Bradie Tennell

Bradie Tennell (born January 31, 1998) is an American figure skater. She is a 2018 Olympic team event bronze medalist, the 2025 Four Continents silver medalist and 2020 Four Continents bronze medalist, a four-time Grand Prix medalist, an eight-time Challenger Series medalist, and a two-time U.S. national champion (2018, 2021).

Tennell began skating when she was two years old, even though she learned to walk late and had to wear orthotics in her shoes to correct a pronation problem in her feet. Her first rink was in Crystal Lake, Illinois. She began working with coach Denise Myers when she was nine, up until August 2020. Tennell won her first competition at age ten as a juvenile and rose up the ranks, becoming a senior-level skater in November 2016. She spent the 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 seasons recovering from a back injury but came back in 2017, winning the gold medal at the 2018 U.S. Nationals and competing at the 2018 Olympics.

Personal life Bradie Tennell was born on January 31, 1998, in Winfield, Illinois. Her mother, Jean Tennell, was a registered nurse and single mother. Her two younger brothers were hockey players. When Tennell was 16, her parents had a "bitter divorce";

Tennell began skating when she was two years old, when she would greet her mother when she returned home after an overnight shift and beg her to take her to the ice rink. Tennell's first rink was in Crystal Lake, Illinois, not far from her home in Carpentersville, Illinois. In 2011, she came in third place in the intermediate division at the Upper Great Lakes Regionals and 15th place at the U.S. Junior Championships, again as an intermediate. In 2012, as a novice, she came in third place at both the Midwestern Sectionals and the 2012 Upper Great Lakes Regionals. She competed, also as a novice, at the 2012 U.S. Championships in San Jose, California, where she came in tenth place overall, after earning 32.60 points and coming in tenth place in her short program and 68.78 points in her free skate.

Tennell came in second place overall as a novice at the 2013 Midwestern Sectionals, coming in first place after the short program with 46.05 points and coming in fourth place after the free skate with 72.95 points. She won the gold medal at the Upper Great Lakes Regionals, also as a novice. Tennell came in second place at the 2014 Midwestern Sectionals as a junior. She came in fourth place at the 2014 U.S. Nationals and second place at the Gardena Spring Trophy, again as a junior.

2014–15 season: Breakout season Tennell began the 2014–2015 season by competing at the Nagoya TV Cup in Japan; she came in eighth place, coming in fourth place in the short program, eighth place in the free skate, and earning 144.89 points overall. She also came in second place at the 2015 Midwestern Sectionals. she won the gold medal as a junior "by blowing away the field" with a "near-perfect" Tennell later said that although she was well-trained, she went into the competition not expecting to win. She won both her sectional and regional competitions, which qualified her for the 2016 U.S. Championships. She came in sixth place at her senior debut at the U.S. Nationals, earning a spot at the World Junior championships, where she came in 11th place overall, after falling three times during her free skate. In June 2016, Tennell had the same back injury as the year before, but to a different vertebra.

2016–17 season: Coming back

Tennell was again in a back brace and off the ice for three months in the summer of 2016 while undergoing intense physical therapy. She was not able to return to the ice until early September 2016. She also said that the experience reinforced her love for figure skating and gave her a renewed sense of motivation.

2017–18 season: Olympic team bronze and first Grand Prix medal Going into the 2017–2018 season, it was the first time Tennell was injury free since the 2014–2015 season. Hersh, however, called Tennell's programs "choreographically callow". Tennell came in fourth place overall at the 2017 Lombardia Trophy, with 196.70 points, coming in fifth place in the short program, third place in the free skate, and beating 2014 Olympic bronze medalist Carolina Kostner of Italy and 2015 world champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva of Russia.

