Aimee Buchanan

American-Israeli figure skater
Aimee Buchanan
Born (1993-06-11) June 11, 1993 (age 31)
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Figure skating career
CountryIsrael
CoachPeter and Darlene Cain
Skating clubTeam Cain
Began skating1997
RetiredJune 16, 2019

Aimee Buchanan (born June 11, 1993)[1] is an American-Israeli former competitive figure skater who competed in ladies' singles for Israel.[2][3] She is a two-time Israeli national champion and competed in the team event at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Early life

Buchanan was born and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and subsequently lived in Lexington, Massachusetts, and Euless, Texas.[1][4][5][6] Buchanan's mother Wendy is Jewish and is from Israel, as are both of her maternal grandparents, and Buchanan is and also identifies as Jewish.[7][6] She attended synagogue on the High Holidays and Hebrew school for a few years, before sports became too demanding.[6] She attended Endicott College and the United States Sports Academy, studying for a B.S. in Strength and Conditioning.[8][9] In 2014, she became a dual American-Israeli citizen.[10][2]

Skating career

Buchanan began figure skating at age 4, but she did not start seriously training until age 19.[11] While she lived in Boston, she trained at the Colonial Figure Skating Club in Boxborough, Massachusetts, with coaches Julie Graham-Eavzan and Chad Brennan, while her programs were choreographed by former Olympian Sheryl Franks.[12][9] In November 2013, she came in second at the New England Regional Figure Skating Championships Newington, Connecticut.[9]

She relocated to Texas to train with figure skating coaches Peter and Darlene Cain.[7][13]

Buchanan has represented Israel three times at the European Figure Skating Championships, and was the Israeli national ladies champion in 2016.[14] In August 2017, she had foot surgery to remove a bursa sac.[14][10] She was not able to enter the Olympics single women's qualifier competition in Germany in 2017, because the qualifier was scheduled to take place on Yom Kippur.[15]

She competed for Israel at the 2018 Winter Olympics in team figure skating in Pyeongchang, South Korea.[13] Buchanan placed 10th in the woman's short program of the team event with a score of 46.30, an improvement of 1.23 points as compared to her personal best before that program.[16][17] Israel finished in 8th place, ahead of South Korea and France, and did not qualify for the finals of the team event.[16][17]

Buchanan announced her retirement from competitive skating in June 2019 after having three ankle surgeries and two injections to help with injuries. Doctors subsequently advised her against further training at a competitive level.[18]

Programs

Season Short program Free skating
2017–2018
[1]
2016–2017
[19]
  • Mi Mancherai
    performed by Josh Groban
  • Illuminations
    by Secret Garden
2015–2016
[20]
2014–2015
[21]

Results

CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

For Israel

International[22]
Event 14–15 15–16 16–17 17–18
Europeans 31st 31st 38th
CS Finlandia 16th
CS Golden Spin 13th
CS Ice Challenge 11th
CS U.S. Classic 13th 8th 10th
CS Volvo Open 19th 15th
Bavarian Open 18th
Hellmut Seibt 14th
Int. Challenge Cup 15th
Nebelhorn Trophy 16th
Philadelphia 10th 12th
Tallinn Trophy 11th
Toruń Cup 13th
Volvo Open Cup 15th
National[22]
Israeli Champ. 3rd 2nd 1st 1st
Team events
Olympics 8th T
10th P
T = Team result; P = Personal result.
Medals awarded for team result only.

