\u201cTo be honest, I hate to admit it, but I actually felt really good [going into NHK],\u201d Farris confessed, \u201cLooking back at it now, I changed my training regimen after I got back and it was a night and day difference. I thought I was ready\u2026 I thought I had the ability to podium. I think focusing on the results and the outcome and focusing on how other people were skating, I was focusing on everything external instead of focusing on what I needed to do at that moment, and I think it\u2019s that pressure and the distraction just got to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
An eleventh place finish, last in the event, brought up questions and doubts about his training and his mental fortitude, all of which served as continued motivation to take control of his skating and work for the results he knew he was capable of.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, right after I skated, I was in tears. I feel like that\u2019s an appropriate reaction,\u201d Farris said with a wry laugh, \u201cI was devastated. I was humiliated, actually, but the more I thought about it and the more I processed my performance, I realized that that was a complete fluke and I knew that everyone else knew that too. I had never performed like that in my entire life and I\u2019ll do everything in my power now to not have that happen again. I am very stubborn. I don\u2019t like to accept help very much, but I had to step aside and accept the fact that my way wasn’t the right way and I think once I did that I started becoming happier on the ice and off the ice, I started to train more efficiently, I became more organized, everything started to magically change. Unfortunately, I think NHK had to happen for me to realize this, so it really was a blessing in disguise.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the wake of the disappointment of NHK, Farris threw himself into his training in ![\"File](\"http:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/File-Mar-01-4-43-42-PM-199x300.jpeg\")
the lead-up to the 2015 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. As a result of his struggles during the Grand Prix season, he went into Nationals with little expectation and little of the attention that was surrounding the other top American men. There were also no worries of potentially repeating what had happened in Osaka.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had talked to my sports psychologist and she really helped me let go of the residual feelings and frustrations of NHK. NHK could not happen again,\u201d Farris stated, \u201cIt is impossible because I was in Greensboro, I wasn’t in Japan, it wasn\u2019t the same date, it wasn’t the same anything. I had trained so much better than I ever had before Nationals in my whole entire skating career. Of course, I was nervous because I cared, but I wasn\u2019t scared that NHK would happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n
In spite of returning to the site of a horrific Nationals experience in 2011 that involved a stay in the hospital due to an anaphylactic reaction to dairy as well as a broken fibula and torn abductor muscle, Farris was confident about his ability to put the past behind him and move forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe good part about it is that it happened four years ago, and that\u2019s a significant amount of time to have passed,\u201d Farris acknowledged, \u201cThey did a lot of renovations in the rink and the hotel so it looked similar, but it didn\u2019t at the same time. I accepted the fact that that had happened and I chose to focus on what was happening in that moment instead of what had happened in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a new outlook and a desire to prove himself, Farris was one of the biggest surprises of the men\u2019s event in Greensboro, performing a nearly clean\u00a0short program to Ed Sheeran\u2019s \u201cGive Me Love\u201d and a clean free skate to music from \u201cSchindler\u2019s List,\u201d which put him in third place and earned him a bronze medal, his highest ever finish at Nationals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe skate I had wasn\u2019t a surprise, but the results were,\u201d Farris admitted, \u201cI still can\u2019t believe the points I got, they were ridiculous!\u201d![\"image\"](\"http:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/image-200x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, with the advent of a new rule dictating how many double jumps a skater can execute in their programs, Farris was penalized for doing three double toe loops in his free skate and had his triple Lutz\u00ad-double toe loop combination invalidated.\u00a0If he had done his planned triple flip-triple toe loop combination in the first half of his program, then he could have\u00a0<\/span>won the gold medal. \u201cWhen it first happened, I was so focused on what I was doing and I was so excited that it didn’t even cross my mind that I had done too many double toe loops,\u201d he explained, \u201cBut I think I\u2019m in a really good position. I think defending your title is a lot harder to do than earning a title, and it\u2019s the first year of this quadrennial, so I don\u2019t have to win, and it was an improvement from the last two years, so I think I\u2019m in a really good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n Even with the consequences of those double toe loops, Farris joked that it still wasn’t enough to supplant the triple loop as his least favorite jump.<\/p>\n \u201cLoops suck,\u201d Farris stated emphatically with a laugh, \u201cIt\u2019s like for me I either have to be perfect or I\u2019m on my butt.