Australia’s Brendan Kerry has made a coaching change. The 22-year-old Sydney native left longtime coach Tammy Gambill last week and is now training with Nikolai Morozov.
Kerry said the change was not planned, but he realized after Skate Canada that it was one he needed to make. “It wasn’t really a consideration — more like a last minute decision,” he said. “I started working with Nikolai this season when he did my long program. It was a really different experience that I enjoyed a lot. I always had heaps of fun working with him despite it being crazy challenging.”
In the early part of the season, Kerry claimed bronze medals at Lombardia Trophy and Ondrej Nepela, but faltered at his Grand Prix in Canada. “My senior B’s went really well, but unfortunately I feel as though I couldn’t have done much worse at Skate Canada,” he said of his 11th place finish. “It’s not how we’d been training. It’s just the way sport goes sometimes. Nobody wants to have a poor skate.
“However, I feel as though I needed that kick in the butt to re-evaluate and refocus for the remainder of the season heading into the Olympics.”
With less than three months until the opening of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, Kerry knows that making a coaching change at this stage is a gamble. “Being so close to the Games and switching training teams and locations is a risky move. However, I just knew that I needed a change in my life and as a skater. I felt as though this was what I wanted and needed heading into the Games.”
Kerry, who turns 23 on Nov. 18, is currently working with Morozov in Moscow, Russia. He said training in Europe is very different but he is enjoying the experience. “It’s also been really great to see and catch up with my best friend, Harley Windsor. He spends a lot of his time training in Moscow.”
When asked if he will compete at the national championships in Australia in December, Kerry did not hesitate. “Of course I’m doing Aussie nationals. I feel as though it’s important for me to go and defend my title as well as to skate alongside the up-and-coming skaters Australia has.”
If he wins, it will be his fifth straight victory on home soil and will put him in third for the most titles won, behind Cameron Medhurst and Anthony Liu who each claimed seven consecutive national crowns.
