Brendan Kerry of Australia competes during the Men's Single Skating Short Program. © Getty Images He was here to prove a point, and Australian figure skater Brendan Kerry has well and truly done that.
A strong short program which included a powerful opening quad toe loop jump has seen the 23-year-old skater move straight through to the free skate event tomorrow, finishing in 16th place with the eighth highest Technical Score.
“It feels great, it feels freaking awesome, I’m not going to lie,” a beaming Kerry said. “I needed that skate.”
Skating to Everyone Wants to Rule the World, Kerry showed he was no longer the anxious Olympic debutant of four years ago, and instead, has well and truly etched his name into the top tier of international men’s skating.
“I was nervous, of course, but I knew I just needed to stay relaxed and do what I’d been doing in my practices.”
“I’m a much stronger skater than I was at Sochi and this time it felt like I actually deserved to be here, so I came in with a very different mindset.”
It’s been a long road to redemption for the former Sydney skater, who now trains in New Jersey with Russian coach Nikolai Morozov.
“After my first Olympics I knew I had to make some big changes,” he continued.
“I looked at what the elite skaters were doing and I decided I wanted to really go for it.”
Kerry needed a place in the top 24 to move through to tomorrow’s event, and his score of 83.06 – a new season best saw him guaranteed a place in that top group.
Katherine Firkin
olympics.com.au
A strong short program which included a powerful opening quad toe loop jump has seen the 23-year-old skater move straight through to the free skate event tomorrow, finishing in 16th place with the eighth highest Technical Score.
“It feels great, it feels freaking awesome, I’m not going to lie,” a beaming Kerry said. “I needed that skate.”
Skating to Everyone Wants to Rule the World, Kerry showed he was no longer the anxious Olympic debutant of four years ago, and instead, has well and truly etched his name into the top tier of international men’s skating.
“I was nervous, of course, but I knew I just needed to stay relaxed and do what I’d been doing in my practices.”
“I’m a much stronger skater than I was at Sochi and this time it felt like I actually deserved to be here, so I came in with a very different mindset.”
It’s been a long road to redemption for the former Sydney skater, who now trains in New Jersey with Russian coach Nikolai Morozov.
“After my first Olympics I knew I had to make some big changes,” he continued.
“I looked at what the elite skaters were doing and I decided I wanted to really go for it.”
Kerry needed a place in the top 24 to move through to tomorrow’s event, and his score of 83.06 – a new season best saw him guaranteed a place in that top group.
Katherine Firkin
olympics.com.au
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