Local skater Kelsey Nagy was "surprised" at winning a gold medal at the 2008 Gold Triathlon STARSkate National Championship on Brampton, Ont. from April 4 to 6.

Nagy placed first overall in each event and won by over 17 points overall against some of the top skaters in her age group from across Canada. Along with receiving a gold medal, she was also presented with a championship crystal. All of this came as a shock to Nagy.

"It is really surprising to win the gold medal. I just wanted to skate well in all three of my programs, but this was better than I expected," said Nagy.

Nagy, the daughter of Gerry and Dianna, set a goal going into the competition that she wanted to finish in the top half.

In her first program, marked on creative skills, Nagy wasn't sure how well it would go over with the judges. But, after finishing first, she started to gain confidence.

"I was really excited when I found out I won. I was surprised when I finished first in my first program because I wasn't sure how they (the judges) would take it," Nagy said.

She admitted that, when she first went on the ice, she was a bit nervous as this was her first National STARSkate championship, but started to calm down as the competition wore on.

"Whenever you take the ice you are a bit nervous. Once you start skating, you get into a zone and forget what you're nervous about because you are too busy concentrating on your routine," Nagy said.

The triathlon event consists of three programs, where the skaters are marked on skating skills, interpretive and free skate programs.

The skating skills program is marked on a series of fundamental skating movements, executed on a pattern and skated to music given to the skaters. In the interpretive program, participants skate to and interpret a piece of music between two and three minutes in length. This program focuses on the performance aspect and not the technical elements.

Finally, the free skate program is more open for the skaters. In this program, the skaters are judged on the execution of jumps, spins, footwork, field movements and stroking in isolation or to music.

At the national championship, Nagy scored 35.43 points in her creative skills program, 45.99 points in her interpretive program and 40.06 points in her free skate to finish with a total of 121.48 points.

Nagy qualified for the National STARSkate championship by winning the provincial competition in late January in Yorkton by over 33 points overall in the gold women's triathlon competition.

Nagy placed first in the creative skills program with 35.38 points, she finished first in the interpretive program with 45.74 points and she placed first in the free skate program with 45.98 points for a total of 127.10 points.

Nagy is a Grade 12 student at the Comp and will not be returning to skate next season, so she felt winning a national gold medal was a great way to finish off her skating career.

Along with winning the gold medal, Nagy was also active with coaching the bridging program and accomplished her gold level in interpretive, free skate and dance. She was also the co-winner of the Weyburn Skating Club's Grade 12 skating award along with Charlene Cretin.

"I definitely enjoyed skating this year and I think that affected how I skated. This year I just took a more relaxed approach," Nagy said.