June 7, 2007
OXFORD, Ohio--After a landmark year in which Miami University's senior synchronized skating team seized the silver medal at the ISU World Championships, head coach Vicki Korn was named National Coach of the Year by U.S. Figure Skating and the Professional Skaters Association. The award encompasses amateur and professional coaches of all levels of figure skating, whose athletes compete on a national and international stage.
The Coach of the Year award is given each year to the individual or team of coaches who have made a significant impact on an athlete's performance at the highest levels of national and international competition. The winner is selected by the U.S. Figure Skating Coaches Committee and PSA Board of Directors and must exemplify the best behavior within the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), U.S. Figure Skating and PSA coaching standards, serving as a role model to both skaters and other coaches.
Additionally, Korn earned her second Synchronized Skating Coach of the Year honor from the Professional Skaters Association, also garnering the award in 1999.
After eight straight World Championships where Team USA had come close to standing on the podiums but just missed with fourth- or fifth-place finishes, Miami University ascended to the top of the rankings in 2007 with a silver-medal finish, becoming the first U.S. team to ever medal at the World Championships. In addition to posting the best finish by a U.S. team at a World Championship, the RedHawks paved the way to the strongest overall finish of any country at these championships as the other U.S. team finished fourth.
Korn has guided Miami to six World Championship appearances. In 2006 after capturing the U.S. National Championship, Miami went on to equal what was then the best finish at the World Championships by a U.S. team by placing fourth. Not to be outdone, the 2007 squad went on to make United States synchronized skating history by becoming the first U.S. team to medal at the World Championships.
Korn has been the head coach of the nation's first collegiate senior-level synchronized skating program for 23 seasons. She served as Miami's skating director from 1984-01, starting the synchronized skating program at the club level in 1984. She led the team to a national championship at the junior level in 1993 and two bronze medals at the senior level in 1994 and 1995.
In 1995-96, the synchronized skating program was upgraded to a varsity sport. Since that time, Korn has guided Miami's senior-level team to U.S. National Championships in 1999 and 2006, while placing among the top three at the national level 11 of the last 12 season.
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