By Susan Wessling                  Photos by Paul Harvath

America’s newest golden girl seemingly has it all. She has a collection of medals from her long career in the competitive figure skating ranks. A top-notch student, she will graduate from Bowling Green State University in May with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts. She also happens to be a stunning beauty, with a dazzling smile and mesmerizing brown eyes.

Don’t let the good looks, athletic accomplishments and academic success fool you. Things have not always come easily to this native of Bowling Green, Ohio. Czisny’s golden climb to the top of the U.S. ranks was often a rocky journey punctuated by hours of hard work.

When the 5-foot-4 Czisny finally broke through and claimed gold at the 2009 U.S. Championships, it was her eighth appearance at nationals at the senior level. In winning the title, the 21-year-old became the oldest first-time U.S. ladies champion since Nancy Kerrigan won the 1993 title at age 23.

“It has sort of sunk in a bit, but it is still hard to grasp because I have worked so long to become a national champion,” Czisny told IFS a few weeks later. “It is also exciting. It stands for all that hard work for all those years; something that I finally achieved.”
 
TOTS ON ICE

Debbie Czisny was an adult skater who took her daughters to the rink with her because they refused to stay home with a babysitter. The fraternal twins — Alissa and Amber — were 18 months old. Thus began the career of Alissa Czisny.

The girls began taking lessons from Julianne Berlin as 11-year-olds. Berlin said she knew very quickly Alissa had what it took to move into the elite ranks. “She never, ever had a problem with making errors or failing. She always took that as a challenge,” Berlin said. “If she had a bad event or competition or did not have a great placement, she took that as a challenge to improve herself.”

Berlin saw Czisny’s attitude as a sign of how motivated she was to succeed. “Of course it was upsetting, but she never let it take away from her motivation or drive,” Berlin said. “She used it as ammunition to learn.”

Czisny said her parents, Debbie and Paul, offered a good perspective on the sport. “When I was young my parents always said, ‘If you do not enjoy it, you do not have to skate anymore,’ but I always enjoyed skating,” Czisny said. “There were a few times when I had disappointment in my career, where I didn’t know if I wanted to continue skating or if I should continue skating. I think I have realized that I do love skating, and I want to see where it takes me in my life.”

THE EARLY YEARS

The first season Czisny experienced a measure of success was as a junior-level skater in 2000-01. Czisny placed first at the Eastern Great Lakes Regionals and at the Midwestern Sectionals that season, earning a berth to the 2001 U.S. Championships at the junior level.

“She was in fifth after the short at nationals I believe,” Berlin said. “Then she came back and won the long program, and pulled up to second [overall]. I still think she should have won the event. She did four or five triples and two double Axels. It was a clean program, and it was really good for a 13-year-old. She was so tiny and she could not have weighed more than 80 pounds.”

It was clear even then that Czisny was an incredible spinner. “She and her sister Amber were always fantastic spinners and [did outstanding] spirals,” Berlin said.

Just one year prior, all of Czisny’s jumps were judged as cheated and she had placed ninth at the junior regional competition. “For the whole next year after that she worked diligently to get them clean,” Berlin recalled. “She just worked so hard. … I pretty much knew then that this girl not only had the mindset and determination to be successful, but that she had the ability as well.”

TWISTS AND TURNS

Czisny made her debut at the senior level at the 2002 U.S. Championships, placing 11th.

On the Junior Grand Prix circuit the next season, Czisny earned two silver medals and a spot in the Junior Grand Prix Final where she finished in fifth. At the 2003 U.S. Championships, Czisny earned a 10-place finish.

Things did not go quite so smoothly the next season. Czisny ranked fifth at her one Junior Grand Prix event and was 12th at nationals in 2004.

At this point her coach did not know what made her young student tick. “Alissa always had this demeanor about her, very quiet and kind of mysterious,” Berlin said. “It was like, ‘What is she thinking about?’

“You know what she was thinking about? She was trying to figure out how to do it, how to become a champion. She was in her brain with the wheels churning, and she was saying, ‘What do I need to do to make this work?’ She was interested in figuring it out.

“It was more for her personal reasons, for her own personal satisfaction. It wasn’t for the fame, glory and recognition. She doesn’t care about those things. They mean nothing to her. Being a champion to her means she succeeded in her mission to figure this out.”