For the United States

National
Event 2011–12
U.S. Championships 19th

Detailed results

Results in the 2017–18 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Aug 3–6, 2017 United States 2017 Philadelphia Summer International 13 42.81 13 68.21 12 111.02
Sep 13–17, 2017 United States 2017 CS U.S. International Classic 10 33.71 9 74.07 10 107.78
Sep 27–30, 2017 Germany 2017 CS Nebelhorn Trophy 30 32.42 – – WD –
Jan 15–21, 2018 Russia 2018 European Championships 38 33.87 – – 38 33.87
Feb 9–12, 2018 South Korea 2018 Winter Olympics (Team event) 10 46.40 – – 8 –
Results in the 2016–17 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Sep 14–18, 2016 United States 2016 CS U.S. International Classic 10 37.82 7 84.70 8 122.52
Oct 6–9, 2016 Finland 2016 CS Finlandia Trophy 15 40.86 17 69.55 16 110.41
Nov 9–13, 2016 Latvia 2016 Volvo Open Cup 17 40.78 12 79.71 15 120.49
Dec 7–10, 2016 Croatia 2016 Golden Spin of Zagreb 17 42.87 13 85.68 13 128.55
Feb 9–12, 2017 Slovakia 2017 European Championships 31 38.49 – – 31 38.49
Feb 14–19, 2017 Germany 2017 Bavarian Open 25 34.81 15 78.89 18 113.70
Feb 23–26, 2017 Netherlands 2017 Challenge Cup 16 42.16 16 75.21 15 117.37
Results in the 2015–16 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Jul 16–19, 2015 United States 2015 Philadelphia Summer International 8 37.56 11 49.20 10 86.76
Sep 16–20, 2015 United States 2015 CS U.S. International Classic 13 42.89 14 73.17 13 116.06
Oct 27–31, 2015 Austria 2015 Ice Challenge 11 45.07 13 77.76 11 112.83
Jan 6–10, 2015 Poland Mentor Toruń Cup 10 44.20 14 78.15 13 122.35
Jan 25–29, 2016 Czech Republic 2017 European Championships 31 38.49 – – 31 38.49
Feb 17–21, 2016 Germany 2016 Bavarian Open 9 43.40 – – WD –
Feb 23–27, 2016 Austria 2016 Hellmut Seibt Memorial 11 45.17 16 71.89 14 117.06
Results in the 2014–15 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Sep 24–27, 2015 Germany 2014 CS Nebelhorn Trophy 16 34.47 15 60.66 16 95.13
Nov 5–9, 2014 Latvia 2014 CS Volvo Open Cup 18 37.61 18 59.60 19 97.21
Dec 3–7, 2014 Estonia 2014 Tallinn Trophy 10 40.35 11 72.66 11 113.01

For the United States

Results in the 2011–12 season 
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Jan 22–29, 2012 United States 2012 U.S. Championships 19 37.77 19 64.12 19 101.89

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Aimee BUCHANAN: 2017/2018". isuresults.com. International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Six Olympians that Texans should keep their eyes on in Pyeongchang". Dallas News. February 3, 2018.
  3. ^ "Texas Connects Us to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games". NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. January 29, 2018.
  4. ^ "Aimee Buchanan - Player Profile - Figure Skating". Eurosport.
  5. ^ Connolly, Caroline (February 2, 2018). "Lexington, Mass. Figure Skater to Represent Israeli Olympic Team". NBC10 Boston. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Epstein, Jori (February 9, 2018). "Olympian Aimee Buchanan is from Boston via Dallas, but she's skating for Israel". Times of Israel. Archived from the original on April 8, 2019.
  7. ^ a b Dickerson, Kristin (January 31, 2018). "North Texas Ice Skater Heading To Olympics". NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  8. ^ "Competitions". Colonial Figure Skating Club. Archived from the original on September 1, 2013.
  9. ^ a b c "Buchanan finishes second at New England regional". Lexington Minuteman. Lexington, MA. November 22, 2013. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019.
  10. ^ a b Stern, Amelia (July 31, 2018). "Helping Olympian Aimee Buchanan get back on her skates". childrenshospital.org. Archived from the original on June 17, 2019.
  11. ^ Virskus, Jenn (January 31, 2018). "Figure skater still pinching herself that Olympic dream coming true". From the Grapevine. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  12. ^ Capellazzi, Gina (May 17, 2017). "Brooklee Han and Aimee Buchanan settle in Texas with the Cains as coaches". Figure Skaters Online.
  13. ^ a b "Athlete Profile: Aimee BUCHANAN". PyeongChang2018.com. PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Archived from the original on February 23, 2018.
  14. ^ a b Connolly, Caroline (February 2, 2018). "Lexington Figure Skater to Represent Israeli Olympic Team". NECN. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019.
  15. ^ Mietkiewicz, Mark (February 1, 2018). "The Frozen Chosen: Israel at the Winter Olympics - Part 2". The Canadian Jewish News. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019.
  16. ^ a b Associated Press (February 11, 2018). "Sunday's Olympic Figure Skating Results". NBC4 Washington. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
  17. ^ a b Bachner, Michael (February 11, 2018). "Israel fails to qualify for Olympic figure skating finals". The Times of Israel. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  18. ^ Buchanan, Aimee (June 16, 2019). "I've been contemplating writing this post for a long time now, and have been putting it off as I was not quite ready to let it go". Instagram. Archived from the original on 2021-12-25.
  19. ^ "Aimee BUCHANAN: 2016/2017". isuresults.com. International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 21, 2017.
  20. ^ "Aimee BUCHANAN: 2015/2016". isuresults.com. International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 28, 2016.
  21. ^ "Aimee BUCHANAN: 2014/2015". isuresults.com. International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 21, 2015.
  22. ^ a b "Competition Results: Aimee BUCHANAN". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 17, 2019.

External links