Sophia Tkacheva Tracey making up for lost rink time with Italian move

Tkacheva was born in Ireland to a Russian dad and a mother from Belarus.

RIGHT MOVE: While at home in Gorey, Sophia Tkacheva Tracey faced a three-hour drive for 45-minute sessions at the nearest skating rink in Dundonald, outside Belfast, but now spends three hours a day on the ice in Bergamo, Italy, where she attends the IceLab è Centro di Eccellenza, an academy run by the international ice skating union for athletes from all over the world.

IF you’re going to take a gap year then it makes sense to squeeze every last drop from it.

Sophia Tkacheva Tracey had hardly received notice of her Leaving Certificate results when the time came to swap Gorey for the beautiful medieval city of Bergamo. There was no time to lose.