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Canadian team en route to 2016 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Chinese Taipei

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OTTAWA, ON: Canada will send 12 entries, for a total of 18 skaters, to the 2016 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei. The event takes place from February 16-21, 2016, at the Taipei Arena. The Canadian team will have three entries per category in men’s, ladies, pair and ice dance.

Three-time World Champion and double Olympic silver medallist (men’s and team) Patrick Chan, 25, Toronto, Ont., is the first of three Canadian entries in men’s. This season, Chan won gold at Skate Canada International and placed fifth in the short program at Trophée Éric Bompard to earn a berth at the ISU Grand Prix Final, where he placed fourth. The representative of the Granite Club has previously competed at this event twice, winning it on both occasions (2009 and 2012). He is coached by Kathy Johnson and trains at the Detroit Skating Club.

Canadian silver medallist Liam Firus, 23, North Vancouver, B.C., is the second Canadian entry in men’s. Last year, he placed 15th at this event. This season, the representative of Vancouver SC placed seventh at the Finlandia Trophy and eighth at the Golden Spin of Zagreb. Firus is coached by Christy Krall and Damon Allen in Colorado Springs, CO, USA.

Olympic silver medallist (team) Kevin Reynolds, 25, Coquitlam, B.C., is the final Canadian entry in the men’s discipline. Also representing Vancouver SC, Reynolds has previously competed at this event four times, winning bronze in 2010 and gold in 2013. This season, Reynolds returned to competition after a year off to win the bronze medal at the 2016 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. He is coached by Joanne McLeod at the Champs International Skating Centre in Burnaby, B.C.

Newly-crowned Canadian champion Alaine Chartrand, 19, Prescott, Ont., is one of three Canadian entries in the ladies category. She placed 10th at this event last year and seventh in 2014. This season, she placed fourth at the Nebelhorn Trophy and 12th at Skate America, and sixth at the Rostelecom Cup. The representative of the Nepean Skating Club is coached by Michelle Leigh and Brian Orser.

The second Canadian entry in ladies is two-time Canadian champion and Olympic silver medallist (team) Kaetlyn Osmond, 20, Marystown, Nfld./Edmonton, Alta. She previously competed at this event in 2013, placing seventh. This season, she won gold at the Nebelhorn Trophy, placed 11th at Skate Canada International and placed sixth at the NHK Trophy. She is coached by Ravi Walia and represents the Ice Palace Figure Skating Club.

Véronik Mallet, 21, Sept-Îles, Que., is the final Canadian entry in the ladies division. This will be her third time competing at this event, having placed 13th in 2014 and 14th in 2015. Earlier this season, the representative of CPA Sept-Îles placed ninth at the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic, 10th at Skate Canada International and fourth at the 2016 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. Mallet is coached by Annie Barabé at CTC Varennes.

In pair, world champions and Olympic silver medallists (team) Meagan Duhamel, 30, Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford, 31, Balmertown, Ont., lead off the Canadian entries. The representatives of CPA Saint-Léonard have previously competed at this event four times winning gold last year and in 2013. This season, they won gold at Skate Canada International and at the NHK Trophy, and won silver at the ISU Grand Prix Final, as well as their fifth consecutive Canadian title. Duhamel and Radford are coached by Richard Gauthier, Bruno Marcotte, and Sylvie Fullum.

Lubov Ilyushechkina, 24, Moscow, Russia, and Dylan Moscovitch, 31, Toronto, Ont., are the second Canadian pair entry at the competition. Last year, they placed sixth at this event. Earlier this season, the representatives of the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club placed fourth at the Ondrej Nepela Trophy, seventh at the Cup of China and fifth at the NHK Trophy. The two time Canadian medallists are coached by Lee Barkell, Bryce Davison and Tracy Wilson.

Vanessa Grenier, 23, Johnville, Que., and Maxime Deschamps, 24, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., will also represent Canada in pair. Grenier and Deschamps will be competing at this event for the first time. This season, the representatives of CPA Sherbrooke and CPAR Vaudreuil placed fourth at the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic, seventh at Skate Canada International and eighth at the Cup of China. Most recently, they placed fifth at the 2016 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. They are coached by Richard Gauthier and Bruno Marcotte at CPA Saint-Léonard.

Two time world medallists Kaitlyn Weaver, 26, Toronto, Ont., and Andrew Poje, 28, Waterloo, Ont., are the first of three Canadian entries in ice dance. They are the 2015 and 2010 champions of this competition and will be competing at this event for the seventh time. This season, the representatives of Sault FSC and Kitchener-Waterloo SC have won gold at all of their events: Finlandia Trophy, Skate Canada International, Rostelecom Cup and the ISU Grand Prix Final. Most recently, they won their second consecutive Canadian championship. Weaver and Poje are coached by Angelika Krylova, Pasquale Camerlengo and Shae-Lynn Bourne in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Canadian silver medallists Piper Gilles, 24, Toronto, Ont., and Paul Poirier, 24, Unionville, Ont., will be the second Canadian entry in ice dance. This will be their fourth time competing at this event, at which they won the silver medal in 2014. This season, they have medalled at all of their competitions: gold at the Ondrej Nepela Trophy, bronze at Skate America and silver in the short program at Trophée Éric Bompard. The representatives of Scarboro FSC also won their second consecutive Canadian silver medal. Gilles and Poirier are coached by Carol Lane and Juris Razgulajevs at Ice Dance Elite in Scarborough, Ont.

