HIGH ACHIEVERS: Katherine Medland Spence upbeat heading to Warsaw Cup for first international assignment in Europe

By Martin Cleary

Katherine Medland Spence is filled with positivity.

Certainly beats what the Nepean Skating Club athlete had to endure during her troubled 2023-24 figure skating season, which was filled with disappointing results caused by mounting injuries.

“Last year was a rough year for me,” Medland Spence said in a recent phone interview. “I had a lot of injuries, multiple injuries at once. I was mentally exhausted.”

Ankle, hip and back injuries stalled and hindered her progress on and off the ice. She took time off, but not enough time to recover fully, her competition performances suffered and so did her overall results. Her combined short program and free-skate scores tumbled into the mid 140-point range and her senior women’s singles placement at the Canadian championships left her out of the top 10 for the first time in three years.

“I wasn’t sure I’d make it through the year. That’s how low I got,” added Medland Spence, who puts a lot of pride and effort into doing things right and making constant improvement.

Medland Spence, 24, fought through and escaped her troublesome season in part because she connected with Ken and Danielle Rose, who are coaches, directors and owners of the Richmond Training Centre in Richmond Hill, ON.

“I reached out to them. I needed something more added to my team,” said Medland Spence, who is only a handful of courses away from completing her BSc in chemistry at Carleton University.

“Skate Ontario thought Ken and Danielle would be a good fit. They have been nothing but positive and encouraging to allow me to build myself up. I was very aware of them as I have competed against their skaters. I knew they were very good people. Ron pulled me up.”

For the past year, she has been training with them in Richmond Hill or through virtual sessions, while she is on Nepean club ice. Physically and mentally healthy, Medland Spence is back in business meeting the high standards she has set for herself, achieving solid results and recently earning her first international assignment for a European competition.

On Tuesday, Medland Spence will fly to Poland to compete in the Warsaw Cup, which runs Nov. 22-23. The Warsaw Cup is part of the International Skating Union’s Challenger Series. She’ll attend the competition with former Gloucester Skating Club member Kaiya Ruiter of Calgary, who won the Canadian women’s senior title in 2024.

Since the competition falls within one week of the Skate Canada Challenge competition Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 in Winnipeg, she can apply for a bye to miss the event. The 2025 Canadian championships are Jan. 14-19 in Laval, PQ.

Medland Spence qualified for consideration for an international competition because she exceeded Skate Canada’s domestic benchmark score of 160 points, which happened during an Ontario Sectional Series competition last month in Barrie. A top score of 112.04 points in her free-skating routine allowed her to win the event with an overall score of 168.65 points. She was second in the short program at 56.61 points.

At an Ontario Sectional Series meet in Kitchener-Waterloo in August, Medland Spence placed second overall, but with an overall score of 165.08 points.

Two days after she won the competition in Barrie, Skate Canada offered her a berth in the Warsaw Cup, which was an overwhelming experience for her.

“I was shocked. I had no words. I never expected that one year ago that I would qualify,” she said.

“It’s incredible. It still doesn’t feel real and won’t until I reach Poland. I’m excited about getting international experience.”

Medland Spence continued her impressive comeback last weekend at the Skate Ontario sectional championships in Oshawa. She finished second in the short program with a best-ever score of 62.02 points, and won the free skating with 110.42 points for a personal-best overall score of 172.44 points. In the process, she finished second to two-time Canadian senior women’s champion (2023 and 2022) Madeline Schizas of the Milton Skating Club by only 1.37 points.

Competing in the Warsaw Cup won’t be about owning the podium in the field of 30 talented international skaters. Her plan is to keep moving forward now that her skates are firmly on the ice.

“Really, I want to continue to build on my progress and improve all aspects (of my skating),” she continued. “I’ll go there and try to take in everything to experience an international competition.”

Medland Spence put herself in a position to qualify and earn an international assignment because her training has been smooth and mostly uninterrupted this season, which has sparked improved scores and results. She took a week off before the Skate Ontario Sectional Series meet in August because she had COVID.

“The biggest thing this year is my training is more consistent, which has led to higher marks. I’m generally confident because training has gone better,” added Medland Spence, who worked more on her mental preparation and added it into her daily training sessions.

“Last year, I was so injured all season. It made training difficult and hard to have consistency. This year, my priority is to take care of my body and make smart choices.

“I’ve done a lot of work to make my brain more positive. I have high standards and expect myself to achieve because I know I can.”

She has done that before.

When the 2022 Canadian championships were staged at TD Place without any spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Medland Spence placed sixth overall with 158.39 points. She was seventh in both the short program (55.74 points) and free skate (102.65 points).

At the 2023 nationals in Oshawa, her overall point total improved slightly to 159.48 points, but she dropped a position to seventh overall. She scored 54.29 points for seventh place in the short program and 105.19 points for fifth in the free skate.

Last year’s Canadian championships in Calgary hit a new low for Medland Spence as she was 16th in the short program at 41.71 points, 11th in the free skate at 94.03 points and 13th overall at 135.74 points, which was her lowest total in the past four seasons.

But a combination of new coaches, consistent training, better marks and an international assignment has put Medland Spence back in a positive frame of mind and heading in a better direction.