MORRISBURG – In her final year of figure skating competition, Kristyn VanHoof has qualified for the Skate Ontario Provincial Championships.
VanHoof, a Grade 12 student at Seaway District High School, is competing in the Ladies Gold FreeSkate event.
The qualifying format for provincial competitions has changed in recent years. Skaters can compete in as many Super Series competitions as they wish throughout the season. A skaters’ best two results are used to determine their ranking. In VanHoof’s event, only the top-18 ranked in an event across the province compete for the provincial championship.
This season, VanHoof competed in three competitions: Prince Edward County, Nepean Winter Skate, and the Elizabeth Manley Winter Classic. After Nepean, VanHoof was 23rd out of 29 skaters in her event. She followed up with her personal best skate at the Winter Classic, a fourth-place finish, which moved her up 11 positions to 12th overall in the province.
“I thought, this was my last competition, my goal at the Elizabeth Manley competition was to have the skate I knew I could do,” VanHoof said.
She said the provincial competition wasn’t on her mind when she was in the 23rd position going into her final competition
“When I finished my skate I was amazed with what I had just done,” VanHoof said. “I heard my scores and I knew it was my best skate.”
“All three of us coaches held our breath for the entire three minutes,” said Danielle Napier, who coaches VanHoof along with Louise Demmick, and Ali VanHoof.
“Her spins were beautiful, she landed double-jump after double-jump. She had a look of focus and determination.”
VanHoof skates four days per week in Morrisburg and is a life-long member of the Morrisburg and District Skating Club, where she also coaches young skaters. For the past four weeks, she has also been training in Nepean.
She will travel to Mississauga to compete in the SkateOntario Provincial Championships this weekend from March 7th to 10th. Her event is March 8th.
