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Torgashev gears up for competition season with stop in Lake Placid

Andrew Torgashev performs in the Saturday Night Ice Show on Aug. 11 at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid. Provided photo — Christie Sausa

LAKE PLACID – The fifth of six Saturday Night Ice Shows on Aug. 11 starred 2015 Junior National Champion Andrew Torgashev, who had performed previously in Lake Placid in 2016. He was joined by approximately 20 skaters mostly from the New York-New Jersey metro area.

Torgashev, 17, started establishing himself as a rising star in the skating world in 2015, when he won the Junior National Championships as a 13-year-old and finished in the top 10 at the 2015 Junior World Championships.

Shortly after, he suffered a right ankle injury which required surgery in June 2015, in which three screws were added to the ankle. This was followed by a second surgery in January 2016 to remove the screws.

He sat out the 2015-16 competitive season, but was able to entertain the Lake Placid audience in August 2016 in his first Saturday Night Ice Show, before returning to competition that fall. Torgashev used the time off to his advantage, working on things like flexibility and skating skills while rehabilitating his ankle.

Torgashev has become a stronger and a more powerful skater since then, but struggled with a difficult season last year due to a variety of factors.

“Last season was a bit rough. It started well but I struggled with injury and other things,” Torgashev said. “My training wasn’t adding up, so at the beginning of this season I moved to Colorado Springs. Ever since then I’ve been on a completely different training plan and it’s been working out really well.”

Previously based in Florida, Torgashev is working with coaches Christy Krall and Scott Brown in Colorado to prepare for this competitive season, which started with a gold medal at the Philadelphia Summer International in the Senior event this July.

“I want to take it one competition at a time and achieve my goals at each competition,” Torgashev said. “Hopefully, it will lead to better things because it all starts with how I skate.”

That attitude and changes to his training plan seem to be paying off for Torgashev, as witnessed by his two Saturday Night Ice Show performances. Savvy figure skating fans in the audience might have noticed that he was skating the programs he would be using in competition this season: his short program, “Open Arms” by Journey, and his long program, “El Tango de Roxanne” from the film “Moulin Rouge!”

Skating fans might recognize the latter music as very popular with figure skaters this past season, but Torgashev’s interpretation distinguishes his program from the rest. Displaying seemingly effortless power and speed along with sweeping deep edges, Torgashev flew through both programs with enviable musical interpretation and style, earning enthusiastic ovations from the crowd.

The show was a good dress rehearsal for him in preparing for his first big competition of the season – the first Junior Grand Prix, JGP Slovakia Aug. 22-25 in Bratislava, Slovakia. He then returns home for a week to compete in the third Junior Grand Prix event Sept. 5-8 in Kaunas, Lithuania.

“I really like the culture and the aesthetic in Lake Placid, it’s very old school,” Torgashev said. “We took a walk around the lake yesterday and it was super nice, so I’ve been loving the nature, the people, the places, everything is one of a kind here.”

The next skating event in Lake Placid is the final Saturday Night Ice Show on Aug. 18 and will star 2011 national champion Ryan Bradley.

For more information about summer skating, including the ice shows, visit www.lakeplacidskating.com.

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