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Hilton
Returns to Win
British Championship
Elliot Hilton |
February 25, 2008
Article & Photo © J.
Barry Mittan
Elliot Hilton
returned from a two-year hiatus to win the British
senior men's championship for 2007-08. Hilton was
the junior champion in 2004-05, the same season
that he finished 16th at Junior Worlds. "I
hadn't competed since the Junior Grand Prix in Gdansk
in 2005," he explained. "I was injured
that year when I was 15. I had two stress fractures
in my back from repeated flat-footed landings. I
was off the ice for five months, then I could only
do 15 minutes of skating three times a week. I had
to do extensive physical therapy and off ice work
to strengthen my core muscles. It was at least eight
months before I was back to full strength."
"My goal at the British was just to get out
and skate," he said. "I knew I could skate
well enough to get to Europeans. Before this season,
I used to mess up and do stupid things. I've learned
more to keep focused. When competed in his first
European Championships in January, he finished 25th.
Yuri Bureiko and Marina Serova
coach Hilton, who trains in Coventry. "I had actually given up,
because I didn't like skating any more. But after
a few months of not skating, I missed it and decided
I had to move," he continued. "So in February
2007, I started working with Yuri. He's a great skater
and when he does things on the ice, I try to think
about how I can do better." Hilton only trains
three hours a day, three times a week, and two hours
a day on two other days. "Except for ballet
a few times, I don't do very much off ice," he
said.
Hilton began skating when he
was nine. "We
had a birthday party for my friends at the skating
rink and I just went along," he recalled. "When
I was skating, Karen barber asked me who was giving
me lessons and I told her no one. So I started taking
lessons from her and her husband, Steven."
He landed his first double
axel and triple toe loop at 13 and had all his
triples except the axel by 15. "I'm working on the triple axel now," he
said. "The first time I landed it clean was
at the practice before the short program at Europeans
in Zagreb. I was working on a quad toe before I was
injured, but not again. It was actually better than
my triple axel."
The 18-year-old does a triple
lutz-triple toe, triple flip and double axel in
his short program. For the long, he includes a
triple lutz-triple toe, triple flip-triple toe,
triple salchow-half loop-triple salchow, triple
flip, triple lutz, and three double axels. "I'm working on triple lutz-triple toe-triple
loop," Hilton stated. "but it's not consistent.
I also need to get my spins at a higher level."
Bureiko choreographed his 2007-08
programs. For the short, Hilton is skating to music
from the "Lord
of the Rings" soundtrack, while for the long
he is using the soundtrack of "Once Upon a Time
in Mexico". "Both of my programs are new," Hilton
noted. "We wanted to be careful with the music
and keep it clean and sharp and simple. I like loads
of different types of music. You know when you hear
it that you want to skate to it." Hilton is
using "Live and Let Die" by Guns and Roses
for a show program.
Off ice, he plays guitar in
a band named Dune. "It's
addictive," he said. "We play acoustic
and rock. I listen to mainly hard roc music like
Led Zeppelin, Guns and Roses." He also likes
to hang out with friends and plays a little tennis
and soccer.
Hilton has finished high school,
but doesn't have any future educational plans. "I want to compete
until I'm about 25, then do some shows and go into
coaching," he said.
