Troy Shantz
Michael Marinaro says the dream of making the Olympic team wasn’t far from his mind as a boy, skating at the Point Edward Arena.
“This has been the one and only dream, that has taken about 17,18-hours a day of my life for those 20 years,” said Marinaro. “And now it has happened.”
The 26-year-old Sarnia native, along with pairs partner Kirsten Moore-Towers earned their spot on Canada’s Olympic squad after winning bronze at the Canadian National Championships on Jan. 13, with a score of 209.85.
“We have four teams in the country that are top 10 in the world, so we knew it was going to be a battle,” Marinaro said of the event, held in Vancouver.
He joins Canada’s largest ever skating team and the largest at the Olympics, as one of six rookies on a 17-member roster.
Marinaro says they knew early on in the season that all of their results would play into them punching a ticket to Pyeongchang.
The pair won bronze in November at the China Cup, and finished 6th at Skate America in Lake Placid shortly after.
Canada is top ranked in the world for figure skating, but Marinaro says Russia and China are still the teams to beat.
He and Moore-Towers currently train in Montreal. They’ll take a short break before resuming training in the weeks leading up to the games, which run Feb. 9 to 25.
Marinaro has been partnered with Moore-Towers since the 2014-15 season. Moore-Towers went to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi with Dylan Moscovitch, where the pair finished 5th.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page has been set up to help Marinaro’s parents, Bev and Albert of Sarnia, travel to Pyeongchang to watch their son compete. To make a donation, visit www.gofundme.com/send-marinaros-to-olympics.