FIGURE SKATING: The O’Brien Group Arena in Melbourne’s Dockland will be home to the nation’s best figure skaters this week for the 2016 Australian Figure Skating Championships.
With over 600 competitors in all levels in Synchronised, Singles, Dance and Pair, the week-long event concludes on Friday, 2 December with 2014 Sochi Olympian Brendan Kerry looking to secure his 5th national crown.
Trying to catch Kerry on the podium are NSW’s Mark Webster, the three Dodds brothers, Andrew, Jordan and Ryan from Queensland and stepping up to Seniors ranks is last year’s Junior Men’s champion James Min from South Australia. The men will be vying for positions on the Australian team to the 2017 ISU Four Continents Championships and the 2017 Asian Winter Games to be held in Sapporo, Japan in February.
The nine-strong Ladies event features two-time Champion Kailani Craine, who is fresh from her bronze and silver medal wins in Latvia and Poland earlier this month.
Craine is expected to be challenged for her third consecutive title by 2014 Sochi Olympian Brooklee Han. The Ladies final will be skated at 1.30pm this Friday followed by the Men’s at 3.00pm.
Firmly on the radar is 14-year-old Holly Harris who is expected to take the Junior Ladies title at her first attempt. The pint-sized pocket rocket from Sydney’s eastern suburbs trains in Colorado Springs most of the year and recently won Silver at the Volvo Cup in Latvia against a strong field.
Earlier in the week, all eyes will be on Australia’s newest star pair team Harley Windsor and Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya as they seek their first national title since pairing up earlier this year.
20-year-old Harley and his 16-year-old Russian partner took the world by storm in September winning Australia’s first-ever Junior Grand Prix Gold medal at the Tallin Cup in Estonia. Not only was the gold historic for Australia, but the first of any colour.
The brilliant and unlikely pairing of the young indigenous man from Sydney’s western suburbs with Ekaterina was a brain wave by Harley’s coaches Andrei and Galina Pachin.
The Pairs short program will be competed on Tuesday night at 9.10pm with the free program scheduled for Wednesday at 9.10pm.
A live stream of the events is available here>>>
AFSC website>>>
Results>>>
Schedule>>>
Belinda Noonan
OWIA
