The call came while Kiri Baga was at a restaurant. The 14-year-old skater shouted in disbelief when she heard the news: She would be making her first trip overseas, to compete in Germany in her first Junior Grand Prix event.
Few in the figure skating world had heard of Baga before she won the U.S. novice championship in January. That anonymity ended in late September, when she won the women's title at the competition in Germany -- and followed with another Junior Grand Prix victory in Turkey two weeks later. The two golds vaulted the Bloomington teen into December's Junior Grand Prix Final in Tokyo, adding another city to the expanding itinerary of coach Lorie Charbonneau.
Charbonneau already had a busy fall planned with daughter Kate, the Canadian junior women's champion, who trains with Baga at Bloomington Ice Garden. Kate, 16, finished second in Croatia and eighth in Poland in her two Junior Grand Prix events and will compete for an Olympic berth at Canada's national championships in mid-January. Four days later, Baga will pursue the junior women's title at the U.S. championships.
Though Charbonneau doesn't like to fly, she's never been so happy to show her passport.
"We joked for years that someday, I'd be at an international competition with Canada on one side of my jacket and USA on the other," said Charbonneau, who lives in Prior Lake and coaches at the Figure Skating Club of Bloomington. "This season has been a dream. And it's just starting."
Kiri and Kate are close friends and spend most of their time together at the rink. The girls attend an online high school and train three hours a day, five days a week, on the ice. In between, they do ballet, Pilates and other workouts to enhance their strength and flexibility.
When Baga was 9, her rapidly emerging talent prompted her mother, Brenda, to drive her from their Duluth home to the Twin Cities every weekend to train with Charbonneau. Later, Kiri began staying with the Charbonneau family three days a week, and Brenda and Kiri now rent a home in Bloomington.
Kiri didn't advance out of the regional competition before the 2008 U.S. championships, making her an unknown entering the 2009 nationals. But she had developed great confidence to support her skills. Her well-balanced style, which combines superb jumping ability with graceful spins and precise footwork, earned her the title -- and impressed U.S. Figure Skating officials so much that they began monitoring her for potential international assignments.
