Simone's Salchow

Thanks to a Southwest contest, I got to talk to figure skating's newest fan.

I boarded my 12:35 p.m. flight out of DC, headed for St. Louis, Missouri, on January 4, 2026. I got to the airport early, since I live nearby and only needed to travel light for this trip. With just my pajamas, three changes of clothes, and toiletries stuffed in my blue biker's backpack, I was all set, only to find out when I got to the Southwest Airlines check-in that I had won a raffle.

"You're the 500th person to book a Southwest Flight to the National Figure Skating Championships," the check-in lady told me, making me think of the pop-up survey that came up on the airline's website when I booked my ticket. I had indeed told them my ticket was to attend the figure skating championships, in exchange for entry into a raffle. "That means you get an upgrade to first class!" she told me. Then, she winked knowingly. I wasn't sure what she thought she knew.

Normally, on a flight to a figure skating competition, I would have been listening to some podcast - Blades and Banter, or the Skating Session. I was all set to open my podcast app, Air Pods in, when I did a double-take at the tiny young woman sitting in the first-class seat next to me.

"Simone Biles?!" I exclaimed. The petite gymnast did not look at all surprised to see me. "So, you're the figure skating fan?" she said.

"I heard you decided to try figure skating!" I blurted out at the same time, remembering an article that had recently come up in my feed.

Simone fascinated me not as a fellow gymnast and athlete, but as a die-hard wannabe. Unlike her Biles II, Yurchenko double-pike performing self, I just got a thrill out of being a fan. I blushed as I pointed to my chin and explained how I got the scar there from the learn-to-skate classes I took in my 20s.

"I'm a Camden Pulkinen fan, but he's injured this year," Simone told me. "And Jonathan is already in Missouri. Can you believe he's going to Session 8 of the Figure Skating Championships with me?"

"I can't believe it," I said, sure her husband Jonathan Owens must be busy playing football for the Chicago Bears.

I hesitated to ask her about the twisties and mental health - she must have done a hundred interviews before - but she volunteered what I was wondering before I even asked. It turned out she had volunteered to be the celebrity in the Southwest Airlines contest.

"Initially, they were going to just do a free upgrade to first class, but I convinced them to add this extra after I realized the special cool weirdness of figure skating fans," Simone said as she nudged me in the elbow. "Just you watch, before long I'll be doing a salchow at Adult Nationals."

*This is fiction, except that the U.S. Figure Skating Championships really are coming up in January. Also, Simone Biles also did post about her first figure skating lesson recently. :) This was written for a prompt in a daily contest, The Writer's Cramp, to write about encountering a celebrity on a flight after being upgraded to first class.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRz1SRMDQs9/

https://usfigureskating.org/sports/2025/11/3/2026-prevagen-us-figure-skating-cha...

https://www.youtube.com/@bladesandbanterpod

https://www.youtube.com/@TonyWheeler

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