Riding The Orient Express

Figure skating's new world order has officially arrived.
With the 2007 Tokyo worlds now in the books, what has been predicted for a few years now has become very apparent — the power base in the sport has shifted to the Far East.
Consider that only two countries won multiple medals at these worlds: Japan and China. Asian skaters swept the podium in the women's event, and took two of three pairs medals. Japan's Daisuke Takahashi nearly snared the men's gold with a stunning free skate.
On the flip side, look what's happened to some of figure skating's 'traditional' powers. For the first time in 47 years, no skater from Russia or the former Soviet Union won a medal. It wasn't that long ago that the Russians were sweeping all the golds.
The U.S. was limited to one medal, and in the discipline that probably gets the least attention in that country. And half of that ice dance bronze was earned by a skater who was born in Canada (Tanith Belbin of Kingston, Ont.). In the event that matters most to Americans — the women — U.S. skaters were shut out of the medals at worlds. The last time that happened? Try 1994.
Canada, meanwhile, brought home one medal from worlds for the second straight year. It was the same colour (silver) in the same event (ice dance) earned by the same skaters (Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon) as in 2006 in Calgary.
An interesting point was raised in a Canadian Press story over the weekend. Only one Canadian in singles or pairs — Joannie Rochette — improved her position from the short program to the free skate. That has to be a little disconcerting to officials from Skate Canada, because it's the free skate which determines who lands on the podium and who doesn't.
In Rochette's case, she was simply too far behind after the short to join the medal hunt, but the moxie she showed in battling back is a positive sign for the future.
Going forward, Canada kept three ice dance and three pair spots for next year's worlds in Sweden. Thanks to Rochette, we'll send two women to Goteborg in 2008 (and she's owed a bunch of thank-you cards for that from senior women across the country).
Our men's complement is down to two, meaning the dogfight for the world team will be even fiercer at Canadians in Vancouver next January.
When the fight moves across the pond to Sweden, the battle figures to be on a higher plane there, too. With Asian skaters clearly raising the bar once more, and daring everyone else to keep up.

Dance Bridesmaids Once More

The music for their free dance seemed to suggest the right finish.
At Last, Etta James once sang. And it was a phrase Canadian skating fans hoped to use when Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon were crowned ice dance champions at the world championships in Tokyo.
Instead, it's this again ... not just yet.
For the second straight year, the five-time Canadian champs came up a whisker short in their bid for the world gold. Last year in Calgary, Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria got them by a scant 0.45 points.
Earlier today in Tokyo, it was another close call. When the final results were tabulated after a thrilling free dance final, Stenkova and Staviski were world champs again with 201.61 points. Right behind with 200.46 were the Canadian bridesmaids, who led after the compulsories but slipped behind after Thursday's original dance.
“We have a saying: 'If you aim for the moon and miss, you'll end up with the stars,' ” Lauzon told reporters afterward. “We didn't win but we still have our silver medal and I think we'll be very happy thinking about it (Saturday).”
It was likely the last great duel between these two teams — Denkova and Staviski have indicated they will now retire. Will Dubreuil and Lauzon, both now in their 30s, do the same? Bet on the answer not coming for a few months yet. But don't wager too much that the answer will be yes.
If the classy couple does call it quits, the future of Canadian ice dance appears to be in very capable hands. Worlds rookies Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir showed they're on the verge of contending for medals by placing an impressive sixth, with a flair that suggested they could be future champions someday soon.
The London, Ont., area couple, which became Canada's first-ever world junior ice dance champions in 2006, are clearly on the fast track. Former world champions Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz finished 14th in their worlds debut; Dubreuil and Lauzon were 10th.
“We definitely want to be competitive with the top teams in the world over the next few years,” said Moir, 19 (Virtue is 17). “We're hoping next year to push the envelope and get into that last group.”
Americans Tanith Belbin (originally from Kingston, Ont.) and Ben Agosto were fortunate bronze medallists after a free dance that included two major errors.
Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Kitchener, Ont., finished 20th.
The efforts of the top two Canadian entries again secured three ice dance berths for the 2008 worlds in Sweden, which no doubt brought cheers from a hungry group of young teams eager to make their own debut on the big stage.
It should be some fight next year in Vancouver, to be sure.

