Chan-Hanyu rematch highlights Skate Canada
Osmond faces elite ladies field; Canadians favored in pairs, danceIt has been 25 years since Skate Canada was held in Lethbridge, Alberta, a small city known for its brisk wind gusts whistling through a mountain pass just to the west. Back in 1990, Josée Chouinard and Yuka Sato were starting to make their mark on the world scene and Kurt Browning was the headliner.
But 2015 Skate Canada offers up a much more competitive international field than in 1990, starting with the early-season clash of three-time world champion Patrick Chan of Canada, returning from a season-long break, and Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu. Chan took silver behind Hanyu at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
This highly anticipated matchup will draw world-wide attention. Can Chan get his mojo back after spending a year away from competition? Will he get his jumps back? Will Hanyu roar out of the gate after claiming the silver medal at the 2015 World Championships?
Both have competed in one international event to try to shake off the rust: Chan at the Japan Open and Hanyu at the Skate Canada Autumn Classic International. Neither was perfect, but that's to be expected this early in the season
At the Japan Open, Chan finished third to Shoma Uno and Javier Fernández, while Hanyu drew rave reviews at the Autumn Classic.
Coach Brian Orser said Hanyu wasn't at his fitness peak, however. He flipped out of a quadruple toe loop in the short program; in the free, he put a hand down on his first quad toe and fell on his second. He landed an earlier quad salchow, so Hanyu intends to go for the gusto this season with three free skate quads.
"To be honest, there were many points that I am not happy with," Hanyu said of the free. "But in terms of score, I felt that the evaluation I got was higher than I expected."
Chan, on the other hand, intends to do only one quad in his free skate. And he's not working on a different one.
"I think it would be a little too much on my plate to throw training a quad salchow and putting it into the long program this early in the comeback," he said.
Chan plans to focus on staying healthy this season.
"I think that another thing that year off has taught me is that I have to look broader and not so focused on killing myself left and right, trying to do all these different quads," he said. "When you focus on the quads so much, it really does take away from the quality of the skating."
Chan wants to bring a new attitude to his skating and competing, and he would also like to focus on audience connection, something he learned from a year of touring.
"I have a sense of nervousness, but a sense of nervousness that is in my control, not overwhelmingly driving me crazy," he said.
He's dropped his weight to about 150 pounds to be competitive with skaters like Fernández and Hanyu.
"Those guys are like twigs compared to me," he said.
Performance-wise, Chan feels he's also learned more about facial and bodily expression from his stint on the tours.
"It's like holding your gaze in a certain direction for a second longer changes the whole feeling of the program," Chan said. "I want the judges to see that I'm mastering this other part of skating, not just the jumps."
With Hanyu in his sights, he'll have to master the jumps. Hanyu is taking command of both sides of the equation. His new free to the Japanese movie Onmyoji was understated at the Autumn Classic International. It proved powerful, and it was the first time he has ever skated to a Japanese theme.
"The program is going to be tough to beat," said three-time world champion Elvis Stojko, who was on hand for the outing. "Patrick is going to have his work cut out for him.
"If [Hanyu] ever misses a jump, the arsenal he has in his program, [he'll have plenty of points in reserve]," Stojko said. "And if he's skating it this well so early in the season, it's only going to get better. It's going to be interesting."
Chan and Hanyu will be up against Daisuke Murakami, the Japanese skater who won the 2014 NHK Trophy in an upset. U.S. silver medalist Adam Rippon, who brings a quad lutz with him, and Canadian champion Nam Nguyen, who finished fifth at the world championships, will also compete. Nguyen plans two quads in his free skate and a quad toe-triple toe combination in his short program. He landed that combination for the first time at the 2015 Autumn Classic International.
Osmond returns on home ice
The ladies event is star-studded, and it will be a stiff test for returning skater Kaetlyn Osmond, a two-time Canadian champion who won 2012 Skate Canada in her Grand Prix debut. She's had to withdraw from her two previous Skate Canada assignments because of injury.
"The offseason was really hard, trying just to get back to where I was," she said. "Obviously, I got back to where I was."
She won Nebelhorn Trophy, defeating former world silver medalist Alena Leonova, as well as Courtney Hicks and Mirai Nagasu, which gave her a big boost of confidence.
Osmond says her goals are just to make it to two Grand Prix events without having to withdraw. She's never done more than one Grand Prix during a season. She did finish eighth at the 2013 World Championships.
At the Nebelhorn Trophy, Osmond said she received positive feedback about her skating skills, her speed and her improved fluidity over the ice, all byproducts of not being on ice because of a broken fibula. She's also added a triple flip-triple toe loop combination to her free skate, but she's most proud of adding a triple loop. She had broken her right leg, and she takes off and lands on the left leg for her loop.
"There was a reason my loop got better this year: because it was the only [jump] I was able to try for so long," she said.
Osmond's main goal is to win back the Canadian title, which now belongs to Gabby Daleman, who she will face at Skate Canada. She will go up against world champion Elizaveta Tuktamisheva, 2014 Skate Canada silver medalist Ashley Wagner, 2015 Four Continents champion Polina Edmunds, Japan's Kanako Murakami and Leonova.
Canada favored in pairs, ice dance
Canadian skaters are expected to win the pairs and ice dance event, with world pairs champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, and world ice dance bronze medalists Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje each set to compete in their respective disciplines.
Weaver and Poje will compete with a completely new short dance than the Elvis Presley medley they used to win Finlandia Trophy. The dance calls for a change of tempo from the required Ravensburger Waltz. Weaver and Poje discovered that "Can't Help Falling in Love" was a waltz, and if they slightly quickened the tempo of "Heartbreak Hotel," it became a foxtrot.
"But after Finland, we received feedback that we could choose more clear rhythms better suited to us," Weaver said. "It's a matter of opinion, but at this stage of the game, we wanted to make sure we can win over everyone's hearts and leave no question on the table."
For the short dance, they will now do Johann Strauss' "Blue Danube," arguably the most famous waltz ever written, and a polka rhythm.
"The rhythms are definitely without question, and the theme is something well suited to us," Weaver said. "We wanted to dance to these rhythms for a long time. "
Weaver and Poje will take on Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev of Russia, making a comeback after missing all of 2014-15 with Soloviev undergoing knee surgery. Bobrova and Soloviev were bronze medalists at the 2013 World Championships and took gold at the 2013 European Championships. Team USA's Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani will also compete after finishing second at both of their Grand Prix events (Skate America, Cup of China) last season.
Duhamel and Radford have already won an event this season, the Autumn Classic, where they tried both the throw quad salchow and the throw quad lutz. In the free skate, Duhamel fell on the Salchow and the Lutz turned into a single. Still, they landed a clean quad lutz in practice at the event in front of judges and spectators.
Duhamel and Radford have already competed in two events on the young season (Souvenir Georges-Éthier).
"We always like to do a couple of events, because it usually takes a couple of competitions to feel comfortable back in the competitive arena again," Duhamel said. "We feel much more prepared going into Skate Canada."
They will compete against Russians Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, who finished third at 2014 Skate Canada and third at the 2015 European Championships before placing sixth at worlds. Marissa Castelli and Mervin Tran will make their Grand Prix debut together. Second-year duo Valentina Marchei and Ondřej Hotárek will compete for Italy, while Canada's Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro will also be on hand.
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