The jury is still out on who will represent Australia in the Ladies figure skating event at the final Olympic qualification competition in Obersdorf, Germany next month.

Olympic hopeful Chantelle Kerry (16) of Sydney, skated a near perfect Short Program on Wednesday night, but her performance in the Free Program tonight left her just short of a straight forward selection by only 4.32 points.

Chantelle needed to achieve 141.88 or more to beat out Brooklee Han of Victoria, to get a straight bearth to the Obersdorf competition.

Brooklee was unable to compete at Skate Down Under this week due to illness so a decision must be made as to whether officicals send her or Chantelle to try and secure the Olympic quota place.

A decision will be made in coming days so it’s business as usual for Chantelle who will get straight back into training, focusing on the upcoming Junior Grand Prix event in Poland.

Ice Dancers Danielle O’Brien and Gregory Merriman, both from Sydney, skated away with the gold medal tonight beating out the visiting Swiss team, Romana Elsener and Florian Roost.

Brendan Kerry (19) from Sydney, skated the performance of his life tonight and achieved the highest score for an Australian in an International event since the new International Judging System came into play in 2005 with 192.28 points.

Ice Skating Australia will confirm the selections for the Obersdorf competition in the next few days.
Skate Down Under was held at Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink, Sydney from 20-22 August 2013. For full details of Skate Down Under visit www.isa.org.au

Follow Skate Down Under at @IceSkatingAUS

Day one of the Senior events at Skate Down Under is complete. The success of Australian skaters tonight and tomorrow will determine who Ice Skating Australia (ISA) will send to the final Olympic qualification competition in Germany.

Skaters must achieve a minimum technical score in order to be eligible for nomination to the Obersdorf qualifying event for the Sochi Winter Olympics.

As the competition stands Chantelle Kerry is in the lead with a personal best technical score of 43.82 followed by Sumika Yamada of Hong Kong with 40.70.

Ice dancers, Danielle O’Brien and Gregory Merriman, having already achieved the required technical score at the Four Continents Competition earlier in the year, sailed through the first part of the dance competition, leading the pack with 57.28 for the Short Dance.

The Senior Men did not let us down with an exciting Short Program event but it was not without drama. David Kranjec from Brisbane, skated a near perfect program but a fall on a spin looked to cost him dearly, leaving the door open for Brendan Kerry.

However, Brendan had a fall in his step sequence but skated an otherwise stella program. Kerry beating out Kranjec in the end by 8.48 with a total of 66.37.

The competition concludes tomorrow night at Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink, Sydney. For full details of Skate Down Under visit www.isa.org.au

Follow Skate Down Under at @IceSkatingAUS

Australia’s first ice dance couple to have medalled at an International competition are returning to Sydney later this month to compete at Skate Down Under and book a ticket to Germany to qualify for Olympics.

Danielle O’Brien and Greg Merriman, Ice-Dancers from Sydney, need to compete at Canterbury Ice Rink, in order to secure a place at the Qualification Competition to be held in Obersdorf in September.

The top Australian place getters from the Senior divisions at Skate Down Under will go on to skate in Germany for their final chance at a spot on Australia’s Winter Olympic team competing at Sochi in 2014.

Danielle and Greg were unlucky four years ago at the Olympic qualifying event when Greg became ill and unable to skate, missing their chance to represent Australia at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Over the last four years the Olympic Winter Institute Scholarship winners, have been living in Detroit, USA and training with Olympic silver medalist, Anjelika Krylova and her husband Pasquale Camerlengo.

They have made huge strides up the ice dance ladder this season. They are now ranked 25th in the World and picked up Australia’s first International medal for Ice-Dance.

Skate Down Under will be the last opportunity for ice-skating fans to see the couple perform their Olympic programs before the do or die Olympic Qualification event in Germany in September.

Also being decided at Skate Down Under will be the Olympic qualification place for the Ladies and Mens event, which will be hotly contested by Australia’s best figure skaters including Brooklee Han, Chantelle Kerry, David Kranjec and Brendan Kerry.

Danielle and Greg compete at 5.30pm on Wednesday, 21 August and 6.15pm Thursday, 22 August. For full details of Skate Down Under visit www.isa.org.au

Follow O’Brien and Merriman on twitter: @OBrienMerriman