LAVAL, Que. 鈥� Lia Cho took a deep breath to calm her nerves before skating out to the biggest crowd of her young life.
A flawless performance followed for the 12-year-old figure skating phenom from Calgary.
鈥淲hen there's more people 鈥� it just makes me feel more confident,鈥� she said, beaming. 鈥淚t makes me feel so happy like, 鈥極h my God, this many people came to watch me,鈥� it's just so amazing.鈥�
Cho broke her own Canadian junior women鈥檚 record on Friday, effortlessly landing seven triples to score 188.79 points and capture gold at the national figure skating championships at Place Bell.
The total eclipsed the 186.50 she set at the Skate Canada Challenge on Dec. 1 in Winnipeg. Fellow Calgarian Kaiya Ruiter held the previous record of 179.92 in 2021.
Cho, who was an ice patcher at nationals last year, was neary 30 points ahead of silver medallist Ksenia Krouzkevitch of Oakville, Ont., (160.97). Sandrine Blais of Sherbrooke, Que., took bronze (151.68).
The four-foot-five youngster appeared to float like a feather through the air en route to the top of the podium. She said her goal wasn鈥檛 tied to results.
鈥淚t felt amazing, but it's not about beating anything, it's just about showing what you did or how much you love the sport,鈥� said Cho, who added she might celebrate with her usual restaurant order of cheese pizza and french fries.
Legendary skater Barbara Ann Scott, the 1948 Olympic gold medallist, was 11 when she won the Canadian junior women's title in 1939.
Cho said she learned to skate at the age of three, beginning at the Red Deer Skating Club in Red Deer, Alta.
鈥淚 wasn't that good at all,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I kept practising every single day like, 鈥業 can do it. I can do it.鈥欌��
When Cho鈥檚 family moved to Calgary when she was eight or nine, she began training with coach Scott Davis, a former U.S. champion.
Davis said he鈥檚 never seen a 12-year-old skater like her.
鈥淚t's pretty remarkable,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ot only the daily training that she does, but when she gets in a situation like this, you can see that she really enjoys it, loves it, and turns on the performance aspect, which is quite amazing.鈥�
If she鈥檚 already that good at 12, what鈥檚 next? Davis said Cho is working on a triple axel, 鈥渨hich is pretty close,鈥� and believes a quad jump or two could be in the cards.
鈥淏ut we want to make it fun for her and keep her healthy, most importantly, because yeah, she's pretty young,鈥� he said.
Cho won鈥檛 be able to test herself internationally for quite some time because she鈥檚 only eligible for the world junior championships in 2027.
Davis said she鈥檚 staying motivated by measuring herself up against her future competition.
鈥淪he's pretty special in that she knows what the other girls in the world are doing, and she watches lots of YouTube videos and sees others doing triple axels and quads,鈥� he said.
鈥淪o she's pushing herself technically, because she knows what the other kids are doing."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