Canadian bronze medallists Élisabeth Paradis, 23, Loretteville, Que., and François-Xavier Ouellette, 23, Laval, Que., are the third Canadian ice dance entry. This will be their first time competing at this event. Earlier this season, they won bronze at the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic and placed eighth at Skate Canada International. The representatives of CPA Loretteville and CPA Les Lames D’Argent De Laval Inc., are coached by Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and Romain Haguenauer.

Skate Canada High Performance Director Mike Slipchuk will be onsite with the Canadian team. Carolyn Allwright of Kitchener, Ont., and Bev Viger of Abbotsford, B.C., will be the Canadian team leaders at this event. Dr. Lee Schofield of Toronto, Ont., will be the Canadian team doctor and Josiane Roberge of Sillery Que., will be the team physiotherapist.

Canadian officials at the event are Sally Rehorick of Vancouver, B.C., Nicole Leblanc-Richard of Dieppe, N.B., Cynthia Benson of Quispamsis, N.B., and Leslie Keen of Vancouver, B.C.

For results and full entries please visit www.isu.org.

CANADIAN ENTRIES AT 2016 ISU FOUR CONTINENTS FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Discipline Name Age Hometown Club Coach
Mens Patrick Chan 25 Toronto, Ont. Granite Club Kathy Johnson
Mens Liam Firus 23 North Vancouver, B.C. Vancouver SC Christy Krall / Damon Allen
Mens Kevin Reynolds 25 Coquitlam, B.C. Vancouver SC Joanne McLeod
Ladies Alaine Chartrand 19 Prescott, Ont. Nepean Skating Club Michelle Leigh / Brian Orser
Ladies Kaetlyn Osmond 20 Marystown, Nfld. & Edmonton, Alta. Ice Palace FSC Ravi Walia
Ladies Véronik Mallet 21 Sept- Îles, Que. CPA Sept-Îles Annie Barabé / Maximin Coïa
Pair Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford 30/31 Lively, Ont. / Balmertown, Ont. CPA Saint-Léonard / CPA Saint-Léonard Richard Gauthier / Bruno Marcotte / Sylvie Fullum
Pair Lubov Ilyushechkina / Dylan Moscovitch 24/31 Moscow, Russia / Toronto, Ont. Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club / Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club Lee Barkell / Bryce Davison / Tracy Wilson
Pair Vanessa Grenier / Maxime Deschamps 23/24 Johnville, Que. / Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que. CPA Sherbrooke / CPAR Vaudreuil Richard Gauthier / Bruno Marcotte
Ice Dance Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje 26/28 Toronto, Ont. / Waterloo, Ont. Sault FSC / Kitchener-Waterloo SC Angelika Krylova / Pasquale Camerlengo / Shae-Lynn Bourne
Ice Dance Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier 24/24 Toronto, Ont. / Unionville, Ont. Scarboro FSC / Scarboro FSC Carol Lane / Juris Razgulajevs
Ice Dance Élisabeth Paradis / François-Xavier Ouellette 23/23 Loretteville, Que. / Laval, Que. CPA Loretteville / CPA Les Lames d’Argent de Laval Inc. Marie-France Dubreuil / Patrice Lauzon / Romain Haguenauer

Meet the Senior Women

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GABRIELLE DALEMAN

At just 16 years of age, Gabrielle was the youngest member of the entire Canadian Olympic Team at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. A former gymnast, “Gabby”, the defending Canadian women’s champion, uses her lightning speed as the springboard for her powerful jumps. Her favourite motto? “Play like you’re in first, but train like you’re in second.”

FUN FACT: Gabby always has to have her special travel companion with her when she is on the road: her purple blanket.

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KAETLYN OSMOND

Just weeks after winning Skate Canada Challenge to qualify for the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in 2012, Kaetlyn turned a lot of hands with a bronze medal performance at nationals. Later that year, she added titles at Nebelhorn Trophy and Skate Canada International before winning Canadian championships in 2013 and 2014. The affable Osmond, who always seems to have a smile on her face, missed last season following surgery for a broken leg.

FUN FACT: Kaetlyn has to tie her skates twice – and drink orange juice – before she competes.

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ALAINE CHARTRAND

A bronze medal finish at the Rostelecom Cup in 2014 set the table for Alaine at the 2015 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships, where she finished second, less than two points behind champion Gabrielle Daleman. Although she says she was too young to remember, Alaine has been told she landed her first axel when she was just six years old.

FUN FACT: On long skating trips, Alaine often rides in the family RV, a step up from her previous mode of transportation: her father racked up more than 500,000 km on his six-seat pickup truck in Alaine’s younger years.

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VÉRONIK MALLET

When she isn’t finishing on the podium at the national championships, Véronik, the reigning Canadian bronze medallist, is setting up for her future. The native of Sept-Îles, Quebec would love to remain in skating as a coach, but she is currently studying Human Science at CEGEP in Sorel-Tracy, Que. in the hopes of one day becoming a primary school professor.

FUN FACT: In addition to skating and school, Veronik finds time to juggle in her spare time.

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ROXANNE RHEAULT

A rookie on the national team, Roxanne has dealt with injury issues over the past few seasons. She made her mark on the national scene in 2011, winning the Canadian junior women’s title. In 2007, Roxanne also won the national juvenile title – the same year a young Nam Nguyen won the juvenile men’s crown.

FUN FACT: An avid dancer, Roxanne has also studied ballet to help improve her artistry and presentation on the ice.

