The 1997 U.S. Figure Skating Championships took place between February 8 and February 16, 1997, in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. The primary venue was the

Nashville Arena Bridgestone Arena (originally Nashville Arena, and formerly Gaylord Entertainment Center and Sommet Center) is a multi-purpose venue in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Completed in 1996, it is the home of the Nashville Predators of ...

and the secondary was the

Nashville Municipal Auditorium The Nashville Municipal Auditorium is an indoor sports and concert venue in Nashville, Tennessee. It opened October 7, 1962 with both an arena and exhibition hall. The former exhibition hall has been permanent home to the Musicians Hall of Fame ...

. Skaters competed in five disciplines across three levels. The disciplines of the competition were men's singles, ladies' singles,

pair skating Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

, and

compulsory figures Compulsory figures or school figures were formerly a segment of figure skating, and gave the sport its name. They are the "circular patterns which skaters trace on the ice to demonstrate skill in placing clean turns evenly on round circles". For ...

. The levels of competition were Senior, Junior, and Novice. Medals were awarded in four colors: gold (first), silver (second), bronze (third), and pewter (fourth). In the figures event, the novice competitors skated one figure, and the juniors and seniors skated three. The event served to help choose the U.S. team to the 1997 World Championships. The 1997 World Junior Championships had been held prior to the national championships and so the World Junior Championships team had been chosen at a World Juniors selection competition earlier in the year.

Senior results

Men

Michael Weiss attempted to become the first American to land the

quad Quad as a word or prefix usually means 'four'. It may refer to: Government * Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States * Quadrilateral group, an informal group which inc ...

toe loop The toe loop jump is the simplest jump in the sport of figure skating. It was invented in the 1920s by American professional figure skater Bruce Mapes. The toe loop is accomplished with a forward approach on the inside edge of the blade; the skat ...

and was initially believed to have been successful but three hours after the competition,

U.S. Figure Skating U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee "USOPC" under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act an ...

ruled the jump had been two-footed and did not ratify it.

Ladies

World Champion Michelle Kwan was the frontrunner but had a free skating where she fell twice and landed three clean triples. Lipinski won the title and became the youngest U.S. ladies' champion, ahead of

Sonya Klopfer Sonya Klopfer (married name: Dunfield, born December 26, 1934) is an American former competitive figure skater and coach. She is a two-time World medalist ( bronze in 1951, silver in 1952) and the 1951 U.S. national champion. Personal life ...

who won the title in 1951 at the age of 15. She also performed the first triple loop-triple loop combo ever in her free skating.

Pairs

Ice dancing

Junior results

Men

Ladies

Pairs

Ice dancing

Novice results

Men

Ladies

Pairs

Ice dancing

Figures results

Senior men

Senior ladies

Junior men

Junior ladies

Novice men

Novice ladies

References

External links

1997 U.S. Championships
2009-07-21) {{1996–97 in figure skating U.S. Figure Skating Championships United States Figure Skating Championships, 1997 United States Figure Skating Championships, 1997 February 1997 sports events in the United States Sports competitions in Nashville, Tennessee