Hampole shines at qualifying event
J
ustin Hampole knew he was going to be thrown to the wolves taking on the best figure skaters our country has to offer in the junior men’s class at the Skate Canada Challenge.
This being his first year in the under-19 group, the 16-year-old Hampole proved Sunday in Montreal he has enough bite in his blades to run with that pack.
Hampole finished 12th out of 28 skaters and qualified for the Canadian Tire national figure skating championships next month in Vancouver.
The Northern B.C. Centre for Skating club member finished his free skate with 95.53 points – a combination of 51.23 points for his executed elements and 45.30 points for his program components. Hampole was 11th in the short program with 49.46 points.
“I’m really happy with my placement, mostly because it was my first time in junior and I still ended up qualifying for Canadians,” said Hampole. “It was definitely a tense moment being on the ice but I’m really happy with how the whole competition went. It was just overall an awesome experience and I’m super-excited for Vancouver.
“I technically landed eight out of my eight jumps – one jump just had a touch-down – but otherwise everything was performed really well,” he added. “My three-jump combo got a positive grade of execution so it was really well done. Just everything was done to pretty good quality.”
Only the top 18 skaters advanced to the Canadian championships. Hampole did that for the first time last year and competed in the national finals in Ottawa. He’s looking forward to staying closer to home this time around. He skates his short program on Jan. 7 and the junior men’s free program is scheduled for Jan. 9.
“In this event there were no weak skaters,” he said. “Every skater was well-trained and super-strong. Just to be ranked out of 28 of Canada’s top skaters at that level was an amazing feeling.”
“Last year in Ottawa, Canadians was an eye-opening experience and I’m looking forward to going into this one with a little bit more experience with an event that size.”
Hampole was the highest-placing B.C. skater, which more than makes up for the disappointment he felt a month ago at the B.C./Yukon section championships in Parksville, where he placed fourth. “It definitely felt like redemption,” said Hampole.
Hampole and his club coaches Andrea Ludditt and Rory Allen plan to make a few tweaks to his programs but they will essentially stay the same for the national championship.
If Hampole finishes in the top 12 in Vancouver he will be eligible for the Next Generation program, which would expose him to national team training camps and international competitions.
Hampole, a Duchess Park secondary school student, was the only Prince George skater at the event in Pierrefonds, a Montreal suburb. Ludditt and his mom, Renee, were there watching him skate.