Photo Courtesy of Starr Andrews / Instagram
U.S. figure skater Starr Andrews made history again! After over three decades, she became the first African American woman to win a medal at the U.S. figure skating championships on Friday.
The competition took place in San Jose, California, where Andrews excelled in her performance, taking fourth place. Taking a photo with champion Isabeau Levito, second-place winner Bradie Tennell, and third-place winner Amber Glenn, Andrews proudly held her pewter medal.
According to The Washington Post, Andrews finished her performance with a total score of 188.24 for the two competition days, which includes a 119.27 free skate score.
The last Black woman to win a medal was Debi Thomas, who won a bronze medal in 1988.
“To be the first African American woman in 35 years to stand on that podium is beyond an honor and I couldn’t have done it without my team and all the support around me,” Andrews said in an Instagram post. “I can’t even put into words how much it all means to me. I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for everyone who believed in me.”
She concluded the post with, “Even though I made two huge mistakes in my long I am so glad from how much I improved over the last year. I hope to keep improving and showing my star power.”
The mistakes Andrews made during her performance were that she missed certain jumps and her blades got stuck in the ice. She didn’t think she would place but did.
On Thursday, Andrews was fourth in the U.S. nationals’ short program.
To the Post, Andrews thanked her mother, who used to be a skater and has been coaching the young athlete. Andrews is grateful for her position and is honored to influence many children who want to figure skate because of her.
“I can’t believe I’m the person they saw, I’m the person that wanted to make them start skating,” Andrews said. “And I think that that’s so amazing. And I’m so glad that I can be that person.”