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KIM DEGUISE LÉVEILLÉE

Thanks to a fifth-place showing at the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships last year, Kim, the 2014 junior champion, punched her ticket on to the national team for first time. The young skater, who enjoyed a pair of top-ten finishes on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit in 2014, has worked hard with coaches Josée Picard and Marc-André Craig to boost her confidence as she makes the transition to the senior level.

FUN FACT: Kim ties her skates standing up, not sitting down.

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Canada’s Top Figure Skaters Descend on Halifax for the 2016 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships

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HALIFAX, NS – From January 18 to 24, the 2016 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships will bring together Canada’s top 250 figure skaters for a week of on-ice competition in Halifax. The all-Canadian championships take place at the Scotiabank Centre and will feature competition in the men’s, women’s, pair and ice dance disciplines at the senior, junior and novice levels.

“From our reigning champions to the novice skaters attending the event for the first time, the Canadian Tire National Skating Championship is the pinnacle of Canadian skating season,” explains Dan Thompson, Skate Canada CEO. “Skate Canada, together with our title partner, Canadian Tire are thrilled to be in Halifax to celebrate the 102nd instalment of this historic event.”

“At Canadian Tire, we believe in the power of sport to change lives, bring communities together and inspire greatness,” says Allan MacDonald, Chief Operating Officer, Canadian Tire. “Nova Scotia is my home province and I’m so proud to welcome and cheer on Canada’s top skaters, as well as their coaches, families and friends as they advance the sport of figure skating in Canada.”

The week long competition will begin with the novice ice dance on Monday, January 18 and the senior events will begin on Friday, January 22. Athletes will vie for spots on the Skate Canada National Team and the Canadian teams that will compete at the 2016 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, 2016 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, and 2016 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

Leading the senior events are 2015 World Pair Champions Meagan Duhamel, 30, from Lively, ON, and Eric Radford, 30, from Balmertown, ON. The four-time Canadian champions will look to win their fifth consecutive title, taking on Canada’s best.

In ice dance, two-time world medallists Kaitlyn Weaver, 26, from Waterloo, ON, and Andrew Poje, 28, from Waterloo, ON, plan to capture their second Canadian title. They will be challenged by a rising field of ice dance talent.

Current Canadian champion Nam Nguyen, 17, from Toronto, ON, will go head-to-head with three-time world champion Patrick Chan, 25, from Toronto, ON, as he returns to the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships after a year off.

In women’s Gabrielle Daleman, 17, from Newmarket, ON, will defend her 2015 Canadian title against two-time Canadian champion Kaetlyn Osmond, 20, from Marystown, NL, and Sherwood Park, AB, who will return to competition after missing last season due to injury.

For full entries and the event start orders please click here.

Skate Canada is adding some extra sheen to the event with the addition of three-time World Champion, Elvis Stojko. He will be returning to the competitive sphere, but this time as the 2016 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships Athlete Ambassador. Representing his fellow athletes, Stojko will lend his engaging personality and time to public appearances, media interviews and in-venue fan activities.

Kids will add to the glow of the week through the Skate Canada School Program. As part of Skate Canada’s vision to help youth develop a love for skating, over 1,000 kids from grades three to five will have the opportunity to participate in a free session to watch and learn about the sport during the senior practices on Thursday, January 21.

The spotlight will also shine on 2008 world champion Jeffrey Buttle who will be officially inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame on Sunday, January 24. There will be a special ceremony to honour his tremendous career in skating during the Gala. In addition, Buttle will skate a solo in the Gala and choreograph the closing group number.

TICKETS

Tickets can be purchased online at www.ticketatlantic.com, by phone at 902-451-1221 or toll free 1-877-451-1221 or in person at the Ticket Atlantic box office located on the Scotiabank Centre Promenade.

Senior competition prices range from $30-$55 per session, plus surcharges. Promotional four-packs are available for $100-$175, for senior events only.

Tickets for the junior and novice competition are $15-$20 per day. Seating for the junior and novice competition days is general admission. Children 12 and under are free for the junior and novice events only.

In addition, all-event ticket packages are still available for purchase. All-event ticket packages range from $125-$175, plus applicable surcharges.

ABOUT SKATE CANADA

Skate Canada is the nation’s governing body for skating and dedicated to creating a nation of skaters both recreationally and competitively. At over 125 years old, it is the world’s oldest skating organization and Canada’s preeminent leader in skate training and education, providing high performance coaching and skating development education. Over 130,000 Canadians participate in Skate Canada educational programs each year.

Canada’s most successful governing sport body, Skate Canada athletes have won 25 Olympic medals and 32 world championships. Today’s Canadian world and Olympic medalists all began at one of our 1,200 local Skate Canada clubs or skating schools. Through our programs, more than 5,200 certified professional coaches encourage Canadians of all ages to skate together as a family, pursue competitive ice sports and enjoy an active lifestyle.

Skate Canada has a National Service Centre in Ottawa, marketing headquarters in Toronto and High Performance facilities in Toronto and Calgary.

ABOUT CANADIAN TIRE CORPORATION

Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited, (TSX:CTC.A) (TSX:CTC) or “CTC,” is a family of businesses that includes a retail segment, a financial services division and CT REIT. Our retail business is led by Canadian Tire, which was founded in 1922 and provides Canadians with products for life in Canada across its Living, Playing, Fixing, Automotive and Seasonal categories. PartSource and Gas+ are key parts of the Canadian Tire network. The retail segment also includes Mark’s, a leading source for casual and industrial wear, and FGL Sports (Sport Chek, Hockey Experts, Sports Experts, National Sports, Intersport, Pro Hockey Life and Atmosphere), which offers the best active wear brands. The nearly 1,700 retail and gasoline outlets are supported and strengthened by our Financial Services division and the tens of thousands of people employed across the Company. For more information, visit Corp.CanadianTire.ca.