Going into the 2017 Skate America, her first Grand Prix event as a senior skater,

Tennell "shone" Longman, who reported that Tennell had successfully completed every triple jump she had attempted for three competitions, also said that she handled the pressure of possibly qualifying for the Olympics with no outward sign of nervousness. United Airlines paid for her mother and two brothers to travel to PyeongChang to watch her compete, after the company discovered that the family had set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the trip. She came into the Olympics as a "long shot", She continued her consistency with her "textbook technique and reliability in landing jumps". out of 30 competitors, she was first to skate the short program. Despite completing every jump during practice, she fell for the first time all season during the short program, 30 seconds into the program. She was able to hold onto a poor landing on the opening jump of her combination, the triple Lutz, but fell on the second jump, the triple toe loop. Tennell said later that she could not remember the last time she fell; she was the only skater at the Olympics who had not had a fall in previous competitions, and she had not fallen in the previous 34 jumping passes competed in four competitions earlier in the season. She recovered and skated the rest of her program cleanly, including a triple loop and double Axel, and remained in first place for over two hours. She came in 11th place after the short program and earned 64.01 points. the highest placement among her American teammates. After her performances, Tennell received a call from Peggy Fleming, and Scott Hamilton praised her for her mental toughness. Tennell came in seventh place in the short program, with 68.76 points, came in fourth place in the free skate, with 131.13 points. She ended the season with "a full and physically demanding" tour with Stars on Ice.

2018–19 season: "Under construction", Grand Prix bronze

Tennell started the 2018–2019 season by attending U.S. Figure Skating's Champs Camp, a training camp for elite skaters, in August 2018; she said while there: "I want to be a whole new skater, unrecognizable from last season". She also worked on being more expressive, less shy, and allowing her personality to come through in her skating. Her choreographer Benoit Richaud said that as of 2018, she was "still under construction"

In her short program, Tennell chose music from the 2014 film Lucy, a song called "Rebirth" performed by Hi-Finnesse and Egyptian-British singer Natacha Atlas. Reporter Lynn Rutherford called it "a fiercely driving program that requires Tennell to skate full-throttle for most of the routine". She had a difficult warm-up before the free skate but was happy with her performance so early in the season. NBC Sports also reported that she was more expressive and elegant than the previous season, "with angular movements and staccato footwork".

Tennell was "one of the headliners" in the short program, but she popped the second jump in her planned triple Lutz-triple loop combination into a single jump, ending up with a score of 61.72 and in fifth place. Her free skate was "underwhelming", Her free skate included five triple jumps, but she underrotated the second jump of her triple Lutz-triple loop combination and the first jump of her triple flip-double toe-double loop combination. She earned high scores on her Level 4 spins and footwork, coming in second place in the free skate, with 136.44 points overall, and third place overall, with 197.78 points. She later told a reporter that she was disappointed with her artistic performance, calling it "lackluster" and expressing her intention to work on improving it before the U.S. Championships.

At Nationals in Detroit, Tennell came in first place after her "sharp, clean" short program, earning 76.60 points, the best all-time women's short program score at U.S. Nationals, over three points more than her score at Nationals in 2018. triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination and successfully executed a double Axel but got an edge call on her triple flip. She earned high-scoring Level 4s on all her elements and went into the free skate as the favorite to win her second U.S. Nationals in a row.

At Four Continents, Tennell held a slight lead after the short program by half a point over Kaori Sakamoto of Japan. She skated a "strong and fluid" program, successfully completing a triple Lutz-triple toe in the opening moments of the program, a double Axel, and her final jump, a triple flip. She earned high-scoring Level 4s on all her elements, earning a season's best of 73.91 points.

Reporter Helene Elliott said that Tennell's short program "featured a new and welcome sense she was emotionally engaged, which complemented her proficiency." Elliott also reported that Sakamoto had slightly better program component scores, while Tennell had slightly better technical element scores.

At Worlds in Saitama, Japan, Tennell came in tenth place after a "disappointing" short program, earning 69.50 points. She successfully completed an Axel and triple flip but underrotated the last jump in her triple Lutz-triple toe combination, even though she had performed it consistently in practice. She successfully completed seven triple jumps during her free skate, including a double Axel and a triple Lutz-triple toe combination jump early in her program, earning a season's best score of 143.97 points and coming in seventh place overall, with 213.47 points.

