Virtue & Moir first; Weaver & Poje second after short dances at Skate Canada International

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SAINT JOHN, N.B. – The 2010 Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are in first place after the short dance with a score of 73.15 at the Skate Canada International Grand Prix. Their lead is just 2.80 points ahead of compatriots Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, who expressed pleasant surprise at their personal best marks: 70.35, and this happening early in the season.

Virtue and Moir skated a strong, performance, with level fours on their rotational lift and step sequence, but bobbled on the twizzle section of their sparkling short dance.

Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States, fourth at Skate America last week were thrilled to be third and able to attend their first Grand Prix press conference with 60.92 points in the bag, more than 10 points behind Weaver and Poje.

Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam, so deft with their pink quickstep fluff at Obertsdorf that they won the short dance there, before getting the bronze overall, finishing seventh of eight teams, even though they drew a standing ovation at the Harbour Station Arena.

“Obviously we have a few technical things to work on,” Paul said. “But the actual performance of the program felt amazing and the crowd really got into it. “

They received only a level one on the second Finnstep sequence, but level fours on twizzles, and a rotational lift. “It’s not the most consistence dance for everybody, just looking at levels from past competitions,” Paul said.

Virtue and Moir navigated that trap well, but admitted their trip into twizzle territory was “adventurous.”

Moir acknowledged he and Virtue had “a bit of a moment” before they skated. “You never know where your career is going to go and if we’re going to skate next year, those questions that we don’t want to answer yet.”

Moir found himself very emotional while in the start position, thinking this might be his last Skate Canada.

“We had a great feeling the first minute and a half,” he said. “They’re telling in the scores, so we’ve got to clean that up.  At this time of year that is really important.”

Virtue said they’ve trained the twizzles really well at home, but at both of their previous competitions, they’d had a stumble or two on twizzles. Now they have to get down to business, maybe change the placement of them.  “It’s not something we want to risk going forward,” she said.

Weaver and Poje were visibly surprised while watching replays of Virtue and Moir’s errors. “Tessa and Scott are Olympic champions,” Weaver said. “They are everything we strive to be.  And while their errors are quite uncharacteristic, to me they are the quintessential ice dancing team of our time.”

Poje said they challenged themselves to get every level and every key point they can and it’s not easy: there are such minute differences between levels, but they can add up. “We were pleased to see that we achieved a lot of the key points that we wanted so early” he said.

Weaver and Poje earned level fours on all of their elements, even both of the Finnsteps, except for the midline step sequence, where they earned a level three. Their tap interpretation of 42nd Street worked for them.

Beverley Smith

Patrick Chan takes a significant lead after the short program in Saint John

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SAINT JOHN, N.B. – It took only a tiny moment of doubt to turn a quadruple toe loop – triple toe loop into a triple-triple, good by the standards of some women’s competitions, but not for three-time world champion Patrick Chan.

Chan did only a triple toe loop – triple toe loop at the beginning of his short program, the Rachmaninoff gem that earned him world record points at the world championships last March. But still, the skater gathered himself and made sure he scored all the points he needed to throw up a healthy score of 88.10 seconds and finish first in the short program

Chan had some top Japanese skaters breathing down his neck, but when a revitalized Nobunari Oda fell on a quad, and Yuzuru Hanyu singled a triple Lutz that turned into a single Lutz-triple toe combination, the Japanese assault sputtered a bit.

Oda finished second with 80.82 points, saving himself by tacking a triple toe loop onto the end of a triple Lutz. Significantly enough, Oda’s technical score of 43.61 Chan’s by .44 points. Chan creamed him on program components, by almost seven points.

Hanyu sits in third with 80.40 points, only a fraction behind Oda.

Former U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott redeemed himself by landing quad in the short program, although he doubled a triple Lutz that was too close to the boards and put a hand down on a triple Axel. He is in fourth place with his routine choreographed by his childhood idol Robin Cousins, the 1980 Olympic champion.

“That was such a big hurdle to overcome on my step back,” Abbott said. “This shows I can be a contender with every man in the world.”  He scored 74.58 points.

The men’s event also provided a battle within a battle: the one for the third Canadian Olympic men’s spot. This time, Elladj Baldé took a major shot by landing the first quad of his career in a competition. And not only that, he tacked a double toe loop on the end of it, after putting a hand down on the quad. He planned a triple, but the hand scuttled that idea.

Baldé is in sixth place ahead of Andrei Rogozine who earned the trip to the world championships last year over Baldé. Rogozine decided to play it safe yesterday to regain confidence and skated cleanly – without a quad. Rogozine is currently in ninth place of 10 men with 68.31 points. His combo was a triple flip – triple toe loop, the only man in the event who did not try a quad.

