In his first attempt competing in the junior men’s class at the Canadian Tire national skating championships, Justin Hampole did Prince George proud.
The 16-year-old Northern B.C. Centre for Skating club member finished 13th out of 18 in the junior men’s (under-19) event last week in Vancouver.
“There were a lot of things I was happy with, I think it went really well overall,” said Hampole. “There was definitely a lot of pressure – pressure that I mostly put on myself, but I stepped up to the challenge and just made it a really awesome experience for myself.”
Hampole’s free program included triple Lutz, double toe loop and triple Salchow jumps, double loop combinations, triple loop, triple Lutz and triple Salchow elements; a double Axel, double toe loop, single Lutz combination; and a change-foot camel spin with four rotations.
“I opened with a super solid double Axel, it’s one of my strongest jumps and it was right there during my performance, and next was my triple Lutz, double toe, which was also pretty nicely done,” said Hampole.
“After that I normally do a triple Sal, double loop but instead a did a double Sal, double loop and by doing that left quite a few points on the table. But I still did that combination with good quality and was rewarded by the judges. All my spins were done with lots of speed. My triple loop is the highlight of my program and that got almost a full grade of execution points and that’s something I’m super-proud of in my program.”
Hampole fell trying to land a triple Lutz, a jump he’d been hitting well all week in practice and in the warm-up before the free skate. That knocked two full points off his score but he made a solid recovery, nailing his triple Salchow.
Hampole earned 49.70 points in his short program and 92.42 points in his free skate for a 142.12 total. Matthew Markell of Ontario won gold with 181.41 points, while Corey Cirelli of Ontario (176.66) claimed silver and Zoe Duval-Yergeau of Quebec (170.58) took bronze.
Hampole said he saw a lot of familiar faces among the volunteers around the rink at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, and that helped put him at ease.
“It was nice that I didn’t have to adjust to a different time zone this time,” he said.
To qualify for nationals this year, Hampole placed 12th out of 28 junior men at the Skate Canada Challenge in Montreal.
Last year at the national championships in Ottawa, competing in the novice men’s class, Hampole finished 14th.
Hampole is getting used to performing on a national stage and says he’s much better equipped to deal with intense scrutiny that comes with the territory in his sport. He’s now in his second year going to afternoon classes at the Engage Sport North sport school, where he and other high-profile high-school-aged athletes are involved in regular weight training/cardio sessions and get sports-specific instruction from professional sports psychologists, nutritionists and strength and conditioning coaches. For Hampole, who studies his core academic subjects as a Grade 11 student at Duchess Park secondary school, the sport school on the UNBC campus has been a game-changer.
“I’ve improved my overall fitness and strength and especially my mental game when I’m competing, something I struggled with last year,” he said. “This year I’ve learned how to overcome my nerves ad stay focused on the moment. Sometimes I just have to say the words, ‘stay focused’ and in my mind that just helps me a lot.”
Coached by Rory Allen and Andrea Ludditt at the Northern B.C. Centre for Skating, Hampole will be competing against himself this coming weekend as the only skater in the junior men’s category at the Cariboo North Central regional figure skating championships at Kin 1 and 2. Hampole will skate Saturday and Sunday on the same rink where he won the bronze medal as a pre-novice at the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
“It’s a smaller event but I’m going to pretend it’s another national event and skate my best,” he said.
