There were plenty of reasons to be excited at the Yukon Gold Nugget Championships on Saturday at the Canada Games Centre.
The Yukon’s figure skating championship, hosted by the Whitehorse Arctic Edge Skating Club, had more Outside skaters compete than ever before, with six from N.W.T.‘s Inuvik Figure Skating Club and five from Alaska’s Juneau Skating Club.
The championships saw a total of 32 skaters take part, up from 24 last year. With the Alaska team at the championship, it was also an international event for just the second time.
“This competition is really about highlighting some of the younger, up-and-coming skaters in our club,” said Cheryl Van Blaricom, Arctic Edge’s vice-president. “This helps develop them by giving them experience competing.”
The competition also saw two male skaters take part, which was a first, as far as anyone could remember.
Jackson Ellis, 8, from Milton, Ontario, came over with the Inuvik team and Whitehorse’s Michael Sumner also gave an exhibition skate.
Sumner’s presence at the event also meant a Canadian national team was represented at the championship.
Sumner will be representing Canada at the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, early next year.
He made the national team after capturing gold in Level 1 at the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games in March.
Sumner was the first male Yukon figure skater to medal at a national Games and, consequently, will be the first male figure skater from the Yukon to compete at the World Winter Games.
The championship was also the first with STARSkate, a new program the B.C./Yukon section is piloting for Skate Canada.
STAR, which stands for Skills, Tests, Achievement and Recognition, is a nationally standardized testing system. It places more emphasis on skill-development than competition. In the system, skaters are scored and awarded on their performances, but are not ranked against each other.
“The goal is to get kids training more, to introduce them to competition slowly, but really getting them to develop their skills before they begin competing formally,” said Van Blaricom. “They grade them, opposed to against each other - first, second and third. They do it to a standard, a gold, silver or bronze standard. So they could be several golds or several silvers or several bronze.”
Arctic Edge’s Mikayla Kramer, 10, was happy to take gold in STAR 4 for skaters under 13.
“It went well,” said Kramer. “I landed my double-sal and I got more points than I had (last) December.”
Arctic Edge skaters will soon be getting pointers from some former national champs.
Canadian Olympians Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay, who competed together in pair skating at the 2010 Olympic Games, are coming up from Calgary to hold a two-day of seminar Jan. 3-4.
“I don’t often see the younger skaters train on a day-to-day basis, and Tessa Moore was one skater I thought that really stood out and is really a strong and up-and-coming skater,” added Van Blaricom of Saturday.
“Another one, of course, is Mikayla Kramer. She’s a lovely skater. What I saw with her this year was she was really developing her artistry. Her performance quality has significantly improved over last year.”
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Results
STAR 1
Alissa Russell (Arctic Edge) - gold
Bronwyn Hayes (Arctic Edge) - silver
Jamie Nickel (Arctic Edge) - bronze
STAR 2
Gabriella Sloan (Juneau) - silver
Lovell Simon (Inuvik) - silver
Emilie Perrault (Arctic Edge) - silver
Megahn Bimingham (Arctic Edge) - bronze
Michaela DeCook (Arctic Edge) - bronze
Lenneah Timmermans (Arctic Edge) - bronze
STAR 3 Boys
Jackson Ellis (Inuvik) - gold
STAR 3A
Emma Jesson (Juneau) - gold
Alyssa Cuenza (Arctic Edge) - silver
Landyn Blisner (Arctic Edge) - silver
Tessa Moore (Arctic Edge) - silver
Katherine Fritsch (Juneau) - silver
Meredith Fritsch (Juneau) - silver
STAR 3B
Maya Krizan (Inuvik) - gold
Abigail Cuenza (Arctic Edge) - bronze
Marika Kitchen (Arctic Edge) - bronze
STAR 4 under 13
Mikayla Kramer (Arctic Edge) - gold
Winter Ross (Arctic Edge) - silver
STAR 4 over 13
Annika Krizan (Inuvik) - gold
Morgan Madden (Arctic Edge) - silver
Jenelle Clethero (Arctic Edge) - bronze
Senior bronze
Rachel Waters (Inuvik) - gold
Kelcy Armstrong (Arctic Edge) - silver
Juvenile exhibition skate
Laurie Balstad (Juneau)
Novice exhibition skate
Bryn Hoffman (Arctic Edge)
Preliminary elements
Emma Jessen (Juneau) - gold
Lovelle Simon (ISC) - silver
Katherine Fritsch (Juneau) - bronze
Bronze elements
Winter Ross (Inuvik) - gold
Mikayla Kramer (Arctic Edge) - silver
Annika Krizan (Inuvik) - bronze
Silver elements
Laurie Balstad (Juneau) - gold
Rachel Waters (Inuvik) - silver
Kelcy Armstrong (Arctic Edge) - bronze
Gold elements exhibition skate
Bryn Hoffman (Arctic Edge)
Introductory interpretive
Tessa Moore (Arctic Edge) - gold
Meredith Fritsch (Juneau) - silver
Gabriella Sloan (Juneau) - bronze
Bronze interpretive
Laurie Balstad (Juneau) - gold
Jenelle Clethero (Arctic Edge) - silver
Special Olympics exhibition skate
Michael Sumner (Arctic Edge)
Junior creative
Emma Jessen (Juneau) - gold
Meghan Burmingham (Arctic Edge) - silver
Michaela DeCook (Arctic Edge) - bronze
Senior A creative
Mikayla Kramer (Ar ctic Edge) - gold
Zoey Krause (Arctic Edge) - silver
Senior B creative
Bryn Hoffman (Arctic Edge) - gold
Laurie Balstad (Arctic Edge) - silver
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.