{"id":11824,"date":"2018-08-28T15:36:33","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T19:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/?p=11824"},"modified":"2018-09-27T08:33:24","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T12:33:24","slug":"at-age-28-alex-johnson-is-set-to-make-his-grand-prix-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/2018\/08\/28\/at-age-28-alex-johnson-is-set-to-make-his-grand-prix-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"At age 28, Alex Johnson is set to make his Grand Prix debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Gina Capellazzi, Figure Skaters Online
\nPhotos courtesy of Alex Johnson<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alex Johnson has been competing at the senior national level since the 2009-2010 season. His highest placement was sixth in both 2016 and 2017 and he finished eighth in 2018. Now at the age of 28, Johnson will make his senior ISU Grand Prix debut this November, having been invited to NHK Trophy in Hiroshima, Japan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He recently talked to Figure Skaters Online<\/em>\u00a0— before and after Champs Camp (August 18-23, 2018 in Colorado Springs, Colorado) — about how he found out about his first Grand Prix assignment, his new programs, and his goals for the 2018-2019 season.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Figure Skaters Online (FSO):<\/strong> You won your second international medal at 2017 Nebelhorn Trophy. Can you tell us what that was like and what did that mean to you?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alex Johnson (AJ):<\/strong>\u00a0 Getting back on an international podium was incredible. Nebelhorn was during the summer internship recruiting season, so I had a lot going on. Not only was I trying to skate the best that I possibly could, but I was trying to stay caught up with my studies and secure an internship for the summer. Ending up 2nd<\/sup><\/span> and having one of the best short programs of my life was something I\u2019m very proud of. Yes, the end result was great, but what I was most proud of was my ability to juggle everything going on in my life and still perform at a high level.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FSO:<\/strong> Where were you when you got the news that you received your first Grand Prix assignment? What was your initial reaction to the news? Has it sunk in yet that you\u2019ll be competing in Japan in the fall?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Alex (center) with Starr Andrews, Gracie Gold, Angela Wang, Mariah Bell, Nathan Chen and Karen Chen at Champs Camp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

AJ:<\/strong> I was actually sitting at my desk at work and Angela Wang texted me. I was busy working on a project and wasn\u2019t going to check my phone (sorry Angela if you\u2019re reading this), but when it kept buzzing, I was curious as to what was going on. Angela\u2019s text said \u201cALEX!!! NHK!!!!\u201d followed by another one that said \u201cYou got NHK, we\u2019re going together.\u201d I couldn\u2019t believe it! It was a very exciting moment however, and I definitely had trouble focusing the rest of the day. I cannot wait for this opportunity!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FSO:<\/strong>What are you most looking forward to about competing in Japan? Will this be your first time in Japan?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AJ:<\/strong> This will be my second time in Japan. I went a few years ago to train with Mie Hamada and her camp in Osaka. I\u2019ve worked with her off and on over the years as she had come to Colorado with her skaters many times. She had always told me how great it would be if I could come do NHK and now it\u2019s finally coming true. I\u2019m looking forward to skating in front of Japanese fans, it seems to me that they are the best in the world!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FSO:<\/strong> What is your short program and who choreographed it? What is it like and how did you decide on that program?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AJ:<\/strong> My short program is to \u201cSong of the Stars\u201d by Dead Can Dance. I actually choreographed it myself. Initially I didn\u2019t want to, because I love working with other choreographers, but Page [Lipe, my coach] thought it would be a great challenge for me. It has a modern yet tribal feel to it. I\u2019m excited to see what people think of it at Champs Camp.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FSO:<\/strong> What is your free skate and who choreographed it?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AJ:<\/strong> My free skate is to \u201cThe Golden Age\u201d, \u201cIron\u201d, and \u201cRun Boy Run\u201d by Woodkid. It was choreographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne who I absolutely adore. This program means a lot to me. Page actually came across both my short program and free program music this year. Usually it takes me a very long time to find pieces to skate to, but this year it was a very quick process. We had ideas of the genre of music \/ vibe we wanted to create and the music sort of fell right into our hands.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Alex with his coaches, Page Lipe and Caryn Kadavy, at Champs Camp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

