Evan Lysacek
Evan Frank Lysacek is an American retired figure skater. He is the 2010 Olympic champion, the 2009 World champion, a two-time Four Continents champion, the 2009 Grand Prix Final champion, and a two-time U.S. national champion. Lysacek was the 2010 United States Olympic Committee's SportsMan of the Year, and the winner of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top U.S. amateur athlete of 2010. On January 22, 2016, he was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
Personal life
Lysacek was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in nearby Naperville. His mother, Tanya, is a substitute teacher in Naperville, and his father, Don, is a building contractor. He has an older sister, Laura, and a younger sister, Christina. Lysacek graduated from Neuqua Valley High School in 2003. During high school, Lysacek was a member of the honor roll, where he earned a number of academic achievement awards, including the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence in 1999. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles, California to train at the Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo, California. Lysacek studied acting at the Professional Arts School in Beverly Hills, and appeared in the independent short film Skate Great!, playing a Russian Olympic gold medalist.Lysacek is of half-Czech descent; his paternal great-grandfather František Lysáček emigrated from Czechoslovakia's Moravia region to Chicago in 1925. On his maternal side, he is of one-quarter Italian descent. He is a Greek Orthodox Christian, having stated that one of his most prized possessions is his Orthodox cross.
He became engaged to real estate developer Duangpatra "Dang" Bodiratnangkura in April 2019. They married in December 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Career
Lysacek began skating at the age of eight. His grandmother had always wanted to be in the Ice Capades, so she bought him skates for Christmas. He originally wanted to play ice hockey, so his mother enrolled him and his sister Laura in figure skating lessons to learn how to skate.Early career
In 1996, Lysacek won the U.S. national title at the juvenile level – the lowest qualifying level in the U.S. Figure Skating competition structure. In 1997, he moved up to intermediate and won the pewter medal at the Junior Olympics, after winning both his regional and his sectional qualifying competitions. After failing to qualify for Nationals at the novice level in 1998, Lysacek won the U.S. Novice title at the 1999 U.S. Championships at the age of thirteen.Junior career
1999–2000 season
In the 1999–2000 season, Lysacek made his international junior debut and competed on the 1999–2000 ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit. He placed seventh at his first event and then won his second event. He was the third alternate to the 1999–2000 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final.At the 2000 U.S. Championships, Lysacek won the Junior title at the age of fourteen. He placed fifth in the short program and first in the free skate, placing first overall. He was the first male skater since Terry Kubicka to win back-to-back novice and junior men's titles in the United States. The win on the junior level was unusual in that Lysacek moved from third to first overall while sitting backstage, because he won through a tiebreak in the 6.0 ordinal system. Following the U.S. Championships, he was assigned to the 2000 Gardena Spring Trophy in Urtijëi, Italy, where he won the silver medal at the junior level.
2000–2001 season
Lysacek had a strong showing in the 2000–2001 season. He competed in his second season on the Junior Grand Prix circuit and won two silver medals. He was the 7th qualifier for the 2000–2001 Junior Grand Prix Final and placed 8th at the Final.He made his senior national debut at the 2001 U.S. Championships, placing 12th at the age of fifteen. Lysacek was named second alternate to the U.S. team to the 2001 World Junior Championships and was placed on the team after Ryan Bradley withdrew due to injury. Lysacek performed two clean programs and came in second behind fellow American Johnny Weir, giving the United States both a gold and a silver on the World Junior podium for the first time since 1987.
2001–2002 season
Over the next season, Lysacek dealt with several injuries, including broken ribs, which resulted in lost training time. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States Figure Skating Association cancelled the 2001–2002 ISU Junior Grand Prix event due to be held in Arizona and did not allow its junior skaters to compete on the Junior Grand Prix circuit for the rest of that season. At the 2002 U.S. Championships, Lysacek repeated his 12th-place finish from the previous year and was not selected for the team to the 2002 World Junior Championships. He was sent to the 2002 Triglav Trophy in April, where he won the gold medal on the junior level.2002–2003 season
In the 2002–2003 season, Lysacek competed on the 2002–2003 ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit and won two silver medals. He was the 4th qualifier for the 2002–2003 Junior Grand Prix Final, where he placed 5th. For the 2003 U.S. Championships, he finished in 7th place.Lysacek was named third alternate for the 2003 Four Continents Championships and was placed on the team after other skaters withdrew. He placed 10th at this event in his senior international debut. He was also named to the 2003 Junior Worlds team. Following the withdrawal of Parker Pennington, Lysacek was the only United States men's skater at the competition. He landed the first clean triple Axel jump of his career in the qualifying round of this competition and his second clean one in the free skate.
