Sarah MacGibbon trains at the Dunedin Ice Stadium last
night. photo by Jane Dawber.
You could never accuse Sarah MacGibbon of lacking
dedication to her sport.
The young skater has overcome a nasty back injury and is
about to switch to correspondence school so she can train
more.
MacGibbon (15) finished her last NCEA exam yesterday and
heads to Melbourne at the end of the week to compete in the
Australian national ice skating championships.
Competing in the novice solo grade, she is aiming for a
top-half finish in the field of 23.
MacGibbon has been skating since she was 7 but had a nasty
accident when at intermediate school which put her future in
doubt.
She was doing a gym exercise at school when she landed
awkwardly and immediately felt a pain in her back.
Though MacGibbon did not need surgey and did not spend a lot
of time in hospital after breaking a vertebra, she was
ordered to have complete rest for six months.
"So I couldn't do anything.
"Just rest and take lots of Nurofen.
"But slowly the back came right and I could get back on to
the ice but it was totally different to what I had done
before," she said.
"It was pretty frustrating because I just couldn't do what I
had been used to.
"I just had to start again.
"But slowly it all came back and the technique returned.
"I don't really feel it anymore."
She now trains four days a week, sometimes twice a day, as
she eyes the competition in Australia, and her first time
representing New Zealand overseas.
MacGibbon finished second at the New Zealand championships in
Dunedin a couple of months ago, behind Auckland's Iyrin
Quigley, and she has been training hard under her Russian
coach, Sanis Shakirzianau.
Next year, she will spend plenty much time with her coach as
she switches from Queen's High School to doing school work
through correspondence.
MacGibbon said the move was to increase training and allow
her to go as far as possible in the sport.
But for now her focus is on the trip to Melbourne where she
said she would be the sole New Zealand contestant.
"It's going to be real interesting, taking everyone else on."
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