The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Second bite at Sochi cherry for skater Parr
WHITLEY BAY figure skater Matthew Parr thought his dream of representing Great Britain at a Winter Olympics had gone for good when he failed to make the cut for next year’s Sochi Games.
It was a further blow for the 23-year-old Parr, who had also agonisingly missed out on qualifying for the men’s singles event in Vancouver four years previously by a single place.
Parr is now set to earn his ticket to Sochi after all, due to the introduction of a new Olympic team figure skating competition for which Great Britain was confirmed this week as the 10th and final qualifier.
It means Parr will this week be confirmed as the men’s singles representative along with the alreadyqualified Jenna McCorkell, figure skaters David King and Stacey Kemp and ice dance pair Nick Buckland and Penny Coomes.
Unlike the others, Parr will only be eligible to compete in the team event, which means his experience of the games is set to last the sum total of a single three-minute short programme and be over a day before the opening ceremony.
Having strived so long for his chance to get to the games, however, such a probability does not faze Parr, who skated to his fourth British men’s individual title at the national championships in Sheffield last week.
Parr said: “The only thing I’ve ever wanted to do from the first day I started skating was to go to an Olympics and to have it within my grasp is absolutely fantastic.
“I was 18 when I missed out on Vancouver and that was really tough, so getting a place in Sochi would make it extra special.”