U.S. Novice Men's Champion Makes Splash at Junior Grand Prix Final

Austin Kanallakan

December 17, 2005
Article & Photo © J. Barry Mittan 

The 2005 U. S. novice men's champion, Austin Kanallakan, more than accomplished his goals for the first part of the 2005-06 season when he reached the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final in Ostrava in the Czech Republic. "My first goal was just to get a second Junior Grand Prix assignment," he said. "After I got fourth place in Montreal, I got assigned to Poland, then my goal was to get to the Final." The 14-year-old finished second at the Baltic Cup in Gdansk to merit a trip to the Final, where he won the silver medal.

Kanallakan comes from a family of athletes. His father was an All-Star baseball player in high school while his mother played on a national championship volleyball team in college. His older sister, Chelsea, is also a figure skater and now competes in ice dancing. He took to the ice at the age of six when he started playing hockey. "I didn't like hockey so much," he said, "so I only stayed in it for a year. I liked figure skating better because I liked jumping." He landed his first double axel and first triple salchow at ten and quickly learned the remaining triples up to the triple axel. "I'm working on the triple axel in training now," he said. "I hope to have it in my program for Nationals. My main aim for next summer will to be to make it consistent."

He currently uses a triple flip/triple toe combination in the short program and a triple lutz/triple toe in the long. "I used triple lutz/double toe/double loop in one competition, but I get more points for the triple lutz/triple toe," he noted. "I like the new judging system. I think it's much more accurate than the old system. After my first competition this season, we made a lot of changes to the program to get more points."

Kanallakan will be competing in junior men this year at U. S. Nationals and hopes to place in the top four. Before his win in novice last season, he placed second in juvenile in 2001, in the middle of the pack in intermediates in 2002 and 2003, and fifth in Sectionals in novice in 2004. Part of his recent success can be attributed to his move from California in July 2005 to work with Tom Zakrajsek in Colorado Springs after his father got a new job in the area. The talented teen does three or four 45 minute sessions each day on the ice, six days a week plus another hour off ice.

"Austin's really fun to work with," Zakrajsek said. "He really enjoys skating and loves to jump. To be in the JGP Final at 14 was a real accomplishment for him. I was surprised by how quickly he learned the triple-triple combinations. Once he got the technique, it came very quickly for him. I think he'll continue to improve each year as he matures."

Both of his programs are new for this season. Philip Mills choreographed his short program to "Once Upon a Time in Mexico". "I saw the movie and thought it was really cool," Kanallakan said. "I liked the music a lot and so did my choreographer. I like to do programs with country and Western themes. I like Spanish or cowboy themes, especially in my short." Nikolai Morozov choreographed his long program using a modern arrangement of music by Johann Sebastian Bach. Off ice, he mainly listens to Tupak.

He is currently a freshman at Cheyenne Mountain High School, where his favorite subject is English. "I like to write and I like to read," he said. "I read a bunch of different things - science fiction, mysteries, and Japanese comics called manga." He plans to go to college but has no career in mind. After skating, he said, "It would be cool to be a judge. I might like to coach."

Off ice, he enjoys playing video games, snowboarding and playing tennis. He also has fun with his dog, a Kerry blue terrier. His favorite color is orange. "I've worn orange every day for seven years," he said.