“It’s a big plus for me,” said Baldé, who said he’s been helped by hard work and training alongside his new best buddy, Chan. They seem inseparable.

As for Chan, he said he landed his quad-triple perfectly in the warm-up, when he had no pressure on him. Even so, during the competition, doubt entered the mind of the mind of the three-time world champion and he hesitated, skated slowly into that first comb.

After that, Chan pulled up his socks, told himself to snap out of it, and rediscovered his rhythm. That’s all it took.

Beverley Smith

Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford win bronze at Skate Canada International

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SAINT JOHN, N.B. – With their enchanting Alice in Wonderland routine, Meagan  Duhamel and Eric Radford peered through a looking glass and found themselves with a bronze medal, with scores they didn’t expect. Their tally? 190.62.

Duhamel and Radford feel their exquisite Alice in Wonderful routine is Olympic medal potential, but errors in Saint John left them with a much lower score than usual. “Despite the mistakes, we could feel the energy in the building,” Radford said.

One of the toughest things to take was an aborted lift in the second half of their program. They lost about eight points with that element alone. Radford revealed that Duhamel had suffered a shoulder injury three weeks ago and during rehab, they had to change the technique on the lift. Perhaps that had a bearing on it. But they lost plenty of points elsewhere too, on just about every element in fact except a lift near the very end of their program. They got a standing ovation.

And coming when the lift did, they were depending on muscle memory to carry them through and it didn’t work. “It’s hard to put a finger on it,” Radford said.

That left the improving Italians, Stefania Berton and Ondrej Hotarek, the winners of their first Grand Prix gold medal. They were third last year at Skate Canada, their previous highest finish. Canada has been good to them. Hey, they came armed with Dracula, their long program choreographed by noted Canadian designer David Wilson.

Berton and Hotarek finished with 193.92 points, but they didn’t actually win the long program. That honour fell to the pocket Chinese pair, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, who fired off a quadruple twist – the first one they’d done since they won junior world championship in 2012. Injured for much of last year, they came back with an exclamation point.

Berton and Hotarek actually finished second in both the short and the long program.

Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers finished fourth, despite injury, but it was a good step up from the short program, in which they finished sixth. They got their moxie back for the long, what Lawrence calls their “wild animal thing,” the urge to do battle. And they did land a throw triple Lutz near the end of the routine and they showed off a mighty never-ending lift.

A third Canadian team, Margaret Purdy and Michael Marinaro, finished eighth, accomplishing some elements that they missed last week at Skate America but finding new elements to make mistakes on. It’s been a learning experience for this team competing in their first senior Grand Prix. They’ll take the lessons they’ve learned to the Canadian championships in Ottawa in January.

Duhamel and Radford actually earned their second highest component marks ever (66.34), despite the mistakes. It was an odd position for them to be in, with their technical marks down low (54.71) and their program component marks high. The Chinese team that won drew technical marks of 65.76 and the Italians finished with 63.41, whose best finish at a world championship in the past was a 10th last year.

Beverley Smith

Osmond withdraws from Skate Canada International; Julia Lipnitskaia of Russia takes gold in Saint John

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SAINT JOHN, N.B. – Canadian champion Kaetlyn Osmond bore a quiet, somber mien Saturday afternoon, when she withdrew from the women’s event at the Skate Canada International, after having been fifth in the short program.

She had battled bravely back from a “stress reaction” injury to make miracles, just to be here, but a new problem surfaced on Saturday morning. She woke up feeling pain in her right upper leg. It was really sore, she said.

She hoped for the best, thinking perhaps it was only a cramp and that movement would straighten things out. She went to an early practice that began at 9:20 a.m., but spent only five minutes on the ice, when it became clear she could not put any weight on the leg, and she could not lift her leg very high.

Osmond called it a hamstring issue, and already the wheels are rolling to start her treatment on Monday in Edmonton where she trains.

“We just decided that it was better to take the rest of this competition off,” she said sadly. She said it’s an injury she’s had before, that has come and gone every few months. It would bother her maybe only for a couple of hours, but the pain is much worse, and truthfully, she doesn’t quite know what it’s all about this time.

“I’m obviously disappointed that I won’t be able to do my long program that I trained,” she said. While she suffered her stress reaction, she worked on choreography and trained it off the ice. “When I came back, I was really set on coming here,” she said. “My long program is my favourite.”