Golden comeback for Kaetlyn Osmond – Canadian ice dancers Paul and Islam add silver

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OBERTSDORF – Canadian Olympian Kaetlyn Osmond, who missed all of last season due to injury, won the gold medal with a personal best score in women’s singles in her 2015-16 debut on Saturday at the Nebelhorn Trophy figure skating competition.

The 19-year-old Osmond from Marystown, N.L. earned 179.41 points for the victory winning both the short and long programs. Alena Leonova of Russia was second at 165.61 and Courtney Hicks of the U.S. third at 162.85.

“Obviously I’m very happy with my performance today,” said Osmond, with her third career international victory. “I wasn’t trying absolutely everything in my program today I just wanted to focus on what I know I could do.”

“There’s still a long way to go but it’s a good start.”

Alaine Chartrand of Prescott, Ont., second after the short program, took fourth spot overall at 161.35.

In ice dancing, Alexandra Paul of Midhurst, Ont., and Mitchell Islam of Barrie, Ont., took the silver medal with 148.12 points.  They were behind Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. in first at 169.50.  Anastasia Cannuscio and Colin McManus of the U.S. were third at 137.38.

“Today was a little bit difficult for us,” said Paul. “We were confident going into the program but we made a few costly errors that affected our overall performance.  But we love the program and we are looking forward to skating it again.  We want to show people how great it can be.”

“These competitions early in the season are a great opportunity to find out what you need to work on a little bit more,” added Islam.

Canada ends the competition with two gold and a silver and second overall in the team standings. On Friday, Elladj Balde of Pierrefonds, Que., won the men’s competition.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1516/csger2015/

Canadian Champion Kaetlyn Osmond out for rest of the season

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OTTAWA, ON:  Two-time Canadian figure skating champion and Olympic silver medallist (team) Kaetlyn Osmond will not defend her title at this year’s Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. The 19-year old native of Marystown, Nfld., who represents Edmonton, Alberta’s Ice Palace FSC was off the ice for several weeks earlier this season after fracturing her right fibula in a fall.

Although she was back on the ice, the skater and her coach made the difficult decision to focus on a longer recovery, rather than pushing to compete this winter. It means she will not compete for her third consecutive title at the upcoming 2015 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in Kingston, Ontario. She also will not be part of the Canadian team at the ISU Four Continents and ISU World Figure Skating Championships later this season.

Osmond appreciates all the support from fans, friends and family. “It was a really hard decision for me not to compete this year. I tried everything to be able to come back, but I just couldn’t get to where I wanted to be for competitions this year.  I’m hoping this break and healing time will set me up for a great season next year.”

 

Injury will keep skater Kaetlyn Osmond out of fall competitions

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OTTAWA, ON:  A fall during a training session last week will keep Canadian champion and Olympic silver medallist (team) Kaetlyn Osmond off ice for at least the next six weeks.  The 18-year old native of Marystown, Nfld., who now lives and trains in Alberta, represents Edmonton’s Ice Palace FSC.

On Thursday, September 11th, during a routine practice session, Osmond was working on choreography for this season’s programs, when she swerved around another skater. She caught an edge and fell onto the ice, fracturing the fibula in her right leg.  She underwent surgery on Friday at Misericordia Community Hospital in Edmonton to stabilize the fracture and was discharged on Saturday.

She will not be able to put any weight on the right leg for six weeks, keeping her off the ice for the duration of that time.  She will withdraw from the three events she had planned to compete in this fall: Autumn Classic International in Barrie, Ont.; Skate Canada International in Kelowna, B.C.; and Trophée Éric Bompard in Bordeaux, France.

In good spirits, Osmond wanted to thank all her fans and friends for the good wishes. “I really appreciate all the support I’ve received from our medical team at Skate Canada and at Misericordia. I’m obviously disappointed to miss the early part of the skating season, but I will look forward to getting back onto the ice and training again. I certainly hope to be competing in Kingston at the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in January.”

Bright future ahead for Kaetlyn Osmond and Gabby Daleman

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Canadian champion Kaetlyn Osmond and national silver medalist Gabby Daleman will have much to remember and much to learn from their Olympic experience in Sochi.

Neither quite met their goals: Osmond hoped for top 10 (she ended 13th) and Daleman aspired to top 15 (she moved up to 17th after finishing 16th in the free), but this event was meant to be a start, a learning experience for the next one. And they got an eyeful.

For one, Daleman was able to breathe in the advice of bronze medalist Carolina Kostner, who, like her, worked with choreographer Lori Nichol. “She’s a beautiful person,” Daleman said of Kostner, who is 11 years older. “She’s a wonderful skater and I love to watch her.”

Kostner gave Daleman great advice during her trips to Toronto: “Even if the jumps don’t go the way you want, never give up on your program,” Kostner told her. “Always skate with your heart.”

Kostner followed her own advice, skated two high quality programs and finally had the Olympics she wanted, in her third attempt. This bronze was her first medal.

Adelina Sotnikova won to the huge adulation of her home crowd with 224.59 points, defeating defending Olympic champion Yuna Kim, whose routine was one for the ages. Kim finished with 219.11 while Kostner had 216.73. Kostner admitted she was totally spent afterwards.

