Six ISI Adult National Gold Medals for Olympic Center Skaters

Lake Placid – The International Skating Institute (ISI) held its long-running Adult Nationals Championships at the Olympic Center for the first time. Over 100 skaters and officials attended and there were 169 events at the championships. The ISI is the governing body for recreational ice skating. Local figure skaters, Karen Kan and James Gann, entered the competition in nine events and won six gold, one silver, one fourth and one fifth place finishes. They entered the artistic solo, jump and spin, solo compulsory and solo surprise events.

Coached by long-time Skating Club of Lake Placid coach, Jack Devitt, this was the first time Gann, formerly an aggressive inline skater, had entered a skating competition as a solo skater. In his debut as a competitive ice skater, he had won a gold medal in pairs at the 2008 US Figure Skating Adult National Championships. Gann was admittedly nervous for his first solo performance, but said he used many of his personal growth tools to stay “present” and to enjoy himself out on the ice. His program netted a silver medal and an appreciative audience.

Kan won gold in all her events except for the “Solo Surprise” where competitors are not told what they will be asked to perform out on the ice. The event is less about skating skills than it is about having a lot of fun. In Kan’s group, the task was to put on and lace one’s skates up as fast as possible and race to the end of the rink. Kan, usually a serious competitor, laughed about entering the “surprise event” saying, “I always have my eye out for the gold medal. It’s actually a stretch for me to enter an event that I couldn’t possibly train for, so I’m proud of myself for trying it….I didn’t even know they gave medals out for fourth place!” Photos of the event can be found on www.adultfigureskater.com