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the most improved parts of Josh\u2019s programs has become his spins, and one in particular has stood out both for its exceptional difficulty and its exceptional position. It resembles a camel but then the bent free leg is lifted above the hip.<\/p>\n Fans, who watched the men\u2019s free skate on NBC, also got treated to hearing Josh sing and play his guitar as he waited for his warm\u00adup. \u201cEvery competition that I\u2019ve had, I\u2019ve always brought my guitar,\u201d Farris said with a smile, \u201cI really haven\u2019t been playing for too long, so Damon (Allen) and Christy (Krall) said since I skated last in the long program and I had like forty five minutes, you need to do something to keep your mind occupied so you don\u2019t think about the program too much, so they pitched the idea of me bringing my guitar to the rink and trying to find a room that\u2019s private. We actually got to the rink early before my six \u00adminute warm\u00adup, and I thought why not play a little bit? Then the camera crew came in and I thought that they were just recording for like a backstage Icenetwork type of thing, and then I got a text from my guitar teacher saying, ‘I just saw you on TV singing and playing,’ and I was like, ‘What?!'”<\/p>\n Farris also hadn\u2019t been planning on having to perform an exhibition program with his results earlier on in the season and so he had to repeat his short program instead.<\/p>\n \u201cI did not know that I was going to have to do the exhibition,\u201d Farris laughed, \u201cI was not expecting any result whatsoever, because skating can be so political sometimes. I thought that they were going to hold me down because of my NHK performance. Apparently not, which is awesome, but I thought I wasn\u2019t going to get in the top four so therefore I wouldn\u2019t do an exhibition, so I didn\u2019t have one planned. I didn\u2019t think you could do your short until literally two minutes before I went on the ice to do it, and I was so exhausted, I mean I had just competed my long program, so yeah that was funny. If you didn\u2019t see my reaction after I did my program I was just laughing.\u201d<\/p>\n As a result of his placement at Nationals, Farris was named to the U.S.’s Four Continents and World Championship teams for the first time in his career. He went into Seoul, South Korea for Four Continents wanting to justify those assignments and prove his consistency at the top level against some of the best skaters in the world, including Olympic bronze medalist Denis Ten of Kazakhstan and 2012 World Junior Champion Yan Han of China. He was joined by Adam Rippon<\/a> and newly minted U.S. Champion Jason Brown<\/a>, whom Farris has been competing against since they were ten years old.<\/p>\n \u201cThe good thing about having Jason going is that it does bring a sense of familiarity and, since he\u2019s from [Colorado] Springs, I guess you could say home. We\u2019re just going to keep supporting each other. I hope he skates amazing, and I\u2019m sure he will. He\u2019s probably one of the most consistent skaters ever. I still can\u2019t believe I\u2019m going to Worlds,\u201d Farris said in disbelief, \u201cHopefully, the shock of it kind of goes away over the next few weeks so that I don\u2019t get there and be all star\u00adstruck, but I\u2019m sure once I get there, I will be motivated and determined to do my best.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n![\"spin\"](\"http:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/spin-200x300.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cI will give 100% credit to my spin coach Becky Bradley for that one,\u201d Farris confided, \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t even know how she came up with it. It took me a while to get that spin consistent. It took me maybe two months; right before Nationals actually was when I first got it to where I could do it almost all the time. It\u2019s really hard to keep the speed in that spin, I have to really keep all the tension and when you\u2019re tired you don\u2019t really want to do that!\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"kisscry\"](\"http:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/kisscry-200x300.jpg\")
<\/a>The first step towards Worlds was Four Continents, which took place a mere two weeks after Nationals. \u201cIt felt like forever to me,\u201d Farris joked with a grin, \u201cI didn\u2019t really do a whole lot, I mean obviously I did my programs every day, but I did not push it at all. The first week I got back, I didn\u2019t do any full programs, I just did choreography programs with maybe two or three jumps thrown in, and then the next week, I did full programs, but I took it really easy and I didn\u2019t over \u00adtrain at all. I had already had the muscle memory of having done clean programs, so I wasn\u2019t worried about not performing well. I took it easy and did the best I could. I didn\u2019t expect much. I had a hard time sleeping that whole week. Come to think of it, I had a hard time sleeping at Nationals, so maybe not sleeping is the key to my success?\u201d he joked, \u201cBeing exhausted is the best way to skate well!\u201d<\/p>\n![\"JoshFS16\"](\"http:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/JoshFS16-200x300.jpg\")
By changing his training, his mentality and the way he approaches the sport, Josh Farris has cemented himself at the forefront of U.S. men\u2019s figure skating. With incredible technical ability and a tremendous capacity for connecting with his music, he is a talent that will be sure to rise in the coming years ahead of the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang. In the words of one of his favorite singers, Jason Mraz: