Parkite Chase Rohner and Idaho native Jasmine Robertson took third place at the International Skating Union Junior Grand Prix Riga Cup in Latvia last weekend.
Rohner said the win was exciting as it was the pair’s international debut.
“It was very exciting to be competing against so many new teams and it was a lot of fun,” he said.
Robertson agreed, saying although the performance was nerve-racking, the experience overall was great. She also loved leaving the U.S. for the first time and experiencing a new country.
Unlike other skating teams, 17-year-old Rohner and Robertson, who is 16, haven’t been skating together long. The pair teamed up in January of this year at the suggestion of Robertson’s coach.
Robertson said she didn’t have a partner last year and therefore couldn’t compete.
“I was very bored. It's hard to continue skating without a goal,” Robertson said. “When I partnered with Chase, and now that we're competing together, I have this feeling when I'm there on the ice that I'm meant to be there and I'm meant to perform.”
Rohner, who started skating at age 2, said he hasn’t always liked performing, but teaming up with Robertson is changing that.
“I like more technical steps and footwork type things more than performing, but I think this season that's starting to change just a little bit,” he said.
The Riga Cup was the first stop on the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series, which features up-and-coming figure skaters aged 13 to 19 from around the world. The skaters compete in seven events, culminating in a Grand Prix final where the top six skaters and couples in each discipline face off.
Rohner and Robertson are among 11 junior skaters representing U.S. Figure Skating during the series. Robertson is the first figure skater from Idaho to make Team USA, and Rohner is the seventh in Utah, following big names like 2022 Olympic champion Nathan Chen.
The pair competes in ice dance, which Robertson said focuses on skating in unison rather than performing jumps.
“There's a lot more character and like aesthetics involved,” she said. “We do do a lot of cool tricks and stuff like that, but the overall theme is to look good, do it well and perform for the audience.”
Rohner added it’s more technical than other skating disciplines and more focused on turns.
“It's a lot more focused on which edges of the skates you're on, like inside or outside, being very precise with that and the placement of your feet,” he said.
The pair will compete again at the third stop in the Grand Prix series in Varese, Italy, Sept. 3-6. Rohner said he and Robertson are preparing as much as they can.
“Coming out of doing well in Latvia, it's a little bit of a confidence booster,” he said. “We’re just trying to maintain the same level of precision in our run-throughs in practice, and just keep it up for Italy.”
Skaters can earn points in a maximum of two events in the Grand Prix series. Depending on how many points Rohner and Robertson get in Italy, they could qualify for the final in December.
