The Olympics are sometimes referred to as the five-ringed circus – which will make AIS Ice dance pair Danielle O’Brien and Greg Merriman feel right at home. The childhood friends from Sydney delivered a circus-inspired theme that will see them roll up, roll up all the way to the Sochi 2014 Olympics.

O’Brien, 23 and Merriman, 24 booked their tickets to their first Winter Olympics after finishing sixth in their free dance at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany.

Needing to finish in the top five of non-qualified nations, the pair delivered a personal best score of 76.68 for their playful free program to finish on 127.20 overall – and third out of the non-qualified nations.

O’Brien was shaky at the start of the routine, stumbling on her twizzles and losing some of her synchronisation but she quickly recovered her composure and didn’t miss a beat for the remainder of the segment.

“I felt very nervous today," O'Brien said. "It’s been a long two days since the short dance. I was just so ready to compete that the adrenalin had sort of worn off until I got on the ice. It was one of the hardest free dances we’ve done. It was solid. I knew we’d given it everything and whatever was going to come of that would come of it.”

"Skating last we knew we only had to be ahead of three,” Merriman added. “We felt ready to do our job. It was a tight pack. Our performance was far from our best, but we got the job done.”

In recent months, the pair have worked hard on improving their presentation whilst maintaining the integrity of their technical difficulty – and it has paid off. Their fun and playful nature showed through during the entire routine whilst they executed difficult lifts that paid dividends in their technical scoring.

For O’Brien and Merriman, qualifying for their first Olympic Games, puts to rest the demons from their Vancouver 2010 campaign. The day before the Olympic Qualification competition in 2009, Merriman was hospitalised with Pericarditis - an infection in the sac surrounding the heart – and the pair were forced to withdraw from the event.

“I said to Greg before we started the Short Dance - we’ve waited four years to skate this program,” O’Brien recounted after the event. “Four years ago was the worst and scariest day of my life and today was everything I thought four years ago would have been only more surreal. It will sink in when we are back in Detroit.”

In the four years that have passed, they have made history as the most decorated ice dance pair in Australian history and become the first Australian team to make the finals and finish top 20 at a World Championships.

When they compete in Sochi, O’Brien and Merriman will become only the second Australian pair to compete in ice dancing at the Olympics – after Monica MacDonald and Rodney Clarke at Calgary 1988. With Brooklee Han and Brendan Kerry also securing qualification, Australia will send it's equal largest figure skating contingent to a Winter Games when the athletes compete in Sochi in February 2014.

Article courtesy AOC/Alice Wheeler | http://www.sochi2014.olympics.com.au

Brooklee Han skated her heart out on Day 2 of the Nebelhorn Trophy, securing Australia a place in the ladies’ individual figure skating for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Her result in the free program meant that she finished in overall fifth place – but most importantly, first out of non-qualified competitors. With only six spots on offer, Han ensured Australia would continue its proud history of figure skating at the Winter Olympics. "Coming here to gain an Olympic quota spot was my ultimate goal," Han said. "I'm happy that I achieved that. Being one off at worlds was disappointing but I knew I would be in strong contention here. I knew I had my work cut out for me but I got the job done."

Skating to the soundtrack of the Taiwanese movie Secret, Han delivered beautifully in her free routine, faltering slightly on only one jump. Her segment score of 98.42 and total score of 147.16 eclipsed her previous personal bests of 91.26 and 141.88 respectively, which she achieved at the 2013 World Championships, and put her in first place. With just three skaters chasing qualification still to come, Han had done everything she needed to do to qualify.

"Both programs were not perfect, but I'm happy with my long program," Han said. "I was disappointed with the fall on the loop in my short program as I can skate a clean short easily."

The 18-year-old, who lives and trains in the US city of Connecticut, delivered an emphatic performance with four triples, including a triple lutz. At a technical level, her spins were a vast improvement from the previous day’s short program. Han was third overall in the Technical Element Score, with a score of 51.62 - higher than those of the better ranked Miki Ando of Japan and Ashley Cain of the USA. She also recorded the highest score out of all competitors for the total of her three spins - 12.33.

