Canadian couples accustomed to gold
Pairs skaters Duhamel, Radford and ice dancers Weaver, Poje will try to defend titles at Grand Prix final in Barcelona
Gold & Gold.
Sounds like a law firm. And, in a way, the quartet of Canada’s premier figure skaters is looking to make their cases before judges at the Grand Prix final, arriving in Barcelona this week as defending titlists in their respective disciplines.
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford in pairs: the only team to have won both their assignments on the circuit this season. Indeed, the reigning world champions haven’t lost in any competition for more than a year.
Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje in ice dance: victors in five straight Grand Prix appearances, including last year’s final, yet still stinging from a slip-back bronze at the 2015 worlds.
With Patrick Chan back and in the singles mix, Canada has arguably the strongest team among the 26 skaters/ couples vying for laurels in Spain, which brings together the top half-dozen placements in each skating category. Only the worlds — and the Olympics — carry more prestige.
Duhamel and Radford took the most recent honours a fortnight ago at the NHK Trophy in Japan, and thus had the shortest turnaround for the final, which meant almost zero preparation time at home between jet-lag episodes.
And NHK, whilst investing them with an 11th Grand Prix medal, and a fifth consecutive gold, was far from unblemished with a couple of mishaps in their free program, performed to Adele’s Hometown Glory.
So, upon further consideration, the quad throw Lutz will remain under wraps, for now. Which still leaves the quad throw Salchow, a big move that culled them from the top-tier crowd last season.
“We took it out for Skate Canada because wee wanted to have a great skate and have less to think about in the program,” Duhamel told reporters during a recent conference call. “Strategically, as much as we want to be the first to do the quad Lutz, it’s not necessary at this point in the game.”
Historically, the remarkably athletic team has been all for breaking boundaries, going where no pairs couple has gone before. But, with front-runner status firmly embedded, they’re opting to be a bit more prudent.
“There’s a fine line to cross with feeling overwhelmed,” said Duhamel, “and we learned that as we tried to incorporate the quad Lutz into our program.”
Their internal rhythms hum more mellifluously when the still-iffy maneuvres are excluded and this is the time to go clean rather than adventurous, said Radford.
“We’ve realized that, mainly in the short program, last season was a bit more of an easy fit when it came to performing the program cleanly. We’ve made a few small changes which I think are going to make this program a little more accessible and easier to perform cleanly now. Last year we wanted to be comfortable. We had no expectations. And we had a throw quad in there as a bonus.
“This season we’re demanding of ourselves that the throw quad should be more consistent.”
Error-free smoothness is crucial, with Russian pair Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov just a smidge behind in season points. Thus, one quadruple throw — and “room to breathe,” as Duhamel put it — has been deemed sufficient at this point in their journey towards the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018, with increased difficulty factors injected into other elements such as the death spiral entry transition, and complicated footwork at an exclamation-mark closing lift.
Canada has also qualified a second pairs team — Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau.
The young duo, aged 19 and 22, competed on the senior circuit for the first time this season after finishing with silver at the 2014 world juniors.
Gold at the Grand Prix final is no guarantee of anything, of course, when the world championships roll around. Weaver and Poje can attest to that.
The dancers landed in Shanghai for this year’s worlds in full soar amidst a perfect season, seeking the top podium they had missed by just 0.02 of a point the previous year. But a penalty for a lift that went beyond the six seconds allowed and two step sequences that failed to reach the highest level of difficulty resulted in disappointing bronze.
This year, after a quickie overhaul of their short program a mere two weeks before Skate Canada — from Elvis to Strauss — the duo has won both their Grand Prix competitions, qualifying first for the final ahead of world silver medallists Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S.
“This season so far has been very successful but a little bit unpredictable,” said Weaver, referring specifically to the dramatic short program do-over.
“We weren’t leaders going into the event last season but we are this year and it feels good.”
The elegant team, which incubated for so many years in the long shadow cast by Tessa Virtue and Scott Muir, has been generous rewarded on the circuit over the past two months, with judges particularly impressed by a free skate performed to Max Richter’s haunting On the Nature of Daylight.
More than any other discipline, ice dancing is about feel, telling a story.
“We’ve developed the story over the progress of the season,” explained Poje.
“We started out with certain images but it’s definitely about a couple that’s gone through a great loss and how they use each other to get them out of those depths. We don’t want to be too specific about the story because we want everybody to create their own image. But we want to bring that emotion of sorrow, then almost triumph at the end, in terms of the fact that we get through that emotional experience.”
They’re excited to be “reunited” with Duhamel and Radford for the first time since Skate Canada. “They’re so talented,” said Weaver, who’s already scheduled yoga sessions with Duhamel in Barcelona. “We love to surround ourselves with people that help bring out the best in us too. And they’re two amazing people and skaters, so we’re happy to be back with them. Hopefully we can keep the medals coming for Canada.”