For Kate Finster and Balazs Nagy, the 2020-21 season is a time of transition. The reigning U.S. junior pairs champions are stepping up to seniors, even as the sport faces an uncertain competition schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless, they are optimistic about their senior debut. 
 
The duo gained confidence from a successful final year in juniors. Last season, the Colorado Springs duo set three major goals: winning a Junior Grand Prix medal; winning the junior pairs event at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships; and placing in the top 5 or 6 at the 2020 ISU Junior World Figure Skating Championships. The team achieved all three goals.
 
"It was a really good season," Nagy said. "We checked off everything we set out to accomplish."
 
"A lot of high points, and not as many low points, which was nice," Finster agreed.
 
Finster and Nagy competed at the World Junior Championships in March just before the pandemic took hold in North America. It was only after the event that they really felt the impact of the pandemic. Finster returned to her home in the Louisville area of Kentucky. Nagy, meanwhile, returned to Hungary to see his extended family and friends. (Nagy and his parents are originally from Hungary.)
 
"I was planning on spending a week or so there," Nagy recounted. "Then, all of a sudden, I got a call at three o'clock in the morning, saying, 'Get to the airport immediately, or you won't be able to get back into the country.' So I had to scramble, but we made it to the airport. I went back to Colorado."
 
Finster's travel plans were also upended. "I was about to fly out [to Colorado] on a Friday," she said. "We woke up at 6 a.m. and started packing. And we were about to leave, and my mom said, 'You're not leaving. You'll be stuck out there [in Colorado], and you won't be able to do anything.'"
 
So Finster spent the next two months in Kentucky, while Nagy was in Colorado.
 
"I did off-ice [training] with my brother Chase, because he's learning pairs," Finster said. (Chase Finster, who is also a competitive skater, recently switched from junior men's to pairs.) "So I helped him. And we had FaceTime calls with Dalilah [Sappenfield] and Natalia [Mishkutionok]."
 
Mishkutionok, the 1992 Olympic pairs champion, works with the Sappenfield group, focusing particularly on side-by-side jump technique.
 
"She knows her pairs stuff, and she's a really good jump technician," Nagy said of Mishkutionok. "When Kate was stuck in Kentucky, I did most of my off-ice [pairs training] with her daughter." (Natalia Mishkutienok's daughter, Natasha, competed in novice pairs last season.)
 
After Finster returned to Colorado, the team got back on the ice in late May. A first order of business was to get new programs.
 
"This year, we decided to use Benoit Richaud as our choreographer," Nagy revealed. "He did both our short and long programs."
 
With Richaud based in France, it was impossible to work together in person, due to the pandemic.
 
"So he ended up choreographing both of our programs over FaceTime," Nagy said. "I didn't know if this would work. But it was pretty easy. He just showed us what to do, then we'd do it. If we got caught on something, he'd send us a video. And we could study the video and learn it, and then clean it up over FaceTime."
 
"His philosophy is very clean, elegant lines, and just togetherness in skating," Nagy noted.
 
Finster/Nagy will skate to "Lost Without You," by British singer Freya Ridings, for their short program. Their free program is set to two Coldplay songs, "Birds" and "Fix You." Richaud suggested the Coldplay selections, and Finster found the Ridings song while listening to the radio.
 
With their choreography set, Finster and Nagy are now refining their programs. "We just need to work on the details, and matching and lines, to make it come together," Finster said.
 
The duo wants to show increased maturity in their presentation. "Very, very clean lines and clean skating is our biggest goal, where there is complete unison throughout the whole program," Nagy said.
 
Finster and Nagy are also developing several new technical elements. With the move to seniors, they're adding a third lift to their free skate.
 
The duo is also adding a throw triple flip to replace the throw triple toe loop that they used the last two seasons. Finster said she'll miss the throw toe loop ("It's my favorite throw"), but the throw triple flip is going well.
 
"I landed my first one about two months ago," she said. "It is trickier to find the timing [on the throw flip]. But when you have it, it works really well. We're just working to make sure it's consistent, finishing the [landing] leg position, and speed."
 
Additionally, they look to improve their consistency in the long program.
 
"We're doing a lot of focus on running sections," Nagy said. "That way, we're able to focus more on the detail and the choreography that connects the elements." The idea is to have a greater familiarity and fluency with each individual section, so the program doesn't feel like just a list of elements to complete.
 
Finster and Nagy have been preparing for the International Selection Pool (ISP) Points Challenge event. Finster said it was different adjusting to competing without an audience.
 
"There's moments when I'm on the ice that I'll land something and look forward and present it to the audience," Finster said. "When you're in an arena and you look at someone, you feel more connected to showing your program off. But we had all of our teammates there, cheering. That makes you want to emote more. We're thankful for a way to compete."
 
Off ice, Finster is in her junior year with Connections Academy, an online learning platform. Nagy, meanwhile, is taking a semester's break from the University of Colorado, where he's studying exercise science.
 
As Finster and Nagy look ahead, they know that their first season in seniors may be a bit unusual. So they're keeping their expectations realistic.
 
"We just want to have a strong senior debut," Nagy said. "To step into the senior ranks and then continue working upward."