Seismic shift on the Canadian roster
Messing takes over Chan’s men’s No. 1 rank at nationals this week
SAINT JOHN, N.B.— Keegan Messing posted a photo on social media last month of the winding Alaskan highway between his hometown of Girdwood and Anchorage that he’d travelled every day for nearly two decades.
Boulders littered the two lanes. A long line of cars, some pockmarked from falling debris, was at a standstill.
Underneath the photo, the figure skater wrote: “Guess no practice today ... p.s. family and everyone is ok.”
The 26-year-old, who’s aiming for his first Canadian figure skating title this week, grew up in Alaska, and a few weeks ago held on for dear life through his biggest earthquake yet — a 7.0 temblor that rocked Anchorage.
“When it started shaking, I thought, ‘Oh OK, it’s an earthquake,’” Messing said. “It started shaking more violently, and I was like ‘OK, this is getting a little bigger.’ Then it felt like a freight train came through and hit us. It felt like the house jumped off the ground. I grabbed (my fiancée) and pulled her under the doorway.
“It was early enough in the morning that it was still pitch black out, so you could just hold on in the dark and listen to everything just start to destroy itself.”
Messing has climbed to the top of Canada’s men’s figure skating rankings with the retirement of three-time world champion Patrick Chan after last winter’s Pyeongchang Olympics. Messing captured silver at Skate Canada International in the fall, then finished fifth in his Grand Prix Final debut in December.
Messing grew up in Alaska, but his mother was born in Edmonton, giving him dual citizenship. He skated for the U.S. as a junior before switching his affiliation to Canada in the 2014-15 season.
He became the first Alaskan Olympian in figure skating when he clinched a spot on Canada’s Pyeongchang team.
Messing has lived through earthquakes since he was a kid; they’re a fact of life in Alaska. The big one on Nov. 30 crumbled buildings and virtually melted roads, but there were no deaths. The aftershocks continued for weeks, including 80 nerve-rattling aftershocks that first day alone.
“It does make you look on the brighter side of life,” he said.
Messing finds himself in an unfamiliar position at this week’s nationals, which will determine the team for the world championships in Japan.
“I don’t want to say it’s a sad day to see Patrick go, but it is sad to see him go,” Messing said. “We’re definitely missing something special that he brought to the ice, and it’s definitely weird not having him there to look up to, to have someone to chase.
“And the fact I kind of inherited his position coming in here, I have the target on my back now, so it’s the first time I’ve been the person being chased.”
Messing, who was 12th in his Olympic debut in Pyeongchang, will be chased for the title by Nam Nguyen, Roman Sadovsky and Nicolas Nadeau. Stephen Gogolev, who’s just 14 but won gold in last month’s junior Grand Prix final, is also competing in the senior competition here.
Chan’s retirement is part of a seismic post-Olympic shift in Canadian skating. Also gone are two-time Olympic champion ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and two-time world pairs champs Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford. Reigning world champ Kaetlyn Osmond is taking the season off competition to ponder her future.