Tennell told reporters that she was happy with her free skate, which was called "one of the best skates of her career", She came in fourth place after the short program, earning 74.81 points. As figure skating reporter Philip Hersh said, she performed the best free skating program of her career, with seven triple jumps, including a successful triple Lutz-triple toe combination and a double Axel-triple toe combination in the second half of the program. She scored 150.83 points, a new U.S. record, and came in second place, more than three points under Elizaveta Tuktamysheva from Russia, who came in first in the free skate. throughout the season, especially her two appearances during the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Final. She also worked on including a triple Axel into her routines, which was ready at the beginning of the season, but a stress fracture in her foot in July 2019 prevented her from using it. Benoit Richaud, who choreographed her programs again for the 2019–2020 season, predicted that Tennell would be proficient in the jump by the following season and the 2022 Olympics.

Tennell's short program music included "a fast-paced medley of [Russian musician] Kirill Richter's staccato piano compositions",

Tennell "had a rough start after her injury", short program, with a personal best score of 75.10 points, an almost two-point advantage over Japanese skaters Kaori Sakamoto and Wakaba Higuchi, who were in second and third place, and Anna Shcherbakova from Russia, who was in fourth place, going into the free skate. Tennell came in second place overall, earning a total of 216.14 points and her first silver medal at a Grand Prix competition.

Tennell placed fourth at Skate Canada, a week after Skate America, earning a total of 211.31 points overall. She skated two "fairly clean" programs, and was the highest-scoring competitor without a quadruple jump. She came in fourth place after the short program, earning 72.92 points overall. She also was given Level 4 marks for three elements and earned the second-highest program component score (34.46 points). During her free skate, Tennell underrotated the second jump in a triple Lutz-triple toe combination and stepped out of a triple flip, but she was able to successfully complete a triple Lutz-triple toe combination at the beginning of the program, as well as two double Axels and a triple Salchow. Her spins and footwork were given Level 4s. She came in fifth place in the free skate but earned the third-highest program component score of the competition, with 138.39 points.

Tennell was the only American woman to compete at the 2019 Grand Prix Final, the first American woman since Ashley Wagner and Gracie Gold in 2015 and the first Grand Prix Final of her career. She came in "a creditable fifth place", free skate, although she underrotated the final jump in her second triple Lutz-triple toe combination later in the program. She also underrotated the triple flip portion of her three-jump combination, which included a double toe jump and double loop. She also earned positive grades of execution for her "solid" She opened with a "solid" triple Lutz-double Axel combination, and successfully completed a triple flip and executed strong Level 4 spins and footwork. In her free skate, Tennell started off strongly with two triple Lutz-triple toe combinations, but underrotated the first jump in her triple flip-double toe combination and fell on her triple loop. She earned Level 4s for all her elements and received the second-highest component scores. She finished third in the free skate, with 141.90 points, and came in third place overall, with 220.86 points. She later said that competing at Nationals was more challenging than competing at the Grand Prix Finals.

Tennell came in third place at the 2020 Four Continents Championships, the first American women to medal at Four Continents since 2017. She "showed intensity" during her short program, successfully executing a solid triple Lutz-triple toe combination, double Axel, and triple flip. She earned a Level 3 on her final combination spin and Level 4s on all her other elements, coming in second place with 75.93 points, a season's best score, and five points behind Japanese skater Rika Kihira. Reporter Paula Slater called Tennell's free skate "a confident and expressive routine",

