Jason Brown returns to figure skating's Grand Prix with a purpose: "I would love to make it to the Olympics"
The 29-year-old American has skipped the international series the last two seasons, but tells Olympics.com it's all part of his plan for 2026.
Figure Skating
When Jason Brown walked into the Bell Centre arena in Montreal, Canada, earlier this year to collect his athlete credential for the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships, the volunteers there had news for the 29-year-old American.
"They go, 'Jason, you're the only men's skater here who was also in Sochi, at the 2014 Olympics,'" Brown told Olympics.com in a recent video call.
He adds, laughing: "And they go, 'You're also the oldest.'"
It's true. Brown was the lone men's singles competitor from Sochi to be at the World Championships 10 years later, and this season the two-time Olympian - and now de facto elder statesman of the sport - is racheting things up in what has become his fourth Olympic quad.
Brown is back on the ISU's Grand Prix Series, a collection of the six biggest events in the sport held each fall season, for the first time since 2021, prior to Beijing 2022.
And his reasoning is simple: Milano Cortina 2026 has gone from dream to distant idea to stated goal.
"I would love to make it to the Olympics," Brown said simply. "I want to be on that Olympic team in Milano [and] I want to be part both the individual and team [figure skating] events. That's what we're shooting for."
The decision will shock few inside skating, but Brown, as he always has, is navigating this path with added purpose: "I want to keep challenging myself and representing the sport and pushing it forward to as much as I can," he said.
"I really want to keep the conversation going when it comes to skating. I really, really want people to know that it is this beautiful balance of artistry and athleticism... and I want the next generation to know that there is a spot for them regardless of if you might lack some of the technical ability. I want them to see that there's a path forward - and not just me saying it, but showing it, too."
Jason Brown and his 'bonus years'
Mind you, Brown is not the only skater from Sochi still out on competitive ice. 2023 pairs world champion Kihara Ryuichi was there (with a different partner), while two of the best ice dance teams in the world competed in 2014, too, including two-time and reigning world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates, as well as two-time world medallists Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri - among others.
But Brown's do-it-my-own-way approach since making his second Olympic team in 2022 has been striking. After opting in to some 100 skating shows in the year following Beijing, Brown toyed with the idea of retirement only to show up at at the 2023 World Championships in the Tokyo suburbs and place fifth.
He was fifth again in Montreal, his brand of smooth, styled and oftentimes under-appreciated skating earning him fan-favourite status, and - as he says - charting a new path forward separate from quad, quad, quad and... quad.
"I think it's incredible the way that the other athletes are pushing the sport; technically, I'm mindblown!" he said. "I'm so in awe of them. And I think what's beautiful is there's room for so many different pathways in our sport. And I think the same thing with longevity. Like, I think you don't see that as much in our sport nowadays, right? And so I think that's another big thing [for me]."
But don't get Brown wrong: To maintain his level of skating and push the next era of great stars in the sport, he's practiced meticulous planning and execution with his Toronto-based team, led by esteemed coach Tracy Wilson.
Those 100-something shows in what Brown calls his "year of yes" following the last Olympics have been whittled down to 10 this year as he made his season debut at Shanghai Trophy (where he was third) and readies for Grand Prix stops in Canada (this weekend, 25-27 October) and Japan (next month).
A return to the Grand Prix has been Brown's decision, he said.
"This is all by choice; there's no rule or anyhing that said I had to go back," he explained, breaking into a laugh. "I made the decision with Tracy at the end of last season [when] I started having the desire to do another two years. I wanted to see it through; go for it. Tracy and I laugh; we call these our 'bonus years.'"
Brown is trying something he never has before
What Brown and Wilson, who he has worked with since a move to Canada in 2018, have done over the last few months is work backwards: They started at Milano Cortina 2026 and have charted a course to this previous off-season.
And, it's not just the Olympics, it's a want to be on the U.S. squad for the aforementioned team event there, too, which he missed out on in Beijing. (He helped the U.S. to a bronze in the event in Sochi.)
That would mean three competitive programs at the Games versus just the two.
"The best way to know how to manage and navigate that Olympic season is to do a full season this year," Brown explained. "We need to know... Was it too much work? Did we start too early? Did we do too many events? Was it actually really nice to get the programs out there constantly during the year? How is my body able to handle it? Adapt?
"It's our way to answer all those questions."
But Brown and Wilson have done something he's never tried before, too: After landing on the decision to set his eyes on 2026, he used this past off-season to play around and create material for the next two years.
He’s never worked ahead like that in his career.
"We've choreographed two full programs" for the Olympic season, Brown shared. "One of the things that I learned these last two years [is that] I really wanted more experience with the programs that I have. This gives me the opportunity and time needed to hone in on the art of the performance, the nuances and finer details. It allows me to get a jump start on costumes and remove some of the typical 'pre-season guesswork.'"
"I want to figure out how to navigate fear"
The focus, Brown said, has been on pacing. That applies to both his training session but also "holistically," he said, as he figures out just what he needs to be at his best - and what his body can handle, with his 30th birthday looming on 15 December.
"I just feel like I've learned so much; I've grown so much," he said, reflecting on a now 10-year-plus international career. "I know nothing is guaranteed but I've continued to grow so much as a person as well as an athlete throughout the process. ... It sounds bizarre, but like a little bit more holistically. When I was younger, everything was about getting to the Olympics, getting to that next step, getting to the next goal, using everything I did for the next thing.
"Where now, I've learned so much along the way," he continued. "And I really want to just keep applying what I've learned and put it to the test."
It's also about testing himself and his resolve on the sport's biggest stages, too.
"I want to figure out how to navigate my fear, how to beat pressure," he said.
The next big mountaintop is this coming World Championships, this year being held in Boston. It'd mark a first home Worlds for Brown, who missed his chance in 2016 due to injury.
"One of the things that I think would be so cool is to go to a Worlds at home," he said. "I want to figure out how to deal with that pressure and have that experience of 'What's that like to compete at home and represent your country on the world stage in the U.S.?' It's not something I've done before."
It's that mantra that continues to drive Brown, he hopes, back to a third Olympic Games over 12 years.