Apparently all it takes to become the number one figure skater in the country is, “Just a lot of practice and mental preparation,” said freshman Klara Kowar. And, while this seems daunting to most people, she makes it look easy. Kower recently won first place at the National Solo Dance Competition in the Juvenile Free Dance Competition and third in Bronze Pattern Dance.

Kowar began skating at age three with the Aspen Skating Club as a freestyle skater but 11 years later, had to stop due to constant knee pain. After being encouraged to try ice dancing, which puts less pressure on the knees, she quickly fell in love. While it was difficult to switch after spending so much time as freestyle skater, it ended up being for the better.

“That was all I had ever known in the skating world, but then it turned out to be fun to do something else,” Kowar said.

She now trains four to five days a week for two hours a day in order to enhance her skills, and often puts in extra hours to make sure she is prepared for competitions. This amount of commitment has helped her to advance in many competitions this year and accumulate the points necessary to be invited to Nationals, which took place at the University of Delaware.

When she finally arrived at Nationals, she said the nerves were palpable especially since it was her first time competing outside of Colorado. Her first routine was a Romanian tango flamenco dance which did not give her the score she was looking for.

“I learned that perseverance and positivity are everything because after my very first qualifying event, I got fifth,” Kowar said. “It was hard to stay positive going into my next event, but because I did, I was able to come in first overall in the qualifying rounds.”

In the end her determination paid off and she came in first for the free dance competition. In the future she hopes to continue competing at nationals in the higher divisions and you never know, one day we could see her at the olympics.