By Liz Leamy
Last week, the New York metro-based Skyliners Junior team, the 2024 World Junior Synchronized bronze medalists whose 20-member roster happens to include four Greenwich residents, Nancy Kessler, Emily Duarte, Danielle Kim and Anna Dolgov, performed in a memorable fundraiser alongside a host of Olympic, World and U.S. champions to help fight the battle against cancer in Hartford County, Connecticut.
Titled ‘SK8 to Eliminate,’ this event was held at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury and was a win-win on all counts as the Skyliners, along with all the other decorated performers there dazzled the full-capacity crowd of more than 800 spectators in characteristic star fashion.
This second-annual show, purposed to benefit and help support the Scott Hamilton CARES Foundation (Scott Hamilton, the 1984 Olympic champion, is a cancer survivor) and the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, was also headlined by Katerina Gordeeva, the 1988 and 1994 Olympic champion, Victor Petrenko, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist, Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, the 2024 U.S. silver medalists, Maxim Naumov the 2024 U.S. fourth-place finisher, Ava Ziegler, the 2022 U.S. junior silver medalist and other prominent skaters.
For the Greenwich Skyliners who participated in this show, it was memorable experience in all ways.
“It was so great to skate for such an important cause and I had so much fun,” said Anna Dolgov, an Eastern Middle School eighth grader who turned 14 this past April. “It was also very cool to be under the lights skating and the skaters were all so nice.”
Dolgov, along with Kessler, a Greenwich High School senior, Duarte, a Greenwich High School junior, and Kim, a Greenwich High School sophomore and their fellow team colleagues certainly have a lot to smile about considering they clinched bronze at the Junior World Synchronized Championships last March in Neuchatel, Switzerland, achieving podium status among a roster of 24 entries.
“Junior Worlds was amazing. It was my first time going to this competition and I got to meet skaters from all over the world,” said Dolgov. “Everyone was really nice and it was cool to think we were all coming together through the sport of skating.”
Meanwhile, Dolgov, Kessler, Duarte and Kim also happen to be coached individually by Nancy Madden Leamy, a longtime Greenwich resident who is Director of the Greenwich Skating School at the Dorothy Hamill Rink, who said she is very proud of all of them.
“Each of these skaters has worked very hard to have a good foundation and pursue their dream,” said Leamy. “Skating is something they love and they are extremely committed to what they do. They never gave up.”
On a group level, Dolgov, Kessler, Duarte and Kim, along with the rest of the Skyliners junior team are coached by Josh Babb and Pam May who are also accomplished and renowned coaches.
Conclusively, as these four local skaters continue their skating journeys, it ought to be exciting to watch them as they continue to evolve as athletes and individuals who affect those around them with their spirit, as well as skating skills and talents.