2003–2004 season
After graduating from high school in 2003, Lysacek made a coaching change and began to work with Ken Congemi and Frank Carroll in El Segundo, California. With Congemi and Carroll, Lysacek won both of his Junior Grand Prix events. He was the second qualifier to the 2003–2004 Junior Grand Prix Final and won the event. He placed 5th at the 2004 U.S. Championships. At the 2004 Four Continents, he won the bronze medal, his first senior-level international medal. He then went on to compete at the 2004 World Junior Championships, where he won a third silver medal.Senior career
2004–2005 season
In the 2004–2005 season, having aged out of the junior level at age 19, Evan Lysacek made his senior international debut. Skating through a hip injury, Lysacek placed fifth at the 2004 Skate America, the first Grand Prix event of his career. He repeated that placement a few weeks later at the 2004 Cup of Russia. At the 2005 U.S. Championships, Lysacek won the bronze medal after receiving the only 6.0 of his career for his short program. He went on to win his first senior international title at the 2005 Four Continents. He competed next at the 2005 World Championships in Moscow. There, he won a bronze medal at his first senior World Championships, a competition for which his goal had been only to qualify for the free skate.2005–2006 season
In the 2005–2006 season, Lysacek again competed on the Grand Prix. He placed second at the 2005 Skate America, but he felt that his Grease free skate was not working. Lysacek and coach Frank Carroll made the decision to find a new long program. Lysacek's new Carmen program was a success at the 2005 NHK Trophy, where Lysacek finished second. Lysacek was the only American man to qualify for the 2005–2006 Grand Prix Final, but withdrew before the event because of bursitis and tendinitis in his right hip.At the 2006 U.S. Championships, Lysacek was third after the short program, but won the free skate, finishing second overall. He was named to the 2006 Winter Olympic team alongside Johnny Weir and Matthew Savoie. At the Olympics, following a 10th place finish in the short program, Lysacek became sick with the stomach flu. Unable to practice, he stayed in bed at the Olympic village, receiving fluids from IVs. After considering withdrawing, he decided to skate the next day and went on to skate a career-best free skate. He finished his free skate with eight triple jumps and was ranked third of the night. He finished fourth overall. He commentated on his free-skating program on Olympic Ice the next day with Scott Hamilton and Mary Carillo.
Lysacek ended his season by winning the bronze medal at the 2006 World Championships in Calgary, Canada. He was once again troubled by illness, having been administered three different antibiotics to fight a bacterial infection. He rose from seventh place in the short program to finish third on the strength of his free skating program. After the World Championships, Lysacek toured with Champions on Ice as a full member of the cast.
2006–2007 season
In the 2006–2007 season, Lysacek placed second at the 2006 Skate America. Two weeks later, Lysacek won the gold medal at the 2006 Cup of China by a 20-point margin. He was the fourth qualifier for the 2006–2007 Grand Prix Final in his second consecutive year in qualifying for the event. However, he withdrew from the competition before he was to skate his short program due to a hip injury.Lysacek resumed training a few weeks later. At the 2007 U.S. Championships, he performed his first clean short program of the season, and then went on to land his first clean quadruple jump in competition to win his first national title. A week later, Lysacek competed at the 2007 Four Continents. He was fourth after the short program, but made yet another comeback in the free skate, landing a clean quadruple combination to earn a new personal best and to win his second Four Continents title.
At the 2007 World Championships, Lysacek placed fifth in the short program and earned himself his first new short program personal best in two years. In the long program, he completed a quadruple toe loop as the first part of a quad-triple combination, but lost control of the landing, adding a three-turn after it, and was unable to complete the following triple as intended. He performed a double loop instead of a planned triple loop and placed fifth once again in the long program, placing fifth over all.
Lysacek toured over the summer of 2007 with Champions on Ice for the second consecutive year.