By Scott Mammoser, Team FSO
Photos by Robin Ritoss
Canada's Keegan Messing and Team USA's Jason Brown are beloved fan favorites, captivating audiences with their charisma, passion, and unforgettable performances on the ice. Fans looking for the next Messing or Brown might want to get ready for Kirk Haugeto.
The 17-year-old Hopewell, New Jersey native has boasted the nickname ‘Happy Kirk’ for four years now and has developed a reputation for cheering on other skaters from the audience.
“I always show up to the rink happy, and my goal is to make other people happy,” said Kirk. “At Nationals in 2022, Mia Corsini (the Chief Operating Officer of U.S. Figure Skating) and a couple other people convinced me to change my Instagram from ‘Under Armour is the best’ to ‘Happy Kirk,’ and the name just stuck because it fit me. This sport is a sport, and there is no point in hating other people just because they are your competitors. You should be supportive of all people. They are trying to get to the same spot, so there is no point in not supporting them too.”
Now, he’ll take that spirit to the Junior Grand Prix in Ankara, Turkey, which will take place Sept. 17-19.
A deal on ice
Kirk was seven-years-old when he first started skating. Some of his earliest memories are skating with his grandfather as a youngster. He said his grandfather always wanted to be a skater, but finances prevented it.
“It was fun skating with family,” he noted. “When I was first starting out, my coach bribed me with money, and I got new challenges. It made me so happy because I learned new skills."
Skating became serious for Kirk when he was around 10-years-old. He started working with coaches Anton Nimenko and Nina Petrenko in Hackensack, New Jersey.
“It was really amazing training with them,” he added.
Making JGP debut
His first competition was as a juvenile skater in 2019. He skated as a juvenile and intermediate skater in competitions during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. During the 2022 U.S. Championship Series, he finished second at both the Leesburg and Norwood intermediate events, which enabled him to participate in the National Development Camp. A few months later, he competed in his first international competition, Egna Spring Trophy in Egna, Italy, where he won the silver as an advanced novice. That summer, after winning the Philadelphia Summer Championships (a National Qualifying Series, NQS, event) as a junior skater, U.S. Figure Skating sent him to his first Junior Grand Prix in Riga, Latvia. He placed 17th at the event.
“I just came out of novice,” he said, “and the experience was for fun, rather than clean skating. Now I am working on clean jumps and triple Axels. When I was 13, my jumps were still not consistent, but it still was an amazing experience.”
Later that fall, Kirk finished third at the 2023 Eastern Sectional Finals to qualify for his first U.S. Championships. At the National Championships in San Jose, he finished seventh out of 20 skaters.
In second season as a junior skater, Kirk competed at the U.S. Junior Cup, the Cranberry Cup International, and three NQS events. He won the bronze medal at the Eastern Sectional Singles Final to qualify for his second U.S. Championships. Once again, at the National Championships, Kirk finished in seventh place.
The 2024-2025 season included many of the same events as the previous season, except this time, Kirk got to travel out of the country to participate in Tayside Trophy, where he won the bronze medal, his first international medal as a junior skater. At the 2025 U.S. Championships in Wichita, Kansas, Kirk finished fourth to earn the pewter medal.
Moving out west
Last season included a big change for Kirk. He moved out west to Irvine, California to train at Great Park Ice Arena with renowned coach Rafael Arutyunyan, who is responsible for some of the world's most elite competitors. Arutyunyan was the coach of 2022 Olympic Champion Nathan Chen.
“He’s a very inspirational coach and impacts my skating a lot,” Kirk said of Arutyunyan. “He tries to improve my jumps, and I get to skate with other skaters who have high levels of jumps, such as Sofia Samodelkina, Ilia Malinin and Andrew Torgashev. I get to see how they train, how they do their jumps and how they land. You get to see what you do differently to compete with them.”
Kirk made the move with his mother, Wendy, and his pet Pomeranian dog. His three frogs and some isopods remain in the Garden State with his dad, along with his husky, Chihuahua, snake, fish, plus flocks of chickens, geese, and quail. With this vast range of pets, it's not a surprise that Kirk, who is finishing his last year of high school online, plans to be a veterinarian after skating.
Not long after moving to California, Kirk broke his wrist and had to get stitches in his chin following a non-skating related injury. He was not able to participate in the U.S. Junior Cup, which is used to determine singles spots for the Junior Grand Prix. However, he was able to compete at Cranberry Cup International and three NQS events later that summer and fall. He finished third at the Pacific Coast Sectionals and seventh at the U.S. Championships. In March, he finished fourth at the Denver International Cup.
Returning to the JGP
Kirk kicked off his 2026-27 season by finishing third at the U.S. Junior Cup in Milwaukee, rising from 13th after the short program.
“The short program was not the best,” he admitted, “but the free skate was pretty good. I love that competition, I think it was my fifth time going, and it was very enjoyable. They use that competition to decide who is going to Junior Grand Prixs. It made me happy to see that my work is coming together and it makes me want to work harder to take my skating further.”
In August, Kirk headed to Jakarta, Indonesia to compete in Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy, where he finished sixth.
Heading into his second Junior Grand, his first in four years, Kirk says he will be more prepared and mentioned that he is trying to turn out his toes more and increase his speed. While Arutyunyan is not going to Turkey, former Czech skater Michal Brezina will accompany Kirk as a coach.
This season, Nadia Kanaeva choreographed his short program of ‘Raindrop Prelude.’
“I like how it shows the ups and downs and life will never take you on a certain path,” he said of the short program. “Through all of that, just be happy."
Kirk's free skate is to music from Cirque du Soleil. The program was choreographed by Mari Malama, who coaches in Seattle.
"It (The program) is about Earth and showing the connection with Earth and if somebody falls from the sky and wants to find their wings,” Kirk explained of his free skate.
Pushing through the daily grind
Following the Junior Grand Prix, Kirk is looking forward to competing at Sectionals at San Jose, Calif., and hopefully Nationals in Salt Lake City in January.
“My goals are to do consistent triple Axels and get high scores,” he continued. “Other than that, skating is a sport where if you set goals, eventually they will happen if you just keep working.”
