2019 GOLDEN SPIN – ZAGREB, CROATIA
Our newly formed Pair Skating team of Johann Wilkinson and Eloise Papka, having won the 2019 SA National Championships will be competing in their first international event together at the Golden Spin of Zagreb, Croatia this week.
After a spell in the USA and Canada where Johann switched to Pairs skating, he returned to Cape Town in search of a partner with the intent of reviving the discipline in the country. Eloise was considering her future plans with solo skating when they two of them decided to give it a go. Having never skated Pairs before, Eloise had it all to learn and the task ahead of them certainly wasn’t to be an easy one.
They began working together around June 2018 and it wasn’t long before people started taking notice of what was emerging from the couple. Fast forward a few months and they managed to qualify to represent Western Province at SA Nationals 2019 in Cape Town where they took a gold medal and became eligible for international selection.
Eloise Papka, Dantin Broodryk (Coach) and Johann Wilkinson
While juggling training as well as trying to secure much needed funding, they eventually settled on the above competition where they will get to put South Africa back on the map in Pair’s skating.
This event also has some star power as in the Men’s section, Jason Brown (USA), who despite a magnificent Silver Medal in the SKATE USA GRAND PRIX OF FIGURE SKATING, narrowly missed a spot in the ISU Grand Prix Final taking place in Turin, Italy this coming weekend. Other familiar stars include Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS), Alexei Bychenko (ISR) , Dmitri Aliev (RUS) and Camden Pulkinen (USA).
We would like to wish Eloise and Johann the best of luck at this competition. It is a big step for South African figure skating and we are certain they will do us all proud.
LIVE STREAM will be updated should it become available.