Blow by blow, Zagreb

So we arrived at first practice, our first competition of the season and ready to do ourselves proud, usually for us the first competition is where you try things that may or may not work and experiment at a low key competition. Due to unforeseen circumstances we didn’t have this luxury and just had to get it right first time. We were a long way from Worlds in March, the adrenaline kicks in and you need to keep your cool, you get one shot to show each programme a total of 7minutes 30seconds. But official practices play a big part in judges decisions too, what kind of standard you are, and what common mistakes might be.

Anyway first practice went ok, we did everything but not everything was perfect as we still felt like we were on a plane. The ice was so fresh that when you stepped on it felt like you were going to fall through! Huge groaning cracks went right the way across the ice, like stepping on to a huge quickly melting frozen lake. The next practice the day of the short didn’t go so well, I woke to find the alarm for 6:10am had not gone off and it was now 6:45... Exactly the time our bus for the practice rink was leaving. I threw some clothes on to try and halt the bus or find some alternative transport while Stacey packed our gear. I got to the lobby only to find one of our solo men had slept in too, and moments after Stacey came down looking rather sheepish with a rather annoyed Dorota! The Organizing Committee wanted to take us in a car to get there but took way too long so we decided to cut our losses and just go for breakfast and back to bed.

Later we arrived ‘on time’ to start our warm up for the short, we drew last to skate which means you have to ignore the whole competition going on around you, while you prepare to skate. We didn’t really manage to get in to the ice for the duration of the short which looses speed and quality to cut the second mark. Our legs were still nervous and wooden not pushing to get power into our elements and holding back to play safe. We missed two major elements, the solo jump and throw and this is close to 10 points with the deduction for the fall. In a total of 42 points for the short this is a big problem and held us in second place, but not too bad for our first event.

Fired up to take first in the long we had a day off on the in-between the two programme’s with yet another early morning practice as consolation. This practice was a lot more to our ability we were powerful and commanding with strong elements and a lot better ice coverage. Only the long to go and we were ready, we made a tactical decision to miss the early morning practice as the competition itself started at 10:30am. We drew second to last to skate which gave us plenty of time to gather our thoughts. Stepping out on to the ice for your programme is a great feeling, waiting for your opponents marks (unless your first to skate) skating around with dazzling lights and an entourage of judges and the crowd who can give you hope and courage. They call your name and its all down to you and your hard work.

We stepped into our starting position confident we’d put in the hard work needed to skate well, we start our programme with a basic but strong twist just to get ourselves in thee mood then we are settled. Stacey landed two super throws with + and base marks from the judges and all strong lifts finishing with a level 4 death spiral and a very big smile! These moments last, we sat in the kiss and cry knowing we were about 5 points down after the short and just hoping we did enough. We had, and were put 6 points clear overall. All faith in your ability is restored, the programme was in no way perfect and have a lot of improvements to make but it sure feels good to put on a good performance and this is why each skater puts in the hard work, a good performance to win the gold.