Ashley Wagner Complete Bio & Career
Ashley Elisabeth Wagner is a name well known in the world of figure skating. The 27-year young figure skater is a 2016 silver medallist at the world championship. She has many accolades to her credit, which marks her as a renowned public face.
Her journey as a figure skater started when she was five years old at Alaska. It was her who chose to be skater instead of a ballerina when given a choice. Watching Tara Lipinski grab the gold medal at the 1998 winter Olympics, fuelled her passion and turned out to be the exact turning point in her career. That's when she decided to represent her country in the Olympics.
Wagner was trained by – Dody Teachman, Shirley Hughes in her formative years and Rafael Arutyunyan, Nadezda Kanaeva, John Nicks later on. Her training started paying off when she qualified for the US Junior Figure Skating championships in 2002-2003. Her career took a step back when she wasn't able to qualify for the nationals in 2004. The setback made her work harder to qualify for her first-ever national championships in 2004-2005. Since then, she has been earning medals upon medals with her sheer dedication and determination to the artistic sport.
Like a true artist, she has her signature elements which at which she is hard to beat. Her charlotte spiral and bent leg lay-over camel spin with her arms outstretched above her head are a sight to sore eyes. One more distinct feature of hers is her ability to spin and jump clockwise, unlike most of her peers who prefer it the other way round.
Like any other public figure, she has been in the eye of the storm, although very rarely. Her outburst on the judges upon not being selected to 2018 Olympics team was debated for a long time. Her recent confession of being sexually assaulted by John Coughlin, a fellow skater when she was 17 years old brought her to media attention.
Marring these incidents, Ashley is usually in a positive light. Her sportsmanship came through when she cheered for the girl's team and her BFF Adam Rippon, representing the US in Olympics.
Currently, she is trying at being a media influencer and is very active on her Instagram, Facebook, and twitter handles trying to connect to a broader audience. The 2014 Olympic bronze medallist, is currently taking a break from the sport and is on her way to explore life on the beaches rather than on ice in skating ring.