“I'm hoping to land two out of three of my double-doubles,” said the Sudbury skater said at practice last week. “My routine has a lot of double-double combinations, so that's what I've been working on.
"The easiest is probably double salchow - double toe loop. It's just two easy jumps and the landing of the salchow is easier for me.”
Things went very close to plan for Baron as she finished first in her flight of the Juvenile Women's Free Program, recording a score of 28.78 points.
The result was enough to beat Roxanne Beaucage of Trois-Rivieres by almost a full point as a field of 14 young ladies contested the segment championship.
A figure skater since the age of four, Baron made the jump to the competitive ranks two years ago, travelling to Minto Summer Skate for the first time last summer.
“I found that I was skating better and my coaches said that I could skate competitively, so I decided I would take the challenge,” she said. Unveiling a new routine with the new season right around the corner, Baron noted that the event in Ottawa represented the furthest she had travelled to skate competitively.
Still, she entered with a note of optimism, feeling good about the new program for 2012.
“It's a really fast, upbeat song,” Baron said. “It's easier to skate when the music is faster.”
Sudbury Skating Club teammate Mikhellie Hardwick also made the jump to the competitive ranks some two years ago, noting a few key differences from the time she had spent in the Star Skate stream.
“It's tougher to compete because there are more people watching you,” the 11 year-old Grade 7 student at Alexander Public School said.
“At some competitions, there's a live feed so other people can watch you that aren't at the arena,” Hardwick added. “And with competitive, there's a huge table filled with judges.”
Like most of the skaters on hand, Hardwick was taking her first crack at her new routine, finishing right in the middle of the pack in the Pre-Juvenile Women's Free Program, just a notch below fellow Sudburian Jillian Bushey.
“I have one really tough jump — axel/double salchow,” Hardwick said. “Sometimes it can be bad, and sometimes it can be good. I'm nervous for that.
“I only started learning my axel a few months ago. Let's just say that I don't like to pull my feet in when I jump. When I go in the air and I pull in my arms, sometimes my feet won't follow my arms.”
Sudbury sent a group of seven skaters to the competition in the nation's capital, with many of the same skaters back in action later this month in Thornhill.
Following is a breakdown of the results for the local contingent:
Madeline Baron - 28.78 (1st)
(Juvenile Women Free Program - Flight 1)
Mackenzie Anderson - 18.72 (4th)
(Pre-Juvenile Women Free Program - Flight 2)
Jillian Bushey - 17.87 (6th)
Pre-Juvenile Women Free Program - Flight 1)
Mikhellie Hardwick - 17.20 (7th)
Pre-Juvenile Women Free Program - Flight 1)
Erica Gomirato - 17.79 (7th)
(Pre-Juvenile Women Free Program - Flight 2)
Cassandra Bilsborough - 44.46 (9th)
(Junior Women Free Program Flight 1)
Cassandra Bilsborough - 30.34 (9th)
(Junior Women Short Program Flight 2)
Alyssa Murray - 46.24 (5th)
(Novice Women Free Program Flight 1)
Alyssa Murray - 26.67 (3rd)
(Novice Women Short Program Flight 1)
