Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships veterans Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, the 2014 World Junior champions, will return to Lake Placid for the Skate America Grand Prix event Nov. 24-26.
The skaters have been building their careers since their World Junior win in 2014 – most recently with fifth-place finishes at the 2016 and 2017 national championships – and are gearing up for an exciting and challenging Olympic season.
In the figure skating discipline of ice dance, the innate complexity of the turns, lifts and spins is often underappreciated because the teams make it look so easy. Yet ice dance is perhaps one of the most challenging sports, as athletes must be athletic, graceful and expressive – all while interpreting various styles of dance.
Hawayek and Baker hope to use Skate America to continue a successful season and work on various components of their performances.
“Our goals for Skate America are to put out two solid performances and improve upon scores from previous competitions, really nailing our elements and feeling as we have improved upon the performance quality of our skate as well,” Baker said.
“We have been to Lake Placid many times, and consider it almost like home to us; both together and with previous partners,” Baker said. “We have done numerous competitions during the Lake Placid Summer Dance Championships over the years, and have come to love the energy of the 1980 Olympic Rink…… read more here