She hopes to be recovered enough to train for her next Grand Prix, which is Cup of Russia, the last of the six Grand Prix events. That gives her time. The Russian Grand Prix has typically never been the last event, so she’s lucky.

The women’s event at Skate Canada earlier suffered from the withdrawal of 2010 Olympic champion Kim Yu-Na of South Korea, out with metatarsal injuires. And it also lost former world silver medalist Alena Leonova of Russia.

Without them, the event was still strong, with impish and flexible 15-year-old Julia Lipnitskaia of Russia, winning with 198.23 points. Lipnitskaia barely put a foot wrong, dazzled the crowd with her high kick spins and earned a standing ovation.

She received level fours for all of her elements. There is no guarantee she’ll make it to the Olympics: the Russian federation will use its own national championships and the European championships to pick the athletes it will send to Sochi.

The 28-year-old veteran, Akiko Suzuki from Japan won her third silver medal at Skate Canada, moving up from third after the short program to finish with 193.75 points well ahead of short program leader Gracie Gold, who fell on a triple Lutz and staggered out of an underrorated triple Salchow.

Former Canadian champion Amelie Lacoste finished fifth with renewed enthusiasm for her sport and senior Grand Prix newbie, Veronik Mallet was eighth.

Beverley Smith

Duhamel and Radford take small lead after the pair short program at Skate Canada International

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SAINT JOHN, N.B. – It was just that kind of day. In the midst of a press conference for the pair short program, a water pipe above the dais spontaneously spewed forth some a goodly amount of H2O upon the winners, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford.

‘I’m having a bad day,” said Duhamel, after having stumbled out of a side-by-side triple Lutz and then pitching two hands down on the landing of a throw triple Lutz at Skate Canada, the second of six Grand Prix events. This is what you get for missing your triple Lutz,” she said.

Lutzes out of control or not, Duhamel and Radford are leading the chase, albeit by only .15 points over an Italian team compromised by missing skates during practice day yesterday and on Wednesday too. Only .55 points separate the top three. They are essentially tied going into the long program on Saturday.

Stefania Berton and Ondrej Hotarek of Italy are in second place with 69.38 points, their personal best mark, behind Duhamel and Radford with 69.57. In third place are Chinese skaters Sui Wenjing and Han Cong with 69.02. The Chinese had missed most of last season while Sui was suffering from epiphysitis, a growth plate injury. Sui is back, healed now and can do everything, says Han.

Eventually, all three teams had to move off the dais for the remainder of the conference, with Hotarek fielding the microphone to skaters and reporters in the room. “I feel like a stand-up comic,” he said. (Later, organizers moved the podium further forward so that the leaky water pipe was out of range.)

Duhamel and Radford acknowledged their mistakes philosophically and put things in perspective. “If we had skated clean, it would have spooked us,” Duhamel said. “We don’t start our season like that.”

On the bright side, Duhamel and Radford achieved a level three for their triple twist: a goal.

Last season, the Canadian champions had learned a formula for their progression: by nationals, things begin to really hum. So far, this season, they feel prepared, their mistakes this time were uncharacteristic, and they hadn’t anticipated them. “But I think the flow was better and our second mark (31.96) is right around where we finished last season,” Radford said.

Besides, last year at Skate Canada, with a clean program, they earned a score of 64. By season’s end, at the world championships, when they won the bronze medal, they pushed their short program score to 73. With a 69, they’re convinced their work over the summer is paying off, and they hope to climb into the high 70s by nationals.

They are accustomed to tight scores after the short: at the 2012 national championships in Moncton, N.B. there was essentially a three-way tie for first, too, they won the gold medal.

What is different, is that Duhamel and Radford were skating to Tribute, music that Radford had composed himself. He admits that it felt unusual to hear his own music. He felt a chill when he started the footwork section and the music rose to a crescendo and another at the beginning of the death spiral. Many felt a chill in the opening notes of the music Radford wrote in honour of the coach that taught him much about skating, Paul Wirtz, who died several years ago.

As for the likeable Italians, Hotarek said he felt tired at the beginning of the routine to The Mask. (That explains his neon yellow pants, hoofed up past his waist with suspenders.). “I was a little tired, but I just hold Steffi’s hand and she was so strong and she just said go and do it because we can.” He said. “I really must thank her today. It was a really good day.”

The pair had the crowd gasping with their reverse lasso lift, as Hotarek hoists his tiny partner above his head and then holds her with one hand as she sinks into a position in which her feet are higher than her head –a very high-risk manoeuver.

