Eighteen-year-old Sarah-Maude Blanchard is a figure skater who is making a name for herself across the province and the country. The Sherbrooke native won the gold medal at the Quebec Summer Championships in Pierrefonds this weekend, her first competition of the 2019-2020 figure skating season. Blanchard is embarking on a crucial transition in her skating career, as she will be leaving the junior category to compete among senior skaters. “Changing age groups is going to be a challenge, but I think I have what it takes,” said the part-time Cégep de Sherbrooke student. “The long program lasts even longer in this category. I’ll have to go back to Toronto to meet with my choreographer, Joey Russell, to make some arrangements,” she explained. “My new long program is with a song by Lorde, and I’ve received a lot of great comments. It’s different than what you usually see in long program skating, it’s really intense.” Much of her life is dedicated to skating, as she practices five times a week, three hours a day, as well as three hours of strength training off the ice. See full story in the Tuesday, August 13 edition of The Record.
Sherbrooke’s Sarah-Maude Blanchard wins gold at the Quebec Figure Skating Summer Championships
By Emilie Hackett, Special to The Record
