According to Ade, the jump that might be considered Brown's Achilles' heel -- the triple Axel -- is the best it's ever been. At each of his five competitions this season, Brown has had a deduction on a least one of the three triple Axels in his short program and free skate.
After Four Continents last month, where an under-rotated triple Axel in the short cost Brown points and contributed to a sixth-place finish, Ade took action.
"I actually changed his pattern (leading into the triple Axel)," she said. "That was something I planned to do six months ago. I wanted to do it after nationals, and then we decided to do the quad at Four Continents, so it had to wait."
Instead of a relatively long lead-in, Brown now does the jump out of several turns.
"It leads to, I think, more consistent timing and more consistent pattern and less of a gray area," Ade said. "I was tired of watching him telegraph, and hold that edge and wait for it. I gave him much more of a built-in rhythm that essentially says, 'This is when you jump,' as opposed to jump when you feel like jumping."
"It's made a huge difference in the triple Axel's consistency," she added. "It's beautiful and solid as a rock right now."