Hotarek said he would not have attempted such a move if he was unable to get his skates, lost in baggage while leaving Detroit for Canada. Hotarek ended up in Saint John and the mislabelled bag went to Chicago, a city where neither has been.

Hotarek skated the first of two practices on Thursday while wearing a spare pair of skates owned by men’s skater, Ross Minor, but Hotarek felt uneasy because the blade position was foreign to him. He was about to switch to a spare pair from Patrick Chan, but then, with the help of an ISU official who personally called and was able to trace the bags, when Hotarek got his skates back late Thursday, he was up for action.

The ISU allowed the Italians to have a special practice after the day of practices finished on Thursday. It was special indeed. The Italians skated as if on wings. They did their crazy lift twice.

Third place Sui and Han drew very high marks for their throw triple flip and had no minus marks at all. They had just left their long-time coach, Lo Buan for well-known pair coach Yao Bin, and his new coaching mate, Zhao Hongbo, who won the pairs gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics with Shen Xue. “We learn more and more how to skate” Han said. “It makes us grow up.”

Paige Lawrence of Kipling, Sask. And Rudi Swiegers of Virden, Man., finished sixth of eight teams after she touched hands down on an under-rotated triple toe loop and fell on a throw triple Lutz.

The pair has had to adjust their training schedule because of Lawrence’s injuries: she suffered a strained Achilles tendon during the summer on her left landing foot. That improved, but she compensated for the injury and strained her groin/hamstring muscles. She wore a heavily taped left thigh last night. They’ve spent a few months focusing on choreography and performance, because they had to make the best of it.

Margaret Purdy of Strathroy, Ont., and Michael Marinaro of Sarnia, Ont., the world junior silver medalists skating in only their second senior international event, had a rough day, when she landed a triple toe loop on two feet, and they aborted a lift. They too, have suffered injuries. Purdy injured a shoulder during the summer and had only two weeks training time before they competed at Skate America last week.

 

Beverley Smith

Skate Canada’s Barb MacDonald receives IABC Canada’s Master Communicator Award

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OTTAWA, ONT:  The International Association of Business Communicators Canada (IABC Canada) has honoured Barb MacDonald with the Master Communicator Award. This award—the organization’s highest honour—recognizes MacDonald for her dedication and success in the field of communications. The award was presented this past weekend at the IABC Canada conference in Victoria, BC.

The IABC Canada Master Communicator Award is a lifetime achievement award and is the highest honour IABC Canada can bestow on an individual member. The award recognizes outstanding Canadian communicators whose work has brought credit to IABC, the profession, their organization or clients, and whose contributions have raised the standards of organizational communication in Canada. IABC Canada has recognized only 46 Master Communicators since the designation was established in 1980.

For nearly 30 years, Barb MacDonald has worked predominantly in a communications capacity, which began with a role at the Carleton Board of Education. She eventually pursued an Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) designation with IABC, which lead her to become a consultant, providing strategic communications advice for many diverse clients and organizations. Since 2010, MacDonald has been Director of Corporate Communications for Skate Canada.

MacDonald’s international experience includes overseeing media operations for various sporting events around the world—particularly the Olympic Games. Her involvement with the Games has taken her to the United States, Italy, China and Great Britain. In 2006, she traveled to Doha, Qatar for the Asian Games, and Jamaica and Antigua for the Cricket World Cup in 2007. She is also the recipient of four IABC Gold Quill Awards, for communications excellence.

A consummate communications professional, MacDonald’s nomination noted that she is always eager to share her expert knowledge and advice with fellow communicators. She has given various professional development and case study presentations for IABC and other organizations, and has worked with IABC members to help them earn their accreditation.

“Barb is a valuable member of the IABC Ottawa community,” says Kelly Rusk, past president of IABC Ottawa who prepared the nomination. “She demonstrates excellence in communications in many tangible ways, and is always willing to lend her expertise to our chapter and its members or help out in a volunteer capacity.”

MacDonald is the first member of IABC Ottawa to receive the award since 2000.

About IABC Ottawa
Founded in 1970, the International Association of Business Communicators, (IABC) provides a professional network of over 15,500 business communications and marketing professionals in over 80 countries. Established in 1976, the Ottawa chapter of IABC allows members to tap into a wealth of resources and opportunities that will help increase value as a communicator. IABC Ottawa strives to provide professional development and networking opportunities for marketing, communications and creative professionals while promoting excellence in the industry. IABC Ottawa brings communications, marketing and creative professionals together to grow in their career and succeed in their jobs.