2020–21 season: Competing during COVID and Grand Prix medal In August 2020, Tennell announced that after 13 years working with her coach, Denise Myers, she was changing coaches to Tom Zakrajsek. Tennell moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Zakrajsek was based, to train with him, where she could train with other elite skaters such as 2018 Olympians Vincent Zhou and Karen Chen, 2019 World Junior champion Tomoki Hiwatashi, and 2018 U.S. Junior champion Camden Pulkinen. Tennell and Zakrajsek began working on adding a triple Axel and a few quadruple jumps to her repertoire. For Tennell's triple Axel, Zakrjsek worked with her on a different entry pattern and increasing the time she was in the air after her takeoff in order to help her completely rotate the jump consistently. Tennell and Zakrijsek were cautious, however, because although she was stronger after her back problems in 2016 and 2017, they recognized that she was older and more susceptible to injuries. She told Philip Hersh from NBC Sports that she was frustrated about not reaching her goals or progressing fast enough, as well as by her failure to add the triple Axel. She recognized, however, that the limits on traveling and competing imposed by the COVID outbreak could benefit her in her training. Tennell said the move to Colorado felt "like a fresh start". Skating to "her graceful and airy routine" to "Sarajevo" by Max Richter and "Dawn of Faith" by Eternal Eclipse, Tennell came in first place in the free skate, with 137.78 points. She underrotated her first jump, a triple Lutz-triple toe jump, but successfully completed her double Axel and triple loop jump. She also stepped out of and put her hand down her triple Salchow and underrotated her second triple Lutz-triple toe combination jump, but earned a level 4 and positive GOEs for her footwork and spins. Tennell's total overall score was 211.07 points. She said later that she felt good about her free skating performance.

Tennell won the U.S. Nationals in 2021 for the second time, three years after winning her first title, making her the first woman in 101 years to go three years between winning the U.S. championship, when Theresa Weld won in 1914 and 1920. Tennell earned 153.21 points in the free skate, with 232.61 points overall, more than 17 points over the second-place winner, Amber Glenn, and the biggest margin in the women's event since 2014. During her "nearly flawless" free skate, Tennell successfully accomplished all seven triple jumps and two double Axels. Her only error was a short slip at the end of her program, but as Zakrajsek stated, she "left it all out there". During her short program, she received an edge call on her triple Lutz-double toe combination jump, which was a planned triple-triple combination jump; the double toe part of the combination was slightly underrotated, but she successfully executed her double Axel and triple flip jump. She earned 69.87 points and came in seventh place going into the free skate. Tennell later said that she was disappointed in her performance and that her timing was off during her triple Lutz combination jump, even though she considered it one of her strongest jumps and had successfully executed it in every practice since U.S. Nationals. She placed eighth in the free skate, ending up in ninth place overall. Her placement, along with Chen's fourth, secured two berths for the United States at the 2022 Winter Olympics, with the possibility of a third, and earned three places at the following year's World Championships.

Tennell was also named to the American team for the 2021 World Team Trophy. During her short program, she underrotated the final jump of her triple Lutz-triple toe combination jump and slightly underrotated her triple flip. Her footwork was a Level 2, but she earned Level 4s and positive GOEs on all her spins, earning 67.40 points for Team USA. During her free skate, despite underrotating a few jumps, she "delivered a solid performance",

2021–22 season: Foot injury

Tennell withdrew from what was scheduled to be her first Grand Prix assignment of the season, the 2021 Skate America, due to a foot injury. She also withdrew from the 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia (the replacement event for the 2021 Cup of China), also due to injury. In December 2021, Tennell announced on social media that she was withdrawing from the 2022 U.S. Championships, due to the same foot injury that had plagued her all season, making her ineligible to compete in the Olympics unless she filed a petition for a place on the U.S. team. She reported that she had consulted doctors from all over the U.S., changed boots, and tried many treatments, none of which were effective. Her withdrawal made her the first American woman not to defend her national title since Sasha Cohen in 2007 and the first not to do so during an Olympic year since Michelle Kwan in 2006. Kwan was the last American figure skater to successfully petition for a place on an Olympic team after not competing at a national championship. Tennell called it "the hardest decision of my life", wished her fellow skaters good luck at Nationals and in Beijing, and vowed that she would return to competition. She started to learn French and trained with Adam Siao Him Fa. thumb Tennell during her free skate at the 2022 MK John Wilson Trophy At the 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo, she struggled with the landings of her jumps during her free skate, but earned level 4s for two spins and her step sequence; she came in eighth place overall, earning 163.98 points. Tennell came in second place at the 2022 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, her first time on the podium this season, behind her teammate, Lindsay Thorngren. She came in first place in the short program, with 68.84 points, successfully executing her opening triple Lutz-triple toe combination jump and a double Axel; she also earned level 4s on all of her spins. triple Lutz-double toe loop combination jump at the beginning of her program, as well as a triple loop, a triple Salchow, and a triple loop-Euler-double Salchow combination jump towards the end. She earned 124.47 points in the free skate and earned 193.31 points overall. Tennell also said that she felt nostalgic skating in San Jose again, since it was where she won her first Nationals in 2018. Skating to "Restrictus" by Mario Batkovic, she "masterfully blended complicated and brooding choreography with strong technical elements".

