 |
It’s been a long year and it has all led up to this final, major event. Some would say it’s the most anticipated skating competition of the year. This is where all the best teams in the world come to challenge each other for those coveted top spots.
The world championships are in Shanghai this year, a place Evan and I got to compete in once before on the grand prix series two years ago. That was our second season skating together and it’s amazing how the time has flown by, and yet it already seems like a lifetime ago. The rink is the same as I remember, and my room looks identical to the one I stayed in before, but everything is different this time as we enter the competition as contenders for the top spot. There are many good teams that have worked their tails off all year, but we have worked hard too, and we know now is the time to show the world what we can do. It’s not just a competition against them; it’s a competition against ourselves, as we try to push ourselves every competition to be better than the last.
It was an exciting Wednesday as the short dance finished and we led the event, capturing a small gold medal! With one day off before the free dance I had to get out so I wouldn’t just sit in my room and think about skating, or think about thinking about skating, which can happen, too.
After a nice day off, we were anxious to get to the free dance. We treated it as a completely new event, disregarding our success the previous day. You can’t go into the second part of the competition thinking you’ll stay in first just because that’s where you are or that you must skate perfectly to pull up because you aren’t as high as you want to be; it’s important to be in a clear head space knowing you are trained and capable to perform your program as well as you have practiced.
 |
I am happy to say that we put out two solid performances and got great results! Evan and I got to come home as world silver medalists, our first world medal together! It was a pretty exciting week to say the least. We even got to get out and see some of the city. A little sightseeing group of skaters was organized and we visited “the old city of Shanghai” and walked through its beautiful gardens. For lunch we stopped at a restaurant near the water and had some of the best Thai food I’ve ever had…also some of the spiciest food I’ve ever had! This coconut water washed it down perfectly though :)
Shanghai was a beautiful cap to the (almost) end of our season. We are still hungry to improve and keep making forward strides in our career. I say almost because we still have one more to go, World Team Trophy in Tokyo! You’ll hear all about that very soon…we leave on Monday :) Thanks for reading!!!
