Olympians Brendan Kerry and Kailani Craine have continued to extend their impressive list of national titles, after both claimed victory at the Australian Figure Skating Championships at the O’Brien Icehouse in Melbourne.

The two skaters have had an impressive decade as Australia's leading Figure Skating athletes, highlighted by two Olympic Games appearances for Kerry, with Craine becoming an Olympian for the first time in 2018.
 
Kerry took out his eighth national title in impressive fashion, scoring 216.11 points, to finish ahead of James Min and Damian Kaptich.

In the Senior Ladies, Craine won her sixth national title, with a comprehensive win ahead of Yancey Chan and Ashley Colliver.
 
Holly Harris and Jason Chan won their first national Senior Ice Dance title, finishing ahead of last years winners Chantelle Kerry & Andrew Dodds in second, with Matilda Friend and William Badaoui rounding out the podium in third.
 
Unfortunately Pairs skaters Harley Windsor and Ekaterina "Katya" Alexandrovskaya were unable to compete, due to an injury sustained by Alexandrovskaya in training prior to the competition.

The event was a great showcase of Australian Figure Skating, with strong participation and crowds over the week at the O'Brien Icehouse facility.
 
Podium Images ©  Michael Santer Photography

Australia’s largest, strongest and youngest Junior Worlds Figure Skating team in recent history will compete at the Junior World Figure Skating Championships in Taipei this week.  
 
Contesting the Ladies, Men, Dance and Pair titles will be Holly Harris (14), James Min (16), ice dancers Matilda Friend (17) and William Badoui (18) and pair skaters Harley Windsor (20) and Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya (17).
 
The rise of pair skaters Windsor and Alexandrovskaya has them tipped as genuine medal contenders.  
 
After winning Australia’s first gold in a Junior Grand Prix and backing it up with a fifth place in the Junior Final and performing high-quality high-level triple throws and twists in their first season, the expectations of the indigenous Sydney-sider and his Moscow-born partner are high.
 
“Last year when we started I could not expect the result we had,” Alexandrovskaya said of their performances so far. “Australia is not a figure skating country. But this (the pairing) has worked.”
 
“We are going for a medal but we have to skate clean to do it,” Windsor said. 

National Junior Men’s Champion James Min is no stranger to world competition who already has two World Junior Championships under his belt (placing 31st and 27th).
 
The engaging Adelaide teenager, who is the eldest son of Cambodian refugees, weighs just 44kgs – but is accomplishing multiple triple jump combinations and what he lacks in stature he makes up for in performance skills and execution.
 
“The key is on-going development,” said coach Richard Laidlaw who has taught Min since his first days on the ice.  
 
“He has a good jumping technique now. All the triples are in place and we will continue to develop quads next season. For now though, it is about doing what he can do well,” Laidlaw said.
 
Min is much more focussed on the process rather than the outcome.
 
“I’m doing clean run throughs and my fitness is great,” he said. “I am obsessed over my lutz at the moment because it’s not 100 percent where I want it to be every day.”
 
“I just need to focus on what I need to do in the moment. Think about the process and not the outcome and do what I do in training.”
 
At 14, Holly Harris is the youngest in the Australian team but has impressed in her debut junior international season placing 11th in her first Junior Grand Prix (Germany) and collecting a silver medal in Riga, Latvia late last year with mature performances, technically and artistically, that belie her tender years.
 
Harris, who trains most of the year in Colorado Springs with her mum Karen looking after her whilst her father and siblings remain in Sydney, is a talent to watch for the future.
 
Coach Tom Zakrajsek confirmed Harris’ potential.
 
“Holly has been working very hard and training very thoroughly to prepare for World Juniors,” Zakrajsek said.
 
“I feel fortunate to be coaching her as she is a young talent with a bright future. She has very specific goals for the event regarding personal bests and she will using her first appearance at theses championships to gain experience so that she can springboard to greater achievements over the next few years.”

For ice dancers Matilda Friend and William Badaoui, its’ another week, another country and another comp.
 
Junior Worlds closes a long and demanding season for duo, who in February, competed back to back in the Four Continents Championship in PyeongChang and the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan.
 
Baddoui says competing at the Asian Winter Games, where they finished in 6th place with two new PBs, has given them a big confidence boost.
 
"Just the scale and level of competition at Asian Winter Games, everything feels a little bit easier when you come out of a competition that big," he said.
 
