SKATING WORLDS
Canadians in medal position
There were times over the past two seasons when Kaetlyn Osmond didn’t know if she would ever skate again. Or if she even wanted to.
Now, the 21-year-old from Marystown, N.L., sits a mere three points behind defending champion Evgenia Medvedeva and appears poised to capture Canada’s first medal in women’s singles at the world figure skating championships since Joannie Rochette won silver in 2009.
And if not Osmond? Fellow Canadian Gabrielle Daleman is right behind her.
Osmond roared to a second-place finish in the short program Wednesday, while Daleman finished third. It’s the first time Canada has had two women in the top three of the short program at worlds.
“I was just loving every minute of it and completely in the moment,” Osmond said. “I know how to deal a little bit more with the excitement, and hopefully I can just stay that way for the long (program).”
It wasn’t as good a day for Canada’s pairs skaters, with two-time world champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford struggling to a surprise seventh after the short program.
Osmond missed a season and a half after snapping her fibula in her right leg in two places when she swerved to avoid someone in practice in Edmonton in September 2014. The gruesome X-rays showed the bones bent sideways like broken toothpicks. She had two surgeries, then embarked on a comeback both arduous and rattling to her confidence.
“I think she was at a very low point with her confidence,” longtime coach Ravi Walia said. “I think she was questioning whether she could come back and whether she wanted to come back, and I think she was afraid.”
On Wednesday, before a raucous crowd at Hartwell Arena, she was fierce and fearless in her first world appearance since 2014.
Skating to Edith Piaf’s Sous le ciel de Paris, and Milord, and dressed in a glamorous black dress and black gloves, a black scarf tied at her throat, Osmond reeled off a triple flip-triple toe loop combination to open. She went on to land a triple Lutz and double Axel in a clean program worth 75.98 points.
“It feels incredible,” she said through a wide smile. “I was just happy to skate the way I did. Just knowing that I’m up in second now, it just feels incredible.
“This program, I just feel so comfortable and confident doing it,” she added. “It’s an amazing character, confident character. That gives me confidence on the ice. I find the crowd reacts really well to it, which gives me a lot of energy while I’m skating.”
Medvedeva, the latest in a long line of Russia stars, scored 79.01 points, edging Osmond on both the technical score and all five of the component (formerly artistic impression) marks.
Daleman, a 19-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., scored 72.19 for third. Russian Anna Pogorilaya is fourth with 71.52.
When Rochette won world silver in ’09, it was Canada’s first women’s medal since Elizabeth Manley claimed silver in 1988.
When Osmond burst onto the scene in 2012, hopes were high she would follow in Rochette’s footsteps before she was injured.
Walia and Osmond started over and rebuilt all her jumps, and while she showed great improvement in practice last season, she was unable to produce the same performance in the competitive spotlight. She didn’t qualify for last year’s world team.
“I think mentally she wasn’t quite ready, because in the competitions it wasn’t showing up,” Walia said. “That’s something you can’t plan for as a coach, or even for her. And at the end of the season, it really was obvious that it was taking longer than we had hoped.”
Daleman, who was second at the Four Continents for her first major international medal, opened with a triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination before executing a triple Lutz and double Axel. Standing at the board, animated coach Brian Orser virtually skated every step with her, jumping high in the air when she landed her triple Lutz.
“Especially after Four Continents I just gained a lot of confidence and I just knew what I’m able to do and I just enjoyed the moment,” Daleman said.
In the pairs competition, twotime world champions Duhamel and Radford earned 72.67 points for their routine set to Killer by pop star Seal. Radford skated while fighting an injury to his right hip.
Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China were first after the short program at 81.23 points.
Lubov Ilyushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch were the top Canadians in sixth place with 73.14 points.