Osmond targets Olympics at Canadian championships
Good performance at nationals could see skater represent Canada
Kaetlyn Osmond has been thinking about competing in the Olympic Games for, oh, about nine months now.
Canada’s 2013 senior women’s figure skating champion, who will attempt to defend her title this weekend at the national championships in Ottawa, didn’t grow up dreaming about being in the Olympics.
Heck, the Sherwood Park resident originally from Marystown, N.L., said she doesn’t even remember watching the Winter Games on television.
“Growing up, I actually never watched much sports at all,” admitted Osmond, who turned 18 in December. “When I was younger, I spent most of my time outside. I don’t really remember what I used to watch.
“Even now, when I watch TV, I sometimes turn on the (Edmonton Oilers) hockey game, but other than that, I’m mostly just watching some TV series or reading a book or watching a movie.”
Grey’s Anatomy is Osmond’s favourite TV series; she likes too many books to pick just one; and August Rush, which was released in 2007, is her favourite movie.
“It’s about how a little boy finds his parents through music, so it’s a pretty good movie,” she said.
Despite her lack of a previous connection with the Olympic Games, Osmond hopes to create a moment for Canada in February. If she finishes in the top two of the senior women’s event in the 100th anniversary of the Canadian championships, the Ice Palace Figure Skating Club competitor is all but assured of going to Sochi, Russia.
“Growing up, I never actually thought I’d make the Olympics. Even last year, after the season I was having of one win after another, it wasn’t until the worlds last year that someone mentioned the possibility of going to the Olympics,” said Osmond, who earned two berths for Canada at both the Olympics and world championships with her eighth-place finish at last year’s worlds.
“It didn’t even register to me that it was even a possibility.
“This year, we’ve been training so I would be ready for the Olympics, so that is always in the back of my head now when I’m training,” she continued, “and definitely leading into nationals knowing, ‘OK, if I do really well, the Olympics are right around the corner.’ ”
Osmond posted on her official fan Facebook page on Monday that she was “jumping off the walls with excitement” with her training for the Canadian championship almost completed.
“I’m really excited for nationals,” she said earlier this week. “After the season, I was having and then being able to get back on the ice and skate even better than I ever have before — definitely better than I’ve ever skated going into nationals — it feels great.
“I feel completely refreshed. Right now, I just want to get there.”
Osmond flew to Ottawa on Wednesday and will compete in the short program on Friday and the free skate on Saturday.
Yes, she feels some pressure knowing what is at stake.
“But I’m just really excited to skate and, if it leads me to the Olympics, I’ll be definitely really happy,” she said. “It would be pretty cool being at a competition where it’s not just figure skating, where it’ll be a whole mix of sports.”
Osmond had trouble getting excited about anything during the fall. She suffered a stress reaction in her left foot that set her training back a few weeks in September, then injured her right hamstring at Skate Canada International at Saint John, N.B., in late October.
She had to withdraw from the Rostelecom Cup Grand Prix event in Russia in midNovember but was finally able to compete in the Skate Canada Challenge at Regina in early December, dominating the free program to win her event.
“Training has been going way better than ever before,” she said.
“I haven’t actually felt much of my injuries. Even the weeks leading up to Regina, I was skating really well. It was just a few things hurt while I was training.”
Skating well at Challenge seemed to motivate Osmond even more. She took only a day off after the competition and two more for Christmas and New Year’s Day.
“Other than that, I’ve been on the ice,” she said.
Osmond’s coach Ravi Walia took out a triple jump and changed one of her double Axels to a single at the end of her free program at Regina, while two of her spins were altered as “precautionary measures for my leg.”
But she’ll be doing full programs at nationals.
“All of my spins are back to normal, all of my jumps are put into the programs, so everything is where it should be,” she said.
Other Edmonton area skaters competing at nationals include:
Jessica Sergeant in senior women’s;
Taylor L eCla i re a nd Christopher Mostert of the Ice Palace in junior women’s and junior men’s, respectively, plus together in junior pairs;
Kendra Digness of Ice Palace and Eric Thiessen of the Royal Glenora Club in novice pairs;
Ceduna Magee of the Ice Palace with her Ontariobased partner Lucas Kitteridge plus Natasha Collier and Lee Royer of the Ice Palace in novice dance;
Triena Robinson of the Royal Glenora and Aislinn Ganci of the Sherwood Park Figure Skating Club in novice women; and
Grayson Royer of the Fliteway Figure Skating Club in novice men.