Woe Canada, What A Tumble

My, what a difference 24 hours can make.
Just yesterday, Canadians were cheering the performances of the country's three men's entries at the Tokyo worlds. Jeff Buttle seemed like a sure medal bet. His training mate, worlds newbie Christopher Mabee, was on the fringe of podium contention. Even Emanuel Sandhu, just five points back, had to rank as an outside threat.
Then came today.
Splat. Splat. And splat.
Just like that, no medals for Canada. And one less men's berth for the red and white at next year's worlds in Sweden.
Ouch, indeed.
Let's start with some happier stuff. France's Brian Joubert, twice a world silver medallist, finally claimed the world crown, even though he placed third in today's free skate.
The story of the night was Daisuke Takahashi, who enthralled his home country fans with a marvelous free skate that included eight triple jumps and a quad. It was almost enough to push Takahashi to the top of the podium, but he fell a few points shy.
The final scoring: Joubert, 240.85 points; Takahashi, 237.95.
Two-time defending champ Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland, who looked rather ordinary during the short program (he placed sixth), rebounded in a big way in the free skate. The Little Zebra totalled 233.35 points to claim the bronze medal.
The top three all landed quads in their free skates.
Now, about those Canadians ...
Buttle appeared to be an absolute medal lock with the impressive form he showed in the short program. But it all unravelled in the free and, two falls later (on a quad and triple Axel), the three-time Canadian champion had tumbled to sixth, matching his finish at the 2006 Calgary worlds.
Mabee, who looked so relaxed during his career-best short program, crumbled under the spotlight today. He wound up 13th.
Sandhu's slide was even more disastrous. He also tumbled to the ice twice and generally struggled through a free skate. He skidded all the way to 16th place — his worst finish at a worlds since 1999, when he placed 18th in Helsinki.
While Sandhu bravely spoke yesterday of still making a run at the 2010 Olympics in his adopted home town of Vancouver, it appears his career is about to hit a crossroads. If he can't land a spot on the world team next year — and there are only two of them now — it'll truly be decision time.
Maybe he can summon some of that old magic in Vancouver, where the Canadian championships will be held next year. And the same city where, a decade ago, Sandhu first really flashed some of his immense promise by winning the national junior title.
Seems like such a long time ago now, though, doesn't it?

Half Full ... Or Half Empty?

You know that old line about two ways of looking at the glass of water.
The optimist sees it as half full. The pessimist sees half empty.
So it is that there are two ways of analyzing Canada's performance in the pairs event at the Tokyo worlds.
On the one hand, Canada remains medal-less in the pairs discipline since Jamie Sale and David Pelletier won the world gold in 2001 in Vancouver.
On the other, we were the only country to put three teams in the top 10.
Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin had the best Canadian finish. But their sixth-place final standing was a step back from the No. 5 slot they owned a year ago in Calgary.
Still, add that sixth-place finish to the seventh earned by Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison, and Canada keeps three pairs spots for the 2008 worlds in Sweden. That's important for the future.
Half full? Half empty? Depends on your point of view.
For Marcoux and Buntin, it was a bit of both.
And not exactly in the right order.
The three-time Canadian champs were positively brilliant in the short program with what had to rate as their best skate of the year. They were well positioned to maybe make a move up from that fifth-place finish of 2006. Then everything came off the rails in today's free program, and backward they skidded.
Now questions are starting to be asked by some about the future of this pair. For sure, it will be a summer of deep thinking for this eminently likable duo.
Not so for Dube and Davison, who are clearly the present and the future of the pairs program in Canada. Given what they went through a little more than a month ago in Colorado Springs — Dube's face was sliced open by her partner's skate blade when they got too close on side-by-side camel spins during their Four Continents free program — just making it to Tokyo and competing well was admirable in itself.
Surely, there must be a world medal in the future. If Dube, the queen of bad luck, can stay in one piece, that is.
Canada's No. 3 entry in Tokyo is also a team on the rise. Anabelle Langlois and worlds rookie Cody Hay leaped up into the top 10 with an enchanting free skate, and things can only get better for them on the road to Vancouver 2010.
No questions at the top, though. Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao showed they're back as the class of the pairs world. They've indicated, however, that they plan to take at least next season off, meaning a new champ will be crowned in Gothenburg.
One final note of interest: For the first time since 1960, the pairs podium didn't include a team from Russia or the former Soviet Union.
That's 47 years, if you're counting.
And the end of an era, indeed.

