# Ellie Kam

Ellie Kam (born December 20, 2004) is an American pair skater. With her current skating partner, Danny O'Shea, she is the 2024 Four Continents bronze medalist, 2024 Skate America silver medalist, 2024 NHK Trophy bronze medalist, 2024 John Nicks Pairs gold medalist, 2023 Finlandia Trophy gold medalist, and 2024 U.S. national champion.

## Skating career
### Early years

Kam trained as a pair skater. With partner Ian Meyh, she qualified for the 2022 U.S. Junior Championships, but they subsequently withdrew. Their partnership ended in mid-2022, after having competed in senior-level club competitions twice. She would later characterize her work with Meyh as "an amazing experience," adding "I learned everything, pairs-wise, with Ian."

### 2022–2023 season

Kam formed a new partnership with veteran pair skater Danny O'Shea, who had previously been acting as an advisor at her camp. They had initially begun skating together at her coach's suggestion as a way to keep her skills practised. In the fall, they made their international debut at the 2022 Ice Challenge and won the gold medal in the pairs competition. They then made their Challenger debut at the 2022 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, winning the silver medal.
Kam/O'Shea competed next at the 2023 U.S. Championships, where they placed third in the short program. They opened their free skate with Kam falling on their triple twist, but still managed to place third in that segment as well, winning the bronze medal. Kam called the experience "quite the whirlwind."
Having reached the national podium, Kam/O'Shea were assigned to make their ISU championship debut together at the 2023 Four Continents Championships, held in their home training location of Colorado Springs. O'Shea considered this "pretty special." They placed seventh in the short program, but a fifth-place free skate moved them up to sixth overall. Kam/O'Shea finished the season at the 2023 World Championships in Saitama, where they finished twelfth.

### 2023–2024 season: Four Continents bronze

Kam/O'Shea began the season with a victory at the 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy. They were invited to make their Grand Prix debut at the 2023 Grand Prix de France, and finished fifth in the short program, but had to withdraw after Kam suffered an injury in training. Despite this, Kam/O'Shea were able to attend their second Grand Prix, the 2023 Grand Prix of Espoo, coming sixth.
At the 2024 U.S. Championships, Kam/O'Shea finished second in the short program with a score of 64.57, with Kam having struggled on the throw landing and O'Shea two-footing his jump. Segment leaders Chan/Howe withdrew in advance of the free skate, leaving Kam/O'Shea the de facto first-place finishers heading into that segment. They were second in the free skate behind Efimova/Mitrofanov, but won their first national title by 0.85 points. O'Shea enthused that "being first is amazing," while noting there was room to improve on their performance, in particular continued difficulties with throw landings.
Kam/O'Shea had already been named to the American team for the 2024 Four Continents Championships in advance of the national championships, due to the events being separated by less than a week. Traveling to Shanghai for the competition, they finished fourth in the short program despite Kam's throw fall, before a second-place free skate lifted them to the bronze medal, their first international championship podium as a team. Kam noted that the turnaround between the events was such that she did not feel their national gold had "[sunk] in yet."
In the short program at the 2024 World Championships in Montreal, Kam fell on their throw triple loop, but the team was otherwise clean and they came tenth in the segment. O'Shea said that it was "nice to see that with a fall – a fairly large mistake – we still get a season-best. That means the other things we’ve been working on are improving and the judges are starting to see that piece as well." Difficulties with jumps and throws continued in the free skate, and Kam/O'Shea dropped to eleventh overall.

### 2024–2025 season: Two Grand Prix medals

Kam and O'Shea began their season by competing on the 2024–25 ISU Challenger Series. They won gold at the 2024 John Nicks Pairs Competition and bronze at the 2024 Nebelhorn Trophy. Going on to compete on the 2024–25 Grand Prix series, the pair won the silver medal at the 2024 Skate America, scoring a personal best free skate and combined total score in the process. The team followed up this result with a bronze medal at the 2024 NHK Trophy. These Grand Prix series results allowed the pair to qualify for the 2024–25 Grand Prix Final, where they finished in fifth place.
Entering the 2025 U.S. Championships as defending champions, Kam/O'Shea won the short program with a clean skate. Their score of 77.19 points gave him an eight-point margin over Chan/Howe in second place. However, an error-riddled free skate that included a lift fall in addition to problems on jumps and throws saw them fifth in that segment, dropping to third overall. O'Shea vowed to use the lift failure as "motivation. I'm extremely pissed at myself. I know I'm far better than that, and I will do better next time."
Kam/O'Shea placed second in the short program at the 2025 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, winning a silver small medal, despite Kam turning out of the landing of their throw triple loop. Their free skate again had a number of errors on jumps and throws, as a result of which they dropped to fourth overall, finishing 1.46 points behind bronze medalists Pereira/Michaud of Canada.

