Bausback back in hunt for national figure skating title
New Westminster teen keeps spirits up despite a broken foot, cancelled events
Emily Bausback is elated that her breakthrough in Canadian women's figure skating will get a shot at a repeat.
The 18-year-old from New Westminster, who won the senior national women's title last season after finishing 10th in 2019, is slated to compete in the B.C./Yukon Sectionals this week at Scotia Barn in Burnaby.
It will be Bausback's first competition since the Challenge Cup in The Hague last February, which she used to achieve the short program technical minimum to be eligible for the world championships in March in Montreal. Skate Canada named Bausback to the worlds' team two weeks before the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a part of precautions against COVID-19 transmissions, judges won't be rinkside at Scotia Barn, but instead score off the online feed. As well, groups of skaters who had their programs filmed ahead of time in both Victoria and Burnaby will have those taped performances integrated with the Burnaby ones on the webcast.
Fans aren't permitted in the rink but can watch online, according to Ted Barton, executive director of Skate Canada B.C./Yukon. Action begins Thursday. It wraps Sunday.
These 2021 nationals are slated for Feb. 8-14 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Centre at the University of B.C., although that could obviously be altered to something in a more virtual format depending on COVID-19 case numbers across Canada.
“I really want to defend my title,” said Bausback, who trains under coach Joanne McLeod out of Scotia Barn, the facility formerly known as Burnaby 8 Rinks. “I
She's funky and bubbly and that's something that allows the audience to fall in love with her skating.
want to prove that it wasn't some lucky day for me, that it was not just the day when all the stars were aligned. I want to prove that I can do it again.
“I felt like I was still peaking when the worlds were cancelled.”
Bausback has had to overcome injury in this time away from the competition cycle. She broke the second metatarsal bone in her right foot in early June when her feet got tangled and landed one on top of the other trying to complete a jump. She was off the ice for four weeks.
“I didn't realize it was broken at first,” explained Bausback. “I got up and did a couple of last laps. It was after that I figured that something was wrong.'
The injury came just before Bausback was to celebrate her Grade 12 graduation from Burnaby Central. The school had an abbreviated ceremony, with students in groups of 20 going across a makeshift stage for a photo opportunity.
“I thought I was going to have to wear a walking cast, but right before it I got clearance to wear sneakers. I was pretty pleased,” Bausback explained.
She feels that her skating is continuing to improve. She was scheduled to take part in Skate Canada from Oct. 30-31 in Ottawa, but that event was cancelled due to the pan
demic.
McLeod maintains that Bausback has been “working off-thecharts hard.”
“I have a lot of respect for Emily for how she's brought energy and motivation and determination to all of her practices throughout all this,” McLeod continued. “She's got a really cool DNA. She's a very positive person to begin with. She's funky and bubbly and that's something that allows the audience to fall in love with her skating. It's very genuine.
“That personality is also good I find in a situation (with the pandemic) like we're in now. You have some people who could look more inward and maybe get a little dark. Emily has managed to keep her
spirit.”
McLeod heads up the Champs International Skating Centre of B.C., and has coached the likes of Emanuel Sandhu, Kevin Reynolds, Nam Nguyen, Jeremy Ten and Mira Leung. She's worked with Bausback for seven years and believes that their history has come on strong through the pandemic.
“In team sport, you can turn to your teammates. In an individual sport, you have your coach and we have that long-term investment,” McLeod explained. “You need to know that the coach is there for you. That's played in our favour.”
The worlds are scheduled for March 22-28 in Stockholm, and the Swedish Figure Skating Association has suggested that they
would like to do it in a bubble. Mike Slipchuk, Skate Canada's high performance director, told The Canadian Press last month that they may not send athletes “due to all the challenges we've had across Canada.”
Bausback has said that she is aiming to represent Canada at the Beijing 2022 Olympics.
When Bausback won nationals in Mississauga, Ont., last January, she became the first B.C. competitor to capture the Canadian women's title since Karen Magnussen won her fourth Canadian crown in a row and fifth in six years in 1973. Magnussen won the world championship that year as well.