Earlier this month, in just her second international competition, U.S. senior women’s figure skater Alexa Gasparotto earned the silver medal at the Tayside Trophy in Dundee, Scotland. Earlier this year in Poland, she became the eighth U.S. woman and first-ever Black woman to land a triple Axel jump in competition.
“As the last couple of months have been going on, I’ve become really confident in my practice and in competition,” said Gasparotto, 22. “For the first time, even though [Tayside] was a big event, it felt like another day of practice. That was a really nice feeling to go into the competition with a confident mindset.”
Even after a shaky short program, her sense of confidence propelled her to success in the free skate, which left her feeling proud. “I pulled everything together when I needed to on cue,” said Gasparotto.
Making her recent success all the more impressive, is that she lost training time from May to August due to problems with her skating boots. She switched skates three times until she felt comfortable. Two events in the National Qualifying Series events got her back in the zone. “Having that under my belt…felt really good,” she said.
She regularly posts videos on social media, landing the triple Axel, the most challenging triple jump to execute. Her goal was to get as comfortable as possible with the jump, and she is definitely feeling more at ease. When she was dealing with equipment problems, Gasparotto spent a lot of time listening to her music and discovering nuances that would allow her to perform. “That work off the ice helped when I was ready to get back on,” she said.
Gasparotto continues to train in Chicago and is now working with coaches Jeremy Allen, Tommy Steenberg, and Denise Myers. Having them push her in different ways has had a positive impact on her skating, saying they understand how to get the best out of her. As of now, her next competition is the Midwestern Sectional competition in November, but it is possible she could receive another international assignment before that.
“I feel like I’m really focusing on everything that I do because I want to do it and I’m happy doing it,” she said. “That changed my whole perspective. I think about the joy behind what I do every day.”