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Parker Pennington of Fairfax, Va., finished seventh at the U.S. Championships and won silver at Finlandia Trophy |
Birth Date September 13, 1984 |
| Hometown Windsor, Connecticut |
| Training Town Fairfax, Virginia |
| Home Club Washington FSC |
| Coaches Audrey Weisiger, Chris Conte, Ross Lansel and Nick Perna |
| Choreographers Nikolai Morosov and Pasquale Camarlengo |
When Parker Pennington is not on the ice, you might just find him in the kitchen pursuing another passion of his—cooking. He particularly likes to make maple pecan encrusted salmon, and macaroni and cheese from scratch. And he's always looking for new ideas from the Food Network.
Pennington enjoys many types of food but Indian, Greek and Italian cuisines are his favorites. "I love chicken, fish, steak, and even vegetarian dishes," he said.
But skating remains his number one passion. And Pennington proved that point by bringing the house down at last year's U.S. Championships in Spokane, Wash., with his fourth place short program. He came in seventh overall.
After nationals, he decided it was time to make some improvements in his skating, which eventually led him to move cross-country to Fairfax, Va., to train under Audrey Weisiger. "The minute I started working with Audrey, I knew she was the right fit. She began addressing all of the things I needed to work on," Pennington said.
Pennington has also been working this year with Nikolai Morosov on his short program. "Just in the week I worked with Morosov, I learned a great amount," Pennington said. "I believe my program is a great representation of the skater I am looking to become."
He worked with choreographer Pasquale Camarlengo as well to develop his free skate program, in which he plays the character of a mystical person who becomes a tiger. It's set to the music of Xotika and Cirque Du Soleil.
Pennington is greatly looking forward to the challenge of the 2008 U.S. Championships after a year of positive changes. He won Skate Detroit finished second at the Finlandia Trophy.
Meanwhile, the 1998 U.S. Novice Men's Champion and 2001 U.S. Junior Men's Champion is also adjusting well to life in Virginia, making trips to the many sites around the D.C area, and pursuing painting, guitar, and tennis. And no doubt, cooking.
For more information on Pennington, visit figureskatersonline.com/parkerpennington/.
Figure Skaters Online's Guide to the 2008 U.S. Championships is
written and produced by Figure Skaters Online in cooperation with the athletes and staff.
Photographs are courtesy of Leah Adams unless otherwise noted.