“It was amazing to be here and honoured to be here,” she said. “It was a dream to skate a dream competition and it happened to be at the Olympic Games.”

Sotnikova was the first Russian/Soviet woman to win the Olympic gold medal and only the fourth to win on home ice, following Madge Syers of Britain in 1908, Carol Heiss in 1960 and Sara Hughes in 2002.

Sotnikova is also the youngest medal winner for Russia in a singles event. At 17 years, 234 days, she smashed Evgeny Plushenko’s mark of 19 years, and 103 days. Her score was the second highest women’ score of all time.

Osmond started her Cleopatra routine, looking as if on fire, landing a triple flip- double toe loop and then nailing a powerful double Axel –triple toe loop. She later doubled a triple flip, and fell on a triple toe loop. But she dusted herself off, and fought on, getting level fours for a layback spin and her step sequence.

Osmond finished with 168.98 points, after earning a season’s best 112.80 in the free. “This is only the second time I’ve competed this program internationally,” Osmond said. “So I’m happy with how it went.”

It wasn’t perfect, but Osmond said it was a big step up from the team event. “I was more comfortable out there today than I was yesterday,” she said. “Today I managed to enjoy myself and execute most of my jumps. I’m satisfied”

After Osmond fell on the triple toe loop, she came back fighting and that in itself is a win. (Witness Mao Asada, after her devastating 16th place finish in the short, returning to deliver the third highest score free skate, enough to finish third in that portion of the event). “I’m happy that I started my Olympic experience with a strong short program in the team event,” Osmond said. “And I finished with a strong free tonight.”

Her Cleopatra routine – in which she emerges beautifully and exotically dressed, is her favourite. “I thought after last year, that I would never love any program more than those, but this program really trumps them.”

Daleman, known for her powerful entrance into the triple Lutz – triple toe loop, made mistakes on it again in the long, as she did in the short. The triple toe loop was deemed to be under-rotated. She singled her triple toe loop that followed a double Axel. But she delivered a three-jump triple flip combo, a triple Lutz, a triple loop and a flying camel spin that got a level four.

She finished with 95.83 points for the free skate, for 148.44 points overall.

What did she learn? “No matter what happens, don’t give up,” she said afterward. “Just keep trying because things can’t always be perfect, so you’ve got to push through and work your hardest.”

They both will be back. Their journeys have only started.

Asada’s free skate was Olympic. After so many years of missing the triple Axel and suffering through a short program on Wednesday, when she fell on it, Asada did not buckle and went for it in the long. She was awarded full rotation of it. It was landed on one foot. She did get under-rotations on two other elements and an edge call on a Lutz, but it didn’t matter. It was the comeback of the ages.

The stoic Asada dissolved in tears and later said: “I was determined to carry out what I’ve been working on all along. I wasn’t that sharp in practice this morning and yesterday was a massive disappointment.

“I owed a lot to those people that supported me over the years, and I wanted to pay them back with a great long program. I wasn’t worried about the score. I had to fight the fear in me. “

That’s what it’s all about.

Beverley Smith

First-time Olympians Kaetlyn Osmond and Gabrielle Daleman advance to Thursdays free programs

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Okay, so it was less than perfect for the Canadian women in the women’s short program at the Olympics. Note: it was their first Olympics. It was Gabby Daleman’s first senior international competition.

The short program is a tough place for a miscue. It can be costly. Canadian champion Kaetlyn Osmond’s first triple-triple turned into a triple toe loop – double toe loop in a flash and it’s not a combination that gets a lot of points. Then she slipped off the edge of a double Axel, but sold the rest of the program, well enough to land her in 13th place with 56.18 points. She’s aiming for a top-10 finish at these Games.

Daleman, early out of the box, went for the gusto, and may have tried to make her combo too big. She put a hand down on her triple Lutz, and had the presence of mind to squeeze in her triple toe loop. She’s in 19th place with 52.51 points and hoping for top 15.

“I messed up my Lutz-toe, but I’m still so proud,” Daleman said afterwards.

Above both of them, was worse heartbreak. Mao Asada, the 2010 Olympic silver medalist and an icon in the sport, lost her way, tragically. She had landed a beautiful triple Axel in warmup, and she appeared to be on her way to another during her Chopin routine, when she fell. It seemed to shock her. She did not complete a combination, and then doubled a triple loop. Marks disappeared like water through a sieve. She ended up 16th, almost 20 points behind defending Olympic champion Yu-Na Kim, on top with 74.92, the best short program score of the season.

Asada scored 55.21 points, only 2.70 points ahead of Daleman. She no longer has a shot for a medal.

“I don’t know what to make of this now,” she said. “All I can do is give it everything I have tomorrow. I can’t comprehend any of this.”

She said training had been going well, but when she started the program, she said she couldn’t control her emotions or her body.

“Heartbreaking” Michelle Kwan said in a tweet.

“Mao has a gentle grace… tweeted US pair skater John Coughlin. “I’d have watched if she marked all three jumps.”

Kim had the opposite experience. She was so nervous in the warm-up, that she said she couldn’t jump at all. “But I tried to believe in myself and believe in what I’ve done before,” she said.

When the music started, she said she felt as if she was dreaming.

She skated a winsome, magical routine to “Send in the Clown,” choreographed by Canadian David Wilson, and did a triple Lutz-triple toe loop with ease. Her technical points were higher than her program components by about three points.

Carolina Kostner delivered a memorable moment with her “Ave Maria” routine, not only because it was beautiful, but because she did a very Olympic thing. During the team event, she had done only a triple toe loop – triple toe loop, but she upped the difficulty by doing a triple flip – triple toe loop during the short program Wednesday.

