The final of Planet Ice’s Artistic Figure Skating Competition at Coventry Skydome Arena on 15 July saw skaters from the IW and Gosport join forces to take on skaters from other Planet Ice rinks.

The combined IW and Gosport team proved a force to be reckoned with, dominating the competition by medalling in all but two of the events and taking the overall title.  As well as giving skaters a chance to show off their artistic routines the competition also allowed parents to show off their prop-making skills (Howard Smith!).

Results of individual IW and Gosport skaters were as follows:

Skate Excellence levels 5-8: Silver, Mollie Britten (Gosport).

Bronze, Silver and Gold passport: Silver, Anneliese Smith (IW). This was a fantastic skate from Anneliese as Moana with her amazing boat. Anneliese had 14 skaters in her section and the girl who went on two before her, had the same music, but Anneliese dazzled the judges with her routine and smile.

NISA levels 1-4: Bronze, Sophia Elliott (IW). A really tough section for Sophia, who skated her heart out to the Wizard of Oz. She had problems with her costume switch halfway but kept her cool and the judges didn’t even notice. Well done Sophia.

NISA Levels 5-8: 4th, Amy World (IW). Amy performed a wonderful skate to Bake a Cake . She was suffering with injuries but persevered through the pain as she didn’t want to let her team down.

Solo Adults: Silver, Melody Sharifi (IW). A fun, high energy skate from Melody that got everyone clapping along to her Willy Wonka routine.

Artistic Groups: Bronze, Eloise Hayward and Arwen Rowdon. The group section was 2 to 16+, so our duo of pirates Eloise and Arwen did a fantastic job to secure a bronze. Well done girls.

Artistic Groups Adults: Silver, Melody Sharifi and Kerry Baynes (IW). Melody and Kerry’s Blades of Glory was amazing – highly entertaining and superbly skated.

Inter-rink Show and Skate: Silver, Gosport. A great skate from the Gosport skaters. For most of them it was their first competition away, the costumes were brilliant and so was their performance.

It was a really fun competition and great to watch. The standard was very high so the IW and Gosport team did everybody proud by winning the gold medal position overall.