Brendan Kerry is a five-time Australian Men’s Figure Skating Champion. He is the first Australian to have successfully landed two quad jumps – the toe-loop and salchow, at an international competition.
Brendan grew up in Sydney and was initially coached by his mother, Monica MacDonald – a 1988 Calgary Ice Dance Olympian, before moving to California, USA in 2012 for training under coach, Tammy Gambill. Beginning his international career in 2008 at a Junior Grand Prix, the then 14-year-old placed 25th. Stepping up to the Senior Four Continents Championships in 2011, Brendan competed at the 2012 World Championships and won his first senior gold medal in 2013 at Skate Down Under.
With an outside chance for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, Brendan competed in the final Olympic qualifying event at the Nebelhorn Trophy, Germany in September 2013 and earned his place on the Australian Olympic Team with an incredible performance.
At the Sochi Winter Olympics, he finished in 29th place.
In 2015 Brendan qualified into the prestigious ISU Grand Prix series, an exclusive series that only allows up to 12 men’s elite entries per event. In his Grand Prix debut at Skate America, the 28-year-old delivered an eighth-place performance.
The following year he earned bronze at The Nordics before taking the second gold podium finish of his career at the Gardena Spring Trophy in Italy and securing an invitation to two ISU Grand Prix events for the 2016/17 season – Skate America and the Trophee de France where he placed 10th in both competitions.
2017 was a standout year for Brendan, earning a career-best 11th place at the Olympic Test Event in PyeongChang and landing three jumps in the Asian Winter Games – two of which were the toe-loop and salchow, making him the first Australian to have landed two different quad jumps in the same performance. At the 2017 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, Brendan delivered a personal best score and secured a quota position for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
Competing in his second Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang 2018, he finished his short program in 16th place and free skating in 20th.
His 2018/19 season was highlighted by a personal best finish in 9th at the Four Continents event in Anaheim, USA and in 2019/20, Brendan had another strong finish at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships with a 12th place performance before the 2020 World Championships were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020/21, several events were also cancelled, and injury ruled the Winter Olympian out from competing at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, Sweden.
Brendan was announced alongside aerial skier Laura Peel, as the Australian Flag Bearer for the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. The Opening Ceremony which took place on the 4 February, saw Brendan become the first Flag Bearer from figure skating and the pair become the first dual Australian flag bearers in Olympic Winter history.
Competing at the Beijing Games, the triple Olympian finished the short program in 17th position with a qualifying score of 84.79. In the medal round he achieved a personal best free skate score to finish in the top 20 (17th).
The 27-year-old delivered under pressure with his impressive long routine performance to ‘To the Lovers, Butterflies and Hurricanes’, executing all 12 planned elements and scoring 160.01 to smash his personal best and provide a proud moment for Australia.