 

Canadian Team Converging in East for 2013 Skate Canada International

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OTTAWA, ON: Eighteen of Canada’s elite figure skaters will be heading to Saint John, New Brunswick to compete against many of the world’s best figure skaters at the 2013 Skate Canada International. The event takes place October 25-27, 2013, at the Harbour Station.

Skate Canada International is the second of six competitions on the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix of Figure Skating circuit, which qualifies skaters for the ISU Grand Prix Final, taking place December 5-8 in Fukuoka, Japan. This year’s edition of Skate Canada International features many skaters hoping to compete at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Three-time and reigning World Champion Patrick Chan, 22, Toronto, Ont., is the first of three Canadian entries in men’s. Chan, who represents the Granite Club, has won this event three times previously. Last season, he won silver at Skate Canada International, gold at Rostelecom Cup, and bronze at the ISU Grand Prix Final. He is coached by Kathy Johnson and trains at the Detroit Skating Club.

Canadian bronze medallist Andrei Rogozine, 20, Richmond Hill, Ont., will also represent Canada in men’s. Rogozine previously competed at this event in 2011, placing seventh. The 2011 World Junior Champion placed 10th at the 2013 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and 13th at the 2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championships last season. He is coached by Inga Zusev and Andrei Berezintsev and trains at the Richmond Hill Figure Skating Club.

Representing Club de Patinage des Deux-Rives and competing in the men’s division is Elladj Baldé, 22, Pierrefonds, Que. He finished 10th at this event in 2011, and seventh in 2012. Last season, Baldé placed fourth at the 2013 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships, and 18th at the 2013 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. He trains out of the Detroit Skating Club with coaches Yuka Sato and Jason Dungjen.

Canadian champion Kaetlyn Osmond, 17, Marystown, Nfld. & Sherwood Park, Alta., will be returning to defend her title at Skate Canada International. Last season, she won gold at Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany, placed seventh at the 2013 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, and placed eighth the 2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championships. Osmond is coached by Ravi Walia and represents the Ice Palace Figure Skating Club.

Amélie Lacoste, 24, Delson, Que., will also represent Canada in the ladies category. Lacoste has competed at this event four times, winning bronze in 2010. Representing CPA du Roussillon, she is the 2012 Canadian Champion. Last season, she placed eighth at Skate Canada International, sixth at the Cup of China, and ninth at the 2013 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. Lacoste is coached by Christy Krall in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Veronik Mallet, 19, Sept-Îles, Que., is the third Canadian entry in ladies. Earlier this season, she placed fourth at Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany. Last season, the representative of CPA Sept-Îles placed fifth at the 2013 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. Mallet is coached by Annie Barabé and Sophie Richard at CTC Contrecoeur.

World bronze medalists and two-time defending Canadian champions Meagan Duhamel, 27, Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford, 28, Balmertown, Ont., are one of three Canadian entries in pair. This will be their fourth time competing at this event, having won bronze in 2011 and silver in 2012. Representing Walden FSC and CPA St. Léonard, Duhamel and Radford won gold at the 2013 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. They are coached by Richard Gauthier and Bruno Marcotte at CPA Saint-Léonard.

Paige Lawrence, 23, Kennedy, Sask., and Rudi Swiegers, 26, Kipling, Sask., are the second entry in pair for Canada. Lawrence and Swiegers have competed at this event three times previously, winning bronze in 2010. The 2013 Canadian bronze medalists both represent Wawota FSC. Last season, they placed fourth at Skate Canada International and the Cup of Russia, as well as sixth at the 2013 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. Lawrence and Swiegers train in Melville, Sask., and Virden, Man., and are coached by Patricia Hole and Lyndon Johnston.

Margaret Purdy, 18, Strathroy, Ont., and Michael Marinaro, 21, Sarnia, Ont., will round out the Canadian pair entries. Representing Watford FSC and Point Edward SC, the pair placed eighth last week at the 2013 Skate America. Last season, Purdy and Marinaro won silver at the 2013 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships, and placed fifth at the 2013 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. They are coached by Scott Rachuk and Alison Purkiss at the Competitive Skating Centre of Strathroy.

Ice dancers Tessa Virtue, 24, London, Ont., and Scott Moir, 26, Ilderton, Ont., are four-time Skate Canada International Champions, winning the title most recently in 2012. The 2010 Olympic Champions won silver last season at the 2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, 2013 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, and 2012 Grand Prix Final. Representing Ilderton SC, Virtue and Moir are five-time Canadian Champions. They are coached by Marina Zoueva, Johnny Johns, and Oleg Epstein at Artic Edge Ice Arena in Canton, Michigan.

