Earlier in her career, Andrews is the 2017 U.S. national junior silver medalist.
Personal life
Starr Andrews was born on June 23, 2001, in Los Angeles, California.[1] She is home-schooled.[2] She has a brother and two sisters — Skylar, a gymnast, and Ashton, a baseball player.[3][4] Their mother, Toshawa Andrews, has cardiac microvascular disease, which has led to a dozen heart attacks.[4][5]
Career
Early years
Andrews became interested in figure skating after her mother brought her to the ice rink when she was three. She recalled in 2018: "I wanted to get on the ice really, really bad, but I was too small, so I had to wait."[6] She began learning to skate in 2005.[1] A video of nine-year-old Andrews skating to Whip My Hair went viral after appearing on YouTube in December 2010.[7] By March 2018, it had reached 53 million views.[4]
In January, she received the junior silver medal at the 2017 U.S. Championships.[10] After Amber Glenn withdrew, Andrews was added to the U.S. team to the 2017 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Taiwan.[11] At the event, held in March, she qualified to the final segment by placing ninth in the short program and went on to finish twelfth overall.
In January, Andrews finished sixth in the senior ladies' category at the 2018 U.S. Championships, having placed eighth in the short program and fifth in the free skate. She was assigned to the 2018 Four Continents, where she placed seventh, and the 2018 World Junior Championships, from which she withdrew. She was replaced by Emmy Ma.
In early August, Andrews competed at the 2018 CS Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy; she placed second in the short program with a personal best score but dropped to fifth after the free skate. In September, at the 2018 CS Autumn Classic International, she ranked fifth in the short and seventh overall. She attempted the triple Axel in the free program, but her jump had a two-footed landing and was downgraded due to insufficient rotation. She made her Grand Prix debut in October at the 2018 Skate America and placed ninth in the short program, tenth in the free skate, and tenth overall. She was also invited to the 2018 Skate Canada International, where she placed fourth in the short program, ninth in the free skate, and seventh overall.[8]
Andrews started her season competing at the ISP Points Challenge, a virtual US domestic competition. At the first opportunity, she placed fourth. She was assigned to compete at the 2020 Skate America in Las Vegas, an event attended only by skaters training in the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic.[16] She placed eighth.[17]
Andrews finished in sixth place at the 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy to start the season.[21] At her first Grand Prix assignment, the 2022 Skate Canada International, she finished fifth in the short program in a close field.[24] She then "surprised" many by finishing second in the free skate, rising to take the silver medal.[25] She became the first African American woman to medal in singles in the Grand Prix era that began in 1995, and the second Black woman after Frenchwoman Surya Bonaly.[26][27] Andrews noted the significance, saying "it is a huge deal for me. I am one of the few people of color in the sport, and to bring home a medal is even more special."[26] Heading into the 2022 NHK Trophy, she planned to add a second flip to her free skate, having recovered from an ankle "tweak" that had necessitated lessening her content in the early events.[28] Fifth in the short program, she dropped to ninth after the free skate, where she singled her planned second flip.[29]
At the 2023 U.S. Championships, Andrews placed narrowly third in the short program.[30] In the free skate she made two jump errors and was overtaken for the bronze medal by Amber Glenn, but still won the pewter medal and stood on the senior podium for the first time in her career. She was the first African-American woman to stand on the US podium since Debi Thomas in 1988, which Andrews acknowledged as "amazing."[31]
Andrews' preparation for the new season was first delayed while spending time preparing for a potential appearance at Coachella that ultimately did not come to fruition. She then had heart surgery to deal with atrial tachycardia, which she had been dealing with for a decade. She was ultimately able to begin work on her programs by July, but did not feature in early domestic and international competitions due both to the delays and to an unrelated illness. She finally debuted at the Kings Cup International in early October, winning the silver medal.[32]