“I didn’t even talk to my coach about changing it,” she said. “Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I’m thankful that he left the choice up to me. I wanted to show him that I could do it.” She earned 74.12 points, only about half a point behind Kim.

But Kostner ended up third after Adelina Sotnikova of Russia faced the loud, supportive Russian crowd. Sotnikova did the easier triple toe loop – triple toe loop but still finished second with 74.64, only a quarter of a point behind the defending Olympic champion.

Sotnikova said she was a little nervous, but treated the event like a normal competition. “I was very happy that my technical mark was so high,” she said. (At 39.09, it was .06 of a point higher than Kim’s mark and about 1 ½ points higher than Kostner’s).

And she outshone fellow Russian Julia Lipnikstaia, who had skated both sections of the team event, and had suddenly developed a celebrity status at home. Lipnitskaia is in fifth place with 65.23 points after falling from a triple flip – something she rarely does.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said sadly. “I wasn’t nervous. I didn’t feel too much pressure. The crowd helped me.” The marks weren’t as low as she expected.

US champion Gracie Gold is in fourth place with 68.63 points, about six points back of the leader. “I was happy to perform under the bright lights and stress,” she said “It’s a tough event.”

The other two Americans are right behind her: Ashley Wagner is sixth, while Polina Edmunds is seventh.

The Canadian women have their own goals to achieve in Thursday’s long program. “It definitely wasn’t as good a program as I did in the team event,” Osmond said. “The jumps were a little shaky and I just couldn’t save them today. My components felt great, though. Of course, it’s not what I wanted to do, but I still have one more skate to go. Tomorrow I will focus and let things happen.”

In the kiss and cry, Osmond did not think about her miscues. She thought about what she did well.

Daleman got a season’s best mark of 52.61 and admitted she was a little nervous about what she faced: having her first senior international be the Olympic Games. She said she added more detail to both of her programs since finishing second at the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships.

Beverley Smith

Olympian Profile: Kaetlyn Osmond

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She’s just beginning, this 18-year-old Kaetlyn Osmond, the woman with uncommon flair, and now a two-time Canadian champion on her way to the Sochi Olympics.

She is blossoming, despite a injury-filled season. It was no accident that Osmond decided to have a long program created for her this year in which she would depict Cleopatra, a strong woman in the scheme of things. Cleopatra was the first female pharaoh of Egypt at the turn of time, refusing co-rulership with a man, as was the custom. So powerful was she, and so stunning her charms, that she was a few nasty battles away from becoming the ruler of the western world.

Cleopatra is the perfect metaphor for Osmond’s aims: rising to power. “It’s the exact same thing I wanted to do this year,” she said. “It’s my own rise to the top of the podium in the Olympics. We were aiming to weave the story of Cleopatra into my own life. And that’s exactly what I want to have.”

Osmond has come far and travelled far to get where she is now. She started skating at the only rink in Marystown, Newfoundland as a two-year-old tagalong behind sister Natasha, before the family moved to Montreal, then Sherwood Park, Alberta, near Edmonton. With everything she has learned along the way, Osmond delivered the most impressive debut at a world championship by a Canadian woman in decades: fourth in the short program, eighth overall.

She’s the ultimate competitor, relishing the sounds of battle, filling the rink with her presence. Perhaps she won’t be rising to the top of the podium at thisOlympics. She’s realistic and so is her coach, Ravi Walia. She’s relatively new to the international scene and its demands, landing on it only two years ago. Some of her competitors have been doing this for 10 years (Carolina Kostner.) Some have been doing it less (Julia Lipnitskaia). This season, Osmond’s path to the podium has been hampered by one injury after another. The problems have tempered her plans, if not her spirit.

Last year, she landed a triple-triple combination in the short program to good effect. This year, she planned to carry it over to the long, but after she developed a stress reaction in a left foot during the summer, and then a hamstring tear that caused her to pull out of Skate Canada International in Saint John, New Brunswick last October, Walia had to rewrite the path to Sochi.

The second injury was worse than the first. With her stress reaction, she could still skate on the foot, although she couldn’t do all of the jumps. The hamstring injury completely hobbled Osmond. “When I got back on the ice, I could barely do my crosscuts,” she said. “I had to work so many edges and so many stroking exercises before I could even think about jumping.”

Usually, she would add the spins before the jumps, but on the second day back, she was about to push into a spin when she felt excruciating pain. She lost two and a half weeks to recovery, and then spent another two weeks just doing stroking exercises.

Finally, after a good effort in the long program at Skate Canada Challenge, when she had to come from fifth in the short, Osmond learned another lesson: to forget about the short program, no matter how well or poorly you do in it. Now she’s skating stronger than ever.

All of the problems had a silver lining: Osmond was forced to learn perfect technique. She felt pain if she used the wrong technique. She also learned how to overcome adversity with confidence and “knowing no matter what gets thrown at me, whether it’s good or bad, I can still stay with a positive attitude and stay focused and calm and able to skate.”

Her goals in Sochi are to continue with the same list of jumps she had last season, and with that, finish within the top eight. Osmond won’t try more difficult triple-triples because she says she does not have enough competition experience to throw them in for such a major event like the Olympics – her first international competition this season.

She admits that she’s probably ready to do more difficult triple-triples (she had been working on triple flip – triple toe loop). “They are super easy for me,” she said. She aims to skate two clean programs and show that she can come back from anything and be ready. If she didn’t get hurt, she’d still follow the same path, she said. “The only thing I’m aiming for is to do better than I did last year,” she said.

