Wyliefan
Ubering juniors against my will
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Congratulations to Carolane, Shane, and Ireland for the bronze medal at Egna!
Their costumes blend really nicely with the flagCongratulations to Carolane, Shane, and Ireland for the bronze medal at Egna!
“After the 2022 season, Carol (Lane) put that bug in our ears to maybe look at other options and see if there was a possibility,” Firus said. “We slowly started looking at things.”
“From her perspective, we are always happy skaters,” Soucisse continued. “We’re quite easy going and training is usually fun for us and we enjoy it but I think she saw that we were maybe struggling to find motivation. When she first brought it up, we didn’t think it would be an option for us, so we didn’t necessarily investigate at that point in time. Then we did 2023 Canadian Nationals. We did our two best programmes of the year there and we still had poor scores, and teams that were usually well behind us were starting to almost be ahead of us.”
“We had the same score if not lower than we did internationally,” Firus said. “That’s when we really started investigating and pursued changing.”
“After Canadian Nationals, we contacted the ISAI as an enquiry about possibly representing Ireland and what would that look like if possible at all,” Firus said. “It went from there. They were receptive to us coming in as long as that was what we fully intended.”
“That we were committed which we totally understand,” Soucisse added. “It’s not an easy process, so everybody needs to be one hundred percent which we were. But I do understand that from their perspective that they didn’t know us and must have wondered if we were serious about this. It’s a lot of work.”
“We didn’t want to waste anyone’s time too,” Firus said. “From there, we thought the release would be easier and then it turned into being less easy.”
“I guess we’re going to have to see over the years, but Euros felt so warm and so inclusive,” Soucisse said. “It was quite emotional. Maybe not for Shane, he never cries. But for me. When we went into the stadium for the free dance, I was mind blown. Mind blown. How lucky are we to get to experience this the one year when Europeans is massive.”
While the doors to European and World Championships have been unlocked for Soucisse and Firus, the path to competing at the Olympic Games remains unclear with only Firus having Irish citizenship. However, the team are for the moment concentrating on the increased possibilities that they have. Competing at the European and World level will they hope bring the sport a higher profile back in Ireland than it currently has.
“It wasn’t our focus when we switched,” Firus said about competing at the Olympics. “It was really just to experience more of what skating has to offer. Before it was very stagnant and we were almost repeating the same season every year. The possibility of doing different events, such as Euros or Worlds, really was the focus and the goal.”
“We really want to just represent the country, make our own place in the figure skating world and make a place for Ireland too,” Soucisse said. “Already it feels like we’re giving hope to other people that it’s possible to do these things. One of our goals to inspire and bring more exposure to the sport in Ireland and to see there’s more room for Irish skaters. They need the facilities, and they need the place where they can actually make it to these levels.”
On 29 February, Soucisse and Firus sealed their on ice and off ice partnership by getting legally married. They will have a larger wedding celebration in May in Mexico. Firus surprised Soucisse with a proposal during their visit to Ireland last summer.
Beyond the World Championships and their nuptials, Soucisse and Firus will wrap up their season with Irish Nationals in June. They are eagerly anticipating having a full competition season in 2024-2025 and have already commenced preparations.
“Our plan is to choose our theme for next year’s free dance before Worlds this year,” Soucisse said. “We want to get that started and potentially skate a new free dance for Nationals, so that at least we have one programme that’s ready. With Nationals being in June and our season starting soon after, we’re going have to get going. If we have the free dance done for Nationals, we only have a new rhythm dance to do which makes more sense.”
Along with Drew Wolfe,Molly Lanaghan and Carol and Jon Lane!Carolane and Shane had their wedding ceremony on the beach in Cancun. Nadiia Bashynska, Camille Ruest, Kirsten Moore-Towers, and coach-choreographer Marc-Andre Servant were there (and of course Liam Firus, Shane's brother and Kirsten's fiance). Carolane has pics and clips in her stories: https://www.instagram.com/stories/carosou6/
Best wishes to them!
That reminds me, Nadiia has a post up about her dress. It was made (along with her sister Julia's dress) by the same woman who makes her skating costumes.Love the variety of dresses!