Kaitlyn Weaver, 24, Waterloo, Ont., and Andrew Poje, 26, Waterloo, Ont., will also represent Canada in ice dance. Last season, Weaver and Poje placed fifth at the 2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championships. They also won bronze at both of their assignments on the ISU Grand Prix circuit, Cup of China and Skate America. The duo representing Sault FSC and Kitchener-Waterloo SC won silver at their first event this season, the 2013 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic. They are coached by Pasquale Camerlengo and Angelika Krylova in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Alexandra Paul, 22, Barrie, Ont., and Mitchell Islam, 23, Barrie, Ont., are the third Canadian entry in the ice dance category. The representatives of Barrie SC previously competed at this event in 2010, placing fourth. Last season, Paul and Islam placed fourth at the 2013 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. They began this season with a bronze medal at the Nebelhorn trophy in Germany. Paul and Islam train at the Detroit Skating Club under coaches Pasquale Camerlengo, Angelika Krylova, and Massimo Scali.

The team leaders for this event are Petra Burka of Toronto, Ont., and Carolyn Allwright of Kitchener, Ont. Dr. Marni Wesner of Edmonton, Alta., and physiotherapist Cathy Striowski of Toronto, Ont., will be the Canadian medical staff. Canadian officials at the event are Karen Butcher of Greely, Ont., Beth Crane of Burnaby, B.C., and Benoît Lavoie of Baie St-Paul, Que.

Tickets are still available for the event and can be purchased online at http://www.harbourstation.ca/, by phone at 1.800.267.2800, or in person at the Harbour Station Box Office.

Moore-Towers and Moscovitch win silver at Skate America

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DETROIT – Canada’s Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch set a personal best score en route to the silver medal in pairs on Sunday at Skate America, the first stop on the ISU Grand Prix figure skating circuit.

World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the gold medal with 237.71 points, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch followed at 208.45 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third at 187.35.  It was the same top-three order after Saturday’s short program.

“This is the kind of start we definitely wanted in an Olympic year,” said Moscovitch, from Toronto.  “It’s a confirmation that we are doing the right thing with our programs.  And we know there is still a lot of room for improvement.”

Moore-Towers and Moscovitch’s previous best overall score was 199.50 set in a fourth place finish at the world championships last season.

“It’s really been a combination of factors that’s helped us achieve these scores this early in the season,” said Moore-Towers from St. Catharines, Ont.  “Our programs are a lot more consistent and we are a lot better at telling a story when we perform.”

Margaret Purdy of Strathroy, Ont., and Michael Marinaro of Sarnia, Ont.,  were eighth.

The next stop on the circuit is Skate Canada International October 25-27 in St. John, N.B.

Louis Daignault

Legendary Burka family finds strength in skating

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A decision made on the spur of the moment, under pain of disaster and tragedy, made all the difference for Ellen Burka.

Dutch-born and very, very quietly Jewish, she had been herded into a concentration camp and asked to record her occupation. She could have written “school girl,” but she scribbled: “figure skating champion of The Netherlands.”

Those words saved her life.

The German commander of the camp was “a figure skating groupie,” Burka said on Tuesday in Toronto, where she was being feted as an inductee into the Jewish International Sports Hall of Fame, along with her world figure skating champion daughter Petra Burka. “He loved figure skating,” she said.

Because of it, Burka enjoyed privileges that others didn’t. She was allowed to work on a farm and was allowed to do some housekeeping. One day, all of the women at her camp were sent to the Auschwitz death camp. Except for Burka.

Burka survived two concentration camps. Now 92, still a spark plug and too tiny to be seen behind a podium, Burka clambered aboard a fitness step to face a crowd of figure skating who’s who and enthused, as if she was directing her Theatre on Ice: “This is absolutely overwhelming for me. I never expected it. I didn’t even know about this until six weeks ago.”

Ellen was actually inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2010, but, being that it was in Israel, and too far away, she did not attend. Petra, the 1965 world champion and the first woman to land a triple jump, was inducted in 2012.

“I had no idea how I got into that,” Ellen said. “I completely forgot about it.” That is, until she got an email six weeks ago and there it was, notice of a special induction ceremony at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club where Burka had worked for so long. Behind the scenes was Toronto entrepreneur and philanthropist Sidney Greenberg, a former basketball player who was inducted himself into the hall years ago for making “a significant contribution to society through sport.” Greenberg is instrumental in programs offered at Canada House, a Canadian-founded arena in the poor border town of Metulla, Israel that brings Arabs and Jewish children together through play, specifically through hockey.

