Oct. 22--After a season of ups and downs -- sometimes in the same competition -- Jason Brown clawed toward the world elite in the last and biggest event of the year.
His fourth place at the World Figure Skating Championships, achieved despite a sixth in the long program and fifth in the free skate, was best by a U.S. man since Evan Lysacek won in 2009.
Moving up to the podium at the 2016 worlds in Boston would seem the next logical step, but it still could be a doozy for the 20-year-old Olympian from Highland Park.
"I definitely want to be one of them and beat some of them," Brown said of the men who finished ahead of him in March in Shanghai.
The challenge is formidable.
Brown, who won his first U.S. title last season, finished a distant 19.43 points from third at the 2015 worlds, where the field did not include three-time champion Patrick Chan of Canada. Chan is back after taking a year away from competition.
But Brown did beat 2015 world bronze medalist Denis Ten of Kazakhstan last year at Skate America, even if that took place so early in the season its value as a measuring stick was questionable.
The same thing could be said of their meeting Friday and Saturday in Milwaukee at Skate America, first of six events in the Grand Prix figure skating series.
And there may be more interest in sizing up senior Grand Prix debutant Shoma Uno of Japan, the reigning world junior champion, than either Brown or Ten. The 17-year-old landed two quadruple jumps in a striking performance Oct. 3 at the Japan Open, a free-skate-only team event, easily beating a rusty Chan and reigning world champion Javier Fernandez of Spain.
Brown comes to Milwaukee off an Oct. 3 victory in the Nepela Trophy, part of a competitive skating series a level below the Grand Prix. He beat an unimposing field despite vainly trying to land a quad for the second time in competition and struggling as he had last season with the most difficult jump he has mastered, the triple axel.
"This year is all about growth," Brown said. "I'm really focused on stepping up my game."
So he is determined to keep trying quads and has increased the difficulty of his entries to the triple axel, which factored into his botching all three triple axels at Nepela. Against strong competition, Brown remains at a distinct disadvantage until he lands a quad, making successful triple axels imperative.
--Past and present Russian phenoms and 2014 U.S. champion Gracie Gold headline the Skate America women's field.
Yulia Lipnitskaya, 17, the darling of the 2014 Olympics, is battling to recover from a competitively disastrous post-Olympic season, and she got off to an unremarkable start at the Finlandia Trophy two weeks ago. Evgenia Medvedeva, 15, reigning world junior champion, makes her senior Grand Prix debut after winning the Nepela event.
Gold, top U.S. woman at the last two worlds and the 2014 Olympics, made a hash of her season debut, finishing last at the Japan Open.
"I just kind of choked, really," she said. "I ended up tripping over my own feet."
phersh@tribpub.com
