Siblings Perform Risky Routine On Ice To Cheers

Apr 08, 2021 by apost team

When you think of world-class athletes, then football, basketball and baseball players probably come to mind. After all, they get paid the most money and receive the most airtime on television. Chances are that you probably don’t think of figure skating. With that said, the following sibling pair of Scottish skaters push the boundaries of sport — not to mention the understanding of athleticism itself. Their world-class status is evident in this 2008 routine, which took place at the World Figure Skating Championship in Sweden. And while this video is from more than a decade ago, the routine they perform is just as breathtaking and beautiful now as it was then.

Sinead and John Kerr grew in strength, stature and skating ability together. Through the years, they’ve honed their skills to become top-notch athletes that are able to wow crowds around the world. During the World Figure Skating Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, artistry and ability came together in one show-stopping routine.

As they took to the ice at the competition, the tartan-clad pair slow skated to the plangent tones of a traditional Celtic fiddle. However, the pace soon picked up as bagpipes livened the atmosphere. This dynamic duo was soon performing traditional step-dance moves and gliding through fast curves over the ice.

Their routine also included the typical jumps, turns and lifts one would expect in a figure skating routine. Then, the moment that defined their performance arrived as Sinead clung to her brother with one hand and he held her upside down while continuing to glide!

Although this stellar showing catapulted them to second place, their winning smiles and endless bravery made them first in the hearts of the wildly cheering crowd.

In a 2009 interview with The Independent, Sinead and John opened up about their skating origin stories. Sinead got into the sport by way of roller skating, which she took up when she was just 8 years old. John, the younger of the two, got hooked while watching his sister at practice.

“It was either sit and get bored, or give it a go,” he explained.

But it took some time before the two had the idea to skate together. At first, Sinead trained as a single skater, and in the mid-1990s, she skated with partner Jamie Ferguson, competing at junior competitions across the globe. In fact, it wasn’t until 2000 when Sinead joined forces with her brother. However, even after taking home the silver medal at the British Nationals in 2000, the duo still was still short on cash. While training for the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, the Kerrs had to train during “public session” at the rink.

"Our coach would go around saying 'Move to the sides please. They're going to the Olympics.' The best way to avoid paying for ice time, and we couldn't afford to pay, was to ask politely if people would let us past,” John explained in his interview with The Independent.

But around that time, the Kerrs earned funding to move to the U.S., where they would have access to their coach, Evgeny Platov, and the ice rink at Princeton Sports Centre in New Jersey.

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After that change, their career was on the up and up. In fact, the below video showcases one of their most well-known performances—a routine that has garnered a sort of cult following among ice skating aficionados across the globe. 

"There's an internet discussion board entirely devoted to us," John explained. "It's the Sinead and John discussion forum, in Russian. A friend showed it to us, translated it for us. It's got stuff about hair colour changes, costumes, what we did in practice, pictures of us."

Today, however, Sinead and John are both in their 40s, and so it’s no surprise that the dynamic duo has since retired from their professional skating careers. The sibling athletes, then in their early 30s, announced their retirement in a 2011 statement.

"Although it has been printed in a couple of newspapers, we hadn't actually — as yet — officially announced our retirement from competitive skating," read their statement, according to the BBC.

"However, we did indicate to the Scottish media that the worlds would have been our last competition and, although we were waiting until the end of the season to say anything for sure, we now feel we should say ourselves that we are not planning on continuing competing next season.

"Ours has been an amazing career and we feel very fortunate to have so many fantastic memories from our 10 years of competing together."

But fans of the Kerrs should rest assured that Sinead and John aren’t putting away their skates just yet. In the same statement, two athletes went on to explain that they still wanted to “skate in shows” —  “just in a less stressful environment.”

Such a fine display of sportsmanship is quite inspiring. What do you think of this wondrous sibling pair? Have you witnessed athletes of this caliber perform? Let us know — and be sure to pass this incredible performance on to fellow ice skating fans.