Madalena Costa, 14, became the world junior free skate champion on Wednesday in Colombia, the Portuguese Skating Federation (FPP) announced.
In a statement, FPP emphasized that this is the first gold medal ever won by Portugal in the free skate.
The federation said Madalena Costa completed her free skate with a total score of 236.38 points in the junior category.
“I feel very happy and successful and that all the work has been appreciated and rewarded. I feel that I have been able to exceed expectations and honor my country and the people who believe in me and love me,” the young woman said as quoted in statement.
“This achievement means a lot: many hours of training and giving up many things. It also means confidence, not only my confidence, but also the confidence of the selectors, the Federation, my mother and the coach,” said Madalena Costa.
The young woman promised to “work to do better.”
Madalena Costa scored 87.66 points in the short program, which is 20 points more than second place, and was in the lead in the classification entering the free program.
Also, Portugal’s Catarina Craveiro, this year’s European champion, took fourth place in the final ranking with 149.85 points.
Madalena Costa already became the European Youth Champion on September 10th, scoring a total of 247.97 points.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.