Teenager skates on international stage

Lily Elsworthy from Orrell, skated into fourth place at the World Inline Skating Championship in Cork last weekend.

Representing the Altrincham-based Silverblades UK Inline figure skating club, the 14-year-old was part of the team which represented Great Britain on the world stage for the third consecutive year.

Donna McCarthy, team coach, said: “Fantastic performances from all the girls, I could not have asked for more. Lily moved up a category after last year’s Worlds and she tackled the new group with confidence and grace. I’m excited to get back to training and working on the judges feedback.”

Cork hosted a fantastic competition at the Mardyke Arena, where nearly 300 skaters from the 18 registered countries were made to feel at home over the four days of competition.

After an opening ceremony that saw all the skaters lining up behind their countries flag, the skaters mixed with the other competitors on the arena floor, and were reunited with friends from other countries; friendships forged at last year’s championships in Dijon being strengthened in a very friendly and supportive environment, despite the highly competitive nature of the sport.

The team aged seven to 20-years-old brought back four new world champions with gold medals, two silver, three bronze and eight placed in fourth or fifth. In many cases, they were less than one point off the podium.

Perhaps more important than the impressive medal haul is the number of girls who brought back personal best scores, this means the judges can see their ongoing improvement and makes all the training worthwhile.

Lily, who won her category last in Dijon year, moved up to Silver Division Novice B ladies.

She skated with grace and elegance, landed all her jumps and impressed the judges.

She finished fourth out of 12 skaters from countries including France, Russia and Italy; and with a personal best that was less than a 10th of a point off a prestigious podium place.