After year of change, Bradie Tennell has a second national title – and more confidence than ever

While “the journey” chasing any big goal for an elite athlete is often called the most important part, sometimes revelling in the destination feels good, too.

American figure skater Bradie Tennell felt exactly that in January.

Three years after a breakout win at the U.S. Championships to book herself a ticket to the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games, Tennell, now 23, captured her second national title behind two strong performances in Las Vegas.

“It’s why I wake up in the morning,” Tennell told reporters after her 2021 win. “They say it’s about the journey and not the destination, but the destination feels pretty good too.”

Nearly two months later, Tennell is still feeling pretty good, the Chicago native now based in Colorado having changed coaches last summer to Tom Zakrajsek. She and fellow 2018 Olympian Karen Chen will represent Team USA at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships, set for 22-28 March in Stockholm.

Tennell hopes to keep those good vibes going in the first major international figure skating event in over a year.

“The only thing I was feeling from the moment I finished my program until about three hours later, was pure joy,” Tennell told Olympic Channel in a recent exclusive interview, “There was no room for anything else. And I think I was just riding that feeling.”

With strong contingents from both Russia and Japan, Tennell and Chen are tasked with trying to add a third spot for the U.S. team for the coming Beijing 2022 Games: They need to finish a combined 13th (for example, 5th and 8th) at worlds to do so.

But the two-time U.S. champ isn’t only focusing on that as she prepares for her third worlds appearance.

In a free-flowing interview, she spoke to the Olympic Channel podcast last month. Here are excerpts from that chat, which have been edited for clarity and length for this article.

Bradie Tennell: National champ a second time

Olympic Channel (OC): Bradie, congratulations on your U.S. win. Have you watched yourself back from nationals? How do you feel like you did?

Tennell: No matter how I do, I always watch myself back. And I was especially excited to watch this one back. So I got back to the hotel from the rink, I ate dinner and kind of calmed down a little bit. And then I settled in my bed to watch.

I was re-watching certain things. And I was just so glad that I was able to hit everything the way that I'd been training.

OC: How do you see the changes and improvements that you’ve made since qualifying for PyeongChang 2018? It’s your first national title since then.

Tennell: It's funny because I actually watched my 2018 nationals and then I watched this nationals and I didn't realize how different my skating is now than it was back then. When you're in the moment, in your training every day, you don't feel those small changes happening, you don't feel how much you're improving.

So to go back and watch it and see the difference, like see how big of a difference there is right in front of my eyes... It was crazy.

OC: What do you think has changed?

Tennell: From me watching myself, I feel like there's more confidence in my skating and I’m much more powerful. I think my jumps are better.

I definitely feel like it's been more gradual. It's definitely something that I've been working on a lot, especially since I moved to Colorado. But I think it's just coming from me growing up.

I'm more confident in what I'm doing, where I'm supposed to be. I really enjoy the everyday process of training. I love working with Tom. We have a really great coach-athlete relationship.

The journey vs. the destination

OC: We mentioned this before, but a lot of athletes talk about ‘the journey’ versus ‘the destination,’ but you said at nationals after you won, that the destination feels pretty good, too. Can you expand upon that? We love the mentality, but why is it important for you to think that way?

Tennell: I feel like that was just me being me. I say some of the wackiest things. (Laughs.) I was like that the whole night (at 2021 U.S. nationals). The picture that I posted on Instagram of me in the kiss and cry, like somebody asked me about that and they were like, 'What was going through your head in that moment?'

And I was just being completely honest, like I love the everyday training process, but, you know, when the payoff of all the work that you've done happens, there's no greater feeling than that. Like everything you've worked (for) is finally paying off... I mean, that feels really great. There's really no other way to put it.

2020: Challenges bringing about change

OC: How do you compare how you felt after this nationals to your feelings a year ago, in 2020, when you finished third at the U.S. Championships?

Tennell: Twelve months ago, I was a bit disappointed. I mean, last year, nationals, I fell on the easy stuff and, you know, making a mistake is not something that... nobody likes to make a mistake, but when I make a mistake on my easiest jumps like that, that was something that really got under my skin. I was like, ‘How could I have done that? Literally, how could I have done that?’ So now this year, to have done a program as well as I did, I feel like it makes me appreciate it all that much more.

OC: How did the pandemic impact you in the way you were able to reflect and find growth in yourself off of the ice?

Tennell: I think being off the ice for those few months in quarantine really allowed me to take a breath and kind of forced me to be away from the sport for a while. And it made me realize that, you know, some of the things that I was working towards weren't happening and the goals that I wanted to achieve and the things that I thought were necessary to achieve my goals, that it wasn't happening. And I was like, 'I need to make a change.' I think it allowed me to see everything in a different perspective. And it allowed me the time to start to facilitate those changes.

OC: When you reflect on the last 12 months, what do you feel like you've learned from this past year?

Tennell: This might sound like kind of cliche, but I feel like everything happens for a reason. You never know where life is going to take you and you never know what's going to happen. But I'm a firm believer in that... Everything that needs to happen, will. Because, I don't know, that's just life and life is unpredictable.

Colorado change... and the triple Axel

OC: Can you detail for us the decision to go to Colorado and make the move with a new coach, Tom Zakrajsek?

Tennell: I just wasn't seeing any improvement and I was feeling stuck. I originally reached out to Tom to get some help on my jumps and then, when I went out to Colorado and started working with him... I was like, 'Wow.' It felt like something inside of me clicked. This is where I need to be. This is what I want to be doing.

I told my mom, 'I think we need to start having a serious discussion about not going (back to Chicago).’ She was super supportive, just like she's always has been. And she helped me through it and helped me through moving and getting settled in and finding a place.

I'm extremely happy in Colorado and I think it was a very good decision.

OC: There has been a lot of discussion around you adding a triple Axel to your jump repertoire. Where is that at the moment?

Tennell: I feel like everybody who knows me knows that I love to keep a little mystery surrounding myself. It definitely would be a very cool skill to have. So, I'm just going to leave it right there.

An eye fixed on the world championships

OC: Fair enough. Speaking of the world championships, how do you lay out your hopes or goals for the event?

Tennell: I mean, obviously, my biggest hope is that they happen because everything is so uncertain right now.

I could only ask myself to put down the best that I can do. My goal is I want to go there and I want to put down two of my best performances. And as long as I do that, I will be happy with myself because I think I proved to myself that my best is pretty good. So, like, if I can go to worlds and put out two programs like I did at nationals, I'll be happy.

OC: You and Karen Chen need to be combined 13th to secure the U.S. women a third spot for Beijing 2022. Is that a target for you?

Tennell: Yeah, that's a very big goal of ours. That’s definitely something I'm shooting for.

OC: What other skaters do you like to keep an eye on? Who do you enjoy watching the most?

Tennell: OK, so my favorite (discipline) to watch is actually dance. I love it. I love that they don't jump. I just love the way that they move, the way that... everything is to the music and the way that they're able to move so seamlessly together.

I think that's fascinating because when I'm out there, if I mess up something, I forget... (then) I can change my program on a whim. They can't do that. So I find that so interesting. And I think we in the U.S., we have such great teams and it's always fun to watch the last two warm-up groups at worlds. I just Iove watching dance. It's something that I always look forward to every year.