Competing at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C. with pair partner and now fiancé Anabelle Langlois was a highlight of Cody Hay’s figure skating career. While Langlois retired last year, Hay’s love of competing kept him thinking about continuing to skate, but this year he made the decision to transfer that competitive spirit to the coaching ranks. The newly retired Hay is returning to his western Canadian roots, and plans to coach with Langlois at the Calalta Figure Skating Club in Calgary, Alberta. Both he and Langlois have almost completed their Level 3 Coaching qualifications, and they will be moving to Calgary to take up their new coaching positions.
Hay is already in Calgary to begin the work on fulfilling their desire to establish a pair training center in western Canada. They will be working alongside Calalta’s Director of Skating Scott Davis. Now 28, Hay began figure skating at the Mile Zero Figure Skating Club in Dawson Creek, B.C. at the age of 11. He played hockey as well as figure skated for the next two years, when he switched to skating full time. His first coach in Dawson Creek was Marilyn Kreuzinger, and he focused primarily on singles, with a few forays into pair skating and ice dance. A family move led to a stint at the Grande Prairie Skating Club, and then he moved to Edmonton’s Royal Glenora Club where coaches Jan and Cynthia Ullmark encouraged him to skate pair. After competing two years at the junior level, his partner Daylan Hoffman retired, and a casual skate “just for fun” and to learn a few new lifts with veteran pair competitor Anabelle Langlois turned into a six-year career together. The two then moved to train with Lee Barkell at the Mariposa School of Skating in Barrie, Ontario and became Canadian champions in 2008.
“After this many years in figure skating, I knew that I wanted to stay involved in some capacity. When I looked back on the range of experiences that Anabelle and I had shared, I felt that I could use all of that knowledge to help someone else get the same level of enjoyment out of the sport,” said Hay, who missed all of the pre-Olympic season when Langlois was injured. “Coming back after injury for the 2009-2010 season, and then qualifying for the Olympic team at Canadians that year were really significant events for us. And nothing can match standing on the ice, and hearing the ovation from a home crowd at the Olympics. It was a really special moment to cap off that season.”
Hay thanked many of the people who helped him pursue his dreams as a skater. “I would first like to thank my family, my parents, brothers and sisters, who supported me every step of the way. I think often of all my coaches, from my first one, Marilyn Kreuzinger who helped start me out in my skating career, and of Lee Barkell in Barrie, who really helped keep Anabelle and me going during that long layoff right before the Olympic season. And of course, thanks to Anabelle. I feel so fortunate to have had her as a part of my life through the past six years and now leading into the future, I don’t have the words to thank her enough for everything she’s given to me.” Hay also acknowledged the support from Skate Canada. “
Throughout our career, we had so many people who came alongside us and offered guidance and assistance. We want the organization to know how much we appreciate all the support that you provided.” Skate Canada’s High Performance Director, Mike Slipchuk, acknowledged Hay’s contribution to skating at the national level. “Cody has been a big part of our National Team and was respected by his teammates and peers. We are pleased to see that he is staying involved in skating and will be an asset in developing a pair training centre in Calgary.”