Priscilla Hill

Priscilla Hill

Priscilla Hill with Katherine Hadford.
Personal information
Country represented  United States
Born (1961-10-04) October 4, 1961

Priscilla Hill (born October 4, 1961) is an American retired competitive figure skater who works as a coach. She was a two-time medalist at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and competed twice at the World Figure Skating Championships. She was the first American woman to land the triple loop in competition.

Competitive career

Priscilla Hill passed her eighth figure test and gold freestyle test at the age of nine, possibly the youngest person ever to do so.[1] In 1972, at age 11, she was the youngest senior lady ever to compete at the United States Figure Skating Championships.

In her early career Hill was coached by Howard Nicholson in Lake Placid, New York. Because of the distance from her hometown of Lexington, Massachusetts, during the school year she only got occasional lessons and otherwise had to practice on her own at a local rink.[1]

She won the bronze medal at the U. S. Figure Skating Championships in 1978 and the silver in 1981. In 1975 she landed a triple loop in competition, at the Prague Skate in Czechoslovakia. She finished 9th at the 1978 World Figure Skating Championships and 7th in 1981.[2] She missed the 1980 Olympic season due to injury and was not able to challenge for a spot on the Olympic team.

Professional and coaching career

Hill skated in the Ice Capades in 1984 and 1985. She worked as a coach at the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club before moving to coach at The Pond Ice Arena in Newark, Delaware in 2003. In 2007, she moved again, this time to the Skating Club of Wilmington Ice Rink in Wilmington, Delaware.

Hill's most decorated former student is Johnny Weir, whom she coached to the gold medal at the 2001 World Junior Figure Skating Championships and three U.S. National Championships (2004, 2005 and 2006).[3] She was named the 2004 U.S. Figure Skating Association Coach of the Year for her work with Weir.[4] Among her other current and former students are Ashley Wagner,[5] Melissa Gregory & Denis Petukhov,[6] Jenna Syken, Katherine Hadford, Vanessa James, Blake Rosenthal, Christine Zukowski, Andrea Varraux & David Pelletier, Christopher Berneck and Viktor Pfeifer.

Competitive highlights

International
Event 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1980–81
World Championships 9th 7th
Nebelhorn Trophy 1st
Richmond Trophy 1st
National
U.S. Championships 3rd 2nd
Eastern Sectionals 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st

References

  1. 1 2 "Priscilla.... A Skating Prodigy", Skating magazine, Dec 1971
  2. ↑ Welcome to U.S. Figure Skating
  3. ↑ US Figure Skating Association Athlete Bio
  4. ↑ "U.S. Figure Skating Announces Coaches of the Year". U.S. Figure Skating. 2004-06-01. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  5. ↑ "Wagner Leaves Coach Hughes for Hill": icenetwork.com, June 23, 2008
  6. ↑ US Figure Skating Official Site, September 7, 2007: "Gregory and Petukhov Change Coaches"
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