Brian Johnson (figure skater)

Brian Johnson (born November 5, 1995) is an American pair skater. With Jessica Calalang, he is the 2020 U.S. national silver medalist and a two-time Challenger series medalist, including gold at the 2019 CS Warsaw Cup.

Brian Johnson
Calalang / Johnson at 2019 Skate America
Personal information
Country represented United States
Born (1995-11-05) November 5, 1995
Royal Oak, Michigan
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
PartnerJessica Calalang
Former partnerChelsea Liu, Aya Takai, Caroline Yu
CoachTodd Sand, Jenni Meno
Former coachJason Dungjen, Sergei Petrovski, Yuka Sato, Linda Johns
ChoreographerRenée Roca, Pasquale Camerlengo
Skating clubDetroit SC
Training locationsAliso Viejo, California
Lake Forest, California
Former training locationsBloomfield Hills, Michigan
Began skating2001
ISU personal best scores
Combined total196.15
2020 Four Continents
Short program68.20
2019 CS Warsaw Cup
Free skate128.39
2020 Four Continents

Earlier in his career, he skated with Chelsea Liu, winning two medals on the ISU Challenger Series. They also competed together at one ISU Junior Grand Prix Final and two World Junior Championships.

Personal life

Brian Johnson was born November 5, 1995 in Royal Oak, Michigan.[1] His parents, James and Nancy, work in the automotive industry.[2] In 2014, he graduated from Detroit Country Day School.[2]

Career

Early years

Johnson began skating in 2001.[1] In the 2011–12 season, he competed with Caroline Yu, winning bronze on the intermediate level at the U.S. Junior Championships.

During the next two seasons, he competed with Aya Takai. The pair placed 11th at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. They were coached by Jason Dungjen, Sergei Petrovski, Yuka Sato, and Linda Johns in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.[3]

Partnership with Liu
Liu / Johnson at the 2015 World Junior Championships

Johnson teamed up with Chelsea Liu in May 2014.[2] They are coached by Todd Sand and Jenni Meno in Orange County, California.[4]

During the 2014–15 JGP series, Liu/Johnson won a bronze medal in Dresden, Germany and placed fourth in Zagreb, Croatia. Their results gave them a spot at the 2014–15 JGP Final in Barcelona, Spain, where the pair finished sixth. After winning the junior silver medal at the 2015 U.S. Championships, they were assigned to the 2015 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. The pair placed 5th in the short program, 8th in the free skate, and 7th overall.

Competing in the 2015–16 JGP series, Liu/Johnson placed 8th in Linz, Austria and 5th in Toruń, Poland. Ranked fifth in both segments, the pair finished fifth at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary.

Partnership with Calalang

2018–19 season

Johnson partnered with Jessica Calalang in early April 2018.[5] They debuted internationally on the Challenger series at the 2018 CS Autumn Classic International, where they placed fourth. In November, they won bronze at the 2018 CS Tallinn Trophy.

Debuting at senior Nationals at the 2019 U.S. Championships, they placed fifth.

2019–20 season

After placing sixth at the 2019 CS U.S. Classic, Calalang/Johnson were selected to make their Grand Prix debut, placing fourth at the 2019 Skate America and sixth at 2019 Skate Canada International. At Skate America, they placed ahead of reigning U.S. national champions Cain/LeDuc.[6][7]

After competing at a second Challenger event, the 2019 CS Warsaw Cup, where they won the gold medal, Calalang/Johnson competed at the 2020 U.S. Championships. They were fourth in the short program after Johnson fell on a downgraded triple Salchow attempt.[8] Skating cleanly in the free skate, they won that segment, receiving an ovation from the audience, and rose to the silver medal place. Johnson remarked that "the amount of audience support at the end of that program was overwhelming. It’s the most amazing thing I have felt on the ice."[9]

Despite being national silver medalists, Calalang/Johnson were not assigned to one of the United States' two pairs berths at the 2020 World Championships in Montreal. Instead, they were sent to the 2020 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, where they placed fourth in the short program after Calalang stepped out of their side-by-side jump attempt.[10] In the free skate, their sole error was Johnson singling a planned triple Salchow, and they placed third in the segment, winning a small bronze medal to finish in fourth place overall. Johnson commented afterward that they had "been together less than two years, but already we are in the last group at the Four Continents with Olympians. I have nothing but hope for the future."[11]

After the split of National Champs Knierim and Knierim, Calalang and Johnson were added to the World Team.[12] The event was later canceled due to COVID-19.

