Local figure skater wins gold

Fifteen-year-old Julianna Foy has won another medal to add to her collection. The sophomore at Niwot High School, who started skating at four with her hockey-loving Dad, has been skating competitively for not even two full years.

While skating in her earlier years as a “beginner,” the same kind of competition that led to her recent success was not available to her. The medals and trophy she is pictured with are all first, second or third place wins, except for one, a fourth place.

Foy progressed through 10 levels of proficiency before being eligible for a private coach. She explained that while this is quite unusual, she is lucky to have two coaches at the moment, as her Head Coach Catherine LaFlamme had other commitments. As a result, Foy has recently gotten an assist from another coach, Lindsey Glova. Mostly her skating practices are held at the YMCA in Lafayette and at the Promenade in Westminster.

The gold medal Foy is wearing in the picture was her first, won for her free skate program on June 4 at the Front Range Invitational in Greeley. She told a great story about winning the first place medal in 2015, when she thought she had completely blown her program – she started late, as she interrupted her skate when she realized she had left her glasses on (she generally removes them so they won’t fly off) and then she fell.

Foy probably heard the gasps of her family and fans in the audience, as all who saw this thought she would probably come in last place, but no points ended up being deducted as none of those issues were relevant to the total points earned. In the photo of that first place performance, she is flanked by Olympic skaters (left to right) Jason Brown, 2014 Olympic Bronze Medalist and 2015 U.S. Champion; Jason Moeller, 2014 U.S. Junior Silver Medalist; and Mariah Bell, 2011 U.S. Novice Bronze Medalist and 2013 U.S. Junior Silver Medalist. She said she learned that “even if you fall, just get back up and keep going….you never know the outcome.”

Next week, she will be skating at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs at the World Arena, with figure skaters from all over the country – a big, three-day competition which is a run-up to the Southwest Regional Competition in Texas in October.

Besides being an IB honor roll student at NHS, Foy also runs a mother-daughter Origami Owl jewelry business with her mom, Jodi Foy, and is a Girl Scout. On top of everything Foy is involved with, figure skating is a year-round sport.