By Scott Mammoser, Team FSO contributing writer
File photos from Figure Skaters Online
Team FSO staff writer Scott Mammoser caught up with Alissa Czisny, the 2009 and 2011 U.S. Champion. This is Scott’s fourth article in his 2025 off-season series catching up with former World and Olympic competitors.
Alissa Czisny might best be remembered for winning two U.S. titles in 2009 and 2011, but choreographing Stars On Ice, conducting seminars and performing in Ice Dance International are keeping her busy these days.
“I don’t miss it,” the 38-year-old Czisny joked in a phone interview about skating competitively. “I really like skating professionally in shows. When you are skating competitively, you are in the best shape of your life, and your whole world revolves around the rink. You are able to skate with all of your friends and have fewer cares in the world. But it’s also a lot of pressure, and I am really happy skating professionally in shows and finding out what else skating has besides competition.”
The spotlight shined on Czisny when Cleveland hosted Nationals in 2009. It was just a two-hour drive from her hometown of Bowling Green, Ohio, and the rinks where she began skating at the infantile age of one and a half years old. Czisny’s family moved from Wisconsin, and seeking a winter sport substitute for cross-country skiing, her mother took up skating. Objecting to a babysitter, Alissa and her twin sister Amber found themselves on the ice with their mother.
Fast forward two decades, and competing in her eighth senior Nationals, the 21-year-old Czisny finally found the top of the podium. In doing so, she defeated a slew of up-and-coming teenagers, such as Ashley Wagner, Mirai Nagasu, Caroline Zhang, and Rachael Flatt, representing the future generation.
“I think it’s every skater’s dream to win the national championship,” said Czisny, who has a degree from Bowling Green State University. “The first time I won Nationals, I was very excited because in a way I thought it was never going to happen. That was a pretty special event because so many people came.”
Czisny’s 2011 Nationals win came on the heels of winning the Grand Prix Final in December 2010 at Beijing. In the Chinese capital, she won the short program, and despite Japan’s Miki Ando climbing from fifth to first in the long, Czisny held on to beat not only the two-time world champion, but future Olympic bronze medalist Carolina Kostner. No U.S. woman would win the Grand Prix Final again until Amber Glenn this past season.
“The second time (I won Nationals) was really rewarding because I went through a lot to get back to that spot. I feel like I had really put my heart and soul into accomplishing that goal again.”
“It had come after a rough season when I failed to make the Olympics and was 10th at Nationals after winning the year before,” Czisny said of winning the Grand Prix Final. “I changed coaches. I changed mindsets. I changed how I trained and was able to come back to skating on my own terms. I felt validated, and was really proud of the bravery to come back from what I thought was a really big failure. I changed a lot of my technique for jumping, and I changed the nature of how I trained with the programs and the mental aspect. For the first time in my life, I really understood how to compete better.”
Czisny also competed in the World Championships four times, with her best finish coming in 2011, where she was fifth. She noted that event was “the most interesting” because it was postponed one month in wake of the Tohoku earthquake and Fukushima nuclear disaster that ravaged Japan. Worlds was thus relocated from Tokyo to Moscow.
“It really made me grateful for the opportunities we have that we take for granted,” she mentioned about the 2011 Worlds. “With everything going on in the world, to be able to compete in a sport for fun (was unbelievable).”
In 2022, Czisny married Kurt Browning, who won four world championships between 1989 and 1993 and appeared in three Olympics for Canada.
“My life is pretty crazy,” Czisny said. “I am living in Toronto. I am pretty busy traveling. My husband and I do a lot of seminars. We have traveled across the U.S. and Canada for seminars, as well as a couple in Europe, and last summer, we worked with Team Japan, as well.
“I went to Japan five times in the last three years.”
In October, Czisny said she will perform at the Dick Button Artistic Skating Festival in suburban Philadelphia. In the winter, she and Browning will create the opening ceremonies for the Ontario Senior Winter Games. They then team up as director and choreographer for their third season of Stars On Ice in the spring. U.S. and Canadian Olympic teams are expected to go on tour, beginning in Japan, with 12 to 14 sites in Canada and 20 to 40 in the U.S.
Czisny also mentors adult skaters. “I admire adult skaters,” she added, “because they are the ones choosing to be at the rink and making decisions about their skating career. You can start at 25, or I taught some who are above 70. One of the biggest pieces of advice I give skaters is to make sure they are strong off the ice to be able to do the things they want to do on the ice and to stay safer.”
The couple is also rebuilding a house on the Niagara Peninsula in southern Ontario. The 1976 model was plagued with asbestos and other difficulties, and Czisny noted that she and Browning are “very hands on”, and he even built a saw mill.
In addition to her national titles and Grand Prix Final win, Czisny’s resume also boasts two Skate Canada gold medals, the 2011 Skate America championship, two Nebelhorn Trophy wins, and five other medals on the Grand Prix circuit. She was twice the U.S. collegiate champion and twice the professional U.S. Open winner.
—–
To read Scott’s other interviews in his catching up with former World and Olympic competitors series:
Catching up with former pairs champions Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner
