Justin Hampole of Prince George after today’s bronze medal performance- photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – Another podium finish for a northern B.C. athlete.

This after Justin Hampole of Prince George earned the bronze medal this morning in the pre-novice men’s figure skating competition before a capacity crowd at Kin 1 Arena.

And though he entered the day in second place, he admitted afterwards the result exceeded his expectations.

“I’m really, really happy. I didn’t expect to get a medal coming in and I’m so happy. I was expecting maybe a top 5 or 6 and I was setting a goal for 90 points and I reached that goal.”

Hampole, who’s 13 years old and trains at the Northern BC Centre for Skating in Prince George, earned a free-skate score of 55.80 for a final score of 91.88.

He said he was nervous skating in front of his home-town crowd.

“I was so nervous. I’ve never been that nervous before. I was even more nervous today than (before) my short program.”

As for the other competitors, Stephen Gogolev of Ontario took home the gold with a combined score of 114.74, while Samuel Turcotte of Quebec won silver, with a score of 93.51.

The other lone skater from BC in today’s final, Beresford Clements of Gibsons, placed 4th with a score of 87.12.