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Han, not content to retire on her Olympic laurels, will take the next step as she glides onto the ice Saturday at Skate America in suburban Chicago, taking on the likes of U.S. champion Gracie Gold and Russian spitfires Elena Radionova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva in the elite event.
"I am incredibly honored and excited to be making my Grand Prix series debut this season at Skate America," said Han, an Australian citizen and its national champion.
Only the top international figure skaters are invited to take part in the six elite Grand Prix events held around the world -- with each event looking like the final few skaters at the world championships. Skaters are limited to a maximum of two events, and Han learned this week that she had received will get a chance to compete again next week at Skate Canada.
"It's a crazy schedule, but I am super excited," Han said via Twitter about her back-to-back events.
Han has already had a busy skating season. She has already had two warm-up events this fall, competing in the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Salt Lake City, where she came in sixth, and the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany, where she just missed the podium by coming fourth.
Not only that, but Han, a 2013 graduate of Joel Barlow High School, recently turned 19, got her driver's license and began her freshman year at Wesleyan University, where she lives in a dorm.
Han, who trains primarily in Newington, finished 20th at the Sochi Olympics and 19th at the 2014 World Championships.
Han wants to see where skating will take her next and aims to be at the next Olympics in Korea in 2018.
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