The 2004-05 season started with Czisny, then 17, winning the U.S. Collegiate Championships shortly before entering Bowling Green State University on a full scholarship. Her debut on the senior Grand Prix circuit resulted in a fourth-place finish at Skate America. She was seventh at the 2005 U.S. Championships and sixth at the World Junior Championships.

DIFFERING PATHS

Meanwhile Amber Czisny’s career soon ended. “Amber was injured a lot at the end of her career. She had trouble with her growth plates in her hips and she had trouble with her feet,” her sister explained. “She couldn’t jump anymore without it hurting all the time.”

Both sisters had taken ice dance lessons to be better skaters, and Amber Czisny had hoped to switch to that discipline. At 5-foot-7, it was hard for her to find a partner. “She decided to move on with her life; she didn’t want to wait any longer,” Alissa Czisny said. “Now she is having a blast teaching. She was a dance major in college. She teaches skating, dance and Pilates.”

Alissa Czisny had her own injuries with enlarged bursa on each ankle, a condition that results in swelling and tenderness in the joint. In March of 2005 she took a doctor’s recommendation and made a change to the Jackson hinged boots. 

When Czisny’s U.S. Figure Skating bio was posted that summer, it noted that a future goal was to work at the Olympic Games as a translator. “At that point I hadn’t been successful internationally or even nationally,” Czisny admitted when reminded about that aspiration. “Things changed after that. I realized that it could be a real possibility, that I had the potential to make the Olympics as a competitor.”
In fact, Czisny’s breakout season was just around the corner.

EXPERIENCING SUCCESS

The first half of the 2005-06 season was very successful for Czisny. Although she initially did not have any Grand Prix assignments, she was called in to replace an injured competitor at Skate America and placed second. A few weeks later, she got the nod again when a withdrawal opened up a spot at Skate Canada. She won the title.

“That was an exciting time for me. It was almost like I had been waiting for that,” she said. “A lot of the time [prior to that], I had practiced a lot better than I skated at competitions. That was first time I was really able to compete well internationally.

To have that much success was a bit surprising.

“Then I struggled a little after that with skate issues. That hurt my consistency a little bit. I broke in a new pair of skates after my two Grand Prix events. I could not get them mounted right. When things are off and you lack consistency, it starts playing with your head.”

Czisny, then 18, finished sixth at the Grand Prix Final and was again seventh at nationals and sixth at the World Junior Championships.

The result at the 2006 U.S. Championships was particularly hard to swallow because a podium finish and Olympic berth seemed like real possibilities. Instead, she fell a number of times and her Olympic dream was dashed.

Today Czisny sees a positive side to the situation. “Those nationals were disappointing for me because I had wanted to make the Olympics that year,” she said. “But that gave me an opportunity to stick around in my skating career, and I think I have learned so much from that point.”

NEW COLLABORATIONS

That summer Czisny began working with Canadian choreographer David Wilson. “My first impression of Alissa was that she hid behind her smile. She was one of those girls with a beautiful smile who was always present, but the other layers of her emotions and her personality … I felt like she was keeping them for herself,” Wilson said.

Once again, Czisny’s career path was a winding one. In the fall of 2006, she placed fourth and ninth, respectively, at her two Grand Prix events.

At the 2007 U.S. Championships, Czisny had an early miscue in her short program and was fifth after that segment of the event. That evening she went to the Tom Collins reception and spent time talking to 1988 Olympic champion Brian Boitano, who gave her some helpful advice.

Czisny later said her goal for her “Sabrina” long program, choreographed by Wilson, was to entertain the audience and judges. “David and Kurt Browning have helped me this year in the development of my presentation and expression,” she wrote in her online journal that season. “I watched many of Audrey Hepburn’s films … to help with that also. After my skate, I had a hard time holding back tears. I had skated an almost perfect program to win the long program.”

Wilson said he loves her skating style because it is uncluttered. “It is hard to define,” he explained. “She just floats and is capable of making something of the most subtle expression, which I am really attracted to as a choreographer.”

Czisny’s stunning performance lifted her onto the podium as the bronze medalist. She made her debut at Four Continents and the senior World Championships that year and placed fifth and 15th, respectively.

