Back at home on the ice
A year after she quit skating, Coquitlam’s Larkyn Austman is heading to the nationals
Larkyn Austman won a national figure skating title, headed off to train with one of Patrick Chan’s coaches in the U.S., contemplated retirement from the sport and subsequently kicked off a comeback campaign. She turns all of 18 in February. Austman finished third in the long program on Friday at the Skate Canada Challenge in Edmonton, thus solidifying a third-place finish overall in the senior women’s division, enough to catapult her to a spot in the national championships in Halifax in January.
What makes that especially compelling is that Austman had walked away from skating a little over a year ago after returning to her family’s Coquitlam home following a threemonth stint in Colorado Springs, Colo., where she was training under Christy Krall, who had worked with Chan, among others.
That opportunity with Krall stemmed in large part from Austman winning the junior national crown as a 14-year-old in January 2013, an event she captured by a whopping 25 points.
“When I came home from Colorado, I was adamant about quitting skating,” said Austman, who was living with a family there, although she was handling much of her own cooking and other chores and taking school correspondence courses.
“I did not want to do it anymore whatsoever. I was really fed up because I wasn’t achieving what I wanted to achieve.
“It wasn’t because of where I was or who was with me. It was because of me and the fact I wasn’t handling things the way I should have.”
That’s the cool part of this story. In this day and age when everyone seems to be pointing fingers at someone else about the first little thing to go awry, Austman is content with taking ownership.
“Colorado was a good move for me to learn and gain new experiences,” said Austman, who was the unnamed figure skater from the Procter and Gamble TV ad celebrating mothers that played during the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
“I just wasn’t mature enough for it yet. I wasn’t ready mentally to be there by myself yet.
“When I was in Colorado, I loved the rink and I loved the people. If I were able to go back to a training environment like that now, I’d be able to handle it.”
After time away from skating, she quietly got back on the ice. She eventually decided that she would compete again this season, re-joining her old Coquitlam Skating Club, where Austman says she has a “great team of coaches.”
They train out of the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex, which is a short drive from her family’s home.
Her time away and fending for herself so much has sparked an interest in food and diets, enough that Austman has become a vegan since coming home.
She even has an Instagram account (@veganizedathlete) showing off her favourite vegan creations.
“I’m much happier than I was six months ago. Six months ago, I was a really angry person,” said Austman. “I wasn’t skating and not skating was making me angry.
“I really needed skating to make me feel good. I’m an athletic person. I needed to be doing something.
“Being back to skating has helped me. There’s pressure, but I kind of like it. I don’t want to be ordinary. The pressure is good for me.”