"Experiencing something that was so close to an Olympics, which is our ultimate goal, gave us new motivation and drive." Friend said.
 
The Junior and Senior Ice Dance national champions goal for Junior Worlds is to earn a high enough ranking after their short dance to make it through to the free dance , which both acknowledge will require a flawless skate and top effort given the calibre of the 31 teams competing.
 
"But we're also looking for a PB and to improve our ranking from last year,” they said.
 
The Junior World Figure Skating Championships will be held from Wednesday March 15 to 18 in Taipei and begin with the men’s short program on Wednesday followed by the Pairs short.

The 2016 Australian Figure Skating Championships have concluded at the O’Brien Group Arena in Melbourne’s Docklands, with reigning champions Kailani Craine and Brendan Kerry holding onto their national titles.

In the Senior Ladies, Craine finished with an overall score of 157.66 points ahead of Brooklee Han on 150.72.   
     
Following on from her short program score of 59.35, Craine opened her free program with a strong triple flip, double toe jump combination and presented a mature performance to ‘Hallelujah’, which included her signature triple loop, half loop, triple salchow and high level spins.

In defending her title and coming from behind, Kailani missed one triple flip and didn’t hold the landing of the opening triple lutz but it mattered for little as she scored 98.31 points to secure her third crown.

After leading the short program with 59.45 points, an improved Brooklee Han began impressively with a triple loop but also struggled on the opening lutz, taking a costly fall. Her spins have always been a trademark and she was also able to include some impressive jumps.

It wasn’t enough to hold onto the slim lead, but it was an effort the 2014 Olympian could be proud of.​

​In the Senior Men, Brendan Kerry continued his dominance, following up his outstanding short program score of 81.01, with yet another brilliant skate, finishing with 225.84 points overall.

Australia’s quad king, Kerry landed another quad in his free program tonight along with a slew of further triples including two triple axels.

Skating to ‘Pirates of the Carribean’, tonight’s competition was a good tune up ahead of the ISU Challenger Series in Zagreb, Croatia, which Kailani Crane will also be attending.

Junior men’s champion James Min backed up from yesterday to take the Silver medal in the Seniors category, after a passionate and entertaining program where he did not stop jumping for four and a half minutes.
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He poured his heart and soul into his debut National Senior program, finishing with a score of 170.14 and a few macaroons with his family as a celebratory treat.

There wasn’t a person in the O’Brien Group Arena last night who wasn’t amazed at James Min’s 60.76 point short program at the 2016 Australian Figure Skating Championships.

It hasn’t all been easy going for the 16-year-old, whose parents, Narvy and Mony, are Cambodian refugees.

Despite their struggles, they have offered endless support to their son and his lifelong dream to be an Olympian, something that James is grateful for every opportunity.

“I’m really thankful for the chance every day. Without my parents, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” said Min.

His coach Richard Laidlaw echoes those words.

“The Min’s had to work very hard for everything that they’ve got and are wonderful people who are very proud of their talented young son,” Richard said.

That upbringing has made Min one of the most humble and hard-working prodigies on the circuit despite his intense schedule.

It’s one he has to commit to, as Min competes this year in the Junior and Senior competitions this week.

“Richard’s a great coach, very good at planning, his technique is very good and I trust him,” Min said.

“Most of the time,” Laidlaw stirs.

“Well nobody is perfect,” quips Min.

It’s that jovial relationship, where coach and athlete share casual banter as well as solid feedback, which has allowed James to break out this year.

A crowd favorite all week, James is often seen having photos with fans, something coach Laidlaw says he has taken in his stride.

“He’s looking towards the older skaters, but James is actually a mentor to the young kids already and you don’t often realize that along the journey.”

That recognition has grown beyond Australia, with the Cambodian Figure Skating Association inviting him to do an ice show next month.

 “He is a star in Cambodia and it’s a big deal that he’s going back to his parent’s country. It’s made them incredibly proud,” Laidlaw said.

For now, James is keen to shine locally.

“I’m not as nervous this week as I normally am. I just have to rely on the training I’ve done and stay confident to get every element right.”

His junior program continues this afternoon before he starts his first attempt in the Senior field at 6:20pm. You can catch it all on the livestream below.
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​https://livestream.com/iceskatingvictoria 

Joshua Dawe