GREENSBORO, N.C. — If you wandered into the World Arena practice rink two years ago, you might have seen what the figure skating world will see today. Spinning around the ice in Colorado Springs were Ryan Bradley, Jeremy Abbott and Brandon Mroz, training partners and friends at various levels.
No one paid them much attention back then. It was just another day at the rink with a few other skaters, a bored parent or two and their coach, Tom Zakrajsek. But today they go for the national title ranked 1-2-3 after Friday’s short program.
Get set for a Rocky Mountain shootout on ice.
“It’s going to be like back in the day,” Mroz said. “Skating back-to-back-to-back.”
This has happened before. The trio were 1-2-3 after the short program in Cleveland two years ago. But after Abbott won that national title, he split with Zakrajsek and relocated to Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
It’s not quite the same.
“I do miss having the competitiveness on the ice daily,” said Abbott, the Aspen-raised skater seeking his third straight national title. “I still get it, but in a different manner. I miss them, but I’m happy to be where I am.”
Bradley and Mroz are a little closer than Abbott. It’s more than geography. Mroz and Bradley roomed together for a while in Colorado Springs and remain under the same coach.
“We feed off each other like any athletes,” Mroz said. “He tries a triple axel, and I try a triple axel and triple toe loop. We also support each other.”
Bradley, coming out of near retirement and seeking his first national title, leads with 80.39 points. Abbott has 78.39 and Mroz 71.61.
Other locals.
Tiffany Vise of Colorado Springs’ Broadmoor Skating Club and Don Baldwin were sixth in pairs, with Molly Aaron and Daniyel Cohen of Colorado Springs 11th and Lisa Moore and Justin Gaumond of Fort Collins 13th. . . . Colorado Springs dance teams Shannon Wingle and Timothy McKernan were seventh and Rachel Tibbetts and Collin Brubaker were eighth.
