Karen Chen: Future of US skating perhaps?

I recently discovered another upcoming young skater. Her name is Karen Chen. She is the current US novice champion. She has beautiful spins, solid jumps, and good speed. It's too early to name her the next big star of US skating (we had too many of that before) but I see great potential.

Here are some clips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnoKrLokDEs (Her FS)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPJlcb7w83g (SP, love this performance especially the beautiful spiral sequence)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9Y-bzrkJlU (Exhibition, love the fans!)


http://gokarenchen.wordpress.com/ (here is her website, check out her artwork, they are amazing )

http://web.icenetwork.com/skaters/detail.jsp?id=101483&mode=I (Her profile. She lists Mao as one of the skaters she admires. )

Yes, she's great! But she needs to survive puberty, if she'll manage that, I see great things for her. In the beginning I thought she and Nathan Chen (another amazing skater) were siblings, but it turns out they're not related.

Oh my goodness, thanks for sharing those with us, aoi! She's beautiful. I think what impresses me is her presence and connection with the music. And her spins! She has both excellent speed and beautiful positions, and that's a rare gem, indeed!

I hope she doesn't feel too much pressure as the years go on, and as her body changes. She seems a delightful young lady.

I've just discovered Karen Chen recently. Karen, why are you so well-rounded? She skates well and her oil painting is  She skates like Yuna (she jumps without hesitation and her jumps have both good width and good height) but interestingly, she admires Mao. Unfortunately she has to withdraw from GPF due to ankle injury.

pearlyriver wrote:

I've just discovered Karen Chen recently. Karen, why are you so well-rounded? She skates well and her oil painting is  She skates like Yuna (she jumps without hesitation and her jumps have both good width and good height) but interestingly, she admires Mao. Unfortunately she has to withdraw from GPF due to ankle injury.

Yeah, and if she fails of getting the to of the US team, she still can go as a drawing artist! Shes very skilled! She should go to the university of art!

Karen's injured?  I hope she gets better soon!  

pearlyriver wrote:

I've just discovered Karen Chen recently. Karen, why are you so well-rounded? She skates well and her oil painting is  She skates like Yuna (she jumps without hesitation and her jumps have both good width and good height) but interestingly, she admires Mao. Unfortunately she has to withdraw from GPF due to ankle injury.

I was drawn to Karen's JGP performances. My first reaction was just similar as pearlyriver: wow, she's even more like Yuna (plus her FS is Miss Saigon). I even got confused and thought her programs were by D. Wilson (though it turns out that they are not by Wilson, but I think she should really try to work with Wilson when she's older!) Too bad she has to withdraw from GPF due to the injury. but this is better for her, since she's still young. I prefer Karen over P. Edmond (Karen's GPF replacement, Angela Wang is also pretty good. Angela's skating really resembles Michelle Kwan though Angela is struggling with consistency). And I hope one day Karen will be able to perform at her home country! (Both her parents are originally from Taiwan, so perhaps she'll consider to come to 4CC at Taipei in 2016?)

Angela Wang's jumps are a bit small for her stature, but otherwise lovely mature skating with good musicality. Interesting to see that USA has so many good Asian American skaters.