Programs

With Calalang
Season Short program Free skating
2019–2020
[13]
2018–2019
[14]

With Liu
Season Short program Free skating
2017–2018
[2]
2016–2017
[15]
2015–2016
[1]
  • Beauty and the Beast
    by Alan Menken
    choreo. by Renée Roca
2014–2015
[4]
  • Yellow River Concerto: Prelude
    performed by Lang Lang
    choreo. by Christine Binder

With Takai
Season Short program Free skating
2013–2014
[3][16]

Competitive highlights

CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

With Calalang
International[17]
Event 2018–19 2019–20
Four Continents4th
GP Skate America4th
GP Skate Canada6th
CS Autumn Classic4th
CS Tallinn Trophy3rd
CS U.S. Classic6th
CS Warsaw Cup1st
National[14]
U.S. Championships5th2nd

With Liu
International[18]
Event 14–15 15–16 16–17 17–18
CS U.S. Classic3rd
CS Warsaw Cup2nd6th
International: Junior[18]
Junior Worlds7th5th7th
JGP Final6th
JGP Austria8th
JGP Croatia4th
JGP Czech Republic3rd
JGP Germany3rd
JGP Poland5th
National[2]
U.S. Champ.2nd J6th7th
J = Junior level

With Takai
International[19]
Event 2012–13 2013–14
World Junior Champ.11th
Challenge Cup2nd J
National[16]
U.S. Championships4th N7th J
Pacific Coast Sectionals5th N2nd J
Levels: N = Novice; J = Junior

With Yu
National
Event 2011–12
U.S. Junior Championships3rd I
I = Intermediate level
gollark: I like at least having italicization work.
gollark: Like the not very intuitive permissions model, needing you to run a bouncer or something if you want message history, and lack of (generally available) text formatting or file uploads.
gollark: IRC has some problematic flaws.
gollark: And is very annoying when I need to plug something in and transfer files.
gollark: I don't actually know which have no data lines, which does sort of defeat the point.

References
  1. "Chelsea LIU / Brian JOHNSON: 2015/2016". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016.
  2. "Chelsea Liu and Brian Johnson". IceNetwork.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2018.
  3. "Aya TAKAI / Brian JOHNSON: 2013/2014". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 21, 2014.
  4. "Chelsea LIU / Brian JOHNSON: 2014/2015". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 20, 2015.
  5. Rutherford, Lynn (28 November 2018). "Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson: California Pair Dreamin' – and Trainin' Their Butts Off". U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone. U.S. Figure Skating.
  6. Slater, Paula (October 20, 2019). "China's Peng and Jin win first Grand Prix gold at 2019 Skate America". Golden Skate.
  7. Slater, Paula (October 27, 2019). "Boikova and Kozlovskii maintain overnight lead for Skate Canada gold". Golden Skate.
  8. Slater, Paula (January 23, 2020). "Knierim and Knierim lead Pairs at U.S. Nationals". Golden Skate.
  9. Slater, Paula (January 25, 2020). "Knierim and Knierim reclaim U.S. National title in Pairs". Golden Skate.
  10. Slater, Paula (February 6, 2020). "Moore-Towers and Marinaro edge out Chinese in Pairs Short". Golden Skate.
  11. Slater, Paula (February 8, 2020). "Sui and Han bounce back for sixth Four Continents title". Golden Skate.
  12. "Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson added to US World Team". U.S. Figure Skating. February 26, 2020.
  13. "Jessica CALALANG / Brian JOHNSON: 2019/2020". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on October 19, 2019.
  14. "Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson". usfigureskatingfanzone.com. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018.
  15. "Chelsea LIU / Brian JOHNSON: 2016/2017". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 31, 2017.
  16. "Aya Takai & Brian Johnson". IceNetwork.com. Archived from the original on November 4, 2014.
  17. "Jessica CALALANG / Brian JOHNSON". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018.
  18. "Competition Results: Chelsea LIU / Brian JOHNSON". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018.
  19. "Competition Results: Aya TAKAI / Brian JOHNSON". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on March 17, 2016.

Media related to Brian Johnson (figure skater) at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.