Another rising star in Richmond figure skating took home a spot in the top 10 at the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships this month.
Seventeen-year-old Liam Kapeikis, with the Connaught Skating Club, competed against other skaters in the senior men’s category at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
“My initial goal going into the competition was just to be in the top 10, so ranking seven for me was an amazing accomplishment so I’m really happy about it,” Kapeikis told the Richmond News.
“It’s been one of my biggest dreams to be able to go to the U.S. Nationals at the senior level and skate like I did.”
Kapeikis added that competing in front of a live audience made it one of the best moments of his life.
“We don’t get that many opportunities in figure skating to perform in front of such a big audience … it was probably a good couple of thousand of people and it was a full stadium.”
When asked what the most difficult part of the competition was, he said it was maintaining his energy and finishing his program at the end.
However, he credited the audience for his success at the U.S. Nationals.
“The audience really helped me and they gave me energy by being so supportive and cheering me on. I’m most proud of that because I was able to end the program at full-speed and full-energy and it really helped my score come up higher.”
Kapeikis will be heading to Boston for a figure skating camp in the upcoming week.
The camp will determine if he will be competing in the Junior Worlds Championship, which will take place in Bulgaria in March.
