. Championships, Tennell entered as the defending champion, and removed the triple loop from her short program due to earlier inconsistent results. She placed first in the short program after skating cleanly, slightly less than three points ahead of Alysa Liu. In the free skate, she made errors on both of her triple Lutz combination attempts, placing fourth, and second overall, behind Liu. She was assigned to the Four Continents and World Championships.
Competing at Four Continents, she placed first in the short program, 0.55 points ahead of Kaori Sakamoto, and winning a gold small medal. She placed fifth in the free skate and overall after having several jumps called as underrotated and missing her opening Lutz-loop combination, which she expressed frustration with, as "the only place I've been missing it is in competition."
At the World Championships in Saitama, Tennell underrotated the second part of her jump combination in the short program, placing tenth. She rose to seventh place in the free skate. Tennell concluded the season as part of the gold medal-winning Team USA at the 2019 World Team Trophy, also in Japan.

2019–2020 season

In the summer, Tennell trained at a camp in Courchevel, France, run by Russian coach Alexei Mishin. She aimed to master the triple Axel, reportedly with some success, but this was temporarily put aside after developing a stress fracture in her foot. Tennell planned to start her season at the 2019 Autumn Classic International, but she withdrew as a result of her foot injury. In early October, Tennell participated in the 2019 Japan Open competition as a part of North America Team, where she placed fifth with a score of 124.91. As a result, the North America team took the bronze.
Tennell's first major competition of the season was 2019 Skate America, where she won the short program with a new personal best score of 75.10. In the free skate Tennell had a mistake on her second triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination, placing second in the free skate. She placed second overall behind Anna Shcherbakova and took the silver medal with a score of 216.14. Later, it was discovered that her second triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination was incorrectly marked as a triple-double. However, because the error was caught after the event had concluded, the scores could not be corrected. Tennell competed at the 2019 Skate Canada International a week later, placing fourth. With her high scores and placements at both events, Tennell earned the sixth spot at the Grand Prix Final in Torino where she skated clean in the short program placing fourth, and completed a clean free program. The total score placed her fifth overall ahead of Alina Zagitova.
Competing at the 2020 U.S. Championships, Tennell placed first in the short program, ahead of Alysa Liu and Mariah Bell. Falling on a triple loop attempt and underrotating a triple flip, she dropped to third place after the free skate. With gold medalist Liu again ineligible for senior international competition, Tennell was assigned to the American team for the Four Continents and World Championships.
Tennell placed second in the short program at the 2020 Four Continents Championships, behind defending champion Rika Kihira and just ahead of You Young, who had stepped out on the landing of her attempted triple Axel. In the free skate, Tennell had a turnout between the jumps in her opening combination attempt, but skated cleanly otherwise, winning the bronze medal behind Kihira and You. This was Tennell's first ISU championship medal, and the first for a senior American lady since Mirai Nagasu's bronze medal three years earlier.

Programs

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

2013–2014 to present

2009–2010 to 2012–2013

Detailed results

Senior level

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships.

Junior level