Training for the Junior World Championships 2021 - 2022

I always wanted to compete for Australia. It is a huge honour to be considered for selection by Australian Ice Racing (AIR) but it was impossible to do so from Australia. Due to covid I only spent about 20 hours on ice throughout 2020 and 2021. My coaches Jessica Jung and William Lee, from Sydney Wings, took every on-ice opportunity available, but it was obviously never going to be enough.

During Covid in 2020, I would train on-line with John Marsden, Sydney Wings, or with the Arrows club. Anyone who was running a session I'd be there. But, obviously, off ice training was never going to be enough. Qualifying in Australia is difficult at the best of times. We have no dedicated rinks, and we never get enough ice time. In Sydney, every rink has ice dance, ice hockey, social ice, ice lessons, and ice parties. There is just not enough ice time, let along opportunities to compete. I was also trying to study for a Bachelor of Science at Mcquarie University.

In October 2021, my coaches heard talk that South Korea was going to open their borders and at the same time Australia announced that Australians could leave and return if they were covid free. Even before the announcements were official, I had booked my tickets and enrolled to study Korean.

Watch my journey to Poland, during Covid and living in Korea in 2021 ... click on the arrow below

It was touch and go, with Covid tests. I spent the first two weeks in Quarantine training by myself and having food delivered. No contact with anyone, except the food delivery man. Luckily, after that my lovely Sydney Wings teammate Hyojin Kim and her family hosted me for three months. We trained 6 hours a day, 6 days a week for 4 weeks. There were no options available in Australia. Eventually, I qualified and was selected to skate in Poland at the Junior World Championships.

It was touch and go, even getting out of Korea and into Poland. We were tested daily for Covid. Then the Russians invaded Ukraine, and the games were moved to a safer location. I won some races and I lost some, but the experience was unbelievable, and I was hooked.

On the way back, my coach was diagnosed with Covid, and I went into isolation again on my return to Korea. My luggage was also delayed, so it was a difficult week, no clean clothes and no-one to talk to. I returned to training for four weeks before going to Montreal to skate with the best in the world. What a jump in ability that was and what a wakeup call on where I had to get to if I wanted to skate with the best in the world.

I was way out of my league, and I knew I would be one of the lowest ranked skaters in the competition. My competitors were the best of the best and most went on to represent their countries at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

My journey to the Olympics had begun.