The Burkas might have been inducted sooner, but nobody seemed to know about their heritage. Ellen had kept her Jewishness quiet for many years, not even telling Petra and sister Astra until they were 16 and 18. As a single mother in Toronto, she feared she wouldn’t get work as a skating coach if people knew. When she was a youngster in The Netherlands and passionately learning how to skate, Ellen was turned back from a rink one day when she encountered a sign that said Jews weren’t allowed. She was puzzled. Her life became difficult after that.

Her story was compelling, Greenberg said. Ellen reluctantly allowed daughter Astra to make Skate to Survive, a documentary about the first 44 years of her life back in 2008, but as time has passed, she speaks more and more about her experiences.

Ellen and Petra are only the sixth and seventh Canadians to be inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall, following Cecil Hart (hockey), Lew Hayman (football), Fred Oberlander (wrestling), Fanny Rosenfeld (track and field) and Louis Rubenstein, considered the founder of the sort of modern figure skating – the artistic kind – that made Burka’s heart pump.

There are lots of figure skaters in this hall, too, aside from the Burkas and Rubenstein: Alain Calmat (France), Sarah Hughes (United States), Lili Kronberger (Hungary), Emilia Rotter (Hungary), Laszlo Szollas (Hungary) and Irina Slutskaia (Russia).

Burka lived and became an innovative force, just enough that the sport changed forever. She was ahead of her time, making it commonplace to train artistic movement every week – Theatre on Ice – that attracted skaters such as Toller Cranston, John Curry, and Dorothy Hamill to Toronto to work. And her daughter, Petra, changed the sport, too, as the first woman to land a triple jump. Without initially knowing anything about her mother’s struggle or the fate of her grandparents (who died in a concentration camp), Petra seemed to inherit the will to fight for survival, too.

“This is really quite special,” Petra said of the ceremony. “I didn’t expect this kind of reception. I really expected the medal to arrive in the mail.”

Not so. The literati of the sport poured into the reception area: Donald Jackson, Debi Wilkes, Sandra Bezic, Josee Chouinard, Brian Orser, Maria Jelinek, Frances Dafoe, Tracey Wainman, Tracy Wilson. The Consul General of Israel, D.J. Schneeweissm, had wise words from a sage: “We should never forget the past, but we should never allow it to limit us.”

“She was more than a skating coach,” said Bezic, who first met Ellen, a proud and confident woman, 50 years ago. “Training with Mrs. Burka was not for the faint of heart,” Bezic said. “She was tough and she expected her students to be tough. Now I fully understand and appreciate why.

“As a coach, she was a contradiction in terms,” Bezic said. “She was a strict disciplinarian, but she also valued free spirit.” Ellen educated Bezic about music, the inspiration behind it, and the nuances of it, enough that Bezic became one of the great choreographers of the sport.

Wainman finds it poignant that her career has come full circle with Ellen, who coached her to become a Canadian senior bronze medalist when she was only 12. Now Wainman is a coach. “Mrs. Burka and I always had a great relationship,” Wainman said. “She was somebody that really understood what I was going through at all times and could relate to it. And she always really brought the best out in me.”

Still, today, if Wainman has a coaching question, she consults Ellen. In the spring, the Hall of Famer (Skate Canada Hall of Fame, Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, Order of Canada) came to the York Region Skating Academy to look at some of Wainman’s students. “It was really special for me,” Wainman said.

And Wainman passes along what she learned from Ellen. “She was a very hard trainer and I consider myself a hard trainer,” Wainman said. She was only 10 when she participated in Ellen’s Theatre on Ice, something many clubs have now adopted. The intent: choreography isn’t just about steps. It’s about expressing what is inside of you. That’s the world according to Burka, saved by her declaration to still guide the hand of skaters.

Beverley Smith

Canadian Figure Skaters Travel to France for Cup of Nice

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OTTAWA, ON: Canada will send four entries to the 18th Cup of Nice, a senior international competition which runs from October 23-27, 2013, in Nice, France. The event will feature all four disciplines, and Canada will have entries in men’s, ladies, and ice dance.

Kharis Ralph, 21, Toronto, Ont., and Asher Hill, 22, Pickering, Ont., will lead the way for Canada in the ice dance category. This will be their first event of the year. Last season, Ralph and Hill placed seventh at Nebelhorn Trophy and eighth at Skate Canada International. They also placed fifth at the 2013 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. Ralph and Hill train out of Scarboro FSC and are coached by Carol Lane and Juris Razgulajevs.

