Patrick Chan captures seventh consecutive men’s title to top stellar contingent for Sochi; Olympic squad to be officially announced Sunday.
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Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Patrick Chan performs his routine during the men's free program at the Canadian Skating Championships in Kanata on Jan. 11.
Kaetlyn Osmond
KANATA, ONT.—Seven beauties for Patrick Chan. Five golden laurels for Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.
Between them, a dozen national titles as of Saturday night.
They are the platinum crew for Canada, heading into Sochi 2014.
While the official Olympic team will not be announced until high noon Sunday — and there might still be some arbitrary decisions from Skate Canada — the good and the deserving staked their legitimacy as long programs were contended in all four disciplines here at the Canadian figure skating championships.
And, hey, thanks to TSN for that schedule squishing and the flurry of finals, with last flights severed off from the rest of the pack for prime-time viewing.
But here’s what counts:
Chan was more like Chan, although a bit poignant as he hinted about what might happen after Sochi — certainly suggestive of a skating universe without this exceptionally gifted performer at the centre of it.
Meagan Duhamel, Eric Radford 1st after pairs short at Skate Canada
Meagan Duhamel, Eric Radford 1st after pairs short at Skate Canada
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Virtue and Moir, defending Olympic champions in ice dance, were classic Virtue and Moir, despite a slight twizzle bobble on her end. “I never even saw it,” shrugged Moir of his partner’s misstep.
They’ve been in search of just the right grace notes in the free dance all season, something transcendent, and were closer to that neighbourhood on this night, in what was most likely their last Canadians hurrah.
Canadian records — for what they’re worth because nationals are always over-scored — were set and reset in pairs between two couples that had been separated by less than a point following Friday’s short competition. Both Meaghan Duhamel and Eric Radford, and Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch, got their tickets punched for Sochi, along with — pending confirmation Sunday — Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers, finishing 1-2-3.
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And a couple of teenaged females to round out Team Canada.
It was, indeed, a full slate of skating.
“A little bit shaky here and there, a little bit,” was Chan’s self-assessment of his gorgeous Vivaldi program, opening spectacularly with a solid quad-triple. A second quad was doubled down but Chan otherwise rang off five more triples and, working hard to save a couple of landings, earned a free skate score of 188.30, 277.42 overall.
Though far ahead after the short, Chan had doubled out on two jumps and that was on his mind Saturday night. As in, don’t do it again.
“My goal today was to turn things around and think about what makes me successful, think of one element at a time and not get too ahead of myself.”
That’s seven national championships for the Toronto-raised Chan, who turned 23 on New Year’s Eve.
“I’m so proud to be Canadian, so proud to skate for Canada. And to go to these next Olympics, being seven-time national champion, is huge.
“Mistakes like (Saturday) keep me humble and make me realize that nationals isn’t easy, that I can’t overlook it. Today was a hard-fought program. That makes me feel like, yes, I deserve the seventh title.”
Silver, for the third time, was seized by Kevin Reynolds of Coquitlam., B.C., skating in a mismatched set of boots. Newcomer to the elite discussion, Liam Firus, from Vancouver, hung on to bronze.
Virtue and Moir, skating to elegantly choreographed Russian composer Alexander Glazunov, were typically divine if shy of flawless, a golden overall score of 194.03.
Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, with their own distinct style — more sensual — shimmered to silver, 183.54. Bronze was claimed by Alexandra Paula and Mitchell Islam.
The pairs competition was squeaky close as first Moore-Towers/Moscovitch and then the reigning champions rewrote the record book. Which is precisely what happened a year ago too. “We’d like to keep it one of these times,” mock-pouted Moore-Towers.
But Moscovitch did fall on his opening side-by-side triple toe. “Unfortunately, ice is slippery sometimes,” he deadpanned.
These teams push each other relentlessly. Said Duhamel: “We didn’t know what they did before us but we did hear the new Canadian record. Just like last year, déjà vu, we had to go on the ice and break another record. And it wasn’t easy.”
In the women’s category, colour Canada young and younger: A couple of teenagers are Games-good-to-go on the evidence Saturday afternoon.
Kaetlyn Osmond, just turned 17, held firm in defending her national title. The surprise was tiny jump powerhouse Gabrielle Daleman, 16 on Monday, leaping past floundering veteran Amelie Lacoste to win silver.
“The new generation is coming up and I’m glad to be a part of it,” said Osmond.
Daleman, who admitted she’s pretty much all-skating all-the-time — offering “physio” and “stretching” as two activities that fill the non-skating hours — put up a dynamic performance, with a huge triple-Lutz-triple-toe combination to open, en route to a free skate mark of 124.09 and 182.47 overall. “I was not expecting that score at all,” she claimed afterwards.
“I was a little nervous going in, knowing what’s on the line with Sochi. But I talked to myself, calmed myself down, knowing that I know how to do this.”
Daleman refused to jump the gun on her Sochi prospects.
“I’m second so there could be a spot for Sochi, there could not. It’s not definite. But I’m crossing my fingers and hoping it will be a great birthday present for me.”
Her “senior” teammate and friend, Osmond, skated with calm assurance, cutting a graceful figure with her Cleopatra, which scored 136.94, 207.24 overall.
“It’s the first time I’ve done an actual clean program in competition for a long program. So I’m super-excited and . . . still in shock.”
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