Barry Wright
Michael Marinaro says the 2014-15 figure skating season is about building for the future.
After ending a seven-year partnership with Strathroy's Margaret Purdy this year, the 22-year-old product of the Point Edward Figure Skating Club teamed up with Waterloo's Kirsten Moore-Towers six months ago to form a new pairs skating team.
“It's a huge transition,” said Marinaro, noting familiarity with your partner is the key to success.
“Everything is foreign,” he added. “It's like starting all over again.”
But the Sarnia St. Peter's grad says he’s learning daily from his new partner and drawing on her experience, which includes winning a silver medal in the team event at the Olympics in Sochi earlier this year.
“We're just trying to learn each others style, how we compete, how we do everything.”
Marinaro, who competed at four World Junior Championships, winning a silver medal in 2013 in Italy, says their goal for the rest of this season is to continue getting better.
“This year, we don't really have too many placement goals, we're just working on improving our score each time out.”
However, the pair does have designs on standing on the podium at the National Figure Skating Championships in Kingston next month. They need a top three finish to qualify for the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Korea in February and the World Championships in China in March.
“That's a 100% realistic expectation,” said a confident Marinaro. “We are right on target to make that happen.”
Down the road, Marinaro said he and Moore-Towers plan to qualify for the next two Winter Olympic Games and win medals there as well.