European Figure Skating

Ireland’s national champion Clara Peters once again showed her mettle in Sheffield this afternoon at the Europe an Figure Skating Championships 2012 during the ladies preliminary round and qualified to skate in the next stage of the event this Friday.

Peters was up against 22 other skaters from around Europe and she skated second in the draw. Normally, an early start is seen as a disadvantage, but the 20 year old Dubliner performed flawlessly to “Rhapsody On A Theme of Paganini” by Rachmaninoff. She included two double axel jumps with difficult spins and footwork among other elements to score 69.92 points which represents a new personal best and put her in eighth place. Only the top ten qualify to compete in the short programme which takes place on Friday afternoon.

Clara beams at the audience whilst performing for her place in the Short Programme on Friday

Clara Peters and her coach Ron Ludington await her scores in the “Kiss & Cry” yesterday