That’s realistic, Walia said. “She wants to skate two clean programs perfectly and that could put her higher than eighth,” he said. “It really depends on how the other skaters skate, also.” He knows Osmond doesn’t have the most difficult content in her program. If her international peers skate their best, they’ll have great results. Her one effort at a triple-triple in a long program during a summer competition didn’t go well. Her best bet for Sochi is to rely on what she has done many times, with combinations she can rely on.

“Last year, she had just learned these things so quickly and so now she has an extra year with them and that’s why she’s consistent in practice and why she’s so confident,” Walia said. Her tribulations have been a blessing in disguise, Osmond says. She was shocked with her effort at the Canadian Tire National Skating Championship. At the Olympics, anything can happen.

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Beverley Smith

Kaetlyn Osmond wins second straight Canadian title in Ottawa

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When Kaetlyn Osmond finished her free skate at the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships, with the crowd standing cheering in front of her, she felt in shock.

It had been such a frustrating year for the 18-year-old native Newfoundlander with the sparkle and energy. One injury after another caused a change in plans again and again. But under coach Ravi Walia – a young coach who has never taken a skater to the Olympics – Osmond got to the finish line on Saturday with the best performances of her career and the highest points.

Osmond scored a total of 207.24 points, 24.77 points ahead of 15-year-old fireball Gabby Daleman, she of the wondrous triple-triple combinations and all the moxie to drive her to the top.

Taking the bronze medal was Amelie Lacoste, who left no stone unturned to fight for one of only two Olympic berths for Canadian women. She left her home and French-speaking community in Montreal to train in Colorado, aiming high.  She fell short, with 166.69 points, a fraction ahead of another intrepid young Quebecker, Veronik Mallet. With 165.20. Alaine Chartrand was fifth with 161.46.

Daleman did by far the most difficult combination in the long program, a sabre-rattling triple Lutz – triple toe loop, a move that earned her 11.50 points. Osmond had a small margin of victory (2.28 points) over Daleman in the technical mark but she blasted the youngster with her performance marks. While Osmond earned 68.40 for her emotive Cleopatra program, Daleman earned 57.83.

Osmond, who said she’s skating better now than before her injuries, is even pushing marks of 9.0 in the program component (performance side.)

Osmond did only a triple toe loop- triple toe loop in the short program, and not in the long. Preferring to stick with her comfort-zone jumps that she did last season, especially after missing so much training time, Osmond is aiming for a top eight finish in Sochi (when she is actually chosen for the team). She’s not aiming for a podium finish. Coach Ravi Walia said it’s not realistic to expect her to top athletes who have say, five years’ experience doing formidable combinations. But who knows? Osmond finished fourth in the short program at worlds in London, with an overall goal of being in the top 10.

Daleman will turn 16 on Monday, and her idol, Joannie Rochette, also has a birthday on the same day. It could be a good omen.

When Daleman saw her marks, she looked overwhelmed and surprised. “It was great,” she said. “I was not expecting that score at all. I was not even focused on it from the beginning. I was more focused on what I needed to do to get the job done. I’ve been working really hard on my second mark. Just seeing that mark and getting over the 180 just made my day.”

Daleman’s previous highest mark was 174, she earned that earlier this season. She won the silver medal last year.

Osmond was getting ready to go on the ice and started to shake, just at the thought of what she has had to overcome this season. “I was actually nervous, but then I remember in practice I get nervous, but in practice the nerves are coming from if I don’t do a good program, I’ve got to redo it. But when the music started [here], it’s just like everything just went away and it was just like I was back home and just practicing in my own rink with my friends skating around me.”

“I’m really happy with that skate,” she said. “I was a little nervous, knowing what is on the line with Sochi but I just talked to myself, calmed myself down, knowing that I know how to do it, trust my training. I just felt great doing it. I just fought.”

Beverley Smith

Kaetlyn Osmond energizes the Canadian Tire Centre with winning short program

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Despite the lack of competition this season and overcoming two injuries, Kaetlyn Osmond ruled Friday in the short program at the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships.

Still only 18, Osmond stepped out to the Big Spender, delivering a program made “comfortable” because of the injuries – and she still won by about nine points.

Her mark of 70.30 is marginally ahead of last year’s short program mark, when she won the Canadian title.

Former Canadian champion Amélie Lacoste, rejuvenated by a switch in training venue to Colorado Springs this season, finished second with her first clean short program in years, she said, and sits at 61.27 points. Gabby Daleman, only 15, is third at 58.38, while delivering the most ambitious combination: the triple Lutz-triple toe loop.

Osmond had planned this season to increase the difficulty of her combination to a triple flip – triple toe loop but because of her extensive time off the ice, she decided to stick with last year’s plan: the triple toe loop – triple toe loop. And her early idea of doing a triple Lutz as a solo triple, became a triple flip, which she scored huge grade of execution marks on (a couple of plus threes).

Osmond dominated both the technical and performance marks even though Daleman did a combination that many of the young jet-setting women do.

Lacoste had been working on a difficult triple loop – triple loop combination, but decided after practice on Friday to scale it down to triple loop – double loop. She’ll go for the triple-triple – she’s been landing it four times out of five – if she gets assignments for the rest of the season, like the Olympics or world championships.

Lacoste deserves top marks for keeping things together despite her horrendous trip from Colorado to Ottawa for the event due to bad weather.

