| Jacob Sanchez | |
| Birth Date: | April 23, 2007 |
| Birth Place: | Middletown, New York, United States |
| Discipline: | Men's singles |
| Skating Club: | Hudson Valley Figure Skating Club |
| Beganskating: | 2012 |
| Coach: | Oleg Makarov Larisa Selezneva |
Jacob Sanchez (born April 23, 2007) is an American figure skater. He is the CS Tallinn Trophy champion. At the junior level, he is the 2024 Youth Olympic silver medalist in the team event, the 2024 JGP Turkey and the 2024 JGP Slovenia gold medalist, the 2023 U.S. Junior silver medalist, and the 2021 U.S. Junior pewter medalist.
Sanchez was born on April 23, 2007 in Middletown, New York to parents, Johana, a school teacher, and Jose, a retired police officer. He also has two brothers, Joseph and Jayden.
Sanchez is Puerto Rican and serves as an ambassador of Diversify Ice, an organization that strives to support competitive minorities in figure skating. In addition to figure skating, he also enjoys playing hockey, football, and soccer.[1]
His figure skating idols are Yuzuru Hanyu, Nathan Chen, and Vincent Zhou.
Sanchez has expressed interest in becoming a physical therapist after completing his competitive figure skating career.
Sanchez began figure skating in 2012 at the age of five. He originally wanted to be a hockey player so his mother enrolled him into "Learn to Skate" lessons. However, he was unable to use hockey skates so he tried using figure skates instead. He ultimately decided that he enjoyed the feeling of balancing and gliding across the ice in those skates. Following this, he began watching figure skaters compete on TV and ultimately decided that he wanted to pursue the sport. He then began training under 1984 Olympic pair bronze medalists, Larisa Selezneva and Oleg Makarov at the Hudson Valley Figure Skating Club.
Sanchez won the silver medal at the 2018 U.S. Juvenile Championships before going on to win bronze at the 2019 U.S. Intermediate Championships.
Moving up to the junior level the following year, Sanchez finished seventeenth at the 2020 U.S. Junior Championships and went on to win the pewter medal at the 2021 U.S. Junior Championships.
Sanchez started the season by the bronze medal on the junior level at the 2021 Cranberry Cup International. In addition, he debuted on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, finishing sixth at 2021 JGP Poland.
In January, Sanchez competed at the 2022 U.S. Junior Championships, coming in ninth.
In August, Sanchez competed on the junior level at the 2022 Cranberry Cup International, Sanchez won the silver medal. Three months later, he competed as a junior at the 2023 U.S. Eastern Sectionals, finishing fourth.
Qualifying for the 2023 U.S. Junior Championships, Sanchez won the silver medal behind Lucas Broussard. He then ended the season by taking gold on the junior level at the 2023 Coupe du Printemps.
Selected to compete on the 2023–24 ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit, Sanchez finished fourth at 2023 JGP Thailand and fifth at 2023 JGP Hungary.
Sanchez was then named to the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic team. In the men's singles individual event, Sanchez won the short program but placed sixth in the free skate, dropping to fourth overall. In the team event, Sanchez helped Team U.S.A. take silver by placing second in his segment.
Competing at the 2024 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Taiwan, Sanchez placed ninth in the short program and fifteenth in the free skate, finishing tenth overall.
Sanchez started the season by on the junior level at the 2022 Cranberry Cup International, where finished second behind New Zealand skater, Yanhao Li.
Competing on the 2024–25 ISU Junior Grand Prix series, Sanchez won gold at 2024 JGP Turkey. Prior to his victory he had no second assignment on the series, but was assigned to 2024 JGP Slovenia following his gold medal win. In Slovenia, Sanchez managed to win a second gold medal. With these results, he qualified for the 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final as the highest ranking junior man.[2]
In mid-November, Sanchez made his senior international debut at the 2024 CS Tallinn Trophy, where he won the gold medal.
| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 |
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| 2021–22 | ||||
| 2022–23 |
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| 2023–24 |
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| 2024–25 |
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