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Figure skating medalist
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Nora Carlson and Thomas Zebrasky skated The Fourteen Step at the competition at Lake Placid. The Fourteen Step is a Pre-Silver Pattern Dance.
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Neighbors | Submitted.Nora Carlson (right) and Thomas Zebrasky skated The European Waltz during a recent routine. The European Waltz is a Pre-Silver Pattern Dance. Pre-Silver is the fourth level out of eight dance levels that exist is the U.S. Figure Skating System.
By ABBY SLANKER
Nora Carlson, of Canfield, has been figure skating since she was 3 years old, and now, at the age of 11, she has returned from competing at the Lake Placid International Dance Championships with a first place medal, a second place medal and a third place medal.
Carlson, the daughter of Josie Jennings and Patrick Carlson, of Minnesota, and step-daughter of Stephen Jennings, placed first in the European Waltz, second in the Creative Dance/Rhythm Blues and third place in The Fourteen Step.
The competition was Aug. 4-7 and competitors and judges from all over the world, including France, Finland and Canada, were in attendance. Qualification was not required for this event, but according to Josie Jennings, it is the closest event to a qualifying competition.
Carlson attends Holy Family School in Poland where she will be in sixth grade this year. She trains at The Ice Zone in Boardman with Thomas Zebrasky and Skip Mackall. She is a member of the U.S. Figure Skating Association and the Youngstown Figure Skating Club.
Carlson is also a member of the Phantoms Figure Skating Club at The Ice Zone.
Figure skating runs in Carlson’s family. Her mother, Josie, was a figure skater and now teaches the sport at The Ice Zone.
“I would take Nora with me to teach lessons and she was drawn to the sport and started skating at age 3,” Jennings said.
Carlson recently passed a set of moves in the field test, which required her to execute footwork patterns correctly. In 2009, she passed the juvenile free dance test, which only 42 skaters in the country passed that year.
Carlson plans to compete in U.S. Figure Skating Regionals in Nashville, Tenn., this fall.