Sam McAllister Tackles Second Junior Grand Prix Assignment

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This week sees Irish figure skater Sam McAllister (18) compete at his second assignment on the International Skating Union (ISU) Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Egna-Neumarkt, Italy.

The two-time Irish Junior national champion will skate his short programme on the evening of Thursday, 12 October and his free skating routine on the afternoon of Saturday, 14 October. He will be one of 28 competitors from 22 countries at the event in Italy.

This is McAllister’s second season competing on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit. At his previous Junior Grand Prix event in Latvia, he achieved the full set of minimum qualifying scores necessary to participate in the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria next March. 2010 was the last time an Irish skater qualified for the championships.

The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series started in 1997 and has become one of the most prestigious events to which young figure skaters can be invited. There are seven Grand Prixs annually and each skater will normally compete at two of these to accumulate points in order to qualify for the Grand Prix Final in December. This week’s competition in Italy is the final one in the series.

The Junior Grand Prix in Italy will be broadcast entirely live online on the ISU’s YouTube channel from Thursday, 12 October.

Sam McAllister ISU Bio

ISU YouTube Channel

ISU JGP Italy Entries/Results

ISAI Board and Speed Committee Vacancies

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In advance of the Ice Skating Association of Ireland (ISAI) Annual General Meeting on 25 October 2017, ISAI members are invited to make nominations for the following positions:

Board of Directors (One Vacancy)

Performance and Development Director

Speed Skating Technical Committee (Two Vacancies)

Members

Nominations must be received in writing, as per the notice of AGM, no later than 5PM, 15 October 2017 by the Vice President, either via email or post.

 

McAnuffs At Second Stage of Olympic Qualification

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This week Irish short track speed skaters Ryan McAnuff (22) and Sean McAnuff take to the ice in Dordrecht, Netherlands for the second stop of the Audi International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Short Track Speed Skating in the qualification process to secure berths for Ireland at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, Republic of Korea.

The McAnuffs kicked off their Olympic qualifying campaign last week in Budapest, Hungary. In the Netherlands, they will race against athletes from 40 countries over three disciplines – 500 metres, 1000 metres and 1500 metres. The subsequent two World Cup meets will be in Shanghai, China (9-12 November) and Seoul, Republic of Korea (16-19 November). Skaters will earn points for each distance they race at the four World Cups with their three best results counting towards their qualification ranking. The top ranked 32 skaters in the 500 and 1000 metres and 36 skaters in the 1500 metres will book their places in PyeongChang. A maximum total of 60 skaters across all distances will qualify for the Olympics.

In 2016, the brothers became the first Irish short track speed skaters to compete on the international circuit. Ryan represented Ireland at the 2017 European Championships in Italy and the 2017 World Championships in the Netherlands, while Sean flew the tricolour at the 2017 Junior World Championships in Austria all for the first time. During the summer of 2017, they moved from Canada to the Netherlands to train full-time with the Dutch national team.

“As we have been training in the Netherlands for the past few months, it’s going to be nice to race in a familiar atmosphere on such a big stage” Sean said.

“We are looking forward to building on what we did in Hungary last week and push ourselves up the rankings,” Ryan added.

You can follow the McAnuffs’ progress in the Netherlands via the Ice Skating Association of Ireland Facebook and Twitter accounts and, on 7 and 8 October, the ISU Skating Channel.

Ryan McAnuff ISAI Bio

Sean McAnuff ISAI Bio

ISU World Cup Results

ISU Skating Channel

Conor Stakelum Achieves European Qualifying Score At Nebelhorn Trophy

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This evening Irish figure skater Conor Stakelum (24) participated in the free skating segment of the 2017 Nebelhorn Trophy, the designated 2018 Winter Olympic Games final qualifying event, in Oberstdorf, Germany where he finished 25th overall with a total score of 139.97.

While he did not obtain an Olympic berth for Ireland in PyeongChang, South Korea next February, Stakelum achieved his secondary goal of making the minimum technical score to be able to take part in the European Figure Skating Championships in Moscow, Russia in January 2018. He is the first Irish male figure skater ever to earn the minimum technical scores necessary to compete at the European Championships. 2012 was the last time an Irish skater represented Ireland at the European Championships when Clara Peters took 28th place in Sheffield, United Kingdom.

“I am really pleased with how hard I fought in the free skating today,” Stakelum said. “Given how high the standard of skating was here in Germany this week, I am proud of how I performed and look forward to building on what I have achieved here towards Beijing 2022.”

Stakelum has had a very successful few weeks on and off the ice as he recently graduated with a first class honours degree in microbiology from University College Dublin.

McAnuff Brothers Embark On Olympic Odyssey

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This week sees brothers Ryan (22) and Sean McAnuff (20) begin their journey through four stops of the Audi International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Short Track Speed Skating to secure berths for Ireland at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, Republic of Korea.

The McAnuffs will kick off their Olympic qualifying campaign  in Budapest, Hungary (28 September – 1 October). They will race against athletes from 40 countries over three disciplines – 500 metres, 1000 metres and 1500 metres. The subsequent three World Cup meets will be in Dordrecht, Netherlands (5-8 October), Shanghai, China (9-12 November) and Seoul, Republic of Korea (16-19 November). Skaters will earn points for each distance they race at the four World Cups with their three best results counting towards their qualification ranking. The top ranked 32 skaters in the 500 and 1000 metres and 36 skaters in the 1500 metres will book their places in PyeongChang. A maximum total of 60 skaters across all distances will qualify for the Olympics.
In 2016, the brothers became the first Irish short track speed skaters to compete on the international circuit. Ryan represented Ireland at the 2017 European Championships in Italy and the 2017 World Championships in the Netherlands, while Sean flew the tricolour at the 2017 Junior World Championships in Austria all for the first time. During the summer of 2017, they moved from Canada to the Netherlands to train full-time with the Dutch national team.
“We are excited to to start the World Cup events and race against the best short trackers in the world who all have the same goal as we have,” Ryan said.
“We really feel that making the move to the Netherlands has really added another dimension to our skating and we are ready to just get out there and race,” Sean added.
You can follow the McAnuffs’ progress in Hungary via the Ice Skating Association of Ireland Facebook and Twitter accounts and, on 30 September and 1 October, the ISU Skating Channel.

