Billingham Blade Runner Battles through to British Championships
Fourteen year old Michael Duffield has taken a giant step in his short but illustrious figure skating career by qualifying for the British Novice Championships in January at the first attempt.
This talented teenager from Billingham who is a member of Tees Active Sports Academy qualified for the British Championships by surpassing the qualifying score of 63 at the recent IJS competition at Lee Valley Ice Rink.
Michael had to skate both his short and long programme under the scrutiny of 5 judges, 3 technical controllers and Cath Barker the National Performance Director.
Michael had been suffering with a back injury prior to the competition and had been receiving treatment from Darran Cooper at Teesside Sports Injury Centre and had been given a programme of stretching exercises to ease the pain. He had received a few strange looks at the Lee Valley rink as he went through his individual stretching programme.
Although, this talented teenager left the rest of the competition in the cold as he completed his short programme to the music from Moulin Rouge and his long programme to a track entitled ‘Furious Angels’. A score of 73 not only gained him qualification to the British Novice Championships but won him top honours in the competition.
A delighted Michael said “I was happy with my performance, there were a few minor errors but I managed to land all my jumps”
Michaels coach, resident ice skating professional at the Billingham Forum Ice Arena, Alison Laws said “We are delighted with the result. I secretly hoped that Michael would pass one of the elements to pass both on the first attempt is great and to win the competition is an extra bonus. Michael has a good presence on the ice and his performances will no doubt get him noticed in the figure skating fraternity”
There is no rest for this young skating sensation as he is training hard for the British novice championships to be staged in Sheffield in January
For further information on figure skating contact Billingham Forum on (01642) 551381 or visit new.teesactivelimited.co.uk