Dan Falloon
Sophie Potvin-Begin and Michael Nelson picked an opportune time to blow their previous personal best out of the water.
The pair scored a 27.74 en route to capturing the juvenile pairs free skate gold medal at the Ontario Winter Games in Huntsville.
Their highest previous score for the routine was 22.50.
“We had a clean program and we beat our personal best,” said Potvin-Begin, 12. “One of our lifts was really good.
“It usually doesn’t go that well, but this time it went really well and we finished it,” she added.
Nelson also was thrilled with the result, calling it their best performance in their five years of training together.
“It was our best program that we’ve ever done. We had a perfect program,” enthused Nelson, 16.
“We were very, very happy with that skate.”
Coach Marie Potvin noted the pair began this new program when they were training in Barrie over the summer, where they train for six weeks.
“They started that program, and they worked really hard at the b. ginning because there was a new lift, a throw double loop in it, as new elements,” explained Potvin.
“But since January, they started to do that so well.
“We had big goals for this weekend,” she remarked. “They were going for the gold and we got it!”
There were some tense moments as Leah Balcom and Eric McTaggart posted a 25.75 in an impressive skate right before the local pair hit the ice.
“We got nervous because we saw the other pairs, and one of the pairs from Central Ontario, they were really strong,” recalled Potvin.
“They did a clean program and they skated right before Michael and Sophie, and they got a big score.”
While Potvin felt that routine was clean, her pair just seemed to one-up that performance in nearly every area.
“They [Potvin-Begin and Nelson] went and they did a better program,” she remarked. “They did a clean program.
“They were faster than the others. The lifts were bigger and the throws were bigger,” Potvin added.
Nelson and Potvin-Begin are the only skaters in the local Border Skate Club to train more than two days a week, instead hitting the ice four times as they are the only pairs team in the club.
Potvin has noticed the pair have started to reach a new level of comfort with each other—and the results are clear on the ice.
“She really trusts him, and that’s when the progress really started to show,” she said.
Potvin-Begin agreed, noting that she and Nelson are nearly family.
“We’re really good friends. He’s like a brother to me,” she remarked. “I trust him a lot. Way more than when we first began.
“I trust that he’s not going to drop me during one of the lifts.”
Meanwhile, Nelson also competed solo at the Ontario Winter Games, finishing 11th out of 12th in the pre-novice men’s category with a total score of 46.23.
Nelson scored a 17.05 in the men’s short program and then 29.18 in the free program.
