Former U.S. Champion pairs figure skater Todd Sand, 59, reportedly suffered a heart attack in Calgary, Canada at the 2023 World Junior Figure Skating Championships on Thursday.
Sand was in Canada coaching the U.S. pairs team of Sophia Baram and Daniel Tioumentsev.
He was with them during their technical program performance on Wednesday night.
Sand was hospitalized on Thursday morning.
Todd Sand remains hospitalized in Calgary after suffering a heart attack Thurs AM at #WorldJFigure champs, where pair he coaches, Sophia Baram & Daniel Tioumentsev, won gold Thurs night. Baram" “We are sending lot of prayers & today we skated for him & everyone who supported us"
— Philip Hersh (@olyphil) March 3, 2023
Baram and Tioumentsev dedicated their free skate to Sand on Thursday night and won the gold medal.
USA's 🇺🇸 Sophia Baram and Daniel Tioumentsev dig deep at 2023 World Junior Championships
"It's incredible, we are overwhelmed by emotions. We send out a lot of prayers and we love 💖 you, Todd!"
📰 — https://t.co/bND3yJC6Jg#WorldJFigure #FigureSkating pic.twitter.com/yIhwY5ylWo— Golden Skate (@goldenskate) March 3, 2023
It is nothing short of amazing that the pair was able to stay composed and skate the performance of their lives.
They won the title by a comfortable margin of 13.11 points and achieved personal best scores.
Meno And Sand’s Performing Career
I told Jenni Meno that they introduced me to Turandot. In 1995, Jenni Meno/Todd Sand won bronze at Worlds – some innovative stuff in this FS, incl the lefty-righty lift, their double death spiral, and their trademark swoop exit on the last lift; plus some beautiful crossovers pic.twitter.com/yBQwqmqpij
— Jackie Wong (@rockerskating) February 28, 2023
Sand won three consecutive U.S. National Figure Skating Championships titles with his partner and now wife Jenni Meno from 1994-1996.
Jenni Meno and Todd Sand skated during the Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov era of pairs figure skating.
Gordeeva and Grinkov won practically every competition they entered from the late 80s through the mid-90s.
Grinkov collapsed on the ice while rehearsing with Stars on Ice in November 1995.
Two-time Olympic Gold Medalists Ekaterina Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov were so refined that they seemed to skate as one. We couldn’t get enough of them together, and sadly never did. We miss you, Sergei.#SOILegacy #StarsOnIce @KatiaGordeeva pic.twitter.com/thKurAtJyC
— Stars on Ice (@starsonice) February 21, 2022
He suffered a fatal heart attack but later it was learned through an autopsy that he had a genetic heart ailment.
Sand’s Condition Is Unknown
There has not been any information released pertaining to Todd Sand’s condition.
Jenni Meno was not at the competition and traveled from their home in California to Canada upon hearing the news.
Meno and Sand have a busy March as the World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama, Japan begin on March 25.
They coach the reigning U.S. and 2022 World Champion pairs team, Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier.
I took this photo on January 28 after the #USChamps23 Senior Pairs medal ceremony in San Jose, CA -🥇Alexa Knierim & Brandon Frazier with 4th place pewter medalists Sonia Baram & Daniel Tioumentsev & their coaches, Todd Sand & Jenni Meno.
May Todd Sand recover quickly & well.🙏 pic.twitter.com/HMDJOmEBRR— Sylvia (@SylviaUnseen) March 2, 2023
In 2022, Knierim and Frazier ended a 43-year drought and accomplished something that Meno and Sand could not.
They won the World Championships and became the first American pairs team to accomplish that since Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner won the title in 1979.
Best wishes to Todd Sand for a speedy recovery.
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