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Redding Skater Heads To France For Grand Prix Event

REDDING, Conn. — Brooklee Han, a 2013 graduate of Joel Barlow High School in Redding, is traveling to France to compete on Friday and Saturday in the Grand Prix of Figure Skating.

Brooklee Han skates her long program to Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending.”

Brooklee Han skates her long program to Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending.”

Photo Credit: Contributed
Brooklee Han skates her short program to the soundtrack of the 2012 movie “Dans La Maison."

Brooklee Han skates her short program to the soundtrack of the 2012 movie “Dans La Maison."

Photo Credit: Contributed

Han, who competes internationally on behalf of Australia, will be skating at Trophee Eric Bompard in an elite ladies’ field of 12 skaters that includes Gracie Gold, the 2014 U.S. national champion, and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, the current world champion.

Han is a sophomore at Wesleyan University in Middletown, near her training rink of Newington Arena. She also trains at the Winter Garden Ice Arena in Ridgefield.

This season, Han has already competed at three events. Last season, she competed for the first time on the Grand Prix, taking the ice at Skate America and Skate Canada. Han finished 20th at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

For this skating season, Han is skating to the soundtrack of the 2012 movie “Dans La Maison" for her short program. She said she likes her new music. 

“It’s different from what I've done before, but I still feel comfortable to skating to it,” Han said. 

For her long program, she is skating to Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending.” 

“It’s another beautiful piece of music,” she said, “It’s a lot of fun to skate to as well.” 

In the future, Han said she has her eyes on competing in the Olympics in 2018 in South Korea. But, she said, “there’s a lot of work between now and then.” 

This fall, Han kicked off her season at the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in September in Salt Lake City, where she finished in 10th place. 

She also made a stop at her favorite competition, Nebelhorn Trophy, in Oberstdorf, Germany, where she came in seventh. “It’s just an incredible, beautiful place in The Alps,” Han said. “The rink there is fantastic. I love going there.” 

Her third competition was last month at the Denkova Staviski Cup in Sofia, Bulgaria. She finished in sixth place. All three events are part of the Challenger Series of events run by the International Skating Union. 

Han has said she hopes to compete at the next Winter Olympics in South Korea in 2018. 

Read more about Brooklee Han here on the Daily Voice.

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