Lacoste was at the Colorado Springs airport for her flight to Ottawa at 7 a.m. Tuesday, but her flight was cancelled. She took a shuttle to Denver to catch a flight to Ottawa via Toronto, but that flight was cancelled. It took her another three hours to get onto another flight to Calgary at 8 p.m. Tuesday. She arrived at 11 p.m. Finally she got the last seat on a plane to Montreal the next morning at 6 a.m., stopped to have lunch with her mother and a niece and took a train to Ottawa.

“After I experienced that, I am not afraid of anything,” she said.

Daleman, who competed internationally this year in junior grand prix, landed marginally behind Lacoste in the standings after doubled her flip and stepped out of it. “The flip didn’t go the way I wanted it to,” she said. “The timing wasn’t just right. Sometimes you go too fast or too slow. I think I just lost my train of thought for a second.”

But she’s still pleased that she landed the big combination. She says she doesn’t feel too much pressure at making the Olympic team, but she likes a little pressure. “Yes, I’m one of the youngest competitors but I’m really showing what I’m able to do at my age.”

Although Osmond has been hobbled by first a stress reaction injury (a precursor to a stress fracture) in her left foot and a right hamstring injury that caused her to pull out of Skate Canada International after the short program, Walia feels she is rallying at just the right time.

Beverley Smith

Kaetlyn Osmond overcomes setbacks to debut stellar free program in Regina

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It was just what Kaetlyn Osmond needed: this trip to frigid Regina to unleash a long program that nobody had seen so far this year.

On Thursday, when she flew to Regina, she turned 18. On Saturday, she won the senior women’s competition at the Skate Canada Challenge, but that’s not what the visit was all about. She didn’t come to win. Osmond didn’t want the unveiling of her new long program to come at the Canadian championships – the all-important Olympic trials in another month – so here she was, testing herself, tweeting the likes of : “Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible.” And so she has.

She’d already done it once this season, when a stress reaction (not as serious as a stress fracture) hobbled her training for the Skate Canada grand prix in Saint John, N.B., in October. Miraculously, she got herself together for that event, only to have to pull out before the long program, with a sudden hamstring injury that popped up out of nowhere.

As it turns out, the injury was a partial tear of the hamstring muscle, but nothing could heal that injury quickly enough for her to get to Cup of Russia, so she withdrew from that event, too. The entire grand prix season went up in smoke for the defending Canadian champion – who had won Skate Canada last season over a world bronze medalist.

“It’s been a tough season so far,” Osmond said after her skate in Regina, where she turned in a long-program score of 118.96 and 169.96 points overall, a scant point ahead of the intrepid Gabby Daleman. (By comparison, Daleman earned 107.71 for her long.) “It just seems to be one injury after another,” Osmond said.

But now Osmond knows that she can return from injury and skate well, and practice really well, too. “I was only coming to Challenge for the experience, to get a competition out there, to get back into the feeling of it before nationals and I did that,” she said. “I learned so much from this competition, from not having the greatest short program I’ve ever done and then continuing to do the long program that I’ve been doing in practice. I was really excited about that.”

Osmond finished only fifth in the short program after falling on a triple flip and making some other mistakes. In the long program, she wasn’t quite vintage Osmond yet, but close. She was off the ice for a month after the hamstring injury and began jumping again only a little more than two weeks ago. If she had done two or three triples in the long program, Osmond said, that would have been okay. Coach Ravi Walia set the bar at six, but Osmond did five, only doubling a second triple flip.

Osmond still feels some pain, Walia said, and because they did not want to aggravate her injury, they adjusted her long program. That single Axel at the end of her program? That was planned, because Axels bother her. Although she hasn’t been able to practice too many double Axels, she did manage one in the short and fired off a double Axel-triple toe loop in the long, but there was no sense in tempting fate. Team Osmond also altered some choreography and spins that have flexibility movements that bother her.

“She skated very well for her first competition and her first long program,” Walia said. “The stuff she did was very good quality. She did all of her combinations. It was a good start. She’s on track. She’s where you want her to be in December for that kind of long program. It’s good.”

“I think she’s caught up to where she should be, even though she didn’t have a good start to the season,” he said.

Osmond admits the hamstring injury was a very difficult one to overcome. “It came from nowhere really,” she said. She woke up the morning of the long program at the Skate Canada Grand Prix and could not put weight on her leg.

“It was a little bit of a slow process to get her back on track,” Walia said. “She had to take it slow and easy. She’s not 100 per cent right now, but it’s getting there.”

Ever since she got back on ice on November 8, she’s been doing her programs with what she’s been able to do. And she consistently did clean programs with watered down content. Osmond said she felt frustrated to be off the ice so long and when she finally did get back onto the ice, she had to rein herself in. “When I came back, I had to be super cautious,” she said. “It was very frustrating because I had only just come back from injury and I had felt absolutely fantastic. …Thankfully the jumps have come back really easily.” The hamstring injury was not on her landing leg.

To recover she underwent physiotherapy, and Pilates and fitness trainers worked to build her strength. “Now she feels really happy and confident with the program, now that she’s been able to perform it in competition,” Walia said. “I think she’s excited that she got to compete. She didn’t have a good short, but to be honest, it was more important to get the long program out there.”

And it was worth waiting for. The routine, choreographed by Lance Vipond, is a dramatic (can it be anything else?) depiction of Cleopatra rising to power, with detailed movement. Perhaps, in a way, it will be about Osmond this year. It’s her favourite long program of her career.

“This competition was just the beginning of things,” she said.

Beverley Smith