Blade advice for an adult skater working on doubles | Golden Skate

Blade advice for an adult skater working on doubles

tamagosando

Spectator
Joined
Dec 12, 2023
Hi everyone! This is my first time posting here :) I was hoping to get some advice on potentially upgrading my blades.

For reference, I am a female 24 year old skater, 5’3 and ~100 lbs with a current setup of Jackson Debut + Coronation Ace. I started skating around 1.5 years ago, have my axel and double sal, and currently working on double toe/double loop. My skates are starting to break down and also don’t seem to be well suited for the shape of my foot, so I’m preparing to get new ones before the end of the year. I’m debating on whether or not to change my blade in the process to Pattern 99/Gold Seal — it seems that many adults I know switch to advanced blades at some point during their doubles, but I have also heard that intermediate blades can be fine up to double axel. I don’t think I plan to do triples and wouldn’t want to overblade if it will negatively impact my skating. However, I was wondering if it could be worth investing in higher level blades for my upper doubles rather than repurchasing Coronation Ace, as my coach says I am progressing fairly quickly. A skate shop in my area also has a Gold Seal blade in the correct size at a small discount right now, which is a plus if I choose to upgrade. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
 

Diana Delafield

Frequent flyer
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 22, 2022
Country
Canada
Hi everyone! This is my first time posting here :) I was hoping to get some advice on potentially upgrading my blades.

For reference, I am a female 24 year old skater, 5’3 and ~100 lbs with a current setup of Jackson Debut + Coronation Ace. I started skating around 1.5 years ago, have my axel and double sal, and currently working on double toe/double loop. My skates are starting to break down and also don’t seem to be well suited for the shape of my foot, so I’m preparing to get new ones before the end of the year. I’m debating on whether or not to change my blade in the process to Pattern 99/Gold Seal — it seems that many adults I know switch to advanced blades at some point during their doubles, but I have also heard that intermediate blades can be fine up to double axel. I don’t think I plan to do triples and wouldn’t want to overblade if it will negatively impact my skating. However, I was wondering if it could be worth investing in higher level blades for my upper doubles rather than repurchasing Coronation Ace, as my coach says I am progressing fairly quickly. A skate shop in my area also has a Gold Seal blade in the correct size at a small discount right now, which is a plus if I choose to upgrade. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Hello and welcome! I'm wondering if you're also considering a different brand of boots, in which case it's remotely possible those discounted blades may not be quite the correct size for the new ones? Remote, I know, but I did once in the past have to switch blade size when I tried a different boot than the brand I was used to. Where are you located, so that someone here can advise you on the best place to get fitted for new boots? If you can describe your foot shape (toe slant, arch height, wide/narrow/etc), someone can also advise you which boot brand might fit you better than a Jackson.

As for moving to advanced blades, I'm from an older generation that didn't have as wide a choice of blades. I learned -- and competed on -- all my triples and the double Axel on MK Pros, which are now considered "intermediate", and still use them. They're what I'm comfortable with. My contemporaries also all learned triples on those or Coronation Aces and we managed fine :). I'm sure the newer blades make it easier and faster to advance, but I'm just saying I'd suggest you wait until you're ready to buy new boots and then get whatever new blades you decide on at the same time. Good luck!
 
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