Edmonton figure skater Kaetlyn Osmond gets hero's send off for the Olympic games

Edmonton figure skater Kaetlyn Osmond got a big sendoff Thursday as she prepares to leave for her second Olympic games in Peyongchang, South Korea, later on this month. 

"My club has been super supportive of me since the beginning, and to be able to skate with them and to hear some of the things they have to say is so exciting," Osmond said.

• Edmonton figure skater Kaetlyn Osmond ready to dominate on Olympic ice

The 2017 Canadian champion and world silver medallist performed a solo skate at the Ice Palace at West Edmonton Mall.

There to watch were coaches, friends and family, and about 50 other skaters from the Ice Palace Figure Skating club.

On both levels of the mall people held up homemade signs wishing the 2014 Olympic silver medallist good luck as she tackles her second Olympic games.

Healthy and experienced

Four years after her first Olympic experience in Sochi, Russia, Osmond will head to South Korea more mature and focused and as fit as she has ever been. 

"I was definitely new going into the last Olympics, I was very new to the international scene," said Osmond, 22.

She said she was injured last time around, and hadn't really competed much leading up to the Sochi games.

"I was just excited to be on the team and to enjoy the experience," she said. 

Osmond has made the podium this year at all the events she has competed in.

"This time, I've been training so hard. I have a world silver medal under my belt and much more international experience. So I just feel more mature, more ready, and more confident."

Her coach, Ravi Walia, certainly sees the difference.

Walia has been Osmond's coach for the last 12 years, since the skater moved to Alberta from Newfoundland to take her figure skating to the next level.

"The last three years have been building blocks, each year she's getting stronger and stronger, technically and physically better and better," Walia said. "I think the main thing is, she's just so much more confident and feels very prepared."

"The intention was hockey" 

Jeff and Jackie Osmond have spent more than 20 years hauling Katelyn or her older sister, Natasha, to figure skating practices and competitions.

Both parents will be on the plane with their youngest daughter next Thursday, and will watch her compete at her second Olympics. 

"We want her to come off the ice and smile and say, 'I did the best I could,' and feel happy. And if the cards fall into a medal, great. If they don't, I don't care. As long as she's happy. And that's always the way it has been."

For Jeff Osmond, all the figure skating excellence has been a pleasant surprise. He initially got his daughter on skates so she could play that other sport.

"To tell you the truth, the intention was never figure skating," he said. "We put her in CanSkate to teach her how to skate, because the intention was to go into hockey, like every other Canadian kid."

But those first few lessons turned into a passion for figure skating the entire family now shares. 

"She totally enjoys it, she still does," he said. "I mean, 20 years now since she put on her first pair of skates and she's still going."