Parker Pennington
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Personal Info | ||
| Country: |  United States |
|
| Date of birth: | September 13, 1984 | |
| Height: | 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) | |
| Coach: | Audrey Weisiger, Chris Conte, Ross Lansel, Nick Perna | |
| Former Coach: | Janet Champion, Diana Ronayne, Carol Heiss-Jenkins, Glyn Watts | |
| Choreographer: | Nikolai Morosov, Pasquale Camarlengo | |
| Former Choreographer: | Olga Volochinskaia, Renee Roca | |
| Skating Club: | Washington Skating Club | |
Parker Blair Pennington (born September 13, 1984 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American figure skater. He was the 2001 US Junior National Champion, the 1998 US Novice National Champion, the 1997 US Intermediate National Champion, and the 1996 US Juvenile National Champion. He is the only man to have achieved the distinction of winning Nationals on all those levels.
Contents |
[edit] Personal life
Pennington graduated from Lakewood High School in 2003.[1] His younger brother Colin Pennington also competed as an elite skater and is a former national novice champion.
[edit] Career
Parker Pennington began skating at age three. He has always been a single skater.
In 1995, Pennington won the national title on the Juvenile level. The next year, he won it on the Intermediate level. After failing to make it out of Regionals in 1997 on the Novice level, he won the 1998 Novice national title. This earned him a trip to the Triglav Trophy, his first international event, which he won.
Moving up to Junior, he was given a Junior Grand Prix event in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he placed 4th. He was then given a second, in China, where he placed 9th. He placed 3rd at the World Junior selections competition, a since-discontinued competition that served to pick the US team to the World Junior Championships, earning himself a trip to the 1999 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, which were for the last time being held before Nationals. In later years, Nationals served as the picking grounds for the Junior Worlds team. Pennington placed 16th at Junior Worlds. At the 1999 Nationals, Pennington won the bronze medal on the Junior level.
In 1999, Pennington was given two Junior Grand Prix events and placed 5th at both. He then won his Sectionals and placed 2nd at Nationals, again on the Junior level. This earned him another trip to the Triglav Trophy, where he won his second international gold medal.
In 2000, Pennington won both his Junior Grand Prix events and placed 6th at the Junior Grand Prix Final. At Nationals, he won the gold medal on the Junior level, making him the first and so far only man to win Nationals on all of the following levels: Juvenile, Intermediate, Novice, and Junior.
Pennington was originally scheduled to compete internationally on the Junior Grand Prix in the 2001-2002 season. However, following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the USFSA withdrew all their skaters from the Junior Grand Prix and so Pennington was not able to compete internationally in the fall season. He placed 13th in his senior-level Nationals debut. He earned a trip to the Gardena Spring Trophy, which he won.
In the 2002-2003 season, Pennington won the silver medal at both his events and then won the bronze medal at the Junior Grand Prix Final. He placed 6th at Nationals, earning himself another trip to the World Junior Championships. However, Pennington was forced to withdraw with injury before the event began.[2]
In the 2003-2004 season, Pennington won one Junior Grand Prix event and placed 6th at the other, and did not quality for the Junior Grand Prix Final. He withdrew from the 2004 Nationals with injury.[3]
For the 2004-2005 season, even though he had not competed at Nationals, he was given his first senior international event, the Finlandia Trophy, where he placed 8th. His 16th place finish at Nationals did not earn him an international assignment for the 2005-2006 Olympic season.
His placement of 9th at the 2006 Nationals earned him a trip to the 2006 Nebelhorn Trophy, where he won the silver medal behind Tomas Verner. Due to ISU rules, this medal did not earn Pennington a personal best score and did not put him on the list of seasonal best scores. That year at Nationals, Pennington placed 7th.
[edit] Coaching changes
Pennington was coached by Carol Heiss Jenkins from 1992 through 2003, by Diana Ronayne from 2003 through 2005, and Janet Champion in 2006. In the summer of 2007, he moved to Fairfax, Virginia, to train under Audrey Weisiger. He lives with Tommy Steenberg's family.
For the majority of his career, Pennington has competed out of the Midwestern Section. Following his move to Weisiger, Pennington changed his home club affiliation from the Broadmoor Skating Club to the Washington Skating Club and so competed out of the Eastern Section. Pennington had previously competed out of the Eastern Section in 2003, the only season he represented the Skating Club of New York in national competition.
[edit] Programs
| Season | Short Program | Free Skating |
|---|---|---|
| 2007-2008 | Flamenco a-go-go | Xotika/Cirque Du Soleil (Journey of Man) |
| 2006-2007 | Prelude by Jesse Cook |
Techno Mix - Plunkett and McClean, Chess, and Edwin Barton's “Art on Ice” |
| 2005-2006 | The Firm | Incantations |
| 2004-2005 | Carmen by George Bizet |
"Violin Concerto" by Mendelssohn |
| 2003-2004 | Songs from "A Secret Garden" | "Violin Concerto" by Mendelssohn |
| 2002-2003 | Carmen by George Bizet |
Piano Concerto No. 1 by P. I. Tchaikovski |
[edit] Competitive History
| Event | 1997-1998 | 1998-1999 | 1999-2000 | 2000-2001 | 2001-2002 | 2002-2003 | 2003-2004 | 2004-2005 | 2005-2006 | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Junior Championships | 16th | WD | |||||||||
| U.S. Championships | 1st N. | 3rd J. | 2nd J. | 1st J. | 13th | 6th | WD | 16th | 9th | 7th | 11th |
| Finlandia Trophy | 8th | 2nd | |||||||||
| Nebelhorn Trophy | 2nd | ||||||||||
| Junior Grand Prix Final | 6th | 3rd | |||||||||
| Junior Grand Prix, Poland | 1st | ||||||||||
| Junior Grand Prix, Slovakia | 6th | ||||||||||
| Junior Grand Prix, Italy | 2nd | ||||||||||
| Junior Grand Prix, USA | 2nd | ||||||||||
| Junior Grand Prix, Ukraine | 1st | ||||||||||
| Junior Grand Prix, Czech Republic | 1st | ||||||||||
| Junior Grand Prix, Japan | 5th | ||||||||||
| Junior Grand Prix, Netherlands | 5th | ||||||||||
| Junior Grand Prix, China | 9th | ||||||||||
| Junior Grand Prix, Bulgaria | 4th | ||||||||||
| Gardena Spring Trophy | 1st | ||||||||||
| Triglav Trophy | 1st N. | 1st J. | |||||||||
| Eastern Sectionals | 1st | 2nd | |||||||||
| Midwestern Sectionals | 2nd N. | 1st J. | 3rd J. | 4th | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | ||||
| Southwestern Regionals | 2nd | ||||||||||
| North Atlantic Regionals | 1st | ||||||||||
| Eastern Great Lakes Regionals | 1st N. | 1st J. | 1st |
- N = Novice level; J = Junior level; WD = Withdrew
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Site
- Parker Pennington at the International Skating Union biography page
- Parker Pennington at the United States Figure Skating Association
