The figure-skating star who fell to earth

Available for over a year

Keri Blakinger spent her childhood and teenage years training as an elite-level figure skater in the US while also studying hard and doing well at school. But at 17 her skating dreams ended abruptly and she found herself unable to cope. Without the rigid structure of her athletic life, she found herself homeless, addicted to heroin and doing sex work and spent two years in prison for drug possession. But she later went back to university, retrained and is now an investigative reporter focusing on justice for prisoners. Get in touch: [email protected] Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producers: Rebecca Vincent and Emily Dicks (Photo: Keri Blakinger. Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman)