Camden Pulkinen

Camden Pulkinen (born March 25, 2000) is an American figure skater and he is the 2024 U.S. bronze medalist. He competed at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics and is the first male figure skater to compete on behalf of Team USA in the men's singles event at the Winter Youth Olympic Games. He is the 2017–18 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist, a two-time JGP Austria champion (2017, 2018), and the 2018 U.S. national junior champion. He finished within the top five at the 2022 World Championships and within the top six at the 2018 World Junior Championships. He is the former world record holder for the junior men's short program. He graduated from Columbia University in May 2024.

Personal life
Pulkinen was born on March 25, 2000, in Scottsdale, Arizona. His older sister, Elena, has also competed in figure skating. Pulkinen's father is of Finnish and French descent, and his mother is from Thailand. He attended Hamilton High School in Chandler, Arizona. Pulkinen attended University of Colorado Colorado Springs part-time for a few years before transferring to Columbia University in August 2022, where he studied psychology and economics.

Early career
Pulkinen began learning to skate in 2005. He competed on the juvenile level beginning in the 2010–2011 season. He moved up to the intermediate level in 2013–2014 and to the novice ranks the following season.

2015–2016 season
Pulkinen moved up to the junior level in the 2015–2016 season. He was coached by Karen Gesell at the Coyotes Skating Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

After winning the Golden West Championships, he was nominated to represent the United States at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics in Hamar, Norway. He placed seventh at the competition, held in February 2016.

2016–2017 season
Pulkinen relocated to Colorado Springs, Colorado in June 2016, where Tom Zakrajsek, Becky Calvin, and Drew Meekins became his coaches.

His ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) debut came in October 2016 in Tallinn, Estonia; he finished ninth at the event. In January 2017, he won the junior silver medal at the 2017 U.S. Championships.

2017–2018 season
Making his senior international debut, Pulkinen placed eleventh at the Philadelphia Summer International in early August 2017. He then returned to the junior level, winning gold at a 2017 JGP competition in September in Salzburg, Austria. A month later, he took silver at a JGP event in Gdańsk, Poland, and qualified to the JGP Final in Nagoya, Japan. There, he won the silver medal at the JGP Final. After that, he won gold at the 2018 U.S. Junior Championships. In March, he competed at the 2018 World Junior Championships and placed sixth.

2018–2019 season
In early August 2018, Pulkinen placed fourth in the senior ranks at the Philadelphia Summer International. Competing in the 2018–2019 ISU Junior Grand Prix series, he won gold in Linz, Austria. At his second JGP event, he won the silver medal in Ostrava, Czech Republic, setting a world junior record in the short program in the process. His placements in Linz and Ostrava qualified him to the 2018–19 Junior Grand Prix Final in Vancouver, Canada.

Pulkinen next competed at the senior level at the 2018 CS Alpen Trophy, his debut on the Challenger series. He placed fourth in the short, sixth in the free, and sixth overall. At the 2018–19 Junior Grand Prix Final, Pulkinen placed first in the short program, but sixth in the free skate. As a result, he dropped to fifth place overall. Pulkinen commented afterward that he believed he had not trained the free skate sufficiently.

In late January 2019, he finished twelfth at the U.S. Championships, placing eighth in the short program and fifteenth in the free skate. He was nevertheless named to the U.S. team for the 2019 World Junior Championships. He placed first in the short program there, winning a gold small medal, but struggled again in the free skate, where he placed ninth. He finished eighth overall.

In May 2019, Pulkinen announced that he had left coach Tom Zakrajsek to train under Tammy Gambill and Damon Allen.

2019–2020 season: Grand Prix debut


Pulkinen began his first full senior season at the Philadelphia Summer International, where he placed fifth. He also placed fifth at the 2019 CS Autumn Classic International.

Pulkinen made his senior Grand Prix debut at the 2019 Skate Canada International, where he placed second in the short program, landing a ratified quadruple toe loop. He dropped to fourth place following the free skate, while still setting a new personal best in that segment and in total score. Pulkinen had less success at the 2019 Cup of China, where he placed eighth.

Competing at the 2020 U.S. Championships, Pulkinen was seventh in the short program after errors on both his triple Axel and jump combination. Despite some difficult jump landings in the free skate, he remained in seventh overall. Pulkinen was assigned to compete at the 2020 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea. Pulkinen placed eleventh at Four Continents.

2020–2021 season
Pulkinen competed in a virtual Peggy Fleming Trophy artistic contest in the summer. With the coronavirus pandemic affecting international travel, assignments for the Grand Prix were made primarily based on training location, resulting in Pulkinen being assigned to the 2020 Skate America. He placed ninth at the event.

Pulkinen placed eighth at the 2021 U.S. Championships. He commented afterward that it had been a "difficult season", but that he was anticipating preparing for the next year.

2021–2022 season: World Championships debut
Beginning the season at the 2021 U.S. Classic, Pulkinen placed fourth. He withdrew from the 2021 CS Asian Open, instead competing at the 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy, where he finished fourteenth.

At the Grand Prix, Pulkinen placed eleventh at the 2021 NHK Trophy. He was seventh at the 2021 Rostelecom Cup, and said it "definitely could have been better, but I am happy that I could improve from NHK Trophy."

Pulkinen delivered one of the strongest performances of his career at the 2022 U.S. Championships, where he finished fifth. He reflected, "last year was really tough for me, so this whole season was about progressing up to the U.S. Championships, so I’m happy to have done that." He next competed at the 2022 Four Continents Championships, where he finished twelfth.

As second alternate, Pulkinen was called up to compete in his World Championships. He placed twelfth in the short program, third in the free skate, and fifth overall, scoring personal bests in each segment and earning a small bronze medal for the free skate.

2022–2023 season
Beginning the season on the Challenger series, Pulkinen won the bronze medal at the 2022 CS U.S. Classic, his first international medal at the senior level. He placed fifth at the 2022 Skate Canada International, his first Grand Prix assignment, and fifth as well at the 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo.

He went on to win the gold medal at the 2022 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb.

At the 2023 U.S. Championships, Pulkinen finished eighth and was named as the first alternate for the World Championships.

2023–2024 season
Pulkinen began the season by finishing fourth at the 2023 CS Lombardia Trophy. On the Grand Prix, he was fifth at both the 2023 Grand Prix de France and 2023 NHK Trophy.

Ahead of the 2024 U.S. Championships, Pulkinen was preemptively named to the US team for the 2024 Four Continents Championships, which were to be held the week after the U.S. Championships in Shanghai. At the U.S. Championships, Pulkinen was fifth after the short program. In the free skate, he skated a clean program, with the only mistake being a triple jump being turned into a single, and he moved up to third to win the bronze medal. This was his first national championship medal at the senior level. He was assigned to compete at the 2024 World Championships and subsequently withdrew from his Four Continents assignment to focus on preparing for the World Championships.

At the 2024 World Championships, Pulkinen came in 20th overall. He expressed disappointment in his performance and said of his programs, "In the short I was a little too high energy. In the long program, a little too low."

Competitive highlights

 * GP – Event of the ISU Grand Prix Series
 * JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
 * CS – Event of the ISU Challenger Series