Chances are slim there will be ice on the streets of Vancouver, even in January.
Justin Hampole is not at all concerned about that.
He knows the arena ice will be in great shape at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on the UBC campus for the 2018 Canadian Tire national figure skating championships, Jan. 8-14.
His only concern is doing what it will take to qualify for that event.
For Hampole, a 16-year-old veteran of the Northern B.C. Centre for Skating in Prince George, that quest begins on Saturday morning in Pierrefonds, Que., a suburb of Montreal, when he steps onto the ice to perform his short program in the junior men's competition.
Hampole is scheduled to start 14th out of 22 junior men. The free program will follow on Sunday, starting at 11 a.m. ET.
Hampole, a first-year junior skater, qualified for the Skate Canada Challenge after finishing fourth in the B.C./Yukon section championships in Parksville, Nov. 12. He finished second overall this year in the Super Series SummerSkate standings, a series of six provincial competitions that wrapped up in October.
Last year in the novice men's category, Hampole was an eighth-place finisher in the Skate Canada Challenge and went on to compete in the 2017 Canadian Tire national championships in Ottawa, where he placed 14th out of 18.