It was her presentation that also really impressed. Han used the powerful emotions in the soundtrack to really take the crowd with her and engage them and the judges in her performance.

The event was taken out by Elena Radionova of Russia but it was Japan’s Miki Ando, who finished in second place who delivered the most anticipated performance. The two-time World Champion, who is the only female skater to complete a quadruple jump successfully in competition, has returned to the ice since having a baby in April and has set herself as a medal contender for Sochi.

Rounding out the top-six qualifying nations alongside Australia were Georgia, Norway (for the first time since 1964), Austria, Czech Republic and Brazil (for the first time ever).

Article courtesy AOC/Alice Wheeler | http://www.sochi2014.olympics.com.au

Brendan Kerry’s star has continued to rise, with the young figure skater placing eighth at the Olympic Qualifying Event in Germany to lock in his spot at the Sochi 2014 Games – in spite of a suspected broken wrist sustained more than a day ago in warm-up.

Kerry aced his short program yesterday with a personal best of 67.97 – positioning the 18-year-old at the top of all 28 men seeking Olympic qualification.

His strong short program meant he was the fourth last skater to complete his free routine. The pressure of being in the last group of skaters for the first time at this level of competition showed in Kerry’s routine, displaying some minor mistakes and popping a jump.

“I felt like a mess today,” Kerry said after the event. “In practice today I popped so it was stressful. I was really nervous. I kept thinking about my friends in Riverside in California and this little competition we all have - to see who can get the most amount of jumps done in the long [program]. I feel pressure from that daily and that helped with today's event.”

Showing his rapidly developing maturity, Kerry worked through the nerves, and the pain of his throbbing wrist – to score a new overall personal best score of 188.67, more than 18 points better than he achieved at the recent Junior Grand Prix in Latvia.

The score placed Kerry as the fourth highest athlete seeking qualification, well and truly inside the top-six he needed. When the realisation dawned on him, Kerry’s face lit up as he said “I’m going to be an Olympian! I don't think it's hit me yet.”

Kerry, who will be 19 at the Sochi Games, follows in the footsteps of his mother Monica MacDonald who competed at Calgary 1988 in ice dancing.

“I almost cried when the results came up - I’m so proud of Bren,” MacDonald said from Poland where she has been coaching at a Junior Grand Prix.

“The men’s event was always going to be tough, but he did what he needed to do. I never doubted that he would make it to Sochi even when others did. He is such an inspiration to our local kids, spending most of his career at home in Sydney training, to go out and compete amongst the best in the world and make it. I am a very proud mum and very proud to have been part of his journey.” "I couldn’t be more proud," his father Darren Kerry also added.

Kerry was coached by MacDonald in his formative years, before making the move at the end of the 2012 season to train under revered coach Tammy Gambill in Riverside, California.

Article courtesy AOC/Alice Wheeler | http://www.sochi2014.olympics.com.au

Following his win at Skate Down Under in Sydney last week, Australian figure skater Brendan Kerry finished fifth in the season’s first International Skating Union’s Junior Grand Prix in Riga, Latvia.

Kerry, who trains in Los Angeles with coach Tammy Gambill, scored 61.17 in his short program, completing the three required triple jumps including a triple axel, but was penalised 1.0 for a time violation in an otherwise strong performance.

Leading the event after the short program was Michael Christian Martinez from the Philippines on 64.03 points followed by Boyang Jin from China on 63.19.

Jin managed to lift to first position with a strong performance in the free program to win on 189.79 points. Russia's Adian Pitkeev was second on 187.19 with Shoma Uno of Japan and Martinez in third and fourth respectively.

Kerry was seventh in the free program, giving him a total score of 170.02 to finish fifth overall.

The result puts Kerry in a good position at the start of the season, as well as earning him 9 points on the Junior Grand Prix circuit which has six more events across Europe and Central America.

Kerry will be looking to qualify for the Sochi Winter Olympics at the upcoming Nebelhorn Cup in Germany at the end of September.

Watch Kerry's short program at the Junior Grand Prix here.

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