“Not very good,” is how figure skater Rachel Pettitt describes her performance at the B.C Super Series SummerSkate over the weekend in Burnaby, B.C.
The 15-year-old, who was the only skater from Yukon’s Arctic Edge Skating Club, placed sixth out of 18 skaters in under-17 novice women.
Pettitt took 15th in the short program with a season low of 21.08, before taking fourth in the long program with a 58.99.
“My short program was, I guess I could say, the worst one this year for sure,” said Pettitt. “In my long I skated a little bit better - not as good as Victoria Day.”
Pettitt won gold at the 2014 Super Series Victoria Day competition in May, placing first in both the short and long with a combined scored of 109.15.
“It was really hard to forget about (the short),” said Pettitt. “Going into the long I needed to put it behind me, which is kind of hard to do with a program like that.
“It’s kind of like what happened at sections last year: I had a not-so-good short and I had to put it behind me.
“It helped and I was able to bounce back a little bit in the long. Not enough for a medal, but that’s OK. I can’t win every competition.”
SummerSkate marks the first time this season Pettitt left a competition without a medal.
She skated to second in the short and second in the long at the Joe Williams Memorial Cup in Spokane, Wash., in July.
“Overall I skated well and I was pleased with how it went,” said Pettitt.
She also captured gold in novice ladies at the 2014 B.C. Coast Region Championships WinterSkate in February to start the season.
Pettitt finished last season with sixth overall in novice women at the Skate Canada’s BC/YT Sectional Championships in November. By missing the top-four, she didn’t qualify for the Canadian Figure Skating Championships.
Pettitt was the first Yukoner to win Skate B.C.‘s Super Series season-long competition in pre-novice in 2012. She qualified for the Skate Canada Challenge national championship after becoming the first Yukoner to win gold at the BC/YT Sectional Championships the same season. Pettitt placed fourth in pre-novice against 55 skaters at the nationals that year, which marks the highest finish by a Yukon skater at the event.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com