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- Nov 3, 2012
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You know those times when you watch a "new-to-you" skater in a competition and you're impressed but you're like, "I know nothing about this skater?" Well, I decided to make a thread where we can post career and personal factoids about less-known skaters and keep each other informed. (The term "less-known" can be defined however you want). And we can ask about skaters we don't know about yet. I think many of us would find it interesting to read and/or contribute to.
I'll start with Andrew Torgashev (United States), although @el henry is more than welcome to add to and correct anything I write.
International fans may have seen him skate on the JGP or Junior Worlds. Ted Barton is a big fan of Andrew's skating. Andrew made the JGPF once but couldn't compete due to injury. Injuries have played a big role in his career thus far, unfortunately. He was the US Junior Champion in 2015 (when he was 13 years old!). I first noticed him at 2020 Senior Nationals, where he was 3rd after a brilliant, clean SP, behind two unknowns named Nathan Chen and Jason Brown. (He got 97.87 with a 4T, 3A, 3F+3T, crisp spins and steps, and full choreographic commitment). His LP didn't go great and he finished 5th overall. He was 18 and was sent to 2020 Junior Worlds, where again he was 3rd after the SP but dropped to 8th after another rough LP.
Andrew skated at the 2020 Peggy Fleming Trophy and got second behind Jason Brown; he was second in 2019 also. Before 2021 Nationals he got a stress fracture in his foot/ankle, withdrew from 2021 Nationals, tried to come back too soon and reinjured it in practice around August 2021 and was off the ice until November, so he withdrew from 2022 Nationals as well. This season, he had to do the National Qualifying Series and Eastern Sectionals to make it to Nationals. He skated first in the entire SP at Nationals and his score was good enough for 5th place. Then he had probably the best LP of his life to get on the podium/be named to Worlds, and just got his minimums at Challenge Cup.
Now, the fun stuff: Andrew is quite an artistic person. He paints, puts designs on t-shirts, and (at least since the 2019/2020 season) plays a big role in choreographing his own programs. His brilliant SP from 2019/2020 is one he choreographed himself. (Google his 2020 Junior Worlds SP; you won't regret it). He says he could spend hours on choreography because usually he has so many ideas and so many different ways he could see it going. His biggest consideration is to "let the music dictate where the movement goes." He sees choreography as a big puzzle, where you build the skeleton of the program, mark out where the jumps are going to happen in the music, and then you start to build the transition steps into that, doing all of that while carrying the story and making sure that your movements in the end relate to what you want them to relate to.
And how does this budding choreographer choose his own program music? "If I can listen to it and keep listening to it and listen to it some more after that, and I still love that music, and I only started to love it even more after I listened to it all day every day for a week, then that's a good song choice for me." And, yes, Andrew loves envisioning song choices and choreography for other skaters. He thinks he'll be a skating choreographer at some point in the future. Maybe he will end up in the K&C with someone like Misha was with him at Nationals!
As far as skaters I'd like to know more about, tell me more about Sam Mindra (new discovery at US Nationals) and Valtter Virtanen (new discovery at Challenge Cup). Everyone in the Challenge Cup thread referred to Virtanen as "the Spin Doctor." Is he actually a doctor? His skating is so nice to watch, including the spins.
This thread will be fun!
I'll start with Andrew Torgashev (United States), although @el henry is more than welcome to add to and correct anything I write.
International fans may have seen him skate on the JGP or Junior Worlds. Ted Barton is a big fan of Andrew's skating. Andrew made the JGPF once but couldn't compete due to injury. Injuries have played a big role in his career thus far, unfortunately. He was the US Junior Champion in 2015 (when he was 13 years old!). I first noticed him at 2020 Senior Nationals, where he was 3rd after a brilliant, clean SP, behind two unknowns named Nathan Chen and Jason Brown. (He got 97.87 with a 4T, 3A, 3F+3T, crisp spins and steps, and full choreographic commitment). His LP didn't go great and he finished 5th overall. He was 18 and was sent to 2020 Junior Worlds, where again he was 3rd after the SP but dropped to 8th after another rough LP.
Andrew skated at the 2020 Peggy Fleming Trophy and got second behind Jason Brown; he was second in 2019 also. Before 2021 Nationals he got a stress fracture in his foot/ankle, withdrew from 2021 Nationals, tried to come back too soon and reinjured it in practice around August 2021 and was off the ice until November, so he withdrew from 2022 Nationals as well. This season, he had to do the National Qualifying Series and Eastern Sectionals to make it to Nationals. He skated first in the entire SP at Nationals and his score was good enough for 5th place. Then he had probably the best LP of his life to get on the podium/be named to Worlds, and just got his minimums at Challenge Cup.
Now, the fun stuff: Andrew is quite an artistic person. He paints, puts designs on t-shirts, and (at least since the 2019/2020 season) plays a big role in choreographing his own programs. His brilliant SP from 2019/2020 is one he choreographed himself. (Google his 2020 Junior Worlds SP; you won't regret it). He says he could spend hours on choreography because usually he has so many ideas and so many different ways he could see it going. His biggest consideration is to "let the music dictate where the movement goes." He sees choreography as a big puzzle, where you build the skeleton of the program, mark out where the jumps are going to happen in the music, and then you start to build the transition steps into that, doing all of that while carrying the story and making sure that your movements in the end relate to what you want them to relate to.
And how does this budding choreographer choose his own program music? "If I can listen to it and keep listening to it and listen to it some more after that, and I still love that music, and I only started to love it even more after I listened to it all day every day for a week, then that's a good song choice for me." And, yes, Andrew loves envisioning song choices and choreography for other skaters. He thinks he'll be a skating choreographer at some point in the future. Maybe he will end up in the K&C with someone like Misha was with him at Nationals!
As far as skaters I'd like to know more about, tell me more about Sam Mindra (new discovery at US Nationals) and Valtter Virtanen (new discovery at Challenge Cup). Everyone in the Challenge Cup thread referred to Virtanen as "the Spin Doctor." Is he actually a doctor? His skating is so nice to watch, including the spins.
This thread will be fun!
This was choreographed by Scott Brown. 
both. And you're welcome. I thought there should be a place outside of the competition threads to share info and ask questions, because I know not everyone reads the competition threads, and they also don't need to be made longer than they are. So, here it is in The Edge. Happy to create it. 
I should clarify that certainly on my own posts I know there is more than what I've shared here, even though I've been very detailed. For instance, another detail I just found is that Sean Rabbitt self-choreographed his programs! 
