This Thunder Bay, Ont. figure skater is making her mark at the provincials

A Thunder Bay figure skater is set to take the ice this weekend at the 2025 Skate Ontario Provincial Championships in Stratford.

Mary Furlong-Kelly will compete in the Gold Artistic category at the event, which runs from March 21 to 23 at the Stratford Rotary Complex.

Furlong-Kelly, who is 18 has been skating since she was three years old. She said her journey in the sport was a natural one.

"My dad was a figure skater and my mom was a hockey player, so it was kind of funny," she said. "My dad's whole side of the family figure skated… my older sister figure skated. Then they naturally just put me in and I was grateful to have found something that I loved so young and just kept going with it."

She has competed in the competitive stream since she was under 10, qualifying for her first provincials around the age of nine. However, this year's competition marks her first return to the event in a while after taking a break from skating.

Furlong-Kelly is competing in Gold Artistic for the first time, a category that differs from her previous experience.

"It is basically like a solo that you would see in any figure skating routine, except there are no jumps," she said. "I've always been a jumper."

Instead of focusing on jumps, the stream focuses on the artistic and performance aspects of skating. She will be judged on the interpretation of music, performance quality, skating skills and creativity.

Competing at the provincial level is something Furlong-Kelly said she has always taken pride in, especially as a skater from Thunder Bay.

"I am so happy and so grateful to be doing it again... Even when I was younger, I remember there was a ceremony when you qualified for your first provincials, and you got a provincial jacket. It was this big moment," she said.

She noted that this year will be different since she is the only one from her hometown attending,  but Mikayla Fabbro from Sudbury and Emma Van Alstine from Kapuskasing are also competing in the same category this weekend.

The gold artistic event is scheduled for Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET.

According to Stephanie Lafleur, events coordinator for Skate Ontario, the Skate Ontario Provincial Championships is one of the biggest figure skating events in the province, with around 700 to 800 skaters competing across various categories, including synchronized skating.

"Skaters have worked obviously very hard throughout the season," said Lafleur. "Our sport is getting bigger and bigger and the interest in figure skating has grown, especially the interest in competing. So skaters have to qualify to get to the provincial championships. So it is a very big deal for them."

Furlong-Kelly has been training since January to prepare for the event, working on choreography and spending time in the gym. She competes on Saturday.

"I'm a little bit nervous… but I'm hoping to do the best I can," she said. "I'm hoping to podium, so [I've] just been putting in the work, stretching, working out and getting ready."