Breken Brezden is back for another exciting year on the ice and the Dauphinite is off to an incredible start.
Representing Skate Dauphin and living in Ontario, Brezden has had three great performances to date. Starting with a Skate Ontario competition, Brezden earned a bronze medal in her short program before stepping up in her free program. She beat her nearest competitor by more than 13 points to win her first gold medal of the season.
Brezden then made the trip to compete in an event in Montreal. Going up against many of the top skaters across the country, Brezden rose above with an outstanding free program. She was in fifth after scoring 54.05 points in her short program, two shy of the leader. Brezden then scored 118.59 points in her free program, the most of any, as she locked up another gold medal with 172.64 points.
Most recently, Breken nabbed another bronze medal at Skate Ontario Sectionals. Sitting in second after her short program of 53.45 points, Brezden scored 109.10 points in her free program to finish third. To date this year, the star figure skater from Dauphin has two gold and two bronze medals to her name.
"I think the season has gone very well, I'm very proud of myself and all of the hard work I have put in," said Brezden. "It set me up to feel very good about myself moving forward into the winter months."
Before resuming her competition schedule in Ontario, Brezden is ready for the opportunity of a lifetime. Qualifying through points earned, Brezden is the first Manitoban in 40 years selected to represent Canada at the Challenger Series Trophy Metropole Nice Cote d'Azur in Nice, France. It will be Breken's first time on the international stage.
"I'm very excited, France is an incredible place to make my international debut," offered Brezden. "I'm looking forward to making a ton of memories and going through the entire experience."
Regarding results, Breken will push herself harder than ever as she represents the country.
"Going into these competitions, you never really think about what your score will be, you almost want to put the results on the back burner," said Brezden. "I'm focusing on doing what I can do and doing it as well as I can and from there, you can see the results."
Now let's put all of Breken's great results this year on the back burner for a moment. While winning medals is always the goal, it's how Brezden got to where she is that keeps her going daily.
"I love the process of it all. Of course, the results are awesome and important, but they're not everything," ended Brezden. "To be able to come to the rink every day and spend as much time on the ice as I do, it's a privilege. I get to build on my skills and refine my programs to make sure all of the details are there and to me, that's extremely satisfying."
The competition will begin Wednesday and run through Sunday.