Élisabeth Paradis, 21, Loretteville, Que., and François-Xavier Ouellette, 21, Laval, Que., will also represent Canada in ice dance. This will be their first international assignment. Last season, they placed seventh at the 2013 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. They are coached by Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon in Montreal, Que.

Liam Firus, 21, North Vancouver, B.C., will represent Canada in men’s. Last season, Firus placed eighth at the 2012 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic, and 10th at Skate Canada International. He also finished fifth at the 2013 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. Firus is coached by Lorna Bauer and Christy Krall, and trains at the Vancouver Skating Club.

Alexandra Najarro, 18, Richmond Hill, Ont., will be the Canadian entry in ladies. Najarro missed the 2012-2013 season due to injury. Previously, she placed 13th at the 2012 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, and fourth at the 2012 Canadian Figure Skating Championships. She trains with Tracey Wainman at the York Region Skating Academy WC in Toronto, Ont.

Cynthia Ullmark of Canmore, Alta., will be travelling with the team as team leader.

Top Canadian Skating Officials selected for 2014 Olympic Winter Games

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OTTAWA, ONT:  Canada will have three judges at the upcoming 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia:  Jodi Abbott, Edmonton, Alta.; Karen Butcher, Ottawa, Ont.; and Karen Howard, Regina, Sask.

All judges, whether officiating at a local club competition, or qualified to judge at the Olympic level, are volunteers who devote countless hours to the sport.  They must progress through several levels of training, examination and monitoring to become qualified by the International Skating Union (ISU) to judge at the world and Olympic level.

Countries are eligible to have judges at the Olympic Games based on the qualification of their skaters for the ladies, pairs, men’s and ice dance disciplines, as long as the country  has an eligible international judge. The country names were placed into a random draw that took place in Oberstdorf, Germany in late September.  Thirteen countries are eligible to have a judge for each discipline, and Canada was selected to name a judge in three: ladies; pairs; and ice dance.

Leanna Caron, President, Skate Canada, who is also a qualified ISU and Olympic/world-level official, knows that Canada will be well represented by the individuals selected. “Together these three people bring over 40 years of international judging experience to their roles at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. They have all passed the rigorous Skate Canada and International Skating Union standards to qualify in their disciplines. Not only will we have our best skaters going to the Games to represent Canada, we also have three of our top officials as well.”

An international ice dance judge since 1999, Jodi Abbott gained her ISU credentials for ice dance in 2006, and judged that event at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.  She will again be assigned to judge ice dance at the upcoming Olympic Winter Games.

Karen Butcher received her certification in 1998 as an international judge for singles and pairs and earned her ISU credentials for both in 2004. She will be judging the pair event at these Games.  She most recently judged the pair event at the 2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championships

With the addition of a team event for figure skating, Butcher will do double duty at the Games.  She will also judge the men’s and pair segments of the team event, which takes place over the first few days of the Games.

In 2002, Karen Howard became a certified international singles and pairs judge, receiving her ISU qualifications in 2009. Also a qualified referee for singles and pairs, she has twice judged at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. She will judge the ladies event at the Sochi Games.

Canadians Begin ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating in U.S.A.

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OTTAWA, ON: The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating begins this weekend with Skate America, taking place at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. Canada will be sending two pair teams to the event, which will run from October 18-20, 2013. Skate America is the first of six ISU Senior Grand Prix stops.

Kirsten Moore-Towers, 21, St. Catharines, Ont., and Dylan Moscovitch, 29, Toronto, Ont., are the first of two Canadian pair entries. Moore-Towers and Moscovitch have competed at this event twice previously, winning silver in 2010 and bronze in 2011. They also started this season in the United States, defending their title at the 2013 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic. Last season, they placed fourth at the 2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championships. Moore-Towers and Moscovitch train with Kris Wirtz and Kristy Wirtz at the Kitchener-Waterloo Skating Club.

Margaret Purdy, 18, Strathroy, Ont., and Michael Marinaro, 21, Sarnia, Ont., will be the second entry for Canada in pair. This will be their first senior international event. Last season, Purdy and Marinaro won silver at the 2013 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships, and placed fifth at the 2013 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in the senior category. They are coached by Scott Rachuk and Alison Purkiss at the Competitive Skating Centre of Strathroy.

Skate Canada Director High Performance, Mike Slipchuk, will be the Canadian team leader at the event. Shirley Kushner of Westmount, Que., will be the Canadian team physiotherapist and Karen Howard of Regina, Sask., will be the Canadian official at the event.