FSO:<\/strong> What was it like to attend your first Champs Camp? What have you enjoyed most? What surprised you about the experience? Did you get some good feedback on your programs?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AJ:<\/strong> I had a great time at Champs Camp. It was inspiring to be around such incredible athletes and was a wonderful jump start to the season. My favorite parts of camp were the off-ice dance classes and the media aspect. I did receive feedback on my programs, and will be making a few changes – but nothing major. I also have to say that camp was a lot more exhausting than I expected. Not only were we training and performing, but we had off-ice classes and various appointments throughout the entire camp.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FSO:<\/strong> What are your goals for training this summer, on the technical side (jumps, new spins, etc.) as well as program component aspects?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AJ:<\/strong> I want to enjoy the process \u2013 it\u2019s as simple as that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FSO:<\/strong> What are some of your goals for this season?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AJ:<\/strong> Once again, I want to soak in all of these experiences and enjoy the process. I would love to be on the U.S. Championships podium this year and feel that by performing to the best of my ability, I have the potential to be there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FSO:<\/strong> Any club competitions planned?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AJ:<\/strong> I will be competing at Mid Atlantics in NYC [September 7-8, 2018].<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FSO:<\/strong> Tell us about your summer internship. Where is it? What are you doing there? What has it been like so far?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AJ:<\/strong> I interned at Lazard Middle Market as an Investment Banking Summer Analyst. I worked as a generalist in the Industrials and Business Services group. I was working on sell-side M&A deals. It was an incredible experience and I learned a lot.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FSO:<\/strong> How is school going? Taking summer courses? How many classes do you have left? What is your major?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AJ:<\/strong> I will be graduating in December of 2018 and have only 6 credits left. I will technically only be going part-time in the fall to finish up my classes, so it will be a great way to wind down my undergrad. experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FSO:<\/strong>You moved back to Minnesota two years ago. What is it like to be home and training in Minnesota?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AJ:<\/strong> I love Minnesota. While it seems a lot smaller of a city as an adult, it will always have a special place in my heart. I didn\u2019t have much time this summer to go out on the lake or do anything other than work\/skate, so I\u2019m definitely going to try to soak up as much sun as possible in the last few weekends of summer.<\/p>\n

Being home is great. My sister had a baby back in November and it\u2019s been nice to be around for that. While I still don\u2019t see him much, I definitely have been able to participate in more family events than I did when I lived in CO. Training in MN is also quite a different experience. It\u2019s much less intense than Colorado, which has been an interesting adjustment. Some days I absolutely love it, and other days it\u2019s a bit more difficult because there aren\u2019t the same amount of elite skaters around motivating you to get your work done. That being said, you have to adjust to your environment and make do with what you have. While some of the kids I skate with may be working on swizzles and single Axels, it\u2019s still fun to have jump competitions with them. Don\u2019t get me wrong, there are also some very talented skaters at my rink, it\u2019s just much different than what I was used to in Colorado Springs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FSO:<\/strong>Any fun summer plans other than your internship and skating?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AJ:<\/strong> Now that my internship is over, it\u2019s time to tend to all the things I neglected this summer. I\u2019ll be heading to Toronto to work with Shae over Labor Day weekend, classes start September 4th<\/sup><\/span> (which I\u2019ll be gone for), I then head to NYC to compete at Middle Atlantics, I move into a new apartment on September 10th and then fly to Boston for\u00a0Evening With Champions<\/em> 4 days later. It\u2019s going to be a jam-packed month, but I\u2019m really looking forward to it.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex Johnson has been competing at the senior national level since the 2009-2010 season. His highest placement was sixth in both 2016 and 2017 and he finished eighth in 2018. Now at the age of 28, Johnson will make his senior ISU Grand Prix debut this November, having been invited to NHK Trophy in Hiroshima, Japan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[290],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11824"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11885,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11824\/revisions\/11885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}