Jenna gets her skates on!

Jenna McCorkell will again take to the ice in Finlandia this week in what promises to be a great season for the young woman originally from Coleraine Northern Ireland, and who now resides in Belgium with her husband Kevin Van der Perren (3rd European Ice Skating C’Ships 2009). Jenna who is the current six times British Senior Champion is optimistic of her chances in Vantaa. Last season her main goal was to guarantee a place at the Olympic Games 2010 in Vancouver, she accomplished this with ease, however, the performance highlight of the year was in Skate Canada (Senior Grand Prix) and at the European’s. At Skate Canada Jenna was lying in 3rd place after the short programme and in the Europeans she was lying in 4th place after the short something that British Ice Skating has not been able to boast about for a long time in singles skating. Yuri Bureiko, Jenna’s coach commented:

‘Really Jenna’s goal was to get consistency in her short programme last season and then focus on the same for her long programme this season, I believe we have achieved this and am looking forward with great optimism for this season.’

Already Jenna has been training in the USA and in Russia this year receiving help with the Choreography and layout of both her short and long programmes from Shanetta Folle.

Karin McBride Jenna’s PR commented:

‘Jenna has been very busy, busy, busy and in training very hard all summer, travelling between Russia, USA, Coventry, England and Belgium. We can expect that Jenna will give it her all this season and represent her country with pride in top international events. She will make history by becoming the first ever ice skater from these shores to compete in the Olympic Winter Games for GB – we are all extremely proud of her!’

It has been a long journey for Jenna and many groups and individuals have helped her along the way including Coleraine Council, The Mary Peters Trust, Dale Farm, Sport NI and more recently Mike Petrouis of Planet Ice who has continued to be a great support of Jenna this season 2009/10. However, the main support has always been from her family Craig and Ainsley McCorkell who like the rest of us will be tuned into watch the incredible story continue to unfold that is Jenna McCorkell.