Adult skater Tracy Parker of the Sunshine Coast Skating Club won the bronze medal in Bronze Ladies III, competing in the Winter World Masters Games (WWMG) in Innsbruck, Austria from Jan. 10 to 19.
Parker, who had been working on her programme since September, praised her coaches Lesleigh Farr and Daryl Austman for getting her ready for the games, and singled out husband Brent who was at her side.
“He is my manager, bag corner and number one fan,” she said.
The Sechelt notary public returned to competitive skating about five years ago. “I started because I needed to exercise. I have five children and two grandchildren and I run my own business.”
She said she met many excellent athletes at the games, where the sports facilities were high quality and the organizers and volunteers were first rate.
In total, 70 Canadian adult figure skaters – 21 from B.C. – competed, with the Canadians bringing home 43 medals: 12 gold, 15 silver and 16 bronze. The haul represented 17.5 per cent of all medals awarded in figure skating at the games.
It was the first time that figure skating has been included in the WWMG, which is an international multi-sport event held every four years. Figure skating is the largest of the 12 sporting events – attracting more than 600 participants.
More than 3,200 adult athletes competed from 58 countries, with Canada the third largest single country represented, slightly behind Austria and Germany.
The Sunshine Coast Skating Club congratulated Parker on her podium finish, saying it was “extremely proud of the hard work, time, effort and energy that Tracy expended to prepare, train, get herself to the competition and skate the clean program she did.”
The club added that Parker is “a wonderful role model for both our younger and older skaters and an excellent ambassador for skating on the Coast – and in Canada.”
