Coquitlam's Brianna Delmaestro turned in a top-four performance at last weekend's Skate Canada Challenge in Regina. But as a cheering section, she showed she's second to none.
Delmaestro and partner Timothy Lum of Burnaby finished fourth in junior dance, earning them a trip to the Canadian championships next month in Ottawa.
"We had a pretty good short dance but our free dance wasn't the best. There were a couple of stumbles and we didn't get all of our levels," said the 18-year-old.
She said skaters must fit two patterns of a certain dance into the short program while the free program allows the skaters to choose the elements and type of music.
"It's kind of like whatever you want to do," said Delmaestro, adding she doesn't really have a preference between the two. "It kind of changes depending on the day."
She and Lum will now hit the ice to train for the 2014 Canadian Figure Skating Championships Jan. 9-15 in Ottawa.
"We definitely want to have two strong programs and hopefully we'll get higher scores than at this last competition," said Delmaestro.
One person who will definitely be cheering her on is Benjam Papp. The 14-year-old placed seventh in pre-novice men at the Challenge.
Papp thought he might be on thin ice following a disastrous warmup for his long program.
"I didn't land any double axels. I think we tried seven and I just bombed all of them," recalled Papp.
"But then right when I went to skate I heard Tim Lum and Brianna Delmaestro screaming for me, that gave me a little extra courage and energy to help me have a great program."
There is no pre-novice men competition at the nationals so Papp will have to be content with the provincial title he won at sectionals last month in Richmond.
"In sectionals I didn't do well in long but did a really awesome short. Now it was the opposite: I didn't do a really good short but I did an awesome long. I landed everything in my long, all the spins counted and everything."
Larissa Horobec placed 27th among senior ladies at the Skate Canada Challenge. Battling a painful hip injury, just making it through her routine was a major achievement for the 16-year-old.
"It was disappointing that this was not one of my best performances," said Horobec. "Having ahip injury was frustrating because it really held me back, especially in my training prior to this competition."
But despite being unhappy with her performance, Horobec said it was a great experience to compete at her third Challenge.
"It is so exhilarating to be out there with the best in Canada," said Horobec, who will be looking forward to watching the top two Canadians at next year's Olympics in Sochi.
Horobec plans to use the next several weeks to fully recover from the injury which they believe is due to overuse.
"I plan to get an MRI this month to make sure that it is not a stress fracture that I'm dealing with," see said.
Horobec had finished fourth in senior women at the sectionals where she also won the Edward S. Barton Memorial Musicality Award.