The exposure gave her some new opportunities, including being invited to join the now-defunct Champions on Ice tour. “It was a lot of fun,” Czisny said. “When you are on tour as a skater, you really have to perform well under all circumstances. There are days when you are sick or you are just tired from doing so many shows, but every day you have to go out and try to perform your best no matter what the circumstances.

“It also was a little bit difficult because the tour went a bit into the next season, so I wasn’t able to start preparing [as early as usual].”

A TEAM APPROACH

That summer she also worked on changing her jump technique with the help of Boitano and his long-time coach Linda Leaver. Yuka Sato and Natalia Deller are also in Czisny’s stable of coaches.

Berlin believes using other people’s expertise can only help Czisny in the long run. “Not one person has all the answers,” Berlin said. “There are a lot of people out there that have great ideas and that can give her great input.”  

In the short-term, it took Czisny some time to become more secure in her jumping technique. At the same time, some young upstarts were making their presence felt. At the 2008 U.S. Championships, a trio of teenagers stood on the U.S. podium. Mirai Nagasu, then 14, won the title.

Czisny’s ninth-place finish at that year’s nationals was a disappointment, but she managed to keep it in perspective. “I almost felt like I was not ready that whole season. I think at nationals, all the newcomers were quite young, and I was quite old even though I was only 20,” she said with a hint of sarcasm. “But I also knew that I wasn’t too old and that our sport wasn’t just for teenagers.”

That spring Jackson worked with the 2007 U.S. bronze medalist to develop a regular boot for her to wear. “[Continuing to] work with Linda and Brian brought a stronger precision to her technique,” Berlin said. “That gave her something to really be secure with as far as the timing and placement of her body positions. It reinforced a very secure technique [which helped] as did getting her back into a standardized boot that had more ankle support. When an Olympic champion tells you to do this, you [say], ‘OK, I will do it.’”

The summer of 2008 was a good one for Czisny who competed in a few competitions and fared well. “She just really came back strong and wanting to be successful,” Berlin said. “She was really confident in her programs.”
That translated to claiming a bronze medal at Skate Canada and finishing fourth at Cup of Russia.

PERSEVERANCE PAYS OFF

Going into nationals, Czisny didn’t worry about placement. She stormed out of the gate in Cleveland with a stunning short program that put her in first place. “I was pleasantly surprised with how I ended up. It was a little bit disconcerting I guess to be in first. It was exciting, but I was trying not to focus on that,” Czisny admitted. “I was trying to focus on doing my job for the long program.”

A few technical mistakes in the long program put the final result in question. “Even after I missed the jumps, I was trying to focus on getting as many points as possible,” she said.

When her scores and placement flashed on the overhead board, Czisny felt a sense of relief. “I was just so happy to have finally won after all those years of competing at the event,” she said.

Even with a fall and landing just three triples in her long program, Berlin felt her student deserved the title. “No one can take away the medal and no one can downplay it. She had components way beyond everybody else and a short program way beyond everyone else,” Berlin stressed.

While Czisny rose to glory, many of the young teens who had experienced success one year before had their difficulties. Czisny’s advice to them: “One disappointment does not have to be the end of their career. It doesn’t mean they are a bad skater now. I think that is something we learn in life too. Things do not come easily. You have to work hard. Remember you can learn as much from your disappointments as your successes.”

A COMEBACK STORY

Wilson was thrilled with Czisny’s victory. “I love a comeback story,” he said. “There were probably a certain amount of people who had thought she might have drifted off after last year’s disappointments. To see that her drive stayed intact and to see it almost increase was great.

“She had to be the one to say, ‘No, I am not going to give up.’ She still felt like she had something to do. When that is the case, then I jump right on board. I love that, the human spirit thing.”

Simply put, Wilson said, Czisny is special. “To me she is one of those girls who is almost iconic. She has an iconic beauty and her presence on the ice is so memorable,” he said. “She has been graced by the gods. It is not just a physical beauty. She has this wonderful spirit that shines through. There is a real goodness about Alissa.”

At the 2009 World Championships, Czisny placed 11th. There is no doubt that result will not get the vivacious young woman down. Czisny, who turns 22 on June 25, hopes to earn a berth to the 2010 Olympic Games. “I would love to medal at the Olympics and then I would love to tour,” she said.

However, if Czisny’s U.S title is her highest career achievement, that will be OK too. “I could really say I tried my best to become the best that I could be,” she said. “I really persevered through all the disappointments and I didn’t give up.”