Ava Marie Ziegler (born February 28, 2006) is an American

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. She is the

2023 NHK Trophy The 2023 NHK Trophy was the sixth event of the 2023–24 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Towa Pharmaceutical Ractab Dome in Osaka, Japan, from November 24–26. ...

champion and

2022 CS Budapest Trophy The 2022 CS Budapest Trophy was held on October 13–16, 2022 in Budapest, Hungary. It was part of the 2022–23 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, and ice dance. Entries The Inte ...

champion.

Personal life

Ziegler was born on February 28, 2006, in

Morristown Morristown may refer to: Places Canada *Morristown, Nova Scotia (disambiguation) United States * Morristown, Arizona *Morristown, Indiana ** Morristown station (Indiana) *Morristown, Minnesota ** Morristown Township, Rice County, Minnesota *Morris ...

, New Jersey, to parents Ron and Patricia (Mansfield). Her mother is a former competitive figure skater, who finished fifth at the

1995 U.S. Figure Skating Championships The 1995 U.S. Figure Skating Championships took place between February 7 and 11, 1995 in Providence, Rhode Island. Medals were awarded in four colors: gold (first), silver (second), bronze (third), and pewter (fourth) in four disciplines – men ...

, as well as a figure skating coach. She has a younger brother, Ronny. She is a resident of Dover, New Jersey. Ziegler has a

Shepherd A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

- Rottweiler named Duke and a

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

named Cocoa.

Career

Early career

As a juvenile, Ziegler won the pewter medal at the 2019 U.S. Championships. On the junior level, she won the bronze medal at the 2021 U. S. Championship Series. She then went on to win the pewter medal at the 2021 U.S. Junior Championships behind Isabeau Levito,

Kanon Smith Kanon may refer to: Buddhism * Kanon, a Japanese name for Guanyin, a Buddhist spiritual figure Media and literature * ''Kanon'' (video game), a Japanese visual novel by Key, later adapted into anime series * ''Kanon'' (manga), a manga by Chih ...

, and

Clare Seo Clare Seo or Seo Hee-won (; born 17 October 2006) is a Korean-American figure skater. Competing for the United States, she is the 2023 CS Budapest Trophy bronze medalist, 2021 JGP France I bronze medalist, and the 2022 U.S. junior national cham ...

2021–22 season

Ziegler made her international junior debut by winning a gold medal at the 2021 Cranberry Cup. She was given two assignments on the 2021–22 Junior Grand Prix series, and placed sixth at the

2021 JGP Slovakia 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

and seventh at the 2021 JGP Slovenia. She reflected afterward that she had made mistakes on the circuit that she attributed to adjusting to the higher level of competition, but added that "I loved being on the ice with people who were better than me because it pushes me to work harder." At the 2022 U.S. Junior Championships, Ziegler won the silver medal, finishing behind

2022–23 season

Debuting as a senior, Ziegler started her season with a fourth-place finish at the 2022 Philadelphia Summer International. She then made her Challenger series debut at the

, which she won, scoring a new personal best free skate score in the process. Ziegler was not initially given any assignments on the

ISU Grand Prix The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating (known as ISU Champions Series from 1995 to 1997) is a series of senior international figure skating competitions organized by the International Skating Union. The invitational series was inaugurated in 1995, in ...

, but following the withdrawal of fellow American skater Kate Wang from the

2022 Skate Canada International The 2022 Skate Canada International is the second event in the 2022–23 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It will be held at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ontario ...

, she was called up to replace her. Ziegler placed third in the short program, earning a new personal best score, but dropped to fourth place overall after falling twice in the free skate and finishing seventh in the segment. Despite this, she set a new personal best in total score as well. Ziegler then went on to compete at the U.S. Eastern Sectional Championships, where she won the gold medal. At the 2023 U.S. Championships, Ziegler finished ninth after placing eighth in the short program and tenth in the free skate. She closed her season by winning the bronze medal at the 2023 Coupe du Printemps.

2023–24 season

Ziegler began the season by winning the silver medal at the 2023

Cranberry Cup International The Cranberry Cup International is an annual international figure skating competition which is generally held in August in Norwood, Massachusetts, in the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the Un ...

, behind training mate

Lindsay Thorngren Lindsay Thorngren (born December 5, 2005) is an American figure skater. She is the 2022 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb champion and 2022 Challenge Cup silver medalist. She is also the 2022 World Junior bronze medalist, the 2021 JGP France I champion, ...

. She said afterward that she was "super happy with my skates" at the event, adding that there "are things that I can improve throughout the season, but the overall, the competition was successful." Appearing on the Challenger circuit at the

2023 CS Lombardia Trophy The 2023 CS Lombardia Trophy Memorial Anna Grandolfi was held on September 8–10, 2023, in Bergamo, Italy. It was part of the 2023–24 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. ...

, she came sixth, before finishing fifth at the

2023 CS Finlandia Trophy The 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy was held on October 6–8, 2023, in Espoo, Finland. It was part of the 2023–24 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Entries The Internation ...

. For the second consecutive season, Ziegler did not initially receive a

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

assignment, but was invited to attend the

following the withdrawal of German skater Nicole Schott. She placed fifth in the short program after receiving an incorrect edge call on her triple Lutz and an underrotation call on the back half of her jump combination, but won the free skate after landing seven triple jumps, the only error being another call on her Lutz edge. Ziegler's free skate carried her into first place, overtaking Thorngren by less than two points for the gold medal. She set a new American women’s record for fewest appearances needed before winning a Grand Prix, having done so in her second appearance. She became the second American woman to win the NHK Trophy after Gracie Gold who won in 2014. Ziegler said of the result that "this is the moment I do this sport for!"

Programs

Competitive highlights

''GP:

; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix.''

Detailed results

Senior level

''ISU Personal best highlighted in bold.''

Junior level

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ziegler, Ava Marie 2006 births Living people American female single skaters People from Dover, New Jersey Sportspeople from Morristown, New Jersey 21st-century American women