CALGARY – Athletes from the Banff and Canmore figure skating clubs won eight medals (three gold, five bronze) at the 2024 Combined Winter Invitational, a podium pathway event that is a building block for bigger competitions.
Maya Gonzalez took bronze in her full program in junior women at the provincial competition in Calgary Feb. 9-11, with skaters competing from Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
“It was my first time competing in junior, which was a bit stressful, but it went pretty well,” said Gonzalez. “It was a good start to the season … these competitions are about getting points and building confidence for the bigger competitions.”
Paige Domenico took home a pair of bronze medals in her full and short programs. However, it was bittersweet for the skater to say goodbye to “one of my favourite short programs,” with a tango rhythm, as she moved up to junior.
Despite struggling with a back injury, Domenico still managed to pull off a double medal weekend.
“My short program definitely had room for improvement, but the long program I got a new personal best,” said Domenico.
Winning gold in Star 7 women artistic was Hannah Molina, who took the opposite direction of her competitors’ upbeat routines to tell a deeper but sadder story on ice.
“A couple weeks ago, I was figuring out the story that I wanted to portray and I made a character out of my program,” said Molina.
“I just tried focusing on performing and enjoying myself.”
Izabel Dubois also had a story-based routine, doing an “intense” program based on Disney’s popular Star Wars show The Mandalorian.
She won two gold medals in Star 5 women categories.
“I did nothing special, no bags of tricks, just some solid skating,” said Dubois.
Madelaine Dubois won two bronze in Star 5 women categories. Although it wasn’t her most complete skate.
“But I did my best because I was still trying to perfect everything,” she said.
The local athletes have more to get excited about as the Canmore Skating Club is hosting its first ice show since the COVID-19 pandemic March 23-24 at the Canmore Recreation Centre.
