Career
He originally competed in ice dancing with Eve Chalom, with whom he competed on the Intermediate level and won the bronze medal at Junior Nationals in 1993. He also competed at Junior Nationals with his sister Kelli Trent, also in ice dancing. Derek Trent also briefly competed as a single skater.
Trent began pair skating as a teenager and was coached by Irina Vorobieva. He competed on the novice and junior levels with Katie Gadkowski, winning the Novice pewter in 1998 and the Junior pewter in 1999. He then competed with Brandilyn Sandoval, with whom he won the bronze medal on the junior level at the 2001 Nationals. When that partnership broke up, he skated with former-singles skater Stacey Pensgen. They placed 14th at the 2003 U.S. Championships and split shortly thereafter.
Trent teamed up with Tiffany Vise in the summer of 2003. They had skated for years at the same rink and her partnership had ended at the same time. Because they were both partnerless, they tried out together, despite the fact that they rotate in opposite directions, which is usually a partnership-killer. Very few teams at the highest level rotate in opposite directions because it makes elements like pair spins and twists much more difficult, due to the fact that one partner will have to "force" him- or herself to rotate in the "wrong" direction in order to complete the element (Vise spinned his way on twist lifts). They represented the Broadmoor Skating Club.
Vise and Trent won the bronze medal at their first major event together, the Golden Spin of Zagreb. Beginning in the 2006/2007 season, Vise and Trent began attempting the throw quadruple salchow in competition. They were credited for the element at the 2006 Skate Canada International, but not with landing it, because it was fully rotated but not landed successfully.
They began the 2007–2008 season at Skate Canada, where they placed 5th. They went on to the 2007 Trophée Eric Bompard, where they successfully landed a throw quadruple salchow in their free skate, becoming the first pair team to ever perform that element in international competition.
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