WELL WORTH THE WAIT
Canadian pair Duhamel and Radford get their medal when Russians let it slip out of their grasp,
PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA— Meagan Duhamel dug her nails into Eric Radford’s palm.
Back in the green room — actually, the purple room, this is figure skating after all — they’d just watched the Russians, the only team left that could kick them off the medal podium, and Duhamel was surging with twitchy anticipation.
“I was holding Eric’s hand and I said, ‘I think we did enough.’ And Eric said: ‘No, I’m not going to believe it till the marks come up.’ I was, like, ‘Eric! I need hope! I need to feel hope!’ ”
She is the exuberant one, after all, a pistol, a little .22 Derringer. He’s the more sober half, cautious, guarded.
“That was just a funny moment of our different personalities — Eric not wanting to get excited until something official and me getting my hopes up a little bit earlier than maybe I should have.”
But when those scores flashed at the Gangneung Ice Arena on Thursday, the Russians had bobbled the free skate just enough to cost themselves a clutch of technical points, and Olympic laurels.
At their second and last Olympics, the Canadians were solidly bronze in the pairs, a medal to go nicely with the team gold secured earlier. A splendid week’s work at the Winter Games.
They skated a marvellous rendition of their resurrected “Hometown Glory” long routine — actually the second-best of the night behind the world-record performance unspooled by gold medallists Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany. So Duhamel and Radford were ahead of Sui Wenjing and Han Cong in the final segment of the competition, but the six-point bulge the Chinese carried out of the short program was insurmountable.
The only misstep for the Canadians was Duhamel putting both hands down on their side-by-side triple Lutzes. It wouldn’t have made any difference in the outcome — 153.33 for the free, 230.15 short and long combined.
“It feels like gold,” Duhamel assured.
Golden enough after the disappointment of seventh at Sochi. It felt as satisfying, too, as their brace of world championship golds in the career trophy case.
Duhamel had fallen to her knees on the ice at the end of the routine, in relief and glee and sheer emotional eruption.
“Oh my God, just enjoying the moment. I couldn’t have dreamt it that much better. I mean, I could have dreamt it without my hands down on my triple Lutz. But we came to the Olympics and we just delivered four amazing performances. Four out of four!”
Radford: “And we saved the best for last.”
They skated short and long in the team, then short and long in the individual event — a whole lot of judged skating in seven days. Yet it was a savvy decision, imbuing them with confidence the second time around.
“I can’t believe that we did that,” said Duhamel, 32. “People thought we were a bit crazy doing that entire team event. Who’s crazy now?”
It was sweet validation for a longtime tandem that fits together like interlocking pieces.
“It’s the sweetest it could possibly be right now,” said Radford, 33. “I don’t think that there’s any better way . . .”
At which point Duhamel jumped in, because that’s what she does, irrepressibly.
“I don’t think there’s been a happier bronze medallist than we are.”
Radford, completing his thought: “We couldn’t have asked for more from this competition and from ourselves. We’re going to be able to retire and always look back on our skating career feeling complete and happy.”
The duo, seven times Canadian champions, had appeared to be on a slight decline the last couple of seasons, their optimal performances in off-Olympic years.
Prudently, they returned to Adele’s “Hometown Glory” just before Christmas, sensing the routine that had lifted them to bronze at the world championships last winter was the best option for Pyeongchang.
Canada had three pairs qualify for the final. Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau — the next generation of comers, with an eye on Beijing —finished a thrilling ninth. Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro were 11th.
Gold, though, was dramatic vindication for the Germans, who elevated themselves up from fourth after the short program. They were simply sublime, scoring 159.31, 235.90 overall, just .43 clear of the Chinese. Savchenko, a five-time world champion and twice Olympic bronze medallist (with former partners) was gasping and laughing with delight while Massot collapsed in sobs.
They hugged and hugged and hugged.
“I said I don’t want her to come back with another bronze medal,” Massot said. “She deserves the gold.”
At 34 years old — to Massot’s 29 — this was the Ukraine-born Savchenko’s last shot at it.
“Today I wrote history. It is my moment.”
For the Chinese, the two-time reigning world champions, it was a wonder they were on the ice at all. Only a few weeks earlier, Sui had suffered a nasty gash to her leg during a training collision, leaving her unable to bend deeply and with continuing pain — a seven to eight on the hurting metre, out of 10, she said. Previously, Sui had undergone surgery on both feet. They suffer for their craft. On the medal outside looking in were Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, done in by Tarasova doubling out of a triple Salchow.
Duhamel and Radford can relax now, all done for Pyeongchang but for cheering on their teammates. Duhamel looked up — way up — at Radford. “We don’t ever have to do a throw-quad again! We landed the last throw-quad we tried.” Sit down, take a load off, luxuriate. Duhamel: “That’s the perfect way to have our last skate, I would say.”