The Lynnwood Expressions artistic roller skating club is headed to the World Roller Games. And this year, the Expressions are bringing a bigger and more accomplished group of athletes than ever before.
Five members of the club, which is based out of Lynnwood Bowl and Skate, qualified for worlds, which begin Friday and continue through Sept. 10 in Nanjing, China.
The five members are competing in four different categories in a sport that’s the equivalent of figure skating on wheels. Keaton Mitchell of Lynnwood and Esha Harwalkar of Bellevue will compete in Junior (ages 18 and under) World Class Pairs, Alexis Herbert of Graham and Eric Mueller of Chicago will compete in Senior World Class Pairs, Adrienne Erickson of Seattle will compete in Senior World Class Freestyle, and Herbert will also compete in Junior World Class Freestyle.
This is the most number of athletes Lynnwood Expressions coach Anna Carrier Barnett has taken to worlds in her nine years as coach.
“I’m excited about this group of skaters that we’re bringing to worlds,” Barnett said. “The junior pairs team has a great chance to medal at worlds, which would be the first time a USA team medaled in many years. The senior pairs team is new, but they should do well. The freestylists should be in their top groups at worlds if they skate their best. Overall I’m excited about the quality we’re bringing to worlds.”
Mitchell and Harwalkar came close to medaling at last year’s worlds in Novara, Italy, finishing in fourth place in Junior World Class Pairs. At those games the pair was approached by Italian coach Danilo Decembrini, a four-time Senior World Class Pairs world champion, who flew in to help coach Mitchell and Harwalkar twice over the past year. They’re hoping Decembrini’s added guidance will help get them onto the podium this year.
Mitchell and Harwalkar qualified for Worlds by finishing first at the 2017 USARS Roller Figure Skating National Championships on July 23-Aug. 5 in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Here’s Keaton Mitchell and Esha Harwalker performing their long program, set to Beauty and the Beast, at the 2017 Northwest Regional Championships on June 20 in Portland, Oregon.
Herbert and Mueller also finished first at nationals. Herbert finished second at nationals in singles, while Erickson finished third at nationals.
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