Bradie Tennell Shaping Her Own Skating Future

Above: Bradie Tennell competes at the Shanghai Trophy, where she captured the silver medal. Photo Credit: Getty Images
By Troy Schwindt

It’s Saturday afternoon and 2018 Olympian Bradie Tennell is preparing to jump on a train near her West Orange, New Jersey, apartment and ride into New York City for an adventure.

“It’s been fun to explore somewhere I’ve always admired,” the 26-year-old Tennell, who grew up and trained in the Chicago area, said. “I’m a huge nerd as far as movies and stuff and I like going to places I’ve read about or watched on TV.”

Unashamedly a tourist, Tennell has been to the top of the Empire State Building after reading some of Rick Riordan’s acclaimed “Percy Jackson” series, where the landmark building is the entrance to Mount Olympus, home of the Greek gods. She’s stopped by the diner where they filmed the iconic movie When Harry Met Sally and got to check out an apartment building shown in the “Friends” sitcom.

Last Fourth of July, she took her mom, Jean, to the Big Apple, which included stops uptown and in the downtown financial district.

“If I see something cool, I’ll stop and take a picture of it,” Tennell said. “I’ve always loved New York, always loved that there’s mountains nearby and if you drive an hour and a half south there are beaches. You basically have everything here. It’s been so much fun to just hop on the train and get off at Penn Station and have your entire world opened up.”

This is the life that Tennell has embraced as she attempts a comeback following a devastating ankle injury — her second in three years — on Halloween last year. The two-time U.S. champion (2018, ’21) is back training full time at Codey Arena in West Orange, feeling 100% healthy, with her first ISU Grand Prix Series event this week at Skate America in Allen, Texas.

As with her New York state of mind, Tennell is undertaking this latest challenge on her own. While still coached by Benoit Richaud and childhood coach Jeremy Allen via FaceTime, phone calls and strategically planned visits, Tennell is living and training by herself.

“I’m still hyper-competitive,” Tennell said. “I think I found a different kind of joy in skating now. It’s like this time, I didn’t have to come back. It was hard. Coming back is always hard, but to be on the way back up last year and having my first two competitions go well and being so excited for the Grand Prix Series, then suddenly, oh, your season is all over in a blink of an eye because you tripped funny — that was devastating.”

Tennell checks in with her coaches daily, reporting on her progress. But she holds herself accountable.

“I feel like I still have a lot to accomplish in this sport, but I’m now doing this because I love it, and I feel like it’s what I was meant to do,” she said. “I feel like I have matured a lot, and I am doing this for no other reason but that I want to. Nobody is here every day waiting for me at the rink. Nobody is there pushing me to run my programs, run sections, make me practice my spins, or telling me you need to do your footwork one more time. It all comes from inside. I’m the driving force behind me.”

After missing a chance to qualify for the 2022 Olympics because of a (right) foot and ankle injury that hampered her for months leading up to the U.S. Championships and that was never correctly diagnosed, Tennell felt she was in a good place last fall, with Cup of China was just a few days away.

“It wound up being the morning of Halloween,” Tennell recalled. “It started out as a normal day; I’m warming up my step sequence, listening to Taylor Swift, and suddenly, I’m on the ice with excruciating pain in my [left] leg. I didn’t even realize at the time that I had broken it. I thought it was a high ankle sprain, but no it was broken.” 

The injury put Tennell rink side from Oct. 31 through March. But unlike the uncertainty with her first foot and ankle injury, x-rays clearly showed the damage. It wasn’t a clean break. It was cracked — a spiral oblique fracture — meaning the break spiraled and splintered across the bone. The injury required doctors to insert a four-inch plate in the skater’s ankle area.

“I had a big plate, five screws and I was in a cast for a while,” Tennell said. “I then had a walking boot. I had to eventually get the plate out, because I felt my range of motion was limited with the plate and it was causing tendon irritation; I couldn’t get full extension through my foot by pushing off the floor. It was a strange healing process, because I wound up having two surgeries.”

Tennell credited her physical therapist with getting her back in “fighting form.”

“I don’t think the recovery process would have been as smooth and quick If I had another PT,” said Tennell, who also happens to be studying kinesiology at a nearby college.

With those injuries now in the rearview mirror, Tennell is excited about her current training home and what the future holds. She loves her home rink because of the friendly people there and a big window that lets the sunlight in.

“It makes such a big difference,” she said. “Growing up I would get to the rink in the dark and leave in the dark.”

She found New Jersey after returning to the United States in April 2023, having spent about a year training under Richaud in France. After coming home to Chicago, Tennell traveled to New Jersey for a choreography session with Richaud and while there reaffirmed her love for the East Coast.

Looking back at the past few years, Tennell thinks the injuries and her recovery have played a role in how she approaches her training now.

“The last three years have been probably the hardest of my life in terms of sport,” Tennell said. “Struggling so much and going through all these challenges and trials have just given me a much greater sense of appreciation for what my body is capable of. … I think I’ve gone through a lot of personal growth as well and kind of found a different level of confidence that I had before in myself. For me now, it’s all about celebrating the baby steps which can lead to achieving the big goals.”

Allen defines Tennell as “grit and grace.”

“Bradie and I work together not as student and coach, but as old friends who have each other’s backs no matter what,” Allen said. “I have so much respect for her continuous drive and resilience in the face of so many setbacks over the years. This girl is not someone who you ever count out. She’s even more determined and technically better than before the injury. Some time off and a gradual return to skating has brought out the best in her. I can’t wait for people to see her in her best form over the next year and a half as the Olympics draw near.”

Tennell is excited, she said, to compete at Skate America. It will be her fifth time at the Grand Prix Series event. Ironically, the first time she competed at Skate America was during Thanksgiving weekend 2017 when she burst onto the scene to win the bronze medal. Tennell went on to win the U.S. title the next month and qualify for the Olympics, where she placed ninth and earned an Olympic team event bronze medal. A month later she finished sixth at Worlds.

“It’s a big honor and responsibility to represent the U.S. at international competitions,” Tennell said. “That is something I take seriously. You just have to find those internal motivators.

“I’m excited to visit Texas and skate there. I’ve never been to Texas before. I’ve had this goal since I was a little kid; I’ve wanted to skate in every state, so I get to cross Texas off my list.”

Don't miss Bradie Tennell when she competes at 2024 Skate America this week. For tickets, results, how to watch information and more, visit 2024skateamerica.com.