Wolseley figure skater wins gold

Wolseley

Crescentwood

Wolseley

Crescentwood

Figure skater Davey Howes is Winnipeg’s newest golden boy. The 16-year-old took home the men’s pre-novice/novice gold medal at the 2023 Skate Canada Challenge event in Regina, Sask., on the last weekend of January.

After his short program, Howes (who is listed in competition as David, but prefers to be called Davey) sat atop the leaderboard with a score of 45.81. The following day, Howes came up with another strong performance, scoring 84.92 to win gold.

“I’m very excited and happy. It was really nice to have something come from all the work that I put in this season and all the improvements that I’ve made,” Howes said.

Howes, a Wolseley resident and student at Kelvin High School, said that, in the lead-up to the competition, he was less nervous than tuned in.

“But it really hit me when I was about to start competing that it was not just a competition, but also one of the bigger competitions of the year. So throughout both of my programs, I was just trying to keep the nerves intact, so I could put out two good performances,” he said.

From here, Howes has his sights set on some pretty lofty goals. He hopes to carry the momentum of his win to Calgary, where the 2023 Novice Canadian Championships will be held at Canada Olympic Park between Feb. 18 and 22.

“My goal is to at least be on the podium there,” he said. “I would like to win, but there’s some other really good skaters in the events, so a lot can happen.”

Beyond that, Howes wants to put his training to work on the world stage.

“Looking into next season, I’m hoping to be on the NextGen team, which is the junior national team. And depending on how nationals go, maybe being given an international assignment,” he said.

Howes attributes his success to hard work and to an innate love for skating.

“I just love to be on the ice, and I’ve been on it since I was very little. Just the feeling of skating is kind of relieving for me. It’s like a whole separate world, and I can kind of forget about other stress,” he said.

Howes’ mother, Tina Chen, who choreographed his short program said his ability to lose himself in the performance is one of his key strengths.

“When you have a skater who throws themselves into performing a whole program, it can create a really exciting moment on the ice, and he certainly did that in both programs on the weekend. Watching him do that and have so much fun doing it was just a real thrill,” Chen said.

Kevin Dawe, who has been coaching Howes for about six years, said it’s been great to see Howes’ hard work pay off.

“He’s a coach’s dream,” Dawe said. “He works hard. He listens well. He really wants to make the changes. And he’s OK being uncomfortable, which is great.”

Dawe said it’s crucial for a skater to push themselves and extend their limits, and Howes isn’t afraid to do that. He said Howes is seeing the results of hard work tightening up his techniques, which complements his more intangible talents.

“As a skater, he’s got great musicality, and it’s great to see that the technical stuff, the jumps and spins, are really starting to click this year,” he said.