Brave Sutton ice-skater wins second silver medal at British Championships

A ten-year-old Sutton girl, who was lucky to be alive after a car crash, has won her second successive silver medal at the British Ice Dance Championships.
All smiles from Kendal McKenzie after her success at the British Championships.All smiles from Kendal McKenzie after her success at the British Championships.
All smiles from Kendal McKenzie after her success at the British Championships.

Kendal McKenzie broke her leg in the crash, which happened three years ago on her way to a skating competition in Dundee.

But she showed courage and determination to bounce back and finish second in the beginners’ class at the national championships of 2018. And moving up to basic novice class this year, she won silver again, even though most of her rivals were much older than her.

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“We were delighted,” said Kendal’s grandmother, Sharon Muldoon, of Kirkby, who is one of her biggest supporters, along with mum Chelsea and dad Karl.

“She could stay at basic novice level for another two years, but her coach wants to stretch her and move her up to an even higher level, intermediate, where the skaters are a lot older and more experienced.

“She wouldn’t be doing that unless she thought she was capable.”

Kendal’s exciting potential could be on show again later this year at the national figure-skating championships, for which she is trying to qualify. And then two international tournaments abroad are in the pipeline for next year.

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It’s all a far cry from when a friend took her for her first ice-skating session at the Lammas centre in Sutton.

Sharon said: “She took to it straight away, and has gone from training for half an hour a day to several hours five or six days a week at iceSheffield, where she is based.”

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