Ellie Kam

Ellie Kam
O'Shea/Kam at the 2023 Four Continents Championships
Born	(2004-12-20) December 20, 2004 (age 19) Yokota Air Base
Hometown	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Height	1.52 m (5 ft 0 in)
Figure skating career
Country	United States
Partner	Danny O'Shea
Coach	Drew Meekins, Sandy Straub
Skating club	Thunderbirds FSC
Medal record Representing  United States Figure skating: Pairs Four Continents Championships 2024 Shanghai Pairs

Ellie Kam (born December 20, 2004) is a Japanese-born American pair skater. With her current skating partner, Danny O'Shea, she is the 2024 Four Continents bronze medalist, 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy gold medalist, and 2024 U.S. national champion.

Skating career

Early years

Kam trained as a pair skater. With partner Ian Meyh she qualified for the 2022 U.S. Junior Championships, but they subsequently withdrew. Their partnership ended in mid-2022, after having competed in senior-level club competitions twice. She would later characterize her work with Meyh as "an amazing experience," adding "I learned everything, pairs-wise, with Ian."^[1]

2022–23 season

Kam formed a new partnership with veteran pair skater Danny O'Shea, who had previously been acting as an advisor at her camp. They had initially begun skating together at her coach's suggestion as a way to keep her skills practised.^[1] In the fall, they made their international debut at the 2022 Ice Challenge and won the gold medal in the pairs competition. They then made their Challenger debut at the 2022 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, winning the silver medal.^[2]

Kam/O'Shea competed next at the 2023 U.S. Championships, where they placed third in the short program.^[3] They opened their free skate with Kam falling on their triple twist, but still managed to place third in that segment as well, winning the bronze medal. Kam called the experience "quite the whirlwind."^[4]

Having reached the national podium, Kam/O'Shea were assigned to make their ISU championship debut together at the 2023 Four Continents Championships, held in their home training location of Colorado Springs. O'Shea considered this "pretty special."^[5] They placed seventh in the short program, but a fifth-place free skate moved them up to sixth overall.^[6][7] Kam/O'Shea finished the season at the 2023 World Championships in Saitama, where they finished twelfth.^[8]

2023–24 season

Kam/O'Shea began the season with a victory at the 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy.^[9] They were invited to make their Grand Prix debut at the 2023 Grand Prix de France, and finished fifth in the short program, but had to withdraw after Kam suffered an injury in training.^[10] Despite this, Kam/O'Shea were able to attend their second Grand Prix, the 2023 Grand Prix of Espoo, coming sixth.^[11]

At the 2024 U.S. Championships, Kam/O'Shea finished second in the short program with a score of 64.57, with Kam having struggled on the throw landing and O'Shea two-footing his jump. Segment leaders Chan/Howe withdrew in advance of the free skate, leaving Kam/O'Shea the de facto first-place finishers heading into that segment. They were second in the free skate behind Efimova/Mitrofanov, but won their first national title by 0.85 points. O'Shea enthused that "being first is amazing," while noting there was room to improve on their performance, in particular continued difficulties with throw landings.^[12]

Kam/O'Shea had already been named to the American team for the 2024 Four Continents Championships in advance of the national championships, due to the events being separated by less than a week.^[13] Traveling to Shanghai for the competition, they finished fourth in the short program despite Kam's throw fall, before a second-place free skate lifted them to the bronze medal, their first international championship podium as a team. Kam noted that the turnaround between the events was such that she did not feel their national gold had "sank in yet."^[14]

In the short program at the 2024 World Championships in Montreal, Kam fell on their throw triple loop, but the team was otherwise clean and they came tenth in the segment. O'Shea said that it was "nice to see that with a fall – a fairly large mistake – we still get a season-best. That means the other things we’ve been working on are improving and the judges are starting to see that piece as well."^[15] Difficulties with jumps and throws continued in the free skate, and Kam/O'Shea dropped to eleventh overall.^[16]

Programs

With O'Shea

Competitive Highlights

With O'Shea

Detailed results

With O'Shea

References

External links

• Ellie Kam / Danny O'Shea at the International Skating Union