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New England Champion Skater From Darien Heads To Next Level Of Competition

DARIEN, Conn. — Emilia Murdock, a figure skater from Darien, has a long-term goal of someday making it onto Team USA. 

Emilia Murdock of Darien won the intermediate ladies championship for the New England Region, hosted by U.S. Figure Skating.

Emilia Murdock of Darien won the intermediate ladies championship for the New England Region, hosted by U.S. Figure Skating.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Yalin Murdock
Emilia Murdock of Darien, second from left, wins the intermediate ladies title for the New England Region. Also on the podium are Maddie Weiler, second, left; Mauryn Tyack, third, third from left; and Julia Curran, fourth, at right.

Emilia Murdock of Darien, second from left, wins the intermediate ladies title for the New England Region. Also on the podium are Maddie Weiler, second, left; Mauryn Tyack, third, third from left; and Julia Curran, fourth, at right.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Yalin Murdock

But for now, she has a short-term goal in mind. She will hitting the ice this week as she continues her quest to make it to this year's national championships of the U.S. Figure Skating Association.

In October, Emilia was crowned the New England champion at the Intermediate Ladies level at the Regional competition for USFSA in Burlington, Vt. 

The Top 4 finishers from New England, including Emilia, will be competing at the Eastern Sectionals this week in Indian Trail, N.C., against the Top 4 finishers from two other regions. The Top 4 finishers this will move on to compete at USFSA nationals in January in Kansas City. 

The short program for Intermediate Ladies will be Wednesday afternoon, with the long program on Thursday evening. 

Emilia, who will turn 14 this week, has traveled down this road before. In 2015, she won the Silver Medal for Juvenile Girls at the national championships. 

In winning the New England title this season, Emilia, who is a member of the Skating Club of Boston, scored 40.14 points in her short program and 79.05 in her long program, for a total of 119.19 points. She won by 9 points. 

Her scores are among the Top 10 across the country for Intermediate Ladies. 

Emilia, who is a member of the Skating Club of Boston, trains five days a week in Boston with coaches Mark Mitchell and Peter Johansson. She is home schooled and works three hours on-ice and two hours off-ice each day, according to her mother, Yalin Murdock.

Her favorite jumps are the double Axel and the triple flip, her mother said. Emilia skates her long program to the movie soundtrack of "A Week With Marilyn." Her short program is to "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon" by Robin McKelle.

Emilia is working her way up the ranks, with success at the Juvenile and Intermediate levels. The higher levels are novice, junior and senior, the skaters seen competing at the Olympics.

Emilia, who previously attended St. Luke's School in New Canaan, has also skated at Chelsea Piers New York, Chelsea Piers Connecticut, Terry Conners Rink in Stamford and Dorothy Hamill Rink in Greenwich.

Emilia follows in a great tradition of figure skating in Connecticut. Greenwich is the childhood hometown of 1976 Olympic gold medalist Dorothy Hamill.

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