Inside the Flo Fabrizio Ice Center, young figure skaters practice their routines each day. Many belong to the same skating club that once helped shape Olympian Caryn Kadavy.
“It’s really exciting. I mean, it kind of inspires you as a skater, like, oh, it’s my little home rink, but I can make it to the big stage like that,” said Alexandria Kitchen, an Erie juvenile level skater and member of the Westminster Figure Skating Club of Erie.
Kadavy’s own journey began on this ice long before Olympic crowds and international medals.
“I was born in Erie, Pennsylvania… they took me skating at about two years old, and from that point on, I just didn’t look back,” she said.
As her talent grew, so did the demands of elite competition. Erie did not have year‑round ice at the time, which forced Kadavy and her mother to leave home so she could train full‑time.
“We didn’t have full-year ice in Erie… so my mom had to move away with me, and I trained out of town for about eight years before the Olympics,” she said.
The move paid off. Kadavy climbed the national ranks, earning U.S. medals and a World Championship podium finish before reaching the Olympic stage.
“It was a dream come true to be able to go to the Olympics and be part of that moment,” she said. “When that United States flag went up, that is the most incredible feeling.”
Kadavy went on to compete internationally, winning multiple events and representing the United States against the top skaters in the world.
Today, she remains deeply involved in the sport. She coaches, choreographs programs and mentors young athletes, many of whom train in the same community that first supported her.
“I was really young, but she actually taught a clinic here. It sits in the back of your mind… like, oh, somebody from my club went to the Olympics. I can have that same drive, that same path, and maybe I can do that one day too,” Kitchen said.
Kadavy says she carries her hometown pride with her.
“I feel so honored to have represented my country, but also Erie, Pennsylvania, and put them on the map for what I was able to do,” she said.