Thornhill Summer Skate: Up and Coming Young Skaters- Novice Men

 Of all the young skaters I watched Thursday and Friday in Thornhill, the novice men were by far the most impressive and the most surprising.

All of the novice men were far better than I had expected. Of all the novice men, three stood out to me in particular.

The first was Matthew Markell. He didn't have strong jumps in his short program, but he has amazing skating skills. His spins are also fantastic. He had a much better freeskate than short program, he had the fifth best freeskate in the event, compared to his 9th place finish (out of 11) after the short. He ended up in 6th place, but I could see him going very far.

The second novice who made a really strong impression was Stephen Gogolev. True to his last name, he had a very Russian style. Though that is not my favourite style, there is no denying that his jumps were amazing. He is 10 or 11, but is already landing triple axels in competition. His skating skills a fine, not nearly as exceptional as his jumps, but they are more than satisfactory. His spins were also good, though pale in comparison to his jumps.

The last novice who really stood out to me was Mark Gordonitsky. He was especially memorable in the short program. He had pretty good skating skills, and his jumps were extremely strong. His spins were more than satisfactory. Overall he was strong, but of the three I remember most, he was the least memorable.

Most of the other men have good or okay skating skills (which is more than I had expected, to be frank). The spins were also good or very good in most cases (which again, is more than I had expected). And of course, the jumps were exceptional.