Two-time Irish senior men’s figure skating champion Conor Stakelum made a very promising start to the 2015/2016 season when he competed over the weekend at the Nebelhorn Trophy 2015 in Oberstdorf, Germany.
Stakelum, who in the last few months has moved to Dundee, Scotland on a permanent basis to train with Olympic coach Simon Briggs, opened in the short programme with a massive new personal best score of 47.93. In his new routine to “East of Eden”, he included a triple toe loop/triple toe loop combination, a triple Salchow and a double Axel. This was a significant improvement over what he had scored previously in international competition.
The Dubliner was the first skater to take to the ice at the Eissportzentrum the following evening in the free skating. While the performance did not go the way he planned, he still managed to earn a score of 64.54 which gave him a total of 112.47 which was another new personal best to finish in 15th place.
“Although I’m disappointed with my free, I can take a lot of positives away from this event and, in particular, how I skated my short,” Stakelum commented after the competition.
His next event will be the Volvo Open Cup in Riga, Latvia in November.
