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<\/a>After three years skating in the junior ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Illinois-based skater Elsa Cheng has qualified for her first senior Nationals, which will take place Jan. 23-29, 2023 in San Jose, California.<\/p>\nTo qualify, Cheng earned personal best scores in both the short and long program en route to the gold medal at the 2023 Midwestern Sectional Singles Final in Lansing, Mich. in November. Her total score of 181.17 was the highest score in the senior women’s discipline for whole qualifying series (Midwestern Sectionals, Pacific Coast Sectionals and Eastern Sectionals).<\/p>\n
\u201cMy consistent training leading up to Mids, as well as the motivating atmosphere itself at the competition with all the other great skaters, helped me succeed,\u201d Cheng told Figure Skaters Online<\/i>. \u201cI\u2019m most proud of being able to deliver strong programs just like I had practiced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cheng went into the competition with a clear objective: \u201cMy goal for Mids was to skate a solid program and give it my all and ultimately qualify for senior Nationals.\u201d<\/p>\n
2023 will mark Cheng\u2019s senior debut, but she has previously competed at Nationals four times. She finished 7th<\/sup><\/span>, 5th<\/sup><\/span>, and 8th<\/sup><\/span>, respectively in her three years as a junior, from 2020-2022. In 2019, she finished 9th<\/sup><\/span> at the intermediate level.<\/p>\n \u201cI love the atmosphere of Nationals and being on the same ice as those who are the best in the nation,\u201d Cheng said. \u201cIt is so thrilling and motivating.\u201d<\/p>\n This season, Cheng is skating to Libertango for the short program and the soundtrack from The Queen\u2019s Gambit<\/i> for her long program. She is excited to have the opportunity to compete against the skaters she has watched on TV, when she takes the ice alongside them in the senior ranks in San Jose. Her goal for Nationals is to skate two strong programs and improve on her performances from earlier in the season.<\/p>\n Cheng trains with Jeremy Allen and Denise Myers at Twin Rinks in Buffalo Grove, IL, a suburb of Chicago, and represents the Skokie Valley Skating Club. Allen and Myers previously worked with 2018 Olympic Team Bronze Medalist and two-time U.S. Champion Bradie Tennell.<\/p>\n \u201cI have worked with Jeremy, my main coach, and Denise for around five to six years now,\u201d Cheng said. \u201cJeremy is my main coach and mainly works on jump technique with me as a technician. Denise is my secondary coach and works on everything as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n One of Cheng\u2019s best qualities is how much distance her jumps cover across the ice, which she attributes to off-ice training that helps her gain power for jumping. Down the road, she hopes to include a quadruple toe loop in her jump repertoire, but these days, her favorite jumps are the triple toe and triple lutz.<\/p>\n \u201cMy favorite part about jumping is feeling free,\u201d Cheng said. \u201cMy coaches developed a strong foundation for my jump technique from a young age, so as I got older, it really benefited my jumps.\u201d<\/p>\n Cheng has competed internationally on the junior circuit, at the Bavarian Open and Golden Spin of Zagreb. \u201cI love traveling, so being able to compete internationally was really exciting, and I loved the thought of being in a country I’ve never been to before, competing with skaters from all over the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n