Gold, Brown earn bronze at Sears Centre
Chicago area skating phenoms Gracie Gold and Jason Brown earned bronze medals in their respective events at the 2014 Hilton HHonors Skate America competition at the Hoffman Estates' Sears Centre Arena over the weekend.
Gold, 19, who is the U.S. ladies champion, finished third in the Skate America women's competition on Sunday behind two-time world junior champion Elena Radionova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva of Russia.
“I just feel I'm on the brink of breaking into that gold and silver medal,” said Gold, who took fourth at the Sochi Olympics in February and fifth at the world championships.
Brown, from Highland Park, fell while performing a triple axel and also came away in third when he performed on Friday.
It was an especially difficult start for Brown, 19, even with the home crowd cheering him on. He drew attention with a silver medal at the U.S. championships in January, right before the Olympics. That and his ponytail make him one of the most recognizable competitors in skating.
Before he took the ice, Brown tweeted to his more than 45,000 Twitter followers that all of the stuffed animals they threw onto the ice after his routine would be donated to the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
The Sears Centre crowd of 2,378 pelted the ice with hundreds of fuzzy stuffed animals.
“There are literally no words to describe my gratitude & thanks in regards to everyone's contributions,” Brown posted on his Twitter feed Sunday night along with a video of his fans tossing their toys.
Gold, who used to train in the Chicago suburbs before moving to Los Angeles to work with coach Frank Carroll, said she loved being back in the Chicago area.
“Just looking in the crowd I feel like I knew like 70 percent of the audience,” Gold said. “It was really intimidating, and I was a little sick to my stomach with nerves, but it was really exciting. They're always so supportive.”
The competition was the first major skating competition held in the Chicago area since 1946.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report.