Village residents are once again rooting for Ruddington ice dancer Penny Coomes – as she and skating partner Nick Buckland battle it out against the best – representing Team GB at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang.
South Korea is the third trip to a Winter Olympics for our local duo – having also represented Team GB at Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014. But their achievement this time is all the more astonishing because it was only in June 2016 that Penny smashed her right kneecap into eight pieces after a serious fall. She recalls “I jumped up, but I just gave it a little too much, and rather than landing kneeling on Nick’s shoulders, I ended up falling off the other side and landed directly on my kneecap.”
The major knee surgery that followed threatened to bring Penny’s skating career to a premature end, and she was bedridden for months before her rehab could begin. (You can watch a video of her incredible and determined recovery >>HERE<<.) After a year-long campaign to get fit, including a second operation on her knee in 2017, Penny and Nick missed their primary chance to qualify at the World Championships and only returned to competitive action in August 2017, when they won the IJS Sheffield event, qualifying for PyeongChang.
Now – against all the odds – the couple are thought to be serious Olympic Medal contenders! They’ll be doing a new free dance choreographed by veteran Nottingham ice skating star Christopher Dean based on one he’d previously performed with partner Jayne Torvill. The pair have also been working with another British skating legend, Robin Cousins, with whom they are pictured (right) alongside physio Terassa Taylor Kaveney – who was instrumental in Penny’s recovery and journey back onto the ice.
The Short Dance and Free Dance competitions take place on Monday and Tuesday 19th & 20th February at the Gangneung Ice Arena. Dedicated fans in Ruddington will need to stay awake into the early hours since these are between 1.00am and 4.45am UK time on both days!
Penny says: “You just need to keep your focus on the things within your power. The people around you, your training, your routine, and the choreography you’ve been working on for so long. That and your diet. All of those elements come together to help you reach your potential.”
Penny’s mum, Jane Coomes, is close friends with Karen Cragg of Ruddington’s Lovely Little Wool Shop. They travelled together to Germany last year to see Penny and Nick qualify for the Winter Games. Now Karen’s showing her support with a window display (below) dedicated to the pair – including (during opening hours) a chance to see up-close “The Amateur Ice Dance Skating Championships of Great Britain” trophy dating from 1939 – which has Penny and Nick’s names inscribed upon it several times, along with other legendary skating couples from the past.
We’ve already seen the duo proudly flying the Team GB flag in Friday’s Winter Olympics opening ceremony on TV. Now fingers crossed we’ll see them winning a medal, too!
{Top photo courtesy of Eurosport UK}
