Coach ‘so proud’ of Team Nunavut’s smallest contingent: A figure-skating duo

Nunavut’s smallest team at the Arctic Winter Games is lacing up Friday for one final performance.

Iqaluit’s Tia Kilabuk and Kimberly Gissing make up the entire figure skating team representing Nunavut in Mat-Su Valley, Alaska, where the 2024 Games are being held.

Both girls are competing in their first-ever figure skating competitions, and on an international stage no less.

“I’m really proud of these girls,” said coach Janna MacLachlan in an interview.

“One thing I really want to emphasize about figure skating is that it’s hard. You have to do the physical stuff, but on top of that you have to be artistic and you have to express emotion to the audience.

“And you have to do it in front of a huge audience all by yourself on a cold rink in a small outfit with full hair and makeup, so it also requires a lot of confidence.”

That’s where being part of a small team can have its advantages. With only two people preparing routines, each athlete has more one-on-one coaching time.

“We get a lot of help,” Kilabuk said, adding her goals were to land a single Axel jump and skate a clean program.

“If there was a big group, it’d be hard to help one another, but it’s nice because most of the attention is on us and it’s like more practice for us.”

Kilabuk, 14, started figure skating at age 10 after learning gymnastics. It’s her first time competing at the Games.

Gissing, who is also 14, said she likes having a buddy on the team. Being there with Kilabuk means she has someone familiar to sit next to during downtimes like bus rides.

“I know I have a bunch of support surrounding me, so whatever I’m going through, there’s always someone there,” she said.

Gissing first learned speedskating before transitioning to figure skating a few years ago. This isn’t her first Games: she competed last year in futsal.

“Doing a solo sport is kind of scary, but it’s really fun,” she said.

“I know that whatever place I get, I get myself and not with the team.”

Gissing said she hopes to keep the confidence she has while she watches other skaters on the ice.

“I know that we didn’t have as [many] resources as them, but we’re still trying our best,” she said.

This year marks the third time Nunavut has competed in figure skating at the Games, following appearances in 2014 and 2018.

MacLachlan, the girls’ coach, has competed in synchronized figure skating and has worked with figure skaters in Iqaluit since 2006.

“If there was a most-improved prize, I would give it to these girls because of what they’ve accomplished in this year of training,” she said of Gissing and Kilabuk.

“They have jumps in their programmes that they’ve never tried before the season and they’re landing them and they’re getting better at them.”

MacLachlan said the figure skating community is growing in Iqaluit. Just two years ago, there were only a couple of coaches officially certified. Now there are four or five.

“The momentum is definitely building,” she said.

The club even had 1992 Olympic figure skater Sherry Ball come up to choreograph routines for Kilabuk and Gissing.

The pair each performed their solo short program routines on Wednesday, followed by their free skate programs Thursday.

While neither are in contention for an individual medal, the two will have another chance to land on the podium in Friday’s team event thanks to a unique collaboration with other contingents.

Skaters are joining forces to compete in the team event, where they demonstrate eight different elements.

“You need four skaters minimum to participate, but each of the other four teams (Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Alaska) have offered to loan us each one of their skaters so that we can participate,” MacLachlan said.

“[It’s] a really beautiful example of sportsmanship how the other teams offered to help us.”