A trio of young figure skaters managed to rake in some medals at the Mountain Gems Competition in Revelstoke on Nov. 3.
“I’m very proud of how our girls presented themselves and they were amazing ambassadors for not only the sport of figure skating but our club as well,” said Danyelle Howard, the president of the 100 Mile House Figure Skating Club.
Katharina Wetzig, Tayler Kelsey and Vanessa Shearer attended the competition and came home with medals.
Wetzig and Kelsey competed in the Ruby Skills division and both received gold for their elements, which consisted of crossovers, spirals, waltz jumps, toe loop jumps, salchow jumps and other moves. Their routine also consisted of a 30-second creative dance without any prior practice and on the fly.
“We are very proud of both girls for their achievements and look forward to their next competition in January,” said Howard.
It was Kelsey’s first competition and Wetzig’s second.
Shearer competed in the Sapphire Individual event. Her solo was two minutes long and consisted of a series of mandatory elements, many of them mentioned above but also including the sit spin, camel spin and a forward spiral sequence and a turn sequence spin.
Athletes in this division are judged on their technique, power, execution, carriage and projection and how well they go together with the skater’s artistic impression and music.
“Vanessa was given gold by one judge and two silvers by the two other judges, giving her an all-around silver,” said Howard.
Shearer had to perform her routine without any music, due to a malfunction with the sound system, which Howard said she was very proud of.
The young figure skater will be performing at another competition in Quesnel in the new year, as well as a test day in Williams Lake to perform her intro interpretive.
All three girls were coached by LaVerne Howard.