Katy Taylor

Katy Lynn Taylor (born October 22, 1989) is an American former competitive figure skater. She is the 2006 Four Continents Champion and 2004 Junior World bronze medalist. She was an alternate to the 2006 Winter Olympic team after finishing fourth at the 2006 United States Figure Skating Championships.

Personal life Taylor was born in Houston, Texas, to Keith and Tammy Taylor. Her father owns and operates a wholesale floral business. She has one older brother, Brennan. When she was four years old, Taylor told her parents she wanted to be a "pretty famous ice skater."

She attended Mayde Creek Junior High School and Mayde Creek High School. While in school, Taylor was a member of the National Honor Society and the student council and won the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence. Taylor was also a member of the 2007 State Farm/U.S. Figure Skating Scholastic Honors Team. She graduated from high school in 2008.

Skating career

Early career Taylor began skating one week before her sixth birthday. Taylor was then named to the team for the Triglav Trophy, where she won the silver medal on the novice level.

2003–2004 and 2004–2005 seasons

During the 2003–2004 season, Taylor moved up to the junior level. She won a silver medal at her first Junior Grand Prix event in Bratislava, Slovakia. In her next Junior Grand Prix event in Japan, she finished fourth. She ended the competition in ninth place after popping a triple Lutz and falling on a triple Salchow.

2005–2006 season In the fall of 2005, Taylor competed on the Junior Grand Prix again. She finished fourth at the event in Slovakia and second at the event in Bulgaria.

In January 2006, Taylor competed at the 2006 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. She placed seventh in the short program after singling the second part of her triple Lutz-double toe combination. In the long program, she skated to the Forrest Gump Suite and had the third highest technical score (54.21). She ended the competition in fourth place after finishing third in the long program. Her final score was 152.54. After the competition, she was named to the Junior World team. Taylor later dropped out of Junior Worlds after she had skate problems.

After the National Championships, Taylor competed at the Four Continents Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado, her first senior international event. She won the gold medal after finishing second in both the short program and the long program. During the short program competition, Taylor had to deal with a power outage in the arena that caused a 15-minute delay in the event. She still earned a personal best in the short program. In the long program, Taylor landed five triple jumps, including a triple Lutz at the end of the program. Her only major error was popping a triple loop. Before Skate America, Taylor broke in a new pair of skates, which caused her a lot of pain. She remained in eleventh, and last, place after the long program. A week later, Taylor finished last in the field of 12 at Skate Canada. Taylor believed that her poor results on the Grand Prix series were the result of training, equipment, and personal problems.

Taylor's next competition was the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Washington. Before the competition began, she said that she had resolved the personal and boot problems that had bothered her during the Grand Prix events. Legends of the Fall by James Horner "Happy Feet" arranged by John Altman, from Shall We Dance? "Themes and Variations"by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 2005–2006

Forrest Gump Suiteby Alan Silvestri "Perfect Day" by Hoku 2004–2005 "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini"by Sergei Rachmaninoff "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack "Soak Up the Sun" by Sheryl Crow 2003–2004 Irish medley by Leahy Lakefield American medley "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International Event 03–04 04–05 05–06 06–07 Four Continents Champ. 1st Skate America 11th Skate Canada 12th Nebelhorn Trophy 3rd International: Junior or novice World Junior Champ. 3rd Final 4th Bulgaria 2nd Germany 3rd Hungary 3rd Japan 4th Slovakia 2nd 4th National U.S. Championships 2nd J 9th 4th 8th