"I've been rebuilding my house": Jason Brown is using his career peaks and valleys to create a stronger foundation

From Riverdance to Hamilton to “Sinnerman”, Jason Brown has always skated to the beat of his own drum.

Set for his fourth ISU World Figure Skating Championships appearance on 24-28 March 2021, and ahead of a third attempt at trying to qualify for a Winter Olympic Games, the Sochi 2014 team bronze medallist isn’t changing that.

In fact, he’s been in rebuilding (and fine-tuning) mode since failing to make the USA team for PyeongChang 2018.

“I think I have this incredibly strong base,” Brown told Olympic Channel in a recent exclusive interview. “The house ended up falling down, but the base is still there. I've been rebuilding my house with Tracy (Wilson) and Brian (Orser) over the last three years. And I'm just so, so incredibly happy where I'm at. I'm happy where I'm at physically, technically, mentally, emotionally."

Where Brown – known for his artistry, attention to detail, and poignant movement and spins – has taken fans with his skating is what has made him an elite international competitor for nearly a decade, the 26-year-old winning his sixth U.S. medal at nationals in January.

But after a move to Toronto to train with Wilson and Orser in the spring of 2018, Brown has continued to put in the work alongside the likes of two-time Olympic champion Hanyu Yuzuru and Olympic silver medallist Evgenia Medvedeva before the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted their respective training.

The American will head to worlds in Stockholm with teammates Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou with the goal of securing three U.S. spots for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games – one of which Brown himself hopes to fill in 10 months’ time.

“[I’ve] got to skate my best,” Brown said of a personal goal for Stockholm. “I’ve got to do what I know I'm capable of doing, skate those two clean programs. I think for me that's really something that I'm looking for. I'm just excited to compete; I really feel so ready, so prepared. There's a lot of unknowns this season: ‘What is this world champs is going to feel like?’ I don't know, but I'm excited to go out and see what it entails and I'm going to give it my all and put on a show.”

Having been signed up for Skate Canada due to his training location, Brown missed out on an international Grand Prix this season due to the cancellation of the event, while American peers like Chen and Zhou skated without fans in Las Vegas for Skate America.

But Brown made the trip to Vegas for the U.S. Championships, skating to bronze behind Chen and Zhou and unveiling – on competitive ice – what was already a hit on social media: His Nina Simone “Sinnerman” short program, which he’ll keep for the Olympic season. (More on that below.)

He dazzled in the short, scoring 100.92, but fell on an under-rotated quadruple toe-loop in the free, the element that continues to give him the most trouble in competition, the quad. He feels the push-pull between art and athleticism on a daily basis.

“It's definitely at times a double-edged sword because you have to give up some of the artistry so you can push the technical side,” Brown explained. “I’ve experienced times where I focus so much on getting the technical aspect done that I lose a bit of the artistry and then I lose the love for why I'm so passionate about the sport."

'I want to be on that 2022 Olympic team'

With the likes of Hanyu, Chen, Zhou, Olympic silver medallist Uno Shoma and Russia’s Mikhail Kolyada – among others – in the mix for worlds, the podium is a longshot for Brown, whose best finish was fourth in 2015.

But his is a house that stands quite differently from the others on the block, to continue his own analogy. And he doesn’t want it any other way.

He plans a quad for his free skate in Stockholm, this time a quad Salchow.

“I really feel that I've gotten stronger and stronger technically,” he said. “When I moved to Toronto three years ago, there was a lot of technical changes that the coaches went about helping me kind of fix old habits and relearn technique in a different way. I do think that there was a period where I kind of just like underwent some surgery. [When that happens], you go through some rehab and then you come out stronger."

Brown continued: “I really do believe that the quads are coming. I'm landing them every single day. I'm really proud of that. I am working on multiple different quads. It’s still my goal: I want to get it out in competition. I want to do it when it counts. It’s a huge, huge goal of mine.”

While Brown competed in Sochi without a quad, men’s figure skating has continued to evolve in the last eight years, and a quadruple jump will only bolster what is already a compelling on-ice package as he makes a drive towards his second Olympic team.

“I'm not shy of saying it: I want to be on that 2022 Olympic team,” he said, smiling. “The big discussion when I first moved to Toronto was my coaches saying, ‘What is your goal?’ I was like, ‘I want to be back on the Olympic team. I know I'm capable of it. I know I have more to give.’ And so we just started to work each day to turn that dream into reality.

"I think living through that and coming out on the other side, still loving the sport, still excited to get back to the rink each day to train, I think it just definitely made me live these next three years without this chip on my shoulder. I wasn't afraid of what could happen because I felt like I experienced the worst that I personally felt like I could go through as far as in the sport.”

Learnings from 2020: One day at a time

Brown feels especially strong having gone through what he did in 2020, when he was off the ice for four months, living in a training city away from his family, separated from his coaches and training mates, and trying to keep his famously positive outlook somewhat within reach.

“I did so many different Zoom workouts that they just became a norm,” he said.

He admitted to NBC Sports he “shut down” in December of last year before leaving for U.S. nationals, saying training – normally broken up by international competitions and progress check-ins – had turned into “life on repeat.”

“I think the biggest thing that I've learned through this whole process is: 'just take it day by day',” he told Olympic Channel. “So often I think we, as athletes, we're always looking ahead to the next goal... it's always such a constant in our lives. And so this year definitely threw us for a loop with so many events getting cancelled. ... I mean, there's so much that was going on day to day that I think I just learned you just take each day as it comes and be grateful for it and you make the most of that day. And that's been one of the biggest takeaways. And I'm definitely just trucking along.”

Trucking, he hopes, towards another Winter Games.

Brown, to his credit, keeps learning at every turn.

“I do think that the toughest moments in the sport have made me appreciate the best ones even more. They've made it,” he said. “And I just I have been through a lot, which I feel like anyone who's been in a sport for 21 years can probably say. I've gotten stronger from every setback I've gotten. I've been able to celebrate with so many people through all the victories that have helped me get to where I am. And then they've also been the people that have to pick me up at my lowest point. So I'm really, really grateful for all the support and I cannot wait for it to see how the next year unfolds.”

See the full Q&A transcript from the exclusive interview with Jason Brown here.