At Four Continents in Colorado Springs, Tennell finished fifth in the short program, skating to "Michigan 7" and earning a personal best score of 69.49 points. She slightly underrotated the final jump of her triple Lutz-triple toe jump combination, but the rest of the program was clean, with many positive GOEs and level 4 spins and footwork. She later said that she felt a little stiff, but that she was excited to experience Four Continents in her home country and that she felt that she had improved. Tennell made minor but costly errors in her free skate, lightly underrotating her opening jump of her triple Lutz-triple toe combination jump and her triple loop. She also underrotated the closing jump of her double Axel-triple toe-double toe combination jump, as well as her first jump in her triple Lutz-double toe combination jump. All three of her spins and footwork earned her positive GOEs. She came in sixth place in the free skate, with 130.42 points, and dropped to sixth place overall, with 199.91 points.

Tennell came 15th place at the 2023 World Championships, earning 117.69 points for her free skate program and earned an overall score of 184.14 points. Tennell attributed her difficulties to "a lot of nerves today with it being my first Worlds back", but said that she was pleased with "the fight that I displayed".

2023–24 season: Withdrawal Tennell started off the 2023-2024 season by winning lower-level competitions in Hungary and China and was scheduled to compete in the Grand Prix, but withdrew for the rest of the season after breaking an ankle in training, her second ankle injury in three years. She said on social media that "I had a little mishap while warming up my step sequence during training" and "caught an edge on a bracket and managed to break my ankle in a funky fall". She had a spiral oblique fracture, which required doctors to insert a large four-inch plate, with five screws, in the area of her ankle. She then had to have a second surgery to remove the plate because it limited her range of motion and caused tendon irritation.

2024–25 season: Comeback and Four Continents silver Going into the 2024–2025 season, after five months off the ice, Tennell reported that she felt "100% healthy" and continued full-time training with Benoit Richaud via FaceTime, phone calls, and "strategically planned visits" while living on her own in West Orange, New Jersey. In her short program, she skated to music from Lord of the Dance, finishing it with a fist pump, and by yelling out "Yeah!" and placing her hands on her head. She later told reporters, "It was worth every day of doubt, every small setback, every moment of can I ever get back to this level again, just to come out and skate like that".

Tennell came in fifth place in the short program at NHK Trophy. She struggled on her opening jumping pass, but skated cleanly the rest of the program with strong components, including a double Axel jump and a triple loop jump. Skating to "Nessun Dorma" from the Puccini opera Turandot and performed by Luciano Pavaroti and Sarah Brightman, she came in third place in the free skating program, with a strong triple Lutz jump, followed by a triple loop jump-double Axel jump sequence. She finished in fifth place overall, with 190.25 points. She subsequently won the bronze medal at the 2024 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb. After the short program, she said, "The journey coming back this season was long. Today is January 23 and I had my second ankle surgery on January 26 of last year. So, it hasn't even been a full year yet since my second surgery, and I'm back at nationals and did a clean short." Troy Schmidt of U.S. Figure Skating called Tennell's free skate "mature" and "sophisticated", adding that the program ended in a "superb Ina Bauer falling into a split jump". She also fought to successfully execute a few jumps, although her only major error was a fall on a triple Lutz jump.

Following the withdrawal of Amber Glenn, Tennell was assigned to compete at the 2025 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea the following month. At the event, Tennell placed fifth in the short program with 66.58 points and came in second place in the free skate, moving up to the silver medal position overall. Her teammate, Sarah Everhardt, came in third place overall; it was the first time two American women were on the podium at Four Continents since 2012. Skating again to "Nessun Dorma," Tennell earned 137.80 points in the free skate and 204.38 points overall, which was her season's best score. Although her first jump combination, a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination jump, received a negative GOE, it was worth 9.85 points. Her triple loop-double Axel jump combination was strong and she skated cleanly the rest of her program, including five more triple jumps and her "biggest highlight",

She opened her season at 2025 CS Kinoshita Group Cup where she placed fifth.

