Gage and Oona Brown are the latest figure skaters to attract the attention of figure skating enthusiasts around the world. The brother and sister team started skating in 2009 when an older sister started taking lessons. First, Gage was intrigued with the sport and started taking lessons a year later, and Oona came right along the same year. Gage was only seven years old at the time and Oona was a tiny five years old girl. While Gage took naturally to the ice, he said that Oona “clawed her way” around the ice skating rink completely refusing any help and not giving up.
From Singles to Figure Skating Pairs to Ice Dancing
To say that she made it is an understatement. The siblings are the 2019 United States pewter medalists, and they come from a large family with seven children in total. They were homeschooled, and that probably allowed them the freedom to practice and train as much as possible. They began competing when they were only 10 and 12 years old. At first, they competed as skating singles, and eventually tried figure skating pairs. However, at some point, they realized that they enjoyed ice dancing more than they enjoyed pairs skating, so they started doing that. They say they enjoy expressing themselves on the ice, and skating together gives them both more confidence, they explained in an interview with Ice-Dance.com.
Gage Brown and Oona Brown’s Training Schedule
These two train for 24 hours a week, they said on their GoFundMe page, with 18 of those hours spent on the ice and six hours in off-rink training. They also run competitively in 5K races because that helps with their endurance. They get up at 5:00 a.m. and start skating at 6:00 a.m., and end up training for a total of five hours a day. Then they go running.
Oona and Gage have set up a GoFundMe so that those of us who want to contribute to their success can do so. It’s not easy to dedicate one’s life to this sport, so if you’re inclined to support some young athletes, please consider giving. To keep up with what they’re doing, you can follow them on Instagram. Watch this gorgeous performance to Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” below.
These two have a bright future!
