Zara Anthony-Whigham prepares for her event at the New
Zealand Ice Skating championships at the Dunedin Ice
Stadium yesterday. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
Zara Anthony-Whigham, who started ice skating by accident
four years ago, is now one of the country's most promising
figure skaters.
Zara (9) proved it yesterday when she won her first national
title at the national figure skating championships at the
Dunedin Ice Stadium.
Zara won the juvenile under-12 figure skating title with a
New Zealand record score of 65.81 points.
She scored 23.51 points in the short programme and 42.30 in
the long programme.
Zara demonstrated her big-match temperament by stopping her
normal young-child excitement and entering into a quiet time
to prepare for her event.
The journey started when her family returned home early from
holidays and her mother, Desley Anthony, decided to introduce
her children to something new.
"We went 10-pin bowling in the morning and skating in the
afternoon," she said.
Zara, a pupil at Mornington School, was given instruction and
quickly became happy on the ice.
"I liked it and found the spirals easy," she said "But the
jumps are a bit tricky."
Neither of her parents are skaters but younger brother Tama
(7) has joined her on the ice.
Zara tries to emulate the deeds of Japanese skater Akiko
Suzuki, who finished seventh at this year's Winter Olympics.
"She's a colourful skater," Zara said.
"I watched her in Dunedin last year."
Zara started ballet dancing at the age of two and it has
helped her skating.
Zara won the silver medal in the juvenile ice dance with
Alexander Anstey (13).
They are both members of the Dunedin Ice Skating Club and are
coached by former Russian coach Fanis Shakirzianav.
Alexander finished runner-up in the juvenile over-age 12
single figure skating event.
The championships conclude tomorrow afternoon.
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