Michael Marinaro will lace up his skates again at the Winter Olympics.
The Sarnia-born figure skater and partner Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines leave Friday for Beijing.
He said training has certainly been a different experience than when the pair prepared for the 2018 games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Marinaro said the arena is closed to the general public, so only about 10 high performance skaters and one hockey group has had access to the ice.
"We pretty much have the arena all to ourselves which has its pros and cons," said Marinaro. "And then without having access to the gym has been one of the biggest struggles but it's been going on for two years so got a pretty good home gym set up, training with a trainer through Zoom."
He said the experience so far has been unlike any other.
"Wouldn't say more or less excited or more or less nervous, just different," he said. "Really looking forward to compete in the team event this year. It's pretty cool to skate alongside as a team with some of our fellow Skate Canada teammates, some good friends that we are pretty close with."
Unfortunately due to pandemic travel restrictions, his family won't be able to make the trip to China to cheer him and Kirsten on.
"Obviously that's a little bit of a bummer, last time both mom and dad and both of my brothers were there," said Marinaro. "We're not even sure what the audience is going to look like, but luckily we're well practiced with skating in empty arenas."
Marinaro said he and his partner appreciate all the support they've been getting.
"A big thank you to everybody who has reached out, the support has just been tremendous," he said. "A special thank you to the Point Edward Skating Club where I got my start, just thank you to the whole city and I hope I will do you guys very proud."
The opening ceremony for the Beijing games is on Friday, February 4 at 6:30 a.m. EST.
Marinaro and Moore-Towers will compete first in the team event on Monday, February 7. The pair skating short event is on Friday, February 18.
The pair finished 11th at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
