COVID-19 spectre hangs over Olympic figure skating trials
OTTAWA — After three flights over a stressful 33 hours with numerous delays, Keegan Messing finally in arrived in Ottawa for Canada’s figure skating Olympic trials on Wednesday.
He was nearly a day late. His skates were still to arrive, in his luggage somewhere at Toronto’s Pearson Airport.
“But we’re staying mentally strong,” Messing said on Wednesday, less than two hours after landing in Ottawa — too late to make the day’s practice at TD Place.
Messing, a dual citizen who lives in Girdwood, Arkansaw, travelled from Anchorage to Seattle to Toronto to Ottawa, with his wife Lane Hodson and their six-month-old son Wyatt.
“We had about three or four cancelled flights [Tuesday], constantly getting rebooked and redirected. My wife and I actually got split up at one point,” said Messing, who believes a combination of weather, plus the countless flights cancelled due to the recent crush of COVID-19, factored into his marathon trip.
Messing is one of Canada’s top figure skaters who’ll begin their quest for a spot on the Beijing Olympic team today.
The national championships are being held in front of no fans, and media is covering the event virtually due to the crush of COVID-19 cases in Ontario.
While the skaters lament the absence of fans, they’ve at least become well-versed in curve balls. The world championships in Montreal in March of 2020 were one of the first international sports events cancelled due to the coronavirus, and it’s been much of the same since.
“Yeah, definitely unforeseen here,” pairs skater Kirsten Moore-Towers said on the recent COVID-19 threat. “We are super bummed that the crowd was removed from nationals. But obviously, we understand … we are grateful for the chance to perform at all.
“COVID has made us all so adaptable, this would have absolutely crushed us a couple years ago,” she added. “We really have learned to roll with the punches and appreciate what we do have. And though there is an element of bitter-sweetness to it, I think we just take these things as they come and we’re still really looking forward to the weekend.”
Adding to the stress of vying for an Olympic berth is the spectre of COVID-19. A positive test at nationals could keep an athlete from competing in China, due to the timeline of pre-travel testing protocols.
Pairs skaters Vanessa James and Eric Radford, who contracted COVID over the Christmas holidays, decided Thursday they would compete in Ottawa despite having just four days of practice after being in isolation.
“So after four days of practice we are gonna just go for it. We will head to Ottawa for the Canadian Championships and give our best!” Radford tweeted. “Both Vanessa and I had negative antigen tests this morning and are feeling happy and healthy.”