Canada scores just one medal, but gets seven top-10 finishes
BOSTON — Canada heads home from the World Figure Skating Championships with just one medal for the first time in nine years.
But two years out from Pyeongchang, the event at TD Garden was as much about early manoeuvring for Olympic positions. And in that regard, Mike Slipchuk said the Canadian team did fine.
“Even though we didn’t have as many medals, we probably had our best showing as a team at a worlds in a while, given the top 10 placements,” said Slipchuk, Skate Canada’s high performance director. “Three in pairs, one in ladies, one in men, and two in dance.
“We always stress a lot about depth, and we leave here feeling good about that. And we’re going to need that going into next year and the Olympic qualifier.”
These world championships determined how many spots each country will have at next year’s worlds, which in turn determine how many spots a country will have in Pyeongchang.
Canada earned three spots in both pairs and ice dance, and two each in men’s and women’s singles.
In 2007, ice dancers Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon made Canada’s lone march to the medal podium, winning silver.
In Boston, it was Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford who raised the Maple Leaf, roaring to their second consecutive world pairs title, and leading a trio of Canadian pairs teams to topeight finishes. Lubov Iliushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch were seventh while Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro were eighth.
Two other highlights for Canada: an eighth-place finish by ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, and Gabrielle Daleman’s ninth in women’s singles.
“We had a few that really brought it this week,” Slipchuk said.
But the week saw some setbacks as well.
Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje arrived in Boston on a string of victories over the past two seasons, with only two losses. But undone by sloppy twizzles — side-by-side travelling spins — in their free dance, they wound up fifth, their worst world result in three years.
And while Patrick Chan insisted a world medal would be a bonus in his comeback season, he was disappointed after an error-filled free skate dropped the threetime world champion to fifth.
“This is the world championships, so even on practices you can see there’s a different feel and a different vibe out there,” Slipchuk said.
Nam Nguyen, who was fifth last year, didn’t qualify for the free skate, while Alaine Chartrand, who was so strong in winning the Canadian championships, was 17th, six places worse than her debut last season.
Next season will be interesting with Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir launching a comeback.
Virtue and Moir will move to Montreal to work with Dubreuil and Lauzon, rather than return to Canton, Mich., and their former coach Marina Zoueva.
Next year’s world championships are in Helsinki, Finland.