The following month, she competed at 2025 Skate Canada International. She placed fifth in the short program and revealed that she had a "gushing" nose bleed while changing into her dress. "I got it all over my dress. I was panicking," said Tennell. "The doctor gave me something to put in my nose for the warmup to stop the bleeding, but I got on and I was shaking. So the first jump was just a little bit off, which is unfortunate because it's been going very, very well in practice." 250px Tennell during her free skate at 2026 U.S. Championships Tennell went on to place fourth in the free skate and overall. "There were some good things, obviously some things to improve on, but it is just my first Grand Prix of the season," she said. "So, lots of room to grow and I'm excited to get home and continue."

In December, she took the gold medal at the 2025 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb. "I would be lying if I said I hadn't thought about, you know, after this season," the 27-year-old said of her future. "But, I felt it would be doing myself a disservice to try and decide that while I was still in the thick of it. So, we've tabled that for now, and we're staying in the moment."

Less than two weeks later, Tennell placed fourth at the 2026 Four Continents Championships. "I feel better than before," she said after the free skate. "I was a bit disappointed yesterday after the short program, and I was upset with the score. But I really tried very hard today. I tried to channel the energy that I didn't have four years ago, when I was injured, that feeling of wanting it so badly. And I used that for the performance today. I think it worked, so I'm happy."

In early March, Alysa Liu withdrew from the 2026 World Championships. Although Tennell was the first alternate, she declined the spot and it was passed onto Sarah Everhardt. Following this, many rumours circulated that Bradie would retire from competitive skating. In response to the rumours, she shared on her Instagram story; "I just wanted to address a couple things I see circulating since the Worlds announcement. The decision to give up my spot was my own, and it wasn't one I made lightly. There was much thought and many reasons - I wasn't passed over, and I'm thankfully not injured. Please don't mistake this for a retirement announcement because that's not what this means. They are two entirely different decisions...I'm doing well, and very excited to cheer on the team from afar".

Skating technique Tennell was known for her consistency, jumping proficiency, resiliency, and mental toughness. Figure skater and commentator Tara Lipinski called Tennell "a machine". Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post agreed, stating that "Tennell's gift is her jumping ability". Janes compared Tennell with fellow American skater Mirai Nagasu, stating that although she did not have Nagasu's "explosive aerial capabilities", Tennell was one of the most consistent American skaters in her jumps. She rarely fell in competition, which helped her earn high technical element scores; she credited it to the technique her first coach, Denise Myers, taught her.

Tennell told reporters, "I've never been a nervous competitor". She also said that she enjoyed the challenge of jumps and performing and using the energy of her audience during competition,

Programs Season Short program Free skating Exhibition 2011–12 Anastasia Le Corsaire Paquita 2012–14 Infinity Far and Away The Chieftains Durango Suite We're Getting Married Christmas Through Your Eyes 2015–16 The Storm Tango in Ebony Defying Gravity 2016–17 Remember Me The Mission 2017–18 Taegukgi Cinderella Cinderella

This Is Me

Roots 2018–19 Mechanisms Chronos Cinema Paradiso You Need to Calm Down 2020–21 Restrictus Nuvole bianche 2022–23 Kammermusik Turandot Violin Fantasy on Puccini's Turandot Nessun dorma 2024–25 Lord of the Dance Cry of the Celts Lord of the Dance Breakfast at Tiffany's Breakfast at Tiffany's Moon River Something for Cat 2025–26 No Time to Die

Young and Beautiful The Mission Carlotta Gabriel's Oboe (Whispers in a Dream) Miserere Falls Asunción On Earth as It Is in Heaven Young and Beautiful

Mechanisms Chronos

Competitive highlights

Detailed results

Senior level

Junior level