Irish Figure Skaters Hit Their Stride At Tayside Trophy
With the season well and truly under way, a trio of Irish figure skaters competed this weekend at the Tayside Trophy in Dundee, Scotland.
After his withdrawal midway through Lombardia Trophy last month, Sam McAllister was back to full health at this event. In the Senior Men’s short programme, he nailed a triple Lutz at the start of his routine and then attempted a triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination. He also landed a double Axel and all three of his spins were awarded Level 4. He scored 58.37 points and stood in fifth place overnight.
The free skating took place earlier today and McAllister included five triple jumps in his programme to “The Sound of Silence” by Disturbed. He once again earned Level 4 for all three of his spins and his step sequence was also given Level 4 by the technical panel. He posted a score of 104.05 points for the free which gave him a total of 162.42 and was sufficient to keep him in fifth place overall. This also meant that he earned some valuable ISU World Standings and Season’s World Ranking points for his efforts.
Dillon Judge opened his short programme in the Junior Men’s category by landing a triple Salchow-double toe loop combination. He also attempted a triple loop and a double Axel. He received a season’s best score of 36.10 which put him in sixth place.
In the free skating, Judge commenced with an attempt at a triple Salchow-double toe loop combination and went on to land two double Axels successfully. He achieved Level 3 for two of his spins and set another season best score in the free of 69.81 for a total of 105.91 points. He moved up to fifth in the final standings.
Sophia Tkacheva embarked on her short programme in the Junior Women’s event with an attempted double Axel. She later landed a double Lutz-double toe loop combination and a solo double loop. She also garned Level 4 for both a layback spin and a change foot combination spin. She attained a lifetime best score of 35.36 points which put her in seventh place after the short.
Tkacheva went for a triple Salchow to open her free skating routine and also tried for a double Axel shortly afterwards. She included a further five jumping passes in the programme to “Voila” by Barbara Pravi and closed out with a Level 4 layback spin the received a positive grade of execution from the judging panel. Her free score of 57.10 was a season’s best and she ended up with a career high total of 92.46 and eighth place.
Robyn Foster was scheduled to participate in the Junior Women’s event, but had to withdraw due to illness.
Speaking after the competition concluded, Karen O’Sullivan, President of the Ice Skating Association of Ireland and Team Leader at Tayside Trophy, said:
“Team Ireland should be proud of how they represented and performed this weekend. Those of us on the other side of the boards are truly proud of them. Both Junior skaters put in season bests in both short and free programmes. This has to be motivational for them that their dedication and hard work is showing growth and development.
“Sam had to dig deep after a nasty fall in the free programme to retain his fifth place position and we are really proud he had the mental strength to do this. He is beginning to show his maturity as a senior skater and the reward if his first World Ranking points has to be a silver lining.”