## Programs
### Pair skating with Daniel O'Shea

| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
| 2022–23 | Nocturnal Animals Exhibition Wayward Sisters Table for Two by Abel Korzeniowski choreo. by Drew Meekins | The Prayer performed by Charlotte Church & Josh Groban choreo. by Drew Meekins | |
| 2023–24 | Nocturnal Animals Exhibition Wayward Sisters Table for Two by Abel Korzeniowski choreo. by Drew Meekins | East of Eden by Lee Holdridge choreo. by Drew Meekins | Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars |
| 2024–25 | Rain, in Your Black Eyes by Ezio Bosso choreo. by Drew Meekins | Concealed Passion by Audiomachine Stand by Me by Ben E. King performed by Florence and the Machine choreo. by Marie-France Dubreuil | Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars Cupid (Twin Version) by Fifty Fifty On the Floor by Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull Give Me Everything by PitbulL ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack, & Nayer Shake Señora by Pitbull ft. T-Pain & Sean Paul |

## Competitive highlights

* GP – Event of the ISU Grand Prix Series
* CS – Event of the ISU Challenger Series
* WD – Withdrew from competition

### Pair skating with Daniel O'Shea

Competition placements at senior level :
| Season | 2022–23 | 2023–24 | 2024–25 |
| World Championships | 12th | 11th | TBD |
| Four Continents Championships | 6th | 3rd | 4th |
| Grand Prix Final | | | 5th |
| U.S. Championships | 3rd | 1st | 3rd |
| GP France | | WD | |
| GP Finland | | 6th | |
| GP NHK Trophy | | | 3rd |
| GP Skate America | | | 2nd |
| CS Finlandia Trophy | | 1st | |
| CS Golden Spin of Zagreb | 2nd | | |
| CS John Nicks Pairs | | | 1st |
| CS Nebelhorn Trophy | | | 3rd |
| Ice Challenge | 1st | | |

## Detailed results
### Pair skating with Daniel O'Shea

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System :
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
| Total | TSS | 201.73 | 2024 Skate America |
| Short program | TSS | 73.16 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| Short program | TES | 40.58 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| Short program | PCS | 32.68 | 2024 NHK Trophy |
| Free skating | TSS | 131.07 | 2024 Skate America |
| Free skating | TES | 65.36 | 2024 NHK Trophy |
| Free skating | PCS | 66.37 | 2024 Skate America |
* Small medals for the short program and free skating are only awarded at ISU Championships.
Results in the 2022–23 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Nov 9–13, 2022 | 2022 Ice Challenge | 1 | 65.35 | 1 | 117.84 | 1 | 183.19 |
| Dec 7–10, 2022 | 2022 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb | 3 | 62.07 | 2 | 116.76 | 2 | 178.83 |
| Jan 26–28, 2023 | 2023 U.S. Championships | 3 | 65.75 | 3 | 118.26 | 3 | 184.01 |
| Feb 7–12, 2023 | 2023 Four Continents Championships | 7 | 57.49 | 5 | 111.20 | 6 | 168.69 |
| Mar 20–26, 2023 | 2023 World Championships | 9 | 63.40 | 13 | 112.19 | 12 | 175.59 |
Results in the 2023–24 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Oct 4–8, 2023 | 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy | 1 | 63.03 | 1 | 119.04 | 1 | 182.07 |
| Nov 3–5, 2023 | 2023 Grand Prix de France | 5 | 54.75 | — | — | – | WD |
| Nov 17–19, 2023 | 2023 Grand Prix of Espoo | 6 | 55.99 | 6 | 96.17 | 6 | 152.16 |
| Jan 22–28, 2024 | 2024 U.S. Championships | 2 | 64.57 | 2 | 123.19 | 1 | 187.76 |
| Jan 30 – Feb 4, 2024 | 2024 Four Continents Championships | 4 | 60.72 | 2 | 126.56 | 3 | 187.28 |
| Mar 18–24, 2024 | 2024 World Championships | 10 | 64.44 | 11 | 115.97 | 11 | 180.41 |
Results in the 2024–25 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Sep 3–4, 2024 | 2024 CS John Nicks Pairs Competition | 1 | 67.46 | 2 | 124.16 | 1 | 191.62 |
| Sep 18–21, 2024 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy | 2 | 73.16 | 7 | 111.22 | 3 | 184.38 |
| Oct 18–20, 2024 | 2024 Skate America | 2 | 70.66 | 2 | 131.07 | 2 | 201.73 |
| Nov 8–10, 2024 | 2024 NHK Trophy | 3 | 69.15 | 3 | 128.29 | 3 | 197.44 |
| Dec 5–8, 2024 | 2024–25 Grand Prix Final | 5 | 68.91 | 5 | 129.35 | 5 | 198.26 |
| Jan 20–26, 2025 | 2025 U.S. Championships | 1 | 77.19 | 5 | 112.38 | 3 | 189.57 |
| Feb 19–23, 2025 | 2025 Four Continents Championships | 2 | 70.32 | 4 | 126.62 | 4 | 196.94 |