Conor Stakelum Aims For Olympic Berth

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This week Conor Stakelum (24) will be Ireland’s sole representative at the Nebelhorn Trophy 2017 (Oberstdorf, Germany) which serves as the final qualifying competition in figure skating for the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang, Republic of Korea.

Stakelum joins athletes from 24 other nations who will be seeking to pick up one of the remaining six places available in the men’s singles event next February in South Korea. Twenty-four places were already allocated at the World Figure Skating Championships in March of this year.
The four-time Irish senior champion and native Dubliner, who trains in Dundee, Scotland under the tutelage of Olympic coach Simon Briggs, will compete in Germany over the course of two days in short programme and free skating segments.
The Nebelhorn Trophy begins on 27 September and runs until 30 September with an official practice day at the start and then three days of competition. Stakelum will compete initially on the evening of Thursday 28 September and again on the evening of Friday 29 September.
“As this will be my first event of the season, I am really excited to get on the ice again and skate in front of an audience,” Stakelum said. “There are lots of really talented skaters competing in my category, so I am just going to go out here, do my best and see what happens.”
You can follow Stakelum’s exploits in Germany via live stream (link below) and the Ice Skating Association of Ireland’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

2017-2018 Test Scores

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The 2017-2018 test scores for figure skating are now online.

The scores can be found in the “Test Information” page of the figure skating section of the Ice Skating Association of Ireland’s website.

Useful Downloads

2017-2018 Test Scores 536 kb | pdf

Sam McAllister Achieves Junior Worlds Technical Score

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Irish figure skater Sam McAllister today attained the minimum technical element free skating score required to compete at the next International Skating Union (ISU) World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

McAllister was participating this weekend at the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Riga Cup in Latvia. He got his campaign off to a start with his new short programme to “Nothing The Same” by Gary Moore. He included a triple Lutz jump and a triple flip jump combination attempts to score 37.03 points which put him in 25th place midway through the event.

Skating to the “Sherlock Holmes” film soundtrack, the Ballymoney born athlete took to the ice for his free skating programme with an upgraded technical arsenal compared to last season. He threw in two triple Lutzes, two double Axel jumps and a triple Salchow jump into his routine. A flying sit spin was also graded Level 4 by the technical panel. He earned massive new personal best free skating and total scores of 85.28 and 122.31 points respectively and moved up to 23rd overall. These are the highest marks ever achieved by an Irish skater at the junior level.

Crucially, this also meant that McAllister had obtained the required minimum technical free skating score (42.00) to be eligible to represent Ireland at the 2018 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria next March. He had already obtained the minimum for the short programme (20.00) last season.

“I am very happy,” McAllister said after the competition. “I tried to stay relaxed going into the free. My goal was to get the elements out and I was able to do that in the warm-up.

“When I was sitting waiting for my scores, I was praying. I knew it would be very close. I am going to spend the rest of this season improving my skating and jumps.”

The ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships began in 1977 and have been held on an annual basis since then showcasing the best young figure skating talent. The last Irish skater to compete at the event was Viv Murphy in 2010.

Sam McAllister Short Riga Cup (YouTube)

Sam McAllister Free Riga Cup (YouTube)

ISU Biography

Conor Stakelum To Represent Ireland At Olympic Qualifier

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Conor Stakelum will be Ireland’s sole representative next month at the Nebelhorn Trophy 2017 (Oberstdorf, Germany) which will serve as the final qualifying competition for the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang, Republic of Korea.

Stakelum will join athletes from 26 other nations who will be seeking to pick up one of the remaining six places available in the men’s singles event next February in South Korea. Twenty-four places were already allocated at the World Figure Skating Championships in March.

The four-time Irish senior champion and native Dubliner, who trains in Dundee, Scotland under the tutelage of Olympic coach Simon Briggs, will compete in Germany over the course of two days in short programme and free skating segments.

The Nebelhorn Trophy will be held 27-30 September 2017.

Irish Speed Skating National Team Expands Into New Territory

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The speed skating programme of the Ice Skating Association of Ireland (ISAI) continues to develop with the addition of an athlete to the national team in a new discipline.

The ISAI Board of Directors has selected the following members for the Irish Speed Skating National Team to compete in International Skating Union (ISU) events for the 2017/2018 season:

Speed Skating

Tara Donoghue

Short Track Speed Skating

Ryan McAnuff

Sean McAnuff

Tara Donoghue makes history by becoming the first long track speed skater to be named to the Irish National Team. She was bitten by the speed skating bug in the Netherlands where she grew up. Her skating idol is American Olympic gold medallist Shani Davis.

Ryan McAnuff became the first Irish skater to compete at the European and World Short Track Speed Skating Championships last season. He finished 36th overall at the latter event.

Sean McAnuff flew the flag for Ireland for the first time at the World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships where he came 36th overall. He was recently awarded an ISU Scholarship.