PHOTO: Annie Huang of Newton is heading to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships with her skating partner, Simon Mintz. Photo by Melanie Heaney
Annie Huang, a junior at Newton North High School, will be going to the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January in Wichita, Kansas.
She and her skating partner, Simon Mintz of Lexington, earned their spot at the championship by placing in the top five at the U.S. Ice Dance final in Texas in November, under the training of coaches Dmitri Boundoukin and Svetlana Kulikova.
This is Huang’s first time at the championships.
“I’m really excited that we made it, because this was our goal for the season, and I think it’ll be a great experience,” Huang said.
It wasn’t easy to get there. They are competing at the novice level, which was a crowded competition field this year. The season started with 18 pairs, and there were 14 pairs competing at the US Ice Dance final. Huang and Mintz only began skating with each other this season, after both having had other skating partners.
“We clicked pretty fast,” she said.
Next year they can choose to stay at the novice level or move up to the junior level.
Huang’s dream is to represent the United States at the Junior Grand Prix. The junior level is more challenging, but Huang and Mintz have proven an ability to rise to challenges: in addition to their top 5 ice dance place, they also won a silver medal at the Chesapeake Open in June, a pewter medal at the Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships in July, and a gold medal at the Challenge Cup in September.
One reason this is especially impressive is because unlike a lot of teenage skaters, Huang and Mintz aren’t homeschooled. (Mintz is a junior at Lexington High School).
“Skating is a really time demanding sport, and it can be hard trying to balance school and skating,” said Huang. “A lot of people choose to homeschool, especially because when other people are at school, the ice is free.”
But she didn’t consider it.
“I really love interacting with people, and I don’t think it would be for me,” she said.
Huang belongs to the Skating Club of Boston, where she also does Theatre on Ice, another kind of competitive skating that merges elaborate skating choreography with theatrical elements. She has been on the Theatre on Ice team for four years. There are two aspects of the competition. One is choreographic exercise, where the skaters are expected to wear minimal, all black attire and where the goal is to show off skating ability. But the other is free dance, where costumes –and props! – are part of the competition.
“We try to tell a story through skating,” said Huang. The team is large, having 26 members.
“I love to do it with my friends.”
Huang also loves getting to travel: her team went to Bordeaux, France this year for the Nation’s Cup.
They also won a gold medal.
Huang started skating at age 4, after having done a lot of different activities in elementary school. She did ballet for 12 years and also tried out swimming and tennis.
“One Christmas we went to the tree lighting in Boston, and I saw the Skating Club of Boston at the Frog Pond, and I thought, ‘that’s so cool! I want to do that someday!’,” she said.
The Skating Club of Boston has operated the ice rink at the Frog Pond since 2010, and they have demonstrations of various kinds of skating at the tree lighting and on New Years Eve.
This year there will be two Skating Spectaculars on Dec. 31, at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Another Newtonian, Brendan Man, will also be competing at the Wichita championship, in the junior men’s category.