Silver Lining

Canada's wait for a men's gold medallist at the world junior figure skating championships has been extended by another year.
But Ottawa-born Patrick Chan's silver medal — the first medal of any colour won by a Canadian man at this global event in 23 years — is still a positive sign. For Chan's future and that of men's skating in this country.
While Chan had his wobbly moments in today's free skate final in Oberstdorf, Germany, he didn't exactly crumble under the pressure of being the leader after the short program. And that's the one thing that has dogged many of the 'next great things' in Canadian skater too many times in recent years (I'll leave it to you to supply any names you want).
Internationally, at least, Chan has never found himself in this position before. And he simply got outskated by the brilliant Stephen Carriere of the U.S., who landed seven clean triples in his free program to soar from sixth after the short to the gold.
Carriere finished with 188.87 points; Chan 184.55.
Chan is a bright young kid (just turned 16) who will take this experience back to his current home in Toronto and learn from it. Just the way his mentor, the late, great Osborne Colson, would have taught him to over their years together at the Granite Club.
A Canadian champion three times over already (pre-novice, novice and junior), Chan remains perhaps the name to watch in the runup to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. By then, he should have the triple Axel and a quad or two in his arsenal. And the experience necessary to stare down any of the world's best on the biggest stages of them all.
It'll be fun watching as young guns like Chan, Kevin Reynolds of Coquitlam, B.C. (5th at these world juniors) and Joey Russell of Labrador City, NL (11th) contend for spots on that Vancouver team.

Vancouver Calling ...

If you've been waiting to line up tickets for the 2008 BMO Financial Group Canadian championships in Vancouver ... well, your wait is about to end.
All-event packages for the event go on sale Feb. 27 at 1 p.m. ET.
Prices are $175 and $150 for the week, and can be purchased over the phone (604-280-4444) or online from TicketMaster (www.ticketmaster.ca).
The 2008 nationals run Jan. 16-20 at Pacific National Exhibition, which will also be the figure skating venue for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
Call this your opportunity for a sneak peek.
For Vancouver, it's the fifth opportunity to host Canadians. The last was in 1997. The city also held the world championships in 2001.
Also worth noting: It's gone back to being a five-day nationals with the elimination of the senior qualifying rounds (which will now be a part of the East/West Challenge. We're hearing that event is likely headed back to the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ont., in December).

Taking A Bow

Spotted at the Ottawa Sports Awards dinner on Thursday night — ice dancers Allie Hann-McCurdy and Michael Coreno.
The reason? Hann-McCurdy, who spent five years training at the Gloucester Skating Club and still represents them, was on hand to receive the sport award for figure skating for 2006. The 19-year-old from Orleans earned the honour — which included a medal and certificate — in great part because of their efforts at last year’s Canadian championships in Ottawa (Coreno made the long drive from his home town of Delhi, Ont., to share the happy moment with his partner).
In only their second year together, Hann-McCurdy and Coreno won the junior ice dance crown (they’d been silver medallists the year before in London, Ont., the same season they reached the Junior Grand Prix final).
The awards circuit isn’t done yet for the promising duo, which finished eighth in their senior debut at the just-completed 2007 nationals in Halifax. On Feb.12, both will receive the B.C. Premier’s Athletic Award for their accomplishments during the 2005-06 season. Then they’ll be special guests at the Vancouver Board of Trade’s Countdown to 2010 luncheon.
Both skaters returned to their home towns — Hann-McCurdy to Ottawa, Coreno to Delhi — for some down time after the Halifax nationals. They tell me they’re headed back to Vancouver next week to begin planning for next season (they train at the B.C. Centre of Excellence in Burnaby under the tutelage of former world champ Victor Kraatz and his wife, Maikki Uotila Kraatz), when their goal will be a top-five finish (and national team berth) at the 2008 Canadians. No road trip necessary for them: It’s right in Vancouver at Pacific National Exhibition, which will be the venue for the Olympic figure skating competition in 2010.
A stage, Hann-McCurdy and Coreno will tell you, they’d dearly love to dance upon in three years time.

Junior Achievement

One of my favourite events that I've ever covered was the 2004 Skate Canada Junior Nationals, which were held at the Nepean Sportsplex right here in Ottawa.
It was truly a treat to see the real future of skating in our country, from the juvenile through novice levels. A couple of the medallists from that year — Diane Szmiett of Watford, Ont., and Vancouver's Jeremy Ten — have since gone on to bigger and better things, each having progressed to a Canadian junior title (Szmiett a year ago in Ottawa; Ten this year in Halifax).
The 2007 version of Junior Nationals gets under way today at the Powerade Centre in Brampton, Ont. There's only one event today — juvenile compulsory dance — but they'll keep two ice pads hopping from Thursday through Saturday.
If you're in the Brampton area, it's worth your time to give it a look.
*** Taking care of my own backyard ... here are the Ottawa-area entries at this week's junior nationals:
Juvenile — Elizabeth Comeau, Gloucester Skating Club, women; Sarah and Steven Clarke, Nepean Skating Club, ice dance; Hillary Desroches, Pembroke, and Spencer Yakaback, Renfrew, pairs.
Pre-Novice — Lisa Casselman and Ryan Behnia, Nepean, ice dance; Chelsi Fahrngruber and David Leenen, Nepean, pairs.
Novice — Paul Parkinson, Nepean, men.