OLDS — Ice dancers Kobi Chant, 17, of Olds and Savanna Martel, 14, of Airdrie are setting their sights on winning gold at the nationals next year after finishing in eighth place this year.
The 2020 nationals were held Jan. 13-19 in Mississauga, Ont. It was Chant and Martel’s first time skating at that level and their first time skating in the novice category.
“Definitely next year, it’ll be a year of going for the gold medal at the podium,” Chant said during an interview. We were top eight this year.”
He said the competition was so tight that the difference was .01 of a point between first and second as well as .7 of a point between third and fourth.
And the difference between fifth and eighth was just two points between three teams.
The nationals marked the end of the season for Chant and Martel so they’re now gearing up for the next one. Their first competition occurs in July.
“We’re going to break everything down, go back to basics,” Chant said. “We’ll restart the program, so we’ll have new choreography for a new program, coming up within a month now.”
Chant has some ideas on how he and Martel can get better.
“I think this year, what we’re really going to work on is improving our consistency, so doing more things right, over and over again and then making sure those corrections stick,” he said.
Chant said the pair’s step sequences — a series of turns — is their strongest suit “because of our power and speed.”
He said the weakest is twizzles — a continuous turning movement across the ice.
“Just getting in synch with each other is a big part too. We have to turn in synch with each other,” he said.
It all comes down to hard work and dedication.
“It’s up to us to do that training five days a week – two or three hours every day of those five days – to refine everything; make it as close to perfect as we can get it, so that when it comes to a competition, the judges don’t have to second-guess their marks,” Chant said.
He said the difficulty of getting to the top is a big part of what attracts him to skating.
“That’s the one thing I love, is it’s always a challenge and it always makes you want to strive for that betterness,” he said.
Chant loves working with Martel. They’re now going into their third season together. They won bronze in pre-novice ice dance during the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer last season.
Martel says they plan to stay in the novice category this year and move up to the junior level next year.
“She is such a good skater,” Chant said. “Her strong point is her performance. When she skates, she can light up and just wow everyone.”
Martel adapted well to the Mississauga facility.
“The arena was bigger, so it helped me project more. It felt like a bigger place and competition,” she said. “It helps me, with bigger competitions in the future, to know how to deal with that.”
She enjoys skating with Chant.
“Overall, it’s a great partnership and we love skating together,” Martel said.
“I feel Kobi and I have really improved as a partnership, and we’ve been able to connect more.
“There’s still a lot of progress to go, but we’ve improved on that, and all my skills have improved over the last year in many ways. I just feel my love for skating keeps growing every single day.”
