Trinity Student Abigail Chase Wins Gold in International Competition

Abigail Chase, a Trinity College first-year student and University of Toronto high performance athlete, has Olympic dreams. She hopes that her sport, synchronized skating, will be included in the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games. In the meantime, she represents Canada internationally on NEXXICE Senior, a synchronized skating team representing the Burlington Skating Centre. Recently, Abigail returned from two weeks in Europe where her team earned gold at the Trophy D’Ecosse on February 10, 2018.

Synchronized skating is a team sport in which eight to 20 skaters perform a program together. It uses the same judging system as singles, pairs and dance and is characterized by teamwork, speed, intricate formations and challenging step sequences.

“It’s challenging to attend university and compete at the world level, but I appreciate all the support I have received from the U of T high performance team, Trinity College and my professors as well as my friends and family,” said Abigail, who carpools out to Burlington and Hamilton rinks at least four days a week with NEXXICE teammate and fellow U of T first-year student Emma Kim (Victoria College).

Though an international student from the United States, Abigail has strong ties with Canada. Not only does she have family in the country, but she also spent years training at the Vancouver Ice Dance Academy in British Columbia under the direction of Canadian Olympians Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe.

The NEXXICE Senior team will compete next at the Canadian National Synchronized Skating Championships held in Oshawa on February 23 to 24, 2018. The team has won 10 Canadian National Championships, two World Championships (2009 and 2015) and the 2017 World bronze medal.

Categories: Student News