Chartrand can’t wait to show off Pina program
OTTAWA• Even Alaine Chartrand acknowledges it’s a “major change,” but it’s out with Sway and back in with Pina for the short program as the 20- year- old Prescott native defends her Canadian women’ s figure skating championship.
“I’m feeling good about the decision,” Chartrand said Tuesday during a conference call to promote the 2017 nationals scheduled for next week at Ottawa’s TD Place arena. “I was a little hesitant at first because I have never gone back to an old program ( before), but I really think this is the right decision and I love the program, so I can’t wait to show it off again.”
Chartrand skated confidently a year ago in Halifax, ranking second in both the short program with Pina and free skate with her Gone with the Wind routine to finish first overall ahead of 2015 champion Gabrielle Daleman of Newmarket, Ont., and 2013-14 winner Kaetlyn Osmond of Marystown, N.L., and Sherwood Park, Alta.
Chartrand subsequently placed 17 th in the world championships at Boston, then unveiled Sway to start the 2016-17 season. After placing second in the Autumn Classic International in Montreal in October, she was fifth in Skate Canada International in Mississauga, Ont., and a frustrating 10th in the NHK Trophy in Sapporo in November.
A week or so later, Pina was brought out of storage. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Sway, she said, but Chartrand wasn’t producing the desired results from the opening combination of jumps onward.
“The plan really was to bring ( Sway) back for the Olympic season because I liked it so much, but now seemed like the time that I needed it,” Chartrand added.
As the first Canadian senior skating champion from eastern Ontario since Gloucester’s Angela Derochie in 1998, Chartrand will enjoy an opportunity to defend her crown as close to home as possible before a sizable collection of family members, friends and clubmates. She splits weekday training between Prescott (with coach Mary Jayne Rashotte) and Minto ( Robert Kazimir) before travelling to a Torontoarea club for weekend sessions with Michelle Leigh and Brian Orser.
Last year’s event also marked a return to the national stage for Osmond, who had won consecutive national titles in Mississauga and Ottawa before missing most of 2014-15 because of a broken leg.
She said Tuesday she watched little skating competition during that season. On the plus side, Osmond was mentally refreshed when she returned to the ice, but she somehow missed out on the improvement of others both across and outside Canada. Finishing third in Halifax and failing to earn either of Canada’s two women’s berths for the worlds in Boston was both an eye- opener and a metaphorical kick in the rear end.
“I just didn’t feel like myself on the ice and I don’t like that feeling,” Osmond said during her teleconference. “So after nationals, I refocused and I just wanted to enjoy skating again, and that has given me the confidence this year.”
The 2017 Canadian Tire Skating Championships commence with novice and junior competition from Monday through Jan. 